I want to thank all the local church leaders, especially our pastors, who are getting their annual reports in this week. It will only be a few days until we gather for our Annual Celebration of Mission and Ministry.
Annual Celebration of Mission and Ministry
May 31 – June 2
Tulsa Central Church of the Nazarene
NYI CONVENTION – Sunday, May 31, 3:00 – 5:00 pm
GREAT COMMISSION RALLY- Sunday, May 31, 6:00 pm.
NMI CONVENTION – Monday, June 1, 8:30 am.
DISTRICT ASSEMBLY –
- Monday, June 1, 7:00 pm. This service will include exciting reports about how God is working through our three NewStarts of 2008-09. General Superintendent Nina Gunter will challenge us with a fresh look at the mission of the Church of the Nazarene.
- Tuesday, June 2, 8:30 am. Dr. Nina Gunter, presiding and preaching. Report of our District Superintendent, Dave McKellips. Zone Cluster meetings where pastors will share accomplishments in 2008-09 and mission action plans for year ahead. Report of SNU President Loren Greshem. Brief but important business will also be conducted.
- Tuesday, June 2, 7:00pm, Ordination Service. All those receiving their District license for the first time will be recognized. Those retiring will be honored. Dr. Nina Gunter will preach and we anticipate four pastors being ordained.
Many of the churches in NEO had an outstanding April statistically. Below are churches that led the way in numerical growth over last years stats:
NEO TOP LEADERS FOR APRIL
Sunday School/Discipleship
Family +138
Broken Arrow +79
Regency Park +61
Owasso Silver Creek +41
Muskogee First +37
Fuente de Vida +30
Drumright +23
Wagoner +21
Sand Springs +19
Bristow +15
AM WORSHIP
BA Connection +132
Broken Arrow +68
Glenpool SoCo +68
Regency Park +37
Muskogee First +36
Claremore +31
Fuente de Vida +30
Owasso Silver Creek +24
Bristow +23
Sand Springs +23
When asked what they are celebrating this month, pastors wrote:
I WANT TO CELEBRATE…
Don Nichols, Tahlequah…We want to celebrate Native American Camp Meeting. We partnered with 4 local churches to hold Native American Camp Meeting. We have experienced a great sense of community. The Corporate church is alive and well in Tahlequah, OK. God has visited our services and we have experienced Camp Meeting. People have been saved, friendships renewed and a Powerful sense of Community has developed.
Jeff Wooten, Wagoner…As most know our name has changed and is awaiting the assembly approval from Wagoner Church of the Nazarene to Cornerstone Community Church of the Nazarene. We now have an associate pastor and another young man that has just been locally licensed. We have 8 adults and 4 youth now helping in our growing children’s church program, and 3 more adults added for Wednesday night. We have had to add more people or the nursery because we can have up to 7 babies in there, another one just born, and another one will be here soon. I have been a part of and have been the pastor of growing churches, but I believe that we are doing it right. Steady and consistently. We actually had 15 signed up for the “HUGE” training day. Only 11 made it, but that has been unheard of in the past. God is healing marriages, touching hearts, blessing those who are ill, bringing em’ in, and finally going to ordain their pastor. Prayer requests: Good days come with good battles. Unspoken requests: Ball family, Long family, and Fontenot family. Spoken requests: Matt Wooten age 17 has two huge kidney stones, new baby “Ryland” mom is 44years old, Pat Keyes back surgery on the 28th, and Alan Robertson begins 44 days of radiation for prostate cancer on the 27th.
Jim Kent, Tulsa Southwest… receiving 5 more new members by profession of faith for a total of 14 new Nazarenes this year. I also want to celebrate a fantastic Easter service; the spirit of God was so evident. Many said it was the best Easter service we’ve ever had.
Don Cowan, Sapulpa… The baptism of 4 believers. An encouraging pastoral review and commitment to a bright future.
Gordon Smith, Dewey…We are assembling our first ever, in the history of our church, a missions trip. We are going to the Dominican Republic, and has provided above and beyond the money that we need for the trip. We had a fund raiser selling Indian Taco’s to the community, and many other fund raisers that have exceeded our expectations. We are looking forward to what God is going to do, and we are thankful for what he has already done! We had a tremendous Maundy Thursday Service that we call “In the Valley of the Shadows”. It was a very intimate, meditative, and moving service that greatly prepared our hearts for Easter! It was truly a beautiful service! We had a men’s camping retreat on the farm of one of our members, and the men just had a refreshing time of fellowship.
John Whitsett, Tulsa Central… Great services every Sunday of the month, plus during Holy Week as well. Visitor flow seems to be picking up (which is what we were hoping for with our invite3 emphasis), and it appears we’ll be able to close year with all denominational assessments met w/out tapping any emergency or contingency funds. I know I keep saying this, but I really feel we are about to turn a corner to where the sense of God’s presence with us is going to be more obvious and apparent instead of being somewhat behind-the-scenes.
David Stevens, Vinita… I thank God for all His blessings! He has been with us and helped us through difficult times in the past year. Budgets are paid. The spirit and attitude of the people of Vinita Nazarene is great. Our children’s ministries and teen ministries have grown and become more effective in the past year. The Sunrise Service on Easter helped our attendance be a little higher.
JJ James, Claremore…God moved in a powerful way in our revival services with Dr. Chic Shaver. In fact, people have been standing up and testifying in every service since the revival. In the past several weeks we have heard over 20 testimonies of how God has changed lives. One of those is from a man who was an atheist. He attended our church for two months just to explore the claims of Christianity. He was saved during revival. There is another couple who were jobless, homeless, and without a car. We helped them find a home, job, and car. They came to my office a couple of days after revival. They asked Jesus into there heart and decided they wanted to start there walk with the Lord right, so I married them that same day. We had another record attendance on Easter Sunday and six people were baptized. Then we had Jeff and Sheri Easter in concert the next Sunday PM with a record attendance of 450! God is sure blessing!
Angela Bentley, Bristow… I want to celebrate a wonderful Easter season. We had a beautiful Good Friday service and attendance at our Easter worship service was 98. There is a new sense of expectancy and anticipation of what God is doing in and through us. We are experiencing a spiritual renewal, there are visitors in almost every service, and an atmosphere of excitement and eagerness to serve has become absolutely contagious! God is so good and faithful!
Casey Hollingsworth, Miami New Life…Two ‘New Life’ baptisms and receiving 4 ‘New Lifers’ into membership.
Stephen Hundley, Cleveland… Averaging in the mid 40’s in our Community Groups. Seeing new families come and get involved in our groups. Deeper spiritual growth happening with many in our Community Groups! A sense of community.
Rodney Durr, Muskogee First… We received 17 new members this month, 15 of whom are new Nazarenes, bringing the total new members to 22 for the year, 20 of which are POF. Three new families started coming since Easter, and two of them have had their names added to the contribution record.
Wayde Normandin, Chelsea… We had a list of goals for our church this past year and we have accomplished most of them.
It is great to be a part of the NEO team! You are loved!
Dave McKellips
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