A New Chapter: Northeast Fellowship Church Built on Unity, Steps of Faith

Church planting is not an easy task. It requires hard work, dedication and immovable faith that God will provide for the church. In 1959, Oklahoma City, Lone Star opened its doors for the first time and for the next six decades would meet weekly. Unfortunately, due to challenges, Lone Star was forced to shut their doors in 2021.

This is how the story of Oklahoma City, Northeast Fellowship began.

The remaining members of Lone Star believed God was not through with them, and they didn’t want to give up on their beloved fellowship. So, they committed themselves to finding a way that God could continue to use the building and continue to work in their community.

The members reached out to Harvey Sparks, who serves as pastor of Oklahoma City, Portland Avenue. Sparks had previously served as interim pastor at Lone Star.

“I remained connected with them over the years,” Sparks said. “I knew they were without a pastor. My thought was that I would hate to see that place go dark right when the city was reaching them.”

Sparks suggested they reach out to the North American Mission Board and utilize the building for a new work, a new church. Sparks approached Chris Gulley, pastor at Oklahoma City, Cherokee Hills because of the Pastoral Residency at the church.

In turn, they met with Stephen Brown, who was helping in their college ministry and a part of the Pastoral Residency program at the time.

“I remember Chris (Gulley) reaching out about this church plant opportunity at an old church called Lone Star,” said Brown. “I didn’t think I had the personality for it. When I think of a church planter, I didn’t think of myself.”

When Brown was first asked about the opportunity to plant a church at the former Lone Star, he committed to pray to see what the Lord would have for him and his family. After prayer, discussions with his wife Sabrina and speaking with close friends, it became abundantly clear that God was calling Brown to begin a new church in Northeast Oklahoma City.

“I knew as soon as I started praying that I would want to do it,” Brown said.

The process was long and arduous. But through it all, God continued to affirm the call to plant.

When the announcement was made to Cherokee Hills that they would be the sending church for a new church plant, Stephen Brown wasn’t sure if anyone would come alongside or even want to join, but the members of Cherokee Hills stepped up in a big and faithful way.

“I wasn’t sure if he was going to plant a church, but I did know that our pipeline that we have been developing was ultimately for the purpose of building into some men planting churches,” said Gulley. “I was challenged to put my ‘Yes’ on the table and send people (to Northeast Fellowship).”

Cherokee Hills ended up sending eight families, including Preston Norman to pastor alongside Stephen Brown, and a few single folks to help start this new church plant. With those committed individuals and the two original couples from Lone Star Baptist Church on March 17, 2024, the first service was held at the newly established Northeast Fellowship with a membership of 25 adults and 10 children.

The church has been active this past year. The identity of Northeast Fellowship is to be a church who “gathers to know Christ” and “goes to make Him known.”
These guiding principles impact all ministries, teachings and decisions. They’ve put on numerous community events and have had significant responses.

In their very first Back to School event, Northeast Fellowship was able to give away more than 300 backpacks to children and feed more than 400 people. They’ve also partnered with two schools, Britton Elementary and a homeschool group called Oaks Homeschool Co-Op. The church continues to serve the community with prayer walks, events, and meals. The church membership is growing.

They run 55-60 per Sunday and had 18 people attend the most recent New Members interest luncheon.

As the church celebrated its first full year of ministry in March, Brown said, “We are blessed by all the Lord is doing. Northeast Fellowship is growing, and we remain confident that the Lord will continue to use our church to reach our community and make Christ known!”

Reflecting on the journey that led up to this church plant, Sparks said, “At Portland Avenue, Kingdom growth is one of our core values, and church planting enables us to multiply our efforts in advancing God’s Kingdom. Through new congregations, the influence of the Gospel reaches beyond the limits of our individual church, impacting more lives for Christ. Since partnering with Northeast Fellowship, we have witnessed God’s hand at work in remarkable ways. First, it has been inspiring to see a small, dying church—Lone Star—catch a vision for reaching future generations by investing all that God has blessed them with into a new work. It was not an easy decision for them to shut their doors and give their assets to a new work, but they were willing to step out in faith for the sake of God’s glory.”

Sparks added, “We have seen how God providentially brought together various churches to help establish this new ministry. As a smaller church, we could not have done this alone, but through partnerships with Cherokee Hills, Surrey Hills, and the SEND Network, we have been able to be a part of something truly extraordinary. God receives all the glory for orchestrating it. We have seen God move within our own congregation.”

In faith, Brown stepped into church planting, a role he had never held before. Still, he remained faithful to the calling God had placed on his heart. Now, one year since their founding, Oklahoma City, Northeast Fellowship is thriving, built upon faithfulness to God and the unity of the Church.

On May 11, Northeast Fellowship honored mothers by having a special Mother’s Day service. During this, they also expressed interest in participating in mission trips in North America, South America and Africa. They plan to accomplish this through partnerships with other churches and missions ministries.

“All of us are partners with other churches around the world,” Brown said. “Every single one of your church members is also a church planter alongside you.”

Send Network Oklahoma is a ministry partnership that exists to plant healthy, multiplying churches throughout Oklahoma. For more information about the Send Network Oklahoma, visit oklahomabaptists.org/sendnetwork.