100 YEARS OF BEING ON MISSION TOGETHER
Prior to 1919, funding for missions in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) was done through something known as a “societal” method. Missionaries, either on their own or through mission societies, raised their own support. This meant they would have to leave the mission field to return home to raise support among churches. Because of the time and expense involved in fundraising, missionaries began to hire professional fundraisers to do the work for them. These fundraisers usually charged a fee of 25 percent of what they collected on behalf of the missionaries. In addition, the professionals would only visit large churches with the most amount of money. Smaller churches had little chance to be part of giving to mission endeavors.
To correct this, the $75 Million Campaign was unanimously approved by messengers to the SBC Annual Meeting in Atlanta. The campaign asked for members of all SBC churches to make five-year pledges to support missions and ministry in the SBC. The hope was to include all churches in supporting missions, allow our missionaries to stay on the field and not have to come home to fundraise and reduce administrative cost and duplication of efforts so that the maximum amount of money raised could find its way to the mission field. Even though the result of the campaign failed to reach $75 million, the $58.5 million that was given in the five years of the campaign exceeded the total amount of missions giving to the SBC in its entire 75-year history to that point!
Encouraged by the amount of money that could be raised for missions and ministry when the convention was united in its giving, messengers gathered in May of 1925 at the SBC Annual Meeting in Memphis approved another new missions funding strategy that would be
more consistent than a pledge campaign. The name of this new strategy was called the Cooperative Program (CP). The strategy called for SBC churches to give a percentage of their undesignated receipts to a common pool through which SBC missions and ministries would be funded.
In the first year of the CP, over half of SBC churches gave an average of 11 percent of their undesignated receipts through the CP. In the year that followed many more churches followed suit. Now, through the CP, the local church became the fundraiser for missions and every church regardless of size could take part in Kingdom work that stretched far beyond their own communities.
This month we celebrate the 100th birthday of the CP. We have learned over these 100 years that we truly can do more for the Kingdom of God together than we can apart. The CP is the distinctive mark of Southern Baptists that enables us to fulfill the very reason we formed together as a convention in the first place: to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Thank you, Oklahoma Baptists churches for your faithful, sacrificial giving through the CP. In these last 100 years, Oklahoma Baptists churches have given over $1 billion through the CP! I am grateful for our rich history of cooperatively supporting missions and ministry across the globe and look forward to a bright future of continuing to do the same through the Cooperative Program.
Serving Jesus with You,
Todd Fisher
Oklahoma Baptists Executive Director-Treasurer
Dear Class of 2025...
It’s the month of May, and that means graduation ceremonies will be happening soon across the state.
The Class of 2025—from high school to college to post-graduate students— will share in this important moment of achievement and celebration.
As part of this rite of passage, many will take part in commencement events that will include speeches with advice to live by. Throughout history, there have been a few commencement addresses that seem to have made a lasting impact.
One such commencement address was given by Winston Churchill at his alma mater, Harrow School. While some were expecting to hear a long-winded speech from the Champion of Freedom that day, Churchill instead stood up, looked out over those graduates and said simply this: “Never give up. Never. Never.”
You will not find much better advice in life than what Churchill spoke that day. With my column here, I would like to build off Churchill’s words, with my own message to the Class of 2025: “Never give up on church. Never. Never.”
There is a pattern in life in America whereby students, even ones who were active in church and youth group during high school, begin to check out on church attendance during their college and early career days. For example, a “2019 Lifeway Research study found two-thirds of those who attended church regularly for at least a year as a teenager say they also dropped out for at least a year as a young adult.” That is an alarmingly high “church drop-out rate.”
As a church, we need to do an even better job of encouraging young people not to give up on church, encourage them to stay connected to church. Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM) on college campuses across Oklahoma do a great job of sharing the Good News, feeding students spiritually and getting them connected to a local church.
