2023/August

Connect: Lostness & Brokeness

Page 3

Rite of Passage: Grandparents are the downfall of America

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Falls Creek Spiritual Decisions

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MESSENGER STAFF

>> Brian Hobbs | Editor bhobbs@baptistmessenger.com

>> Chris Doyle | Managing Editor cdoyle@baptistmessenger.com

>> Lori Coats | Subscriptions/Assistant lcoats@baptistmessenger.com

>> Kali Daniells | Art Director kdaniells@baptistmessenger.com

The Baptist Messenger (ISSN 0744-9518) is published monthly by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, 3800 N. May, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73112-6506. Periodicals postage paid at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Circulation last issue: 36,924. Individual subscriptions are available upon request. When writing for a change of address or a subscription renewal, please include a copy of your mailing label. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Baptist Messenger, 3800 N. May, Oklahoma City, OK 73112-6506.

While the Baptist Messenger attempts to provide advertisers of integrity who furnish quality products, it is recommended that buyers be cautious, do research and get references to any advertiser with which they are not familiar. Publication of an advertisement in the Baptist Messenger does not constitute an endorsement of the products, services or businesses.

Member, Baptist Press News, Christian Newspaper Association, Evangelical Press Association, Oklahoma Press Association.

Connect: Lostness & brokenness

In Oklahoma, we see lostness and brokenness all around us. We see the same around the world, with countless people who have never heard the Good News of Jesus.

As International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood recently stated, “The world’s greatest problem is lostness.” The challenge to advance the Gospel in our state and world today can seem like an insurmountable task that could leave a lone individual or a single church feeling overwhelmed.

Thankfully, Oklahoma Baptists believe that we can do more for the Kingdom of God together than we can apart. Advancing the Gospel and fulfilling the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) is the major reason Baptists historically agreed to cooperatively work and give together in the first place and is still the major reason why we partner together today.

As His followers, Jesus has given us the command to “go.” We are called to take the Gospel across the street and around the world, bringing the hope and peace that only Jesus can bring (Acts 1:8).

Thanks to your generous gifts through the Edna McMillan Oklahoma State Missions Offering, we are making a Gospel impact in key areas, including disaster relief, encouraging multi-vocational pastors, global missions and more. The goal for this year’s State Missions Offering is $1.2 million. These funds help us address the world’s greatest problem and do so much to fuel mission and ministry in our state.

I want to invite you to join my wife, Jamy, and me in giving to the Oklahoma State Missions Offering. Together, through the cooperative generosity of our churches, we can reach our State Missions Offering goal and meet the challenges of lostness and brokenness in our state and beyond.

Together, we will take the Good News to our neighbors across the street and to people in need around the world for His glory.

Serving Jesus with You,

Todd Fisher Oklahoma Baptists Executive Director-Treasurer

Sword & Trowel

A winter of despair, a spring of hope

New statistics from the well-known survey, “Monitoring the Future,” reveal alarming trends among today’s students.

“Marijuana and hallucinogen use in the past year reported by young adults 19 to 30 years old increased significantly in 2021 compared to five and 10 years ago, reaching historic highs.”

A massive uptick in depressive symptoms in U.S. students in the 8th, 10th and 12th grades were reported, as up to half of students agreed with statements like “My life is not useful” and “I do not enjoy life.”

To borrow from Charles Dickens famous words, today’s young people are living in “the best of times, the worst of times.” As Dickens said, “it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness… it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”

Today’s social scientists seem baffled why young people today are living in such a winter of despair, yet Christians recognize that a variety of factors have come together to conspire against today’s youth.

The sexual ideologies of today are warping their views and morals. Technology and an overabundance of screen time is luring them away from doing productive things with their time. And the church, by and large, has failed to reach this new generation with the ultimate cure for despair: namely the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

All of this adds up to a hopelessness that has manifested in today’s generation of young people. Amid these challenges, there is some encouraging news.

