
BETHANY, Okla. — The fourth annual meeting of the United Lao Southern Baptist fellowship took place on June 27-29 at Southern Nazarene University here.
About 340 Laotians and guests — the largest group to date, President Patrick Sookaserm told Baptist Press — consisted of people from 34 churches in 12 states.
“One of the key things for us is fellowship,” Sookaserm said. “Everybody is looking forward to this conference, and to the training, and to hearing what (each other does) to help the church, and to what they can learn to help each other as the body of Christ.”
Southern Baptists began serving in Laos in 1971, according to the International Mission Board’s (IMB) Archives and Records department. A Communist government takeover across Southeast Asia in 1975 led to an upsurge in refugee immigration from Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. The first Laotian Southern Baptist churches in the United States date to the late 1970s and early 1980s.
“Since we started (Laotian churches in the U.S.) the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) has been helpful,” Sookaserm said. “That’s why we continue to be faithful to the SBC.”
With perhaps 240,000 Laotians across the U.S. in 2020, and still today only one Laotian-culture church in three states — Nevada, Hawaii and Oklahoma plus British Columbia — the national Laotian Fellowship was not organized until 2019. That’s when the Lao Southern Baptist Fellowship and the Lao Eastern Baptist Fellowship merged into the United Lao Southern Baptist (ULSB) fellowship.
Then came COVID and two years of not meeting.
“This is why we are willing to drive such long distances for this conference,” Sookaserm said. “We want the fellowship.”
The theme for this year’s annual gathering was “Love God; Serve Others,” with Matthew 22:37-39 as its scriptural basis.
Teams from Lao Liberty Baptist Church in Fort Smith, Ark., and Lao Baptist Church in Grand Bay, Ala., led worship for the Laotian services. The English service was led by the Lao-English Adult Fellowship (LEAF) and Lao Baptist Youth (LBY).
Guest speakers included Boon Vongsurith, pastor of First Baptist Church’s Laotian congregation in Amarillo, Texas; Houmphan Vongsurith, pastor of First Laotian Baptist Church in Dallas; Soulin Xaiyarath, pastor of East Toledo Laotian Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio; and Jacob Sisombath, youth advisor at First Laotian Baptist Church in Dallas.
In addition to large group worship services, there were several small group workshops, such as how to build a healthy church, new believers, preaching lab, Sunday school training, marriage and family.
Youth had their own workshops, answering the question, “Why are evangelism and discipleship important?”
Children had their own program and joined the service at various points. Lao Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) offered a workshop on missions, prayer and giving.
“The ULSB is a collection of Lao churches in the USA, working in cooperation with one another to help each other grow and impact the whole world with the Good News of Jesus Christ,” according to the fellowship’s website, ulsb.org.
Ezra Bae, Asian Network strategist for the IMB, joined the Lao annual gathering in 2025, as did others from various SBC entities. Bae talked about the need of Laotian Christians to join with the IMB in reaching Laotians in the U.S., Canada, Laos and everywhere else they might be found.
“The fellowship wants to build up the next generations, the Lao Baptist Youth,” Sookaserm said. “Our main purpose is to unite the Lao Baptist churches in the USA, train leaders and members to grow and mature in Christ, and to proclaim the Word of God to the Lao people.”
The business session consisted of confirming ULSB membership, approval of the organization’s bylaws and election of officers. ULSB President Sookaserm was reelected for a second three-year term.
In addition to Sookaserm as president — he’s also pastor of First Lao Baptist Church in Tomball, Texas — officers include: Vice President (West) Henry Chan, associate pastor of Capital Hill Baptist Church in Oklahoma City, Okla.; Vice President (East) Vanpet Saysombath, pastor of Lao Baptist Salisbury (N.C.) Church; Secretary Sassy Sabchareum, member at Crievewood Laotian Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn; Treasurer Phayboun Siluangkhot, deacon of First Baptist Lao Church in Tomball, Texas; and Assistant Treasurer Vien Paphanchith, pastor of Lao New Life Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio.
It was agreed in 2024 that for 2026, the ULSB annual conference would be in the eastern United States. The United Lao Southern Baptist fellowship plans to gather on June 12-14, 2026, at Tennessee Baptists’ conference center in Newport, Tenn.
The fellowship seeks partners among Southern Baptist churches and associations so that more Laotians in the United States, Laos and around the world can be reached with the gospel of God’s great love, Sookaserm said.
“We are one in Christ,” the president said. “We are working in cooperation with one another and with Southern Baptists to help each other grow and impact the whole world with the good news of Jesus Christ.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.)