CCOK301

Congregation Visits

2025 saw continuation of my on-going visitation of churches included FCC Tulsa before they sold their building at 913 South Boulder Ave in downtown Tulsa. At retreat, I re-connected with a few of the women who worship in FCCT’s temporary space. I plan to visit when their next place of worship, Artisan Hall, is ready. It ” will be a multi use building with FCCT having prominence. New concept, but it’s a better use of space and finances, without the responsibility of upkeep and logistics. Frees our staff up to do God‘s work.” according to Pattie Sittler, FCCT Outreach Chair.

Church visits are a blessing to me as well as the church I visit. A potluck at First Christian Presbyterian Christian Church, Pyror, allowed me more time to visit with members. I found there was a member that now watches service on-line since she moving to Lawton. I reached out to her and she attended Maundy Thursday at FCC Lawton and is part of the circle group I lead; she now has a local friend group.

In-the-Spirit Christian Church, 1020 SW Garnett Rd, Tulsa, the Sunday before their 17th Anniversary Worship Service, Oct 5th, was my most recent visit. There was a special energy in this place; I was blessed being part of the women’s prayer circle afterward. The men went outside to pray over their church. Never underestimate the power of prayer.

Sunday after retreat, I thought I might go to Tulsa church in historic Greenwood, Black Wall Street, for Pine Street Christian Church’s women’s meeting and service project on afternoon of Oct 12th. They were making lap blankets for nursing home patients. Our women across Oklahoma continue to have numerous service projects. After breaking my ankle on the Sunday before, I sadly had to cancel.

These visits plus visits in past years with other NE area churches: FCC Broken Arrow, Harvard Ave Christian Church, Yale Ave Christian Church, and FCC Claremore where I have over 10 years of past participation put me in a good position to assist NEODW on their next steps after the majority of officers stepped down to focus on family and work. I commend these women, most who work full time, for giving it their all for NEODW retreats and meetings after Covid and through last year. Many of our areas have been weakened due to Covid and other factors.

Central Area Disciples Women (CADW)

CADW is more of the exception as they stay strong with their four meetings a year each highlighting a different nonprofit. Current director is Carol Nichols, El Reno. Meetings usually average 40 or more raising at least $1K for each of four nonprofits. I usually attend with women from Lawton who enjoy attending. You do not need to be from CADW (OKC Area) to attend. RSVP a week before the meeting and pay at the door. Contact CADW officers or myself for more info. I submit meeting info for ODW FB, Region’s ODW page, and Regional Roundup.

Facebook Following Increases

Our Facebook, Oklahoma Disciples Women saw an increase of about 50 followers to a total of 419. It is managed by ODW VP of Reachout Sally Wheeler. In 2018, when both Sally and I began serving our current positions, she asked to revitalize the Facebook page. It is incredible that it is still growing and has almost 420 followers. Announcements are made through here so please follow. Note that another important avenue for information is the articles I post monthly on the region’s eNewsletter Regional Roundup. There is also ODW information on the women’s page of okdisciples.org. ODW will continue its goal of communication and now adding emphasis for increased involvement by women from more of our churches.

Disciples Women Leadership Council (DWLC)

DWLC with a gathering of women leader representatives from each region was conducted by Zoom in January through Office of Disciples Women, Indianapolis, and represented by myself.

Next year DWLC is in-person and we are in process of again as in 2024 having two of our women leaders who have not attended, attend to gain the experience of these gatherings. At this point we only have the January dates and not the destination. Office of DW pays hotel and travel for first representative through travel dues collected from DW in each region based on region membership. ODW pays for the 2nd representative through our LDEF fund.

Leadership Development Endowment Fund (LDEF)

Through ODW’s LDEF fund, we gave a total of $3,500 toward IAS. $1,500 provided transportation from Love Field to Crown Heights Christian Church, OKC and $2,000 went to sponsor one adult or to offset the total cost of the adults.