According to Barna research, as quoted by ministry leader Richard Ross, “‘Today’s teens are in a state of amplified spiritual openness, with nearly three in four (74 percent) qualifying as moderately or highly open.’ If you told that fact to your student group, would that give them more confidence to have Gospel conversations?”

What Ross is suggesting is that the church become even more bold in sharing the Gospel with young people. After all, the Good News really is that: good news.

It is truly remarkable how the Lord poured out his blessings at Falls Creek and CrossTimbers this summer, with thousands of spiritual decisions. We are blessed to have so many places here in Oklahoma where students will hear the hope of the Gospel.

The Bible says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3).

Notice we have a living hope, not a passive or idle hope. If we are to see a societal turnaround for this new generation, we must better proclaim the hope of Jesus Christ. This message alone is what can turn this winter of despair among today’s young people into a spring of hope.

Brian Hobbs Editor of the Baptist Messenger

Upcoming Events

AUGUST 25-26

Leading Well— Women’s Ministry Leadership Retreat at Pawhuska oklahomabaptists.org/ women

AUGUST 26

The Call Conference at OBU oklahomabaptists.org/ youth/evangelism/ the-call-conference

SEPT 3-10

Week of Prayer: Edna McMillan State Missions Offering oklahomabaptists.org/ smo

SEPT 8-9

Singing ChurchWomen Retreat at OKC, Southern Hills

SEPT 9

Girls Conference at Edmond, Henderson Hills

SEPT 12

Oklahoma Baptists Board of Directors Meeting at Falls Creek

SEPT 18-19

Singing Churchmen Retreat at OBU

SEPT 29-30

Ministry Wives Weekend at Moore, First FOR

FEATURED RESOURCES:

LEADING

Engaging with Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Children

Read what OBHC President James Swain has learned in his early days serving in his new role.

oklahomabaptists.com/category/feeding-and-leading/

LEADING

30: Elders

Jeremy Freeman, Nick

Atyia and Brent Prentice join Todd and Andy to talk about church governance.

Revision…Revitalize…Ministry to Aging

Adults

Make sure not to overlook a valuable group of God’s people. oklahomabaptists.com/category/feeding-and-leading/

Grandparents are the downfall of America Rite of Passage

EDITOR’S NOTE: Longtime Baptist Messenger columnist Walker Moore passed away on June 26. The Messenger will honor Walker and continue to publish his columns from the archives. The following is the first column Walker submitted to the Messenger in 1998.

Grandparents are the downfall of America! Now wait a minute before you get out your pen and paper and write a letter to the editor. Let me explain.

It takes two things to raise a child. It takes law and grace. Parents are law. If you are a parent, that’s your job. As parents we do a fantastic job of giving out the law. When our children come home from school, often the first words out of our mouths are law: “Do your homework!” “Clean up your room!”

We are the lawgivers. Make no mistake about it, that is one of our main tasks. But children need a balancing force in their lives, and that is grace.

Historically, grandparents have been the grace-givers. Remember the TV show “The Waltons?” The dad routinely would come down hard on John Boy, and in the next scene you would see John Boy out on the front porch crying his eyes out.

Next, the door opens and out walks Grandpa to put his arms around the child while he reassures him that he is a person of worth and value.

Ninety-five percent of all homes at the turn of the 20th century had grandparents living in the home, and the grandparents did two very valuable things. They provided on-the-job training on how to parent and provided grace to their grandchildren.

Now grandma and grandpa have sold the farm and bought a recreation vehicle and are on their way to Florida or Branson, Mo. Today most homes only have law, and grace is gone. Today, children go to school and hear law, law, law, then come home and hear the same thing again.

It has been shown over and over that people who live under only law... rebel. Who provides grace for this generation? Who provides needed grace for your children?

Almost 15 years ago we asked two senior adults in our church to be “adopted” grandparents for our family. They celebrate birthdays, attend basketball games, give a listening ear and provide grace to our children.