Another way we can reinforce church connection is to focus our conversations with young people on spiritual goals. Too often our conversations for high school graduates focus merely on getting good grades or finding a successful career with a good financial outlook. These measures of success are, of course, good things. But spiritual well-being is even more important.
There is a positive trend in this direction of parents emphasizing the right priorities. A Lifeway Research survey (of) parents who regularly attend church were asked what their greatest hopes for their children were. “When asked their biggest priority for their student’s future, 2 in 5 (41%) say their main goal is spiritual well-being. Around half as many point to emotional well-being (19%) and physical well-being (18%). Fewer choose financial well-being (9%), having a profession they enjoy (9%) or relational well-being (4%). Most parents place spiritual (71%), emotional (66%) and physical (60%) well-being of their student’s future as one of their top three priorities.”
We need to continue to believe that and also act like it. For instance, when your high school student’s activities conflict with Sunday worship, it’s the activity (not the church attendance) that should give way.
Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church (Matt. 16:18). The Church will continue now into eternity. Let’s encourage the Class of 2025—and each of us—to stay committed and connected to the local church. That would be the best kind of graduation gift of all.
Brian Hobbs Oklahoma Baptists Editor
May 22-24
Camp Perfect Wings
CrossTimbers, Davis, OK
oklahomabaptists.org/ event/camp-perfectwings-2/ May 27- July 25
CrossTimbers Falls Creek Conference Center, Davis, OK oklahomabaptists.org/ childhood/crosstimbers/
June 2- July 25
Falls Creek Youth Camp Falls Creek Conference Center, Davis, OK
oklahomabaptists.org/ youth/falls-creek/
Summer Camps! Camps!
SUMMER CAMPS ARE GEARING UP!
DAVIS—Summer is right around the corner and along with it the Falls Creek and CrossTimbers summer camps! This year’s camps are set to both inspire campers in their walk with God, as well as encourage them to share the love of Christ with others. Here is some more information on the upcoming summer camps.
FALLS CREEK
Falls Creek Youth Camp is approaching, and the Lord is, even now, preparing the way for the work He will do this summer.
According to Todd Sanders, Falls Creek program director, “This summer students will explore James 4 and be challenged to ‘LEVEL UP’ in their faith through spiritual disciplines by looking at the attitudes and postures that drive them. Sacrifice, submission, selflessness and surrender are vital to a believer’s thriving life in Christ but are often not easy to live out. The aim of the summer is to help turn theory into practice when it comes to following the Lord.”
Evening worship services are instrumental each week of Falls Creek Youth Camp. The spiritual results happen only because God moves, but He works through faithful leaders who preach and lead worship each night.
Sanders added, “Falls Creek Youth Camp provides a place for students to hear the gospel, come to faith, grow in Christlikeness, connect with the body of Christ and be challenged and equipped to live on mission.”
During the week one opening session, Garrett Wagoner, a Texas evangelist, will preach at Falls Creek Youth Camp for the first time and will team up with a familiar face, Cody Dunbar, in worship from Yukon, Together We. Newcomers to Falls Creek Youth Camp, Jay Sanders, from the University of South Florida Baptist Collegiate Ministry, and Ryan Snell, from Ophelia, Ala., First, anchor the evening worship services for week two. Sanders will return to lead week three along with Joe McKeen & So We May from Owasso, First.
Garry McNeill and Dustin Searles from Durant, First are set to preach and lead worship for week four. This is something new to programming in the past couple
of years featuring a ministry team from an Oklahoma Baptist church leading together.
Rusty Gunn, Send Network Oklahoma and lead pastor of Sand Springs, Church That Matters will partner with So We May for week five.
Jeremy Freeman, pastor at Newcastle, First, will preach and Jeremy and Kat Robertson from Nashville, Tenn. will lead worship week six.
Week seven welcomes back Shane Pruitt, North American Mission Board National Next Gen Director, to lead with Matt Roberson & Oklahoma Baptist University Worship. Andy Blanks with Iron Hill Press will join Nate Jernigan & Crescent City Worship from New Orleans Seminary to round out the summer.