Again this year, the LDEF fund of ODW has helped with the clergy women retreat. Women clergy have particular needs and need to have connections with other women clergy. As women, the ODW understands this. We had a big part in financially making this happen. In 2024, $2K was given to be used in ’24 or in ’25. Clergy Women Retreat decided it would be better to put the money toward a 2025 retreat with ’24 still only able to do the retreat with self-study. When ODW was approached for $1,500, we decided to give more, another $2K, as any left over money would be seed money. We really wanted this retreat to happen and keep happening. We are praying and hearing other groups are coming forward to help with this retreat. The Mona and Scott Baird fund of ODF was the initial source for getting this retreat going. The Clergy Women Retreat organizers have told us they plan to do this retreat every other year. We hope others see the value in this retreat and are able to step forward with assistance.

Retreats

Last year, there were two retreats for the women, one in NE part of the state and one in the western side of the state. In June of this year, we were looking at no retreats for our women by any area. Of course, there are a few churches where the women hold a small retreat with just themselves. Each has its purpose with many attending both types of retreat.

I received news that there were not enough NE officers left to put together a retreat. Rev. Christina Pomaville, Thomas OK, who I applaud for having a retreat in ’24 attended by about 20 women who thoroughly benefited from it, was not having a retreat this year so she could focus on the Clergy Women Retreat. Maybe we can talk her into doing a retreat next year on the western side of the state again. She has a passion for retreats! Even if she does not, I was excited to see her have the retreat in ’24 as there had not been any in western Oklahoma since 2019 which actually was held at Central Camp, Guthrie, organized by NWODW. Geographically speaking, Rev Christina Pomaville’s was more westerly. Some women attending her retreat had been at both retreats. The NEODW had about 35 women attend in ’24 so when looking at where to have a retreat, Camp Christian should not be ruled out!

After some preliminaries, the program planning for the first ODW Fall Retreat started mid-July. I would not advise anyone to start planning a retreat this late in the game but give yourself at least 9mos to a year. As I put together presenters and the program, I saw God’s hand was in it!

The Regional Office was very helpful and set up the online registration. We also encouraged high school young ladies (11th and 12th graders) to attend with a max of 3 girls with one adult. This was let’s try it to see if young ladies enjoyed this therefore being more interested in Disciples Women in the future. Whatever happens, it was great to have three come with El Reno and they participated with the rest of us. One young lady even spoke of their IAS trip during Pastor Tara Dew’s Saturday Breakfast Spotlight on IAS.

Spotlights at retreat were a new thing for us. Fifteen minute infomercials on something in the Region outside women’s activities were presented. This year’s spotlight besides IAS was Youth Camps.

With some coming to retreat on Saturday, it turned out to be better to have name tags and bags with “swag” handed out on Saturday morning. Phillips Seminary and ODW officers contributed “swag” for the bags. Everyone filled their own bag only taking one and none if they didn’t want the item.

Another new thing was churches were asked to bring table centerpieces with a fall theme so we had no decorating expense. I did bring some decorations but never used them. l only knew of five churches bringing table centerpieces before retreat but we ended up with eleven, just enough for every table to have one.

We set boxes with a coin slot on top at each table with centerpiece on Saturday right before lunch and the voting with dollars started. It also, unintentionally, caused the women to mingle as they walked around the tables. The voting raised almost $127. After lunch we auctioned the centerpieces as well as bread and cinnamon rolls to raise over $1,200.

No one missed printed schedules. Schedules were sent by email along with camp map and reminders of what to bring. Schedules on cardstock were placed on building doors.

Several churches were asked to bring water to place in lodge refrigerators plus one church brought water iced down in a tub and placed by Dining Hall doorway. These waters were popular. Because of these donations and the other donations previously mentioned, this became a very cost effective retreat with prices the same as NEODW’s retreat’s early bird price the year before at $75/$45 Sat. only. There was scholarship money for those who were part of the program and others who applied. Just over $3K in scholarships through ODW LDEF was given to boost numbers to 70 for this retreat. Keep in mind, these scholarships have been highly advertised and made available in the past but usually are total of under $1K.

Instead of one keynote speaking, there were many involved in a shorter time span throughout the retreat weekend. This allowed those involved in the program to benefit from others in the rest of the program. There were four main clergy presenters plus clergy with a communion service/inspiration/recap ending video. More about retreat is in my October article for Regional Roundup.

There were lots of compliments on the retreat! I watched women including the ten clergy women attending bond, laugh and experience a closeness with God. This was a great boost for the women.

This Regional Board report for ODW, Oklahoma Disciples Women, is submitted from best of my knowledge on October 15th of 2025.

Marilyn Bohlender
ODW President