If you don’t have a “grace-giver” for your children, run to the nearest senior adult and adopt one. Most likely their own grandchildren live hundreds of miles away from them.

Grandparents have left…so we bought Dr. Benjamin Spock, and our children are falling to pieces. Bring back the grandparents!

Walker Moore

Belated Author & Messenger Columnist

By Chris Doyle, Managing Editor

A sponsor and four boys gathered under a pergola to learn about a people group. They read the facts and statistics of the country where the group is located and found out that many in the country do not know about Jesus or His Gospel.

The sponsor helped the boys understand how important mission work is needed, not only in this particular country, but in numerous countries around the world. They prayed for the people group before going on to another pergola.

Scenes like this happened often this summer, as campers, sponsors and guests visited the new interactive Missions Trail at Falls Creek Conference Center, near Davis in the Arbuckle Mountains.

The Missions Trail officially opened May 10 with a special dedication ceremony. Erin’s Hope Foundation, the International Mission Board (IMB) and Oklahoma Baptists worked together “to create an interactive prayer walk experience which encourages people to learn about, pray for and consider their calling to missions.”

IMB writer Sue Sprenkle reported on the dedication ceremony and shared what representatives of the three contributing groups said about the importance of the Missions Trail.

Chris Swezey spoke how the trail means a lot to his family. He represented Erin’s Hope Foundation, which honors his sister, Erin, who passed away after she was struck by a drunk driver in 2009.

Erin’s mother Dixie gave details at the dedication ceremony about Erin’s different camp experiences, including going as a young girl to the former Camp Nunny Cha-Ha, as well as when Erin was a seventh grader at Falls Creek, as she led someone to faith in Christ.

Months before her passing, Erin wrote in her journal, “My Message to the World,” and penned how she wanted everyone to know the happiness that comes from a life lived under Christ. Her message is now featured on the entrance sign to the Missions Trail in Erin’s handwriting.

“I feel like we’ve come full circle,” Dixie said. “What started with Erin as a 6-year-old seeking God at a children’s camp brought us right back to the same camp, praying the same thing happens for many more generations to come.”

Ed Herrelko, IMB vice-president of marketing and communications, shared at the dedication ceremony the significance of lostness in the world and how the Missions Trail helps visitors to think how they can impact lostness.

The Missions Trail has eight wooden pergolas spread across the shaded walk, which is located near Falls Creek’s Centennial Prayer Garden. Each pergola features information provided by the IMB about different regions of the world as well as prayer points for the trail visitors to consider.

“Our hope is that thousands of youth will start to think about how many people don’t know our Savior Jesus Christ or how many people don’t even have access to the Gospel,” Herrelko said. “Our prayer is for a passion to ignite in our youth, and they will start to think about the lost and how they can impact lostness.”

Todd Fisher, executive director-treasurer of Oklahoma Baptists, shared how the Missions Trail compliments Falls Creek’s impact over the past 106 years, as the encampment is the location where many people came to know Christ and many also were called to missions and ministry.

“This trail brings a richness to this area of the camp,” Fisher said.

And so many this summer experienced the richness that the Missions Trail brings.

“It’s a beautiful location,” said Joshua Brison from Verdigris, First. “It’s peaceful and calm. It’s easy to get connected here, plus it’s beautiful the way it has been built. I love the structures. The trail definitely brings out the mission emphasis.”

Cathryn Lewis, also from Verdigris, First, said she always would seek out the missions emphasis during Falls Creek’s summer youth weeks and believes the Missions Trail is an excellent addition to the campground.

“I definitely like the prayer walk design,” she said. “I’ve always enjoyed the way Falls Creek has promoted mission work whether it’s with a missions village or other exhibits. Seeing this offers a quiet place to reflect and be in your own thoughts, getting into that missions mindset. You’re reading about the people groups at the different stations, and God may be calling someone to serve in one of these places. I can definitely see how (the Missions Trail) could help somebody who is considering serving in missions.”