Falls Creek is filled with powerful times in the Word, fellowship, worship and fun. There are always activity opportunities for every student to engage in during the day including volleyball, ropes course elements, swimming, disc golf, missions mobilization, prayer walks, breakouts and more.
Missions venues will be refreshed this summer. Students can engage in a hands-on mission project with Oklahoma Disaster Relief and experience a late-night missions experience focused on the persecuted church around the world.
Joining focus with CrossTimbers Mission Adventure Camp, the student mission offering at youth camp this summer will go to support World Hunger Relief efforts.
Whether personally pursuing and hearing from the Lord, connecting with other churches on the rec fields or in services, or in the cabin growing with one’s own group, Falls Creek Youth Camp continues to be a place where the Lord is at work.
Join us in praying for Falls Creek youth and ask the Lord to move in the campers’ lives this summer. Visit oklahomabaptists.org/youth/falls-creek/prayer/ to find out how to pray for Falls Creek.
CROSSTIMBERS
For 2025, CrossTimbers Children’s Mission Adventure Camp will be focusing on God the Father, the Creator of the universe. This year’s theme, “Have you Heard?”, is based on Isaiah 40:28, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”
You're Invited!
OBU & Oklahoma Baptists in Dallas!
RECEPTION
Tuesday, June 10, 2025 | 7 p.m.
AT&T Stadium, Arlington, TX
Join us for a special gathering in conjunction with the SBC annual meeting! This event welcomes:
• Oklahoma Baptists
• OBU alumni and friends
• Prospective students and families SPONSORS
While this year’s gathering will be lighter on food, it will be rich in experience. Join us to connect with the OK Baptists community, learn more about OBU, and take advantage of opportunities to tour AT&T Stadium!
REGISTRATION REQUIRED
ACROSS
1 “Ye shall not eat of them that __ the cud” (Deut. 14:7)
5 Commercials
8 Fluffy’s feet
12 Grocery section
13 Be “swift to hear, slow to __” (James 1:19)
15 Healing plant
16 High
17 Artist Matisse
18 Cast “all your __ upon him (1 Peter 5:7)
19 Boston team
WORDSEARCH
21 “Consider carefully what you __ to do” (Acts 5:35 niv)
23 He questioned why Jesus would 56 Down and 45 Across
25 Pain measure (Abbr.)
26 Kind of knife
29 Jesus, God’s __
31 “Can papyrus grow...where there is no __?” (Job 8:11 niv)
35 Riddle
37 Three persons, __ God
39 Cocoon dweller
40 Seer’s claim (Abbr.)
41 Wave riding
Note:
44 Weekday (Abbr.)
45 With 56 Down, how Jesus would serve in Upper Room
47 Bowels
48 “Eschew evil, and __” (1 Peter 3:11) (2 words)
50 Play a guitar
52 Land east of Eden
54 “Faith, if it hath not __, is dead” (James 2:17)
55 Vane dir. (Abbr.)
57 Jesus healed many at the __ of death
DOWN
1 Des Moines summer hour
2 He that has ears to __
3 Women’s magazine
4 Boar (2 words)
5 Summits
6 “Ye have made it a __ of thieves” (Luke 19:46)
7 Indian garment
8 Car race start (2 words)
9 Actor Alda
10 “Ye heard the __ of truth” (Eph. 1:13)
11 “__ then that ye walk circumspectly” (Eph. 5:15)
13 Ruined
14 Good Servant is this to others
20 Appears to be
22 Resurrection doubter, familiarly
24 House cover
26 Gripeshim away” (Matt. 27:2)
27 Genesis
28 Duster
30 “Nothing more to add” (Abbr.)
