Walter Wilson owns seven complete sets of mid-size railroad steam engine train sets, including the Polar Express, Sky Chief diesel and a Russian set he got at auction.

The trains are a way Wilson has of letting off steam from his busy life as pastor of Lawton, Friendship and as African American ministry partner with Oklahoma Baptists. In his second role, he serves as liaison between the 62 Black churches among state convention’s 1,750 churches.

Wilson hosts a monthly Zoom call with pastors, counsels regularly with other pastors as well as his own congregation and its ministers—each of whom contacts the people on his or her list, to make sure no one in the congregation is neglected. Recently, Wilson hosted a six-week Zoom class titled Dealing with the New Norm in the Black Church.

“We have 62 black churches in our convention,” Wilson said. “When I did the training, 51 were online for the entire six weeks of training. It was very successful.

“Most of those guys have never dealt with something like the pandemic we had,” Wilson continued. “A third of them have never done anything live, online. It can be challenging.”

One of Wilson’s assignments involves bridging the gap between churches.

“Every culture has its own way of doing things,” Wilson said. “We’re all God’s children. There’s only going to be one heaven.

“I love to see churches working together,” Wilson said. “For 35 years that’s been one of the things driving me.”

Because of the generous giving of Oklahoma Baptists through the Cooperative Program, an amazing array of ministries are supported. This unified giving encourages fellowship with other believers all over the world. Collectively, Oklahoma Baptists are advancing the Gospel together.

Walter Wilson is featured with his wife Velma in the 2021 Missionary Prayer Guide for Oklahoma Baptists. To see Pastor Wilson’s prayer requests, visit www.oklahomabaptists.org/cp