Mike Wolff served as a sponsor with Oklahoma City, Quail Springs and enjoyed walking through the Missions Trail when he was at Falls Creek.

“I thought it was great, showing the different areas of the world and talking about where God is working through different missionaries,” he said. “It was neat to be able to pray for those who are on the field leading people to Christ. It encouraged me to read how God is working all over the world, and it challenged me that we need to support and pray for these missionaries.”

This is a sample of what happened during the inaugural year of the Missions Trail at Falls Creek. A sponsor led a group of boys through the trail and opened their eyes to see the lostness in the world. Others also were informed and encouraged to pray for people groups and missionaries. Some even committed to serve on the mission field.

And more will venture on the Missions Trail and have similar results in the years to come.

Dixey Swezey, center left, connects with friends and family at the Missions Trail dedication ceremony.

Cathryn Lewis and Joshua Brison read the entrance sign of the Missions Trail which features a message from Erin Swezey

Erin Swezey was killed by a drunk driver in 2009. Her family created the Erin’s Hope Foundation which funded the Missions Trail at Falls Creek.

Pastor’s Page

Encouraging thoughts on pastoral ministry

Pastoral ministry is hard. It’s even harder in an age of constant information, bitter divisions and high expectations. Pastors are pulled in the direction of various controversies, passions and conflicts. As a pastor myself, I want to offer five thoughts to en courage pastors.

1. Keep the Gospel central. Not every issue is your responsibility. You are tasked with keeping the specific message of the Gospel clear and central in the life of the church. You cannot let the pressing problems of today diminish this priority.

God will not judge us as pastors based on our ability to absorb and retain all the circulating information. He will call us to give an account regarding the Gospel’s priority in our own local churches. Don’t let your people elevate the implications of the Gospel over the Gospel itself.

2. Evangelism is our calling. Pastors don’t have to be involved in every ‘world-shattering’ moment or issue. Though many will claim that what they do is advancing the Kingdom of God, there is only one way that true advancement happens–evangelism.

I may not know much about this ideology or that theory, but I do know the Gospel. I believe that it is the solution to all of life’s problems. Our calling is to make disciples of Christ. That only happens through God’s people sharing the Gospel.

3. Everything is temporary. “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9). The older we get the more this verse proves its truthfulness. The things we fight today will be vapor tomorrow. Only one thing will last, and it isn’t our political affiliation, celebrity pastors or government indoctrination. The only thing that will last is the Gospel of Christ and its effect upon the human soul.

It can be tempting to get caught up in the heat of the moment. But every moment fades. Pastors must stay the course in the unchanging call of the ministry. Don’t let the waves of arguments toss you about.

4. Your people need sanctification. Pastors must have eternity in focus. They must remember that

spiritual growth matters most. We can be so embroiled in controversy that not only will evangelism suffer, but our own spiritual growth will be stunted.

Your people don’t need you to play into their fears and worries. Your people need to be sanctified. They need to be urged and, at times, pushed toward Christ. Sometimes that requires sacrificing popularity and likability. Pastoring can be a lonely calling, but it is the spiritual growth of His people that God will be most pleased with.

5. Your people need your leadership. The very fact that the office of pastor exists means that people need to be led. If they are not led, they will wander. If they have wandered, even collectively, they need to be guided back to better pastures. Therefore, they need the humble and bold leadership of a pastor to keep them on the right track. Sometimes, the Bride must be called back to the Bridegroom. And God’s pastors are the men to issue that call.

Pastoring is a unique calling. None of us can do it on our own. We are to teach about a God we cannot fully understand. We are to instruct in matters that are too complex. We are to teach on mysteries beyond our knowledge. We don’t deal in concrete experiences. We deal in terms of faith. But it is our calling, and God will sustain us to the end if we only keep our eyes on what matters.

