Called at the Creek: Appleby Society unites people God ‘called’ at Falls Creek
DAVIS—Many have received a call to ministry at an encampment in the Arbuckle Mountains called Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center. But many may not know who was the very first person to answer the call to ministry at Falls Creek. In 1917, the first summer of Falls Creek, Rosalee Mills Appleby attended as a camper. That summer, she gave her life to Christ and accepted a call to a lifetime of ministry. Rosalee later attended Oklahoma...
Shine: A call to revitalize evangelism in our convention
Recently, the North American Mission Board (NAMB) publicly announced that 29 percent of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) churches reported no baptisms, and 47 percent reported two or less. In the SBC 2017 book of reports, NAMB reported that baptisms had fallen to 295,000 in 2016, which is the first time the convention reported less than 300,000 baptisms in decades. These statistics and trends over the last two decades have raised...
Gospel on the go: Summer evangelism team shares the ‘Good News’ throughout Oklahoma
The Highway and Lanes Summer Evangelism Project is spreading the Gospel across Oklahoma through the work of the Lord using three college students. The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO) and Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU) joined forces to mobilize and mentor college students in personal evangelism while reaching Oklahomans with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. OBU students Cody Tooley, Erica Reed and Graeson Griffin make up...
BGCO music camps train current & future worship leaders
SHAWNEE—Resonate is a worship arts camp designed for high school students. Resound is designed for middle school students, and making its debut this summer, KidFest allows 4th-6th graders to join in the fun of learning how to worship through music and arts. All three camps drew more than 350 students and leaders combined at Oklahoma Baptist University (OBU). From June 27-July 1, Resonate campers were involved in sessions of choir,...
Partnership missions: An open window to Latvia
Mission partnership opportunities continue with the Latvian Baptist Union (LBU) through a third vision trip in May with the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO) that was led by Mike Hand, BGCO partnership & volunteer missions strategist. “We are about 14 months into the partnership, so we are still in the early stages, but we are beginning to see more and more Oklahoma Baptists saying (they) want to have a part in it,”...
Why train Sunday School leaders?
“Why should we train our Sunday School teachers?” was the question raised at a recent meeting. According to 15 years of research by Tim Smith of the Georgia Sunday School/Open Group team, the training of a church’s Sunday School and small group leaders is one of the five most important actions that are conducive to a church’s growth and spiritual health. In most of those 15 years, it has been the top indicator of growth for a church...
