WE TRANSPORT, HE TRANSFORMS!

The birth of Porky’s World Ministry started at Calvary Assembly of God, located in Waco Texas, under one of the best soul winning Pastors in history, R.L. Whitworth. Prior to starting his own bus ministry, Pastor Whitworth, with a congregation of approximately two hundred, had been preaching ten plus years and was becoming well known nationwide. R.L. Whitworth was a visionary, radical and everchanging leader that wanted to do whatever it took to save souls. In the mid 1980’s, he heard about a church in Phoenix Arizona pastored under one of the greats, Tommy Barnett, that was growing in unprecedented numbers and wanted to see what he was doing so that it could be transplanted to his mid-size church in Waco Texas.  

Once arriving to Barnett’s church, Pastor Whitworth witnessed firsthand a ministry that would not only change his life forever but thousands of others. To his surprise, it was not the adult services or and other commonly known ministries that brought this great success. It was a rough, long haired, raspy voice character from the Bronx named Bill Wilson. With unparalleled passion to help kids in underserved areas, Bill’s ministry was busing in over one thousand kids every week, adding routes and volunteers weekly. Undoubtably, this was the reason the church was growing while others settled to have average newcomers enter the doors weekly. This was the beginning of a story that has not yet been finished, hence the beginning of Porky’s World Ministry today. 

Upon coming back from his visit, that Sunday night before dismissing the congregation, Pastor Whitworth shared his story of what he experienced from his trip to Phoenix. Allowing no time to pass, he told the church he was looking to start a bus ministry at the church and start picking up boys and girls each Sunday mornings. After sharing his vision for the ministry, he asked for volunteers to fulfill the mission God had placed on his heart. 

At the time, Wayne Andersen (Porky) was already heavily involved as the youth pastor, marriage couple’s Sunday school teacher, church board, janitor, and many other areas. Being the servant Wayne was, he raised his hand, being up for the challenge. Following Wayne’s lead, a few others committed to volunteer. That decision by Wayne and the others that night would ultimately change the course of thousands of children, adults and families lives forever. 

Every Saturday morning, they would meet for an hour to discuss the weekly goals then split up for three to four hours to visit neighborhoods where under-privileged children lived. The ministry was hard work to say the least. The one-hundred -degree summers, winters with rain, sleet and occasional snow took a toll on everyone involved.  It was worth every bit of the effort when a boy or girl would raise their hands to except Jesus for the first time.  A few months later Derek, his son, joined his father helping each Saturday and Sunday.  Years later, the ministry grew in numbers and many kids gave their lives to Christ. At the last big event for the children’s church, they had over six hundred kids in attendance, giving Calvary Assembly of God recognition as the eighth largest in the nation. 

Around the same time, Pastor Whitworth retired as the Senior Pastor with a church that had grown to three thousand in total attendance. It’s not a proven fact, but as soon as the bus ministry began, the church experienced extreme growth as well as tithes and giving. That day will never be erased from Wayne’s heart.  Both Wayne and Derek continued working in the bus ministry for another year until some unexpected events caused them to no longer be able to serve the ministry. 

Twelve years later, one Saturday morning, Wayne received a call from Pastor Whitworth. Wayne picked up the phone and on the other end the voice said, “Hey bubba”. The voice was recognized immediately. Wayne was closer to Pastor Whitworth than anyone else and knew he would not ever say “bubba” unless he had something up his sleeves or needed something. Wayne replied, “Bubba?” He then said, “You must be needing something”, as they both laughed. He said, “as a matter of fact, I do.” Nona and I took over this little church outside of Waco in China Springs after my retirement and was wondering if you and Derek would consider helping me start a bus ministry here.” Wayne chuckled and said, “last time you asked for a couple weeks of help in the bus ministry at Calvary, it turned into ten years!” They again laughed, but Wayne said, “I just don’t know if I can do that because Derek and I live in Fort Worth building homes and the commute alone each weekend would not be easy. He further said, “I’ll make you an agreement. If Derek agrees to do it, I’m all in!” After completing their phone call, Wayne recalls feeling a peace he had never felt before. 

That following Monday morning as Wayne pulled up to the jobsite, where Derek was working,  he got out of the truck and no more as than getting the words out of his mouth, “Pastor Whitworth…”, Derek said, “Let’s do it!” Derek, not even knowing what Wayne was going to ask, agreed to the challenge, without knowing what it entailed. Wayne said, “Derek, I haven’t ever told you what it’s about and you are saying yes.” Derek replied, “If Pastor Whitworth needs us, I don’t need to think about it.” And that was that…

They started their weekend trips to China Springs, which was about three hours one-way, to start this bus ministry with no help or buses yet. After a couple weeks we had several volunteers, and the Saturday visitations began. The first two weeks we visited kids, inviting them to the big day when the bus would come by and pick them up to go to church. In six weeks, we put a big event on at the church with clowns, bounce houses, food and drinks. That day was amazing with 276 kids in attendance and over half of them asking Jesus in their hearts for the first time ever. What a day and one that changed their lives forever.

During those weekends after starting the bus ministry for Pastor Whitworth, Wayne had a life changing experience that would impact the decisions he and Derek are making today. Every time Wayne would go out to eat, a young person would come up and say, “Porky!” Wayne did not know who they were because the kids, now young adults, looked grown up, but he knew they were from the bus ministry because that’s the only time kids called him by that name. Wayne was given the name “Porky”, from several of the kids that rode his personal bus route because, jokingly, he was almost one hundred pounds heavier that he is today. He excepted the name with honor, because it made the kids happy and that was his only focus. The conversations that followed touched his heart forever. One time he explained how a young lady come up on one of those Saturday lunches and told him a story that she was going to kill herself, because she lost all hope of life. Addicted, broke, almost homeless, she was at her end of the rope. She told him that all the sudden in the middle of the gloom and despair she would remember something crazy and funny he did in the church service that brought a smile to her face and she quickly put down the handful of pills she was about to consume to end her life. She said if it were not for him knocking on that door, to ask her momma that she could come to church, she would not be alive. This happened almost every weekend, with a different young person, with a different story, that their lives were changed because of the impact he and the bus ministry had on their lives. 

Roughly fifteen years later, on one Saturday morning in April of 2017 Wayne and Derek were having coffee, discussing the bus ministry when suddenly the Spirit of God came upon them and with absolutely no doubt, God showed up at that table. They spent the next several hours outlining a plan to partner with churches throughout America to revive the bus ministry. This was the beginning of what would come and the vision that was placed on their hearts that day. 

Wayne and Derek believe this is the time and they must do what God put in their hearts to accomplish. They have a goal of transporting one million kids every week and are confident that this God-sized goal can be accomplish through the financial support and help of others. I pray that whoever reads this will be stirred in their spirit and want to be involved somehow. If anything, please continue to keep them in your prayers daily. Winning souls for Jesus IS the only thing that matters!!!