Skylar Spradlin Pastor, Weatherford, Trinity

Theology, ministry leadership & more

Oklahoma Baptists,

Giving through the Cooperative Program is the one thing we can all do that impacts everything we do as Southern Baptists. As I travel across our state preaching in churches, I have the opportunity to see firsthand the impact Cooperative Program dollars have in advancing the Gospel. When we give together, the Gospel is proclaimed in our neighborhoods and cities, our state and around the world.

I praise God for the generous gifts of Oklahoma Baptists. Through your church’s faithful Cooperative Program giving, we are able to take the hope of the Gospel to a broken world. Each church can have global reach through our shared Cooperative Program ministries. The hands and feet of Christ become real to people all over the world because we unite together in funding missions and ministry in a way a single church could never do alone.

When we give together, the Gospel is proclaimed, hope is brought to the hopeless, relief is provided to the disaster-stricken, churches are revitalized, new churches are planted and training is provided to the next generation of ministers and missionaries.

January Through June 2023

T he following report is provided so we can celebrate what God is doing among Oklahoma Baptists. Let’s pray together that, as Oklahoma Baptists, we continue to give to advance the Kingdom through shared ministry to change people’s lives and eternities.

“For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others” (2 Corinthians 9:12-13 ESV).

Sincerely in Christ,

Dr. Todd Fisher Executive Director-Treasurer Oklahoma Baptists

-0.61%

Comparison of CP Giving January through June 2023 Under 2022 $74,041

2023 $12,133,683 2022 $12,207,724

CHEYENNE-ARAPAHO

GIVING REPORT January Through June 2023

GIVING REPORT January Through June 2023

GIVING REPORT

January Through June 2023

FORK HILLABEE $0.00 $0.00

CROMWELL, LITTLE QUARSARTY $0.00 $0.00

EUFAULA, ARTUSSEE $0.00 $0.00

EUFAULA, LITTLE COWETA INDIAN $0.00 $0.00

EUFAULA, NEW ARBOR INDIAN $0.00 $0.00

EUFAULA, OKFUSKEE $0.00 $0.00

EUFAULA, TUSKEGEE $0.00 $0.00

EUFAULA, WEST EUFAULA INDIAN $0.00 $0.00

HANNA, WEOGUFKEE $275.00 $165.00

HENRYETTA, SILVER SPRING $1,196.25 $1,406.93

KONAWA, BETHLEHEM $0.00 $0.00

LAMAR, MIDDLE CREEK #1 $0.00 $0.00

MUSKOGEE, BUTLER CREEK $0.00 $0.00

OKEMAH, ALL NATIONS $0.00

GIVING REPORT

January Through June 2023

GIVING REPORT January Through June 2023

GIVING REPORT January Through June 2023

Crossword / Word Search

41 “___ verily, their sound went into all the earth” (Rom. 10:18)

42 “A Continual ___ given him of the king of Babylon” (Jer. 52:34)

43 “___ from Tiberias” (John 6:23)

44 Israel’s “treacherous sister” (Jer. 3:7)

45 “Thou hast played the ___ with many lovers” (Jer. 3:1)

46 Jeremiah’s listeners were this (Jer. 5:22) (var.)

49 “___ therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jer. 6:16)

50 Baseball player Yogi

51 “Before thou camest forth out of the ___ I sanctified thee” (Jer. 1:5)

52 “As ___ as ye drink” (1 Cor. 11:25)

55 Brew

56 “The best of them is as a ___” (Mic.

7:4)

59 Iron ore used as pigment

61 What God gives

62 Shoe fasteners

63 Adios

64 “Thy words were found, and I did ___ them” (Jer. 15:16)

65 “Brought us up out of the land of ___” (Jer. 2:6)

66 “The dove found no rest for the ___ of her foot” (Gen. 8:9)

22 Wing

24 Can

25 Sound of camel hoof drop 26 “___ thy people, the remnant of Israel” (Jer. 31:7)

27 “We are left but ___ ___of many” (Jer. 42:2) (2 wds.)

