Conventional Thinking: Ending the nightmare
Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl, in his classic book Man’s Search for Meaning, tells in dramatic fashion of his deep suffering as a Nazi concentration camp prisoner. He recalls a specific time when he saw a fellow prisoner asleep and apparently having a terrible nightmare. Frankl went to wake the man but then decided not to, because, he thought, no nightmare could be worse than waking to the reality in which they lived. Today, across...
Mission: Oklahoma: State Missions Offering positioning Baptists to reach the state
Thousands of Oklahoma Baptists will soon take part in the 2017 Oklahoma State Missions Offering. The annual offering, promoted by the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO), is focused on one goal—advancing the Gospel in the state. The Oklahoma State Missions Offering theme is “Mission: Oklahoma.” BGCO Executive Director-Treasurer Anthony L. Jordan believes this theme shows how Oklahoma Baptists can accomplish the mission to...
BGCO leaders call for prayer on August 9 at 9:38 a.m. for evangelism
In an open letter recently sent to Oklahoma Baptist pastors and churches across the state, leaders with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO) called on Oklahoma Baptists to stop what they are doing on Wednesday, August 9 at 9:38 a.m. and specifically pray for evangelism in the state. The letter, which was co-signed by the BGCO’s Anthony Jordan, Bob Mayfield and Mike Napier, said, “Pastor, we know that evangelism beats...
Conventional Thinking: Transgender takeaways
Last year, through a series of headlines that included Bruce/Caitlyn Jenner and an Obama Administration transgender bathroom decree for public schools and Target Corporation’s bathroom policy changes, Americans became much more familiar with the transgender issue. For many people, the sudden rise of the transgender issue—that is to say, biological males and females who identify as the opposite sex or “another gender”—came as a shock....
From transgender to transformed: Perry’s prodigal return answers mother’s prayers
BARTLESVILLE—As Francine and Laura Perry, a mother and grown daughter, recently sat down to look at a family photos, they can reflect on the good times. They also can see how God was at work, especially through the difficult times, and there were many of those. On the heels of rebellious teenage years, Laura lived as a transgender man for nearly a decade of her adult life. Other than her family and select friends, though, most people...