32 Good servant wouldn’t spread one
33 Frighten
34 Good servant’s natural tools
36 Summer mo. (Abbr.)
38 Omega
42 “I have not __ in vain” (Phil. 2:16)
59 Breath mint
62 Left over, like merchandise
65 Pocket bread
66 Crept, as Judas from Upper Room
68 Flow out slowly
70 “Mine eyes have __ thy salvation” (Luke 2:30)
71 Weighty
72 Urn
73 Salvation __
74 Court
75 Swirl
43 Choir robes
46 Italian region
49 Good servants do this for the lonely (3 wds.)
51 Denver winter hour (Abbr.)
53 “__ others” (2 words)
56 See 45 Across
58 Fingers after writing an epistle, maybe
59 Level
60 Detail
61 Ball of yarn
63 Good servant shuns __ behavior
64 Good servant does a good one
65 Helpful broadcast (Abbr.)
67 ET’s ride
69 Snoopy
WORDS
CAMP
CHILDREN
CONNECT
CROSS TIMBERS
EQUIPPED
FALLS CREEK
FOCUS GOSPEL
HEARD
HUNGER INTENTIONAL JESUS
LEAD
LEARN
LEVEL
LOCAL
LORD MINISTRY MISSIONS OFFERING PREACH PREPARING SESSION SERVE STUDENTS SUMMER VALUE WORLD WORSHIP YOUTH
CHAD COLEMAN
MINISTRY In Focus
State Director, Baptist Collegiate Ministries (BCM)
Oklahoma
Can you tell us about your call to ministry and where all you have served?
While I was in college, I felt a call to ministry. Growing up in a church where several people had been called into ministry, I initially avoided it. Although God had been speaking to me privately about ministry, I hadn’t discussed it much with anyone. One day, as I was entering our church’s worship center, a former Sunday School teacher stopped me and asked, “Chad, has God been speaking to you about something?” I replied yes but didn’t elaborate. He then asked, “Is God calling you into the ministry?” With great relief, I answered, “Yes!” After that, I began talking to people about the ministry and received many confirmations from friends and mentors.
I have served in youth ministry for eight years for three churches. Four of those years were in Cassville, Mo. I also served as the interim youth minister at the church I grew up in, Skelly Drive Baptist Church in Tulsa, for two years. I served as a bi-vocational pastor in Skiatook for four years before joining BCM.
In 2006, I started working with BCM at Tulsa Community College. In 2012, I moved to Edmond to become the BCM director at UCO. In January 2019, I became the Associate State BCM director. As of January 2025, I am the State Director for Oklahoma BCM.
Can you tell us about your family and church family?
I am married to Rachel Coleman, and we have two daughters, Brynlee (14) and Brooklyn (11). Rachel and I got married in 2008 in Broken Arrow. We are members of Moore, First, where Rachel serves as the Director of Kids Ministry. Brynlee is involved in the youth ministry, while Brooklyn is involved in the children’s ministry.
Please talk about the impact BCM has had on your life personally.
BCM (BSU) had a significant impact on me during my college years at Tulsa Community College (then Tulsa Junior College). I met Steve Lewis, the director of TJC BSU, who helped me get connected and involved. Through BCM, I learned more about discipleship. Steve took me on my first mission trip to Arlington, Texas, sparking my love for missions. I formed several lifelong friendships in BCM and met other students who were called to ministry, allowing us to serve together. BCM played a crucial role in further developing my call to ministry.
What A Difference A Church Makes
In September 2024, only one month after starting my new role as Director of Foster Care Ministries for Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children (OBHC), I attended the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) conference in Nashville with several of my colleagues.
The conference was truly inspiring, and the information gained helped shape the resource family ministry blueprint we are sharing with churches across the state who want to be known as a church that C.A.R.E.S.
A church that C.A.R.E.S. is a church who commits to welcoming kinship, foster and adoptive families, as well as grandparents, and meeting their needs, both spiritual and tangible. It is a church who shows appreciation for resource families and the child welfare and agency staff who serve them. It is a church who brings awareness of the need for foster family recruitment and the importance of retaining the ones already doing the work.
A church that C.A.R.E.S. equips their staff, teachers and volunteers, through trauma-informed training, to minister to the specific needs of children from hard places and families who have answered God’s call to foster and adopt. A church that C.A.R.E.S. encourages, prays for and supports resource families and the children they care for by showing and sharing the love of Christ through relief care and practical acts of service.
Why should your church consider becoming a church that C.A.R.E.S.? At CAFO, I attended a breakout session specifically for adult adoptees. While I am not an adult adoptee, I wanted to hear directly from them about their foster care journey. One panel member shared that as a child, she had been in more than 20 foster
homes and two adoptive homes before God placed her in her forever home. When asked what made the difference in that third adoptive placement, she said she was adopted by a Christian family whose church surrounded them and her with Christian love, kindness and every manner of support. She confirmed for me what God had already placed on my heart; the church can, should and has been called to make the difference.
Today in Oklahoma, there are just less than 6,000 children in care, many who need a foster home. We need foster families who are in it for the long haul, and those families need a church that is committed to walking hand-in-hand with them on that journey. Is God speaking to you about how you and your church can make the difference?
OBHC Foster Care Ministries seeks to engage and equip local churches as they minister to resource families in their congregation and community. We want to support the local church by partnering with local, state and national agencies as they come alongside those caring for vulnerable children and families.
If you would like to know more about becoming a church that C.A.R.E.S., reach out to us today at fostercare@obhc.org, and schedule an informational meeting. We would love to share our customizable ministry blueprint and pray with you as your church seeks God’s will and direction.
Gerald Peters
Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children Director of Foster Care Ministries
Join us throughout the year in praying for our missionaries, serving locally and around the world!
2025 MISSIONARY Prayer Guide
Who & Where Why How to Pray
Pray for Oklahoma youth as they experience community-building opportunities and unique camp experiences at Falls Creek in Davis, Okla. Individual campers participate in fun, team-building activities and personal spiritual disciplines, such as small-group Bible studies, in-cabin Bible studies, breakouts and community building within their group. These bonding interactions carry over as groups return home and can literally impact the church for months and years ahead.
Pray for campers who attend the Indian Falls Creek annual meeting. Every year, campers representing more than 50 Native American tribes and more than 250 churches gather at Falls Creek to participate in worship services, classes, and fun activities that are designed to engage people ages preschool to adult. The purpose of the event is to foster and promote Christian training, inspiration, fellowship, evangelism, and missionary zeal among the Indians in their Baptist church life.
CrossTimbers Children’s Mission Adventure Camp is a camp designed to reach and equip children to actively serve others with missional living. Missions education is one of the foundational elements of the camp. Throughout each session of camp, a high priority is placed on Scripture, worship, relationships with camp staff and church sponsors, and opportunities for kids and sponsors to sharpen their skills and prepare to consistently serve God after camp—and, of course, lots of fun activities.
Todd Fisher serves as the executive directortreasurer of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. He leads the ministries of Oklahoma Baptists and serves churches, pastors, staff and directors of missions/associational mission strategists of the many associations in Oklahoma. He enjoys serving the pastors of churches in Oklahoma and encouraging them in their calling to shepherd the local church. Todd and his wife, Jamy, have three children.
Please pray youth will gain a new understanding of Jesus this summer.
Pray their relationship with Him will be strengthened.
Please pray for unity, purpose, and action in the church through Falls Creek youth camp.
Pray many campers will receive a calling to reach out and serve in their home communities or into special ministry. Pray campers will better understand Christ’s work in their lives.
Pray campers will address the needs and concerns they find around them at home.
Pray God’s presence would be felt by each camper and staffer.
Pray for camp staff as they plan theme, curriculum, and fun activities.
Pray seeds would be planted in the hearts of campers that they might one day serve God through missions.
Pray for Todd as he continues to recover from the serious car accident he was involved in last summer.
Pray Todd would have wisdom and discernment as he serves churches and pastors and can manage the demands of his schedule.
Pray Todd will always rely on Jesus to empower and provide for him in every circumstance of life.
Falls Creek Camp
Indian Falls Creek
CrossTimbers Camp
Todd Fisher
CHRISTIANITY NO LONGER SHRINKING IN THE U.S.
by Aaron Earls, Lifeway Research
After decades of decline, U.S. Christianity has leveled off. Additionally, the religiously unaffiliated has reached a plateau, according to Pew Research.
In the new Religious Landscape Study (RLS) from Pew Research, the largest study of religious identification and practice in America, Christianity demonstrated stability, remaining slightly above 60% in recent years. Currently, 62% of Americans say they are Christian.
Most studies of U.S. religion had previously shown steady declines in Christianity that began in the late 90s and accelerated in the 2000s. The latest findings from those studies, including Pew Research, find the decline has at least slowed if not stopped completely. Since 2019, Christianity has hovered between 60% and 64%.
That recent steadiness comes after years of decline evident in the previous two Religious Landscape Studies. The 2007 RLS found more than 3 in 4 Americans (78%) identified as Christian. That fell to 71% in 2014 before hitting 62% now.
U.S. RELIGIOUS DEMOGRAPHICS
As Christianity’s slide has stopped, the growth of the religiously unaffiliated has also paused. Currently, the nones have hit a ceiling after years of regular growth. When asked their religious identity, around 3 in 10 Americans (29%) say they are atheists, agnostics, or “nothing in particular.”
The RLS confirms other studies that had indicated the rise of the nones is over. This new religious context could change how churches relate to those around them.
Protestants now account for 40% of the U.S. population, while 19% of Americans are Catholics. In 2007, 51% of the country was Protestant and 24% was Catholic. The drop in Protestants stopped around 2019, while Catholics have been stable since 2014.
But there are significant differences within Protestantism. Evangelical Protestants have only dropped three percentage points since 2007, from 26% of the U.S. population to 23% in the most recent RLS. Similarly, the percentage of historically Black Protestants fell from 7% to 5%.
Meanwhile, mainline Protestants dropped from 18% to 11%. This means most of the drop in Protestantism and almost half of the overall decline of Christianity stems from shrinking mainline Protestants.
Non-Christian religions continue to account for small percentages of the nation’s population, but their numbers are increasing. All other religions grew from 4.7% in 2007 to 7.1% today. The Jewish population has remained slightly less than 2% since 2007, but Muslims (0.4% to 1.2%), Buddhists (0.7% to 1.1%), Hindus (0.4% to 0.9%), and other religions (1.4% to 2.2%) have grown in the past two decades.
A SPIRITUAL NATION
Statistics show atheism is on the decline globally. Even in the U.S., few Americans could be considered strict secular materialists. Significant majorities hold to a spiritual or supernatural perspective.
More than 4 in 5 believe people have a soul or spirit in addition to a physical body (86%) and believe in a God or universal spirit (83%). Almost as many say there is something beyond the natural world (79%). Seven in 10 (70%) believe in an afterlife (heaven, hell, or both). In total, 92% of Americans believe one or more of those concepts.
Additionally, 59% of Americans feel a deep sense of wonder about the universe at least monthly. Most (56%) feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and wellbeing at least monthly. More than 2 in 5 (44%) say they feel the presence of something beyond this world at least monthly.
Americans are more likely to say they have grown more spiritual than less spiritual by an almost 4-to-1 margin (43% v. 11%), with 46% claiming no clear change in their spirituality.
A 2020 Lifeway Research study found more than 4 in 5 U.S. adults (85%) believe there is more to life than the physical world and society. Few disagree (9%) or are not sure (6%).
Much of this will be welcome news to church leaders. However, other aspects of the Religious Landscape Study serve as potential warning signs for the future. If you’re not already subscribed, sign up for Lifeway Research’s Insights newsletter to stay up-to-date as we explore this study more in the coming weeks.
Building Faith, Not Fortunes
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