28 Good at crafts

29 “Jeremiah sunk in the ___”(Jer. 38:6)

30 Breastplate (var.)

31 “The heart of the wicked is little ___” (Prov. 10:20)

34 Judah burned incense to this god (Jer. 7:9)

35 Upon

36 “As far as the east is from the ___” (Ps. 103:12)

38 Ocean movement

39 “Oh that my ___ were waters” (Jer. 9:1)

40 Wine bottle cap

42 “Riches and honour are with me; yea, ___ riches and righteousness” (Prov. 8:18)

43 Pacific Ocean discoverer

44 What Mary may have carried ointment in (John 12:3)

45 Brother of Shem and Japheth (Gen. 5:32)

46 What the flood would do after 150 days (Gen. 8:3)

47 Slang for man

48 Build an altar, e.g.

49 “I will bring the ___ of the heathen” (Ezek. 7:24)

51 “My soul shall ___ in secret places” (Jer. 13:17)

ACROSS DOWN

1 Financial whiz (abbr.)

5 “Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a___”(Jer. 1:6)

10 Muscle group (abbr.)

13 What lay between Abraham’s bosom and the rich man in Luke 16:26

15 Creepy

16 ___ whiz!

17 God created this on the sixth day

18 Fish basket

19 “Their widows ___ increased to me above the sand of the seas” (Jer. 15:8)

20Jerusalem to Jeremiah’s hometown dir. (Jer.1:1)

21 “Cut off thine ___” (Jer. 7:29)

23 Colder

25 “___ unto me” (Jer. 33:3)

26 Pundits, e.g., Huldah, Nathan, and Agabus

28 Famous female pilot Earhart

31 Used by some churches for communion

32 Severity

33 “Set watchmen ___” (Jer. 6:17)

34 “They bend their tongues like their ___ for lies” (Jer. 9:3)

37 Stumble

38 “All Israel. . .___ down the high places” (2 Chron. 31:1)

40 “Thou hast bought me no sweet ___ with money” (Isa. 43:24)

1 What God does over His children’s sorrow

2 Where Jeremiah’s beard grew

3 Garment Elijah threw on Elisha (1 Kings

19:19)

4 Baking measure (abbr.)

5 ___ B. DeMille, movie director

6 German husband

7 Sin stirs this in God

8 “We ___ down in our shame” (Jer. 3:25)

9 “I am with thee, saith the LORD, to ___ thee” (Jer. 1:19)

10 “Return ___ to me” (Jer. 3:1)

11 Flat hat

12 People like Jeremiah

14 Angora hair fabric

52 Buckeye State

53 “Shall ___ no evil thing” (Eccl. 8:5)

54 “The LORD is the ___ God” (Jer.

10:10)

57 Scrap

58 Arctic condition

60 Discs

July Answers

World

Note: The word clues for the Word Search are chosen by the Messenger staff, while the puzzles and letters surrounding the clues are computer-generated at random.

Falls Creek celebrates

‘Nurse Jan’

OKC,

South Lindsay celebrates baptisms

Oklahoma City, South Lindsay observed Baptism Sunday on July 9. The church has baptized more than 10 in recent months.

Pictured are Pastor Mike Price, center, with members of the Salazar-Orquiz family. This family had six members observe believers baptism.

CHURCH STAFF CHANGES

TOM KENNEDY resigned as pastor of Gracemont, First.

TRIBUTES

Stephen Timmons

Jan Glenn served 41 years at Falls Creek with the First Aid Station, with the last 17 years as administrator. She announced her retirement, and Falls Creek staff members and other Okahoma Baptists celebrated ‘Nurse Jan’ with a reception during the final week of youth camp. An article about ‘Nurse Jan’ is featured in the July 26 digital edition of the Baptist Messenger

Meet Tee

Stephen Timmons, 62, died June 27 in New Mexico. Funeral service was July 1 at Silver City, N.M., First. Born in Norman, he served many years in college ministry. He recently served with the Baptist Convention of New Mexico in collegiate ministry at Western New Mexico University.

Jim White

Jim White, 86, died July 9. Funeral service was July 15 at Oklahoma City, Capitol Hill. He served 31 years as pastor of Capitol Hill. He also was associate pastor at Oklahoma City, Trinity and was pastor of Stroud, First.

Oklahoma Baptists News

Tee Uzoigwe takes on role in evangelism, apologetics for Oklahoma Baptists

In July, Oklahoma Baptists Executive Director-Treasurer Todd Fisher announced Tarvoris “Tee” Uzoigwe as the new evangelism/apologetics ministry partner for the state convention.

“Last November in our annual meeting, I promised our churches that we would return to having someone full-time on our team at Oklahoma Baptists helping churches with evangelism and apologetics training,” Fisher said. “I am frequently asked by pastors for help in these areas, and I am excited to have Tee on board to help us better serve the churches in our state.

“I am delighted that after a long and thorough search,” Fisher continued, “God has led us to Tee to help us maintain that focus. Oklahoma Baptists will love Tee’s commitment to the Word of God and passion for personal evangelism.”

Tarvoris is better known as “Tee” or “Coach Tee.” He grew up in Little Rock and was an All-America basketball player at Henderson State. He coached high school sports until God called him to the ministry.

He is a graduate of Southwestern Seminary and worked for the Arkansas Baptist State Convention for seven years as the Baptist

Collegiate Ministries director at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff. Most recently he served as the outreach and young adult minister at Jonesboro, Ga., First prior to joining Oklahoma Baptists.

A sought-after speaker, Tee also has a popular YouTube Channel to help anyone learn simple and effective ways to engage lost people.

Tee is available to preach in Oklahoma Baptist churches and conduct training events in the areas of evangelism and apologetics. To contact him, email tee@oklahomabaptists.org or call the Baptist Building at 405/942-3800.

Todd Fisher introduces ‘Coach Tee’ during a video announcement as the new evangelism/apologetics ministry partner for Oklahoma Baptists.

In Focus:Duncan Blackwell

Duncan Blackwell was called to serve as pastor of Elk City, First on April 24, 2022. Before that, he was pastor of Anadarko, Bethel for four years.

Blackwell remembers the first time he delivered a sermon. Pastor Tim Emmons gave him the opportunity at Prague, First, the church where Blackwell was “saved, called and licensed.” He said he “immediately felt right at home” when he stood in the pulpit.

He was asked about the churches where he has served and how they have made an impact in their respective communities. Blackwell said the common denominator with all the churches is God’s Word.

“I would like to say that we have employed some unique strategy or program,” he said. “In reality, our ministry team just tries to lean on God’s Word, and we pray for the Holy Spirit to apply it appropriately.”

Elk City, First has witnessed 40 baptisms in the past year. Blackwell said the congregation has been obedient to the Lord by advancing the Gospel and discipling people. He has seen evident spiritual growth throughout the church.

“To see a life, which has been largely unmarked by the fruit of the Spirit, gradually fall under the direction of the hand of God is like rain on the horizon of western Oklahoma—refreshing!” he said.

Blackwell commended how Elk City, First faithfully supports Cooperative Program giving. He said the church believes “the Cooperative Program is a vital piece of Christ’s vision for His church.”

“Through the Cooperative Program, every local church, regardless of attendance, staff size or location in the community has the opportunity to expand their Gospel ministry.”

Deaf Peoples

The Deaf are some of the least evangelized people on earth.

James Brown

He serves as Baptist Collegiate Ministry director at Langston University.

Miles Harris

He serves as Baptist Collegiate Ministry director at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.

Kyle Thomas

He serves as Baptist Collegiate Ministry director at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Pray for Oklahoma Missionaries: