Regional News Archives - Page 13 of 22 - Christian Church in Oklahoma

Leadership Training School 2019: Registration Opens January 14th

“Abide in Me,” Okahoma’s 2019 Leadership Training School, is coming soon on February 23, 2019! This event will offer education, worship, fellowship, and renewal for those in ministry in Oklahoma congregations. LTS will be held at First Christian Church in Edmond, 9 a.m.-4:15 p.m.

Our preacher for the day is Rev. Teresa Hord Owens, the General Minister and President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). There will be three opportunities for workshops, with participants choosing one workshops around topics of justice, Disciples roots, and inclusivity.

Presenters included are from local, regional, and general church ministry organizations, providing a full and vibrant day of learning options. The cost for the event is $35 per person.

Childcare will be provided free for those in 5th grade and below; please indicate your childcare needs when you preregister. Youth in grades 6-12 are encouraged to participate in the event. We hope you will join other Oklahoma Disciples at LTS 2019!

More details including registration will be coming soon!

CCOK3012019-01-08T11:55:05-06:00Dec 20, 2018|Regional News|2 Comments

Oklahoma City Community Foundation Awards Grants to Seven Disciples Congregations

The Oklahoma City Community Foundation is helping provide warm meals to homebound elderly citizens this winter by awarding $53,400 in grants to 51 churches and organizations participating in Mobile Meals of Oklahoma County, including seven Christian churches. In addition, $5,000 each was awarded to Edmond Mobile Meals and Meals on Wheels of Norman.

The Oklahoma City Community Foundation has supported central Oklahoma’s Mobile Meals programs since 2008, awarding more than $350,000 over the past decade. According to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, the need for continued nutrition assistance is vital as Oklahoma’s senior citizen population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. The organization’s most recent State Plan on Aging reported 19 percent of our state’s population is now over age 60.

“Today, one in five Americans is over the age of 60 with the population expected to nearly double by 2060,” said Cristi Twenter, executive director of Edmond Mobile Meals. “Roughly 17 percent of Oklahoma’s senior population struggles with hunger. Nine percent of those seniors in our state are living in poverty, and 26 percent of Oklahoma seniors live alone. Grant programs to assist Mobile Meals programs are crucial in helping to keep pace with the growing demand for services. We believe no senior in our community should have to make a choice between paying for food, medication and other necessities, which is why we never base service on a client’s ability to pay for meals.”

The Christian churches reported their volunteers provide nutritious meals, wellness checks and meaningful contact to more than 160 homebound senior citizens living in central Oklahoma who are unable to prepare their own meals.

“For nearly 50 years, the Oklahoma City Community Foundation has listened to both the needs of our community and to the wishes of our donors, leading us to focus on the health and wellness of senior citizens in the community,” said Nancy B. Anthony, Oklahoma City Community Foundation. “Our local Mobile Meals programs are crucial to seniors in this community, and we’re privileged to have the opportunity to support their work.”

Grants were awarded to the following Christian churches that provide meals through Mobile Meals of Oklahoma County:

Crown Heights Christian Church
First Christian Church
Hillcrest Christian Church
New Covenant Christian Church
Nicoma Park Christian Church
Putnam City Christian Church
Western Oaks Christian Church

About the Oklahoma City Community Foundation

Founded in 1969, the Oklahoma City Community Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity that works with donors to create charitable funds that will benefit our community both now and in the future. To learn more about the Oklahoma City Community Foundation, visit www.occf.org.

CCOK3012019-01-14T11:41:06-06:00Dec 18, 2018|Regional News|Comments Off

Reception Honoring Rev. Leslie Dotson and Lori Richcreek’s Ministries

On December 6th, the Region and the Northeast Area celebrated the ministries of Lori Richcreek, Administrative Assistant, and Rev. Leslie Dotson, Associate Regional Minister.

Below are photos and some of the words that were shared that day.

Lori, In February of 2013, Rev. Leslie Dotson invited Lori to serve as the Northeast Area Administrative Assistant. On behalf of the Region, it has been an honor to have you, Lori, serving the Regional Church and the Northeast Area for almost six years. We have experienced your gifts of serving with joy and prayer, and we know you, in turn, have received many blessings in this ministry we do together. We have appreciated your leadership with the Northeast Area Council and the Newsletter and most especially the leadership you have given the women’s ministry. And, on behalf of the Regional staff, we thank you for your hospitality and your grace and your deep and abiding spirituality and all that you have offered to us. We thank you for engaging in God’s “body-building” work.

Leslie, you have served the Regional Church as an Associate Regional Minister for ten years. We are grateful for your years of service as a servant leader for pastors and for congregations all over the Region, but particularly with those in the Northeast and Southeast Areas. Who are grateful for your pastoral presence, your preaching, your teaching, your coaching, your guidance, your prayers, your compassion for all of God’s people, which naturally reflects your passion for social justice. Over the years, you have represented and advocated for diversity. You have provided leadership for the women, for pastors in the Commissioned Minister’s Training Program, Leadership Training School, Regional Assemblies. For Pro-Reconciliation Anti-Racism, for Healthy Boundaries. Most important is your deep and abiding care and prayer that you are so disciplined about and your quiet and unassuming writing each and every person you pray for to let them know how much God cares. We are grateful for the peace and grace of God that goes with you in every situation around the Region! We honor and celebrate your ministry and will surely miss all that you have shared as a minister to the Regional Church.

On behalf of the Regional staff, thank you for that divine peace and grace that lives within you, as well your love, your deep and abiding spirit that has been reflected in your leadership in Oklahoma.

Thank you to all of you here today to honor and celebrate Lori and Leslie’s ministries. We especially give thanks to our Regional Moderator, Tom Stanley, and the NEA Moderator, Kevin Howe, for making all the arrangements for this reception today, and thank you to Phillips for offering their hospitality of hosting this blessed occasion.

The blessing today is an adaptation from Maya Angelou’s poem, “Amazing Peace,” Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer, New York: Random House, Inc., 2006.

Our [prayer] for you

Is that you continue

To be who and how you are

To astonish a mean world

With your acts of kindness

To allow humor to lighten the burden

Of your tender hearts

In a society dark with cruelty

To let the people [see and] hear the grandeur

Of God in your [presence and prayers]

To let your eloquence

Elevate the people to heights

They had only imagined

To remind the people that

Each is as good as the other

And that no one is beneath

Nor above you

To remember your own young years

And look with favor upon the lost

And the least and the lonely

To put the mantel of your protection

Around the bodies of

The young and defenseless

To take the hand of the despised

And diseased and walk proudly with them

In the high street

Some might see you and

Be encouraged to do likewise . . .

. . . To let gratitude be the pillow

Upon which you kneel to

Say your nightly prayer

And let faith be the bridge

You build to overcome evil

And welcome good

To ignore no vision

Which comes to enlarge your range

And increase your spirit

To dare to love deeply

And risk everything

For the good thing . . .

And by doing so

You and your ministry

Will be able to continue

Eternally

May God’s blessing continue to be upon you, Lori,

and Leslie

and all of us

as we go from this place

to share the love and peace and grace of God.

So be it. Amen.

CCOK3012018-12-12T16:50:26-06:00Dec 12, 2018|Regional News|Comments Off

2018 Christmas Offering Video

We invite you to enjoy our Christmas video celebrating the ministries of the Christian Church in Oklahoma!

CCOK3012018-12-11T15:54:33-06:00Dec 11, 2018|Regional News|Comments Off

Regional Board Approves Commission on Immigration & Refugees

At the October 20, 2018 the Regional Church Board approved the Commission on Immigration & Refugees, a much needed ministry in Oklahoma. If you would like to serve on this Commission or know someone in your congregation who would be interested, please contact the Regional office at 405-528-3577.

This Commission on Immigration & Refugees will be learning about the needs in Oklahoma and will seek the wisdom of Rev. Sharon Stanley-Rae who serves as Director of Refugee & Immigration Ministries (RIM) for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

RIM works to mobilize Disciples congregations around the country to offer hospitality to immigrants, provide refugee resettlement assistance to refugees, strengthen relationships of solidarity and advocacy with refugees and immigrants, and seek justice for farm workers. RIM’s office is located inside National City Christian Church, and works closely with 50+ national and interfaith partners through the Interfaith Immigration Coalition.

Here is a link to a video created by the SALT Project titled, “Jesus Was A Refugee, a Free Advent Film.”

Click HERE to read an article from The American Home Missionary, titled “I am the Immigrant” first published in the 1913 Yearbook Churches of Christ.

CCOK3012018-12-12T14:25:38-06:00Dec 11, 2018|Regional News|Comments Off

Regional Youth Council Advent Devotional

What is your favorite Advent hymn or song?

What is your earliest Christmas memory and why is it important for you?

Near the end of the film, “The Santa Clause,” a little boy, Charlie, is arguing with his father, mother, and step-father about his father, Scott Calvin, being Santa Clause. Scott is confused about who he is and how he became Santa.

Charlie tosses his dad a snow globe that was given to him by Bernard, the head elf, the night Scott became Santa and shouts, “Remember.”

The Regional Youth Council invites you to “remember” this Advent and Christmas season. Yes, we know memory is painful and joyful. Maybe that is why some of us embrace the pace of life that rushes one through December. Parties, gifts, travel, or life circumstances consume the time we have to experience Advent’s lessons: waiting or anticipation are but two.

So, slow your pace.

Spend some time in silence. Listen . . .

Think through what you saw, heard, tasted, felt, smelled.

You are a child of God.

Remember. . .

Go and see what God has made known to you.

Click here to download the Advent devotional written by members of the Regional Youth Council. The devotional includes reflections on traditional Advent and Christmas biblical texts from guest writer, Rev. Dr. Lisa Davison.

Michael Davison2018-11-27T13:49:56-06:00Nov 27, 2018|Regional News, Youth|Comments Off

An Advent message from General Minister and President Terri Hord Owens

Click HERE to watch a video message from General Minister and President Terri Hord Owens, as Terri reflects on her first 16 months visiting around the Church. Terri also shares a message of hope and confidence for the church with an Advent greeting and invitation to General Assembly 2019.

CCOK3012018-12-18T12:11:08-06:00Nov 27, 2018|Regional News|Comments Off

California Wildfires: How You Can Help!

A Message from Regional Minister Pam Holt

Many have asked, “What can we do to help with the California Camp Fire?” The response is, “Continue to pray,” and “Please give an extra gift to Week of Compassion, designated California wildfires.”

Pastoral Update

Regional Minister Pam Holt has been in San Diego, California this past week attending the College of Regional Ministers. Rev. LaTaunya Bynum, Regional Minister of Northern California-Nevada, shared new updates every day and reminded us that the Woolsey Fire is also ongoing. On Oklahoma’s behalf, Rev. Holt has shared your ongoing prayers and promised we would faithfully respond with an extra gift to Week of Compassion.

Some Good News

While the fire devastation is unbelievable, there are some stories of grace and good news. While it was once thought the First Christian Church in Paradise burned, it did not. And, the home of the pastor of First Christian Church Paradise, Rev. Janice McCollester, is also still standing. However, both locations will not be able to be occupied for a while.

First Christian Church in Chico has made their parking lot available for living space, and its pastor, Rev. Jesse Kearns, has opened their doors for folks from Paradise to worship and to provide office space for Rev. McCollester. See following article from CBS.

Story from CBS/AP November 18, 2018, 10:50 PM

California wildfires fast facts

These are the current numbers as of Sunday night from Cal Fire.
Camp Fire Location: Butte County

150,000 acres burned
65 percent contained
77 fatalities confirmed
1,276 unaccounted for
12,794 structures destroyed

Woolsey Fire Location: Los Angeles County, Ventura County

96,949 acres burned
91 percent contained
3 fatalities confirmed
1,452 structures destroyed, 337 damaged

Prayer

Please continue to pray for first responders and for the on-going grief from this destruction. We pray for families who are still waiting to see if their loved one will be found. We give thanks for the many, many people who are responding with care and love, even from a distance through gifts to Week of Compassion.

Oklahoma Connections

We are often surprised at how connected Disciples are. The following is a story from Larry & Diana Brown, First Christian Church Chickasha, Oklahoma, who have extended family in Paradise, California.

Larry & Diana’s niece, who was living in Paradise and at home when the fires started, was able to escape to Chico. She and her family are safe but the status of their home is unknown. The niece also had a horse in a nearby stable. Of course, there was no time to tend to the horse. Some good news is that all the horses in that stable somehow survived the fire. Their nephew, who lives in Chico, is hosting this niece and family. All the homes that Larry’s parents and sister once lived in are burned to the ground. Diana and Larry were in Paradise in early October for their niece’s mother’s funeral. All they have now are wonderful memories of a very special place.

A Message from Week of Compassion

We continue to pray for the communities in California affected by the current, deadly wildfires. On Sunday, First Christian Church, Paradise worshiped at First Christian Church, Chico, as Paradise was, and is, under evacuation orders. Pastor Jan McCollester, of First Christian Church, Paradise shared with Week of Compassion staff today that the church building, which was thought to have burned, appears sound, according to reports from firefighters in the area. However, most, if not all of the members of the congregation expect damage to or total loss of their homes. First Christian Church, Chico also has members whose homes have burned.

Gifts to Week of Compassion can be designated “US Storms and Fires” to support response and recovery efforts for these damaging fires.

Donate HERE

Fire image of Camp Fire courtesy of USDA Forest Services. Public Domain image 20181116-FS-LEICampFire-TH-007 11/16/18

Vigil Held in Chico, CA for Wildfire Victims

The town of Paradise, California, held a vigil Sunday night to remember the dozens who died in the wildfire that swept through the region. The vigil at First Christian Church in Chico was a time for residents to quietly reflect, pray, bring photos or mementos of lost friends, family and pets and was a chance to seek help from counselors and mental health experts.

A sign at the vigil read: “We will rise from the ashes” and two hashtags: #paradisestrong #buttecountystrong

People hugged and shed tears as Pastor Jesse Kearns recited a prayer for first responders,”We ask for continued strength as they are growing weary right now.”

CCOK3012018-12-18T12:13:13-06:00Nov 15, 2018|Regional News|Comments Off

Regional Board Celebrates Ministries

On October 20, 2018, the Regional Board heard many exciting ways regional ministries are connecting, equipping, and empowering Disciples to serve like Jesus!

Here are a few highlights!

Commission on Children, Youth, & Young Adults continues to strengthen our children, youth, and young adult ministries with camp & conference experiences for second graders through high school, retreats, and International Affairs, a spring break trip for Juniors & Seniors to travel to Washington DC & NYC. The theme for 2018 was Reconciliation. Investing in the faith our young people is invaluable to the life of the church.
The Regional Board approved a new commission on Immigration and Refugee Ministries. With the help of Catholic Charities and a few other resources, the Region already has three congregations actively engaged in the relocation and support of immigrants.
The Oklahoma Disciples Foundation has developed a grant program to help ministries around our region be adequately funded. In just two years the Foundation’s Grants Program has impacted lives, touched many and made a difference in communities. The Foundation made grants totaling $71,460.60 in 2018 and $50,648.90 in 2017. Click here to see ODF Grants at work in the region.

As followers of Christ, Disciples of Christ, we never quit wrestling with reconciliation and with the power of love and grace. Every Disciples congregation is a vital part of the Body of Christ in Oklahoma. The Region is grateful for all of the work and ministry that happens in each congregation, each community, and the world. There is no greater joy than to love our neighbors as ourselves and to serve the Lord with gladness! In a time such as this, God surely needs each of us and all of us.

CCOK3012018-12-18T12:18:21-06:00Nov 12, 2018|Regional News|Comments Off

Regional Board Makes 2019 Staff Changes

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On Saturday, October 20, 2018, the Regional Church held its Year-end Board meeting. We heard some amazing stories from our Commission leaders about Regional Church ministries and from the Area Moderators about the on-going ministries in each area of the Region. Our ministry is never done, but we sure celebrated all the ways Regional ministry is connecting, equipping, and empowering ministry through the Commissions on Reconciliation, Evangelism, Leadership Training, Clergy, and Youth, Children & Young Adults. We’ve even agreed to start a new Commission to address the needs around immigration in Oklahoma.

Giving Falls Short

Despite our good and faithful ministries, the Budget Committee reported a mighty shortfall in Disciples Mission Fund (DMF) giving. After reviewing the Disciples Mission Funding giving over the past five years (2013-2017), the pattern of giving continues to decline. This is not surprising. It is happening in congregations all across our Region, and we realize that some congregations are struggling and making budget adjustments. For the Region, the projected decline for Disciples Mission Fund for Oklahoma in 2018 and 2019 is a deficit of approximately $50,000. Importantly, DMF is the primary financial support of the Regional Church, and it is the covenant by which we all live.

Personnel Changes

The Region has been good stewards and has trimmed Regional expenses year after year. But after careful examination the Board determined there was no place to cut $50,000 except in personnel. The Budget Committee requested the Personnel Committee make some very difficult decisions. Personnel regretfully proposed to the Regional Board to eliminate three positions for 2019: two part-time positions, the Region’s Oklahoma City office Facility Manager Richard Keith and the North East Area Administrative Assistant Lori Richcreek (Broken Arrow office), and one full-time position, Associate Regional Minister Rev. Leslie Dotson. They will be employed through the end of this year. These employees of the Region have served long and well, and their presence and ministry within the Regional Church will be missed.

Beginning in 2019, the Regional Church will retain its remaining four staff members: Regional Minister Rev. Pamela Holt, Regional Associate Minister Rev. Michael Davison, Executive Assistant Ellen Beer and part-time Administrative Assistant Jennifer Gallaway.

How You May Help Your Region

There are two ways you may help your Region in these challenging financial times – prayer and a financial donation. Your donation is tax-deductible and 100% supports the Region’s ministries.

You may donate to the Region’s Annual Fund. The Annual Fund has long been a tradition in the Oklahoma Region where individuals and even congregations support us directly. You may donate securely online at THIS LINK and we also accept gifts mailed directly to the office: Christian Church in Oklahoma, 301 NW 36^th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73118. Please note Annual Fund on your check.

Or you may choose to give through your congregation. The Christmas Offering provides significant support for the Region – and 100% of the Christmas Offering supports Regional Church ministries. Please consider making a gift on December 16th and 23^rd using the offering envelope found in your bulletin. Look for the colorful bulletin insert for more details on how your gift is put to work!

God still needs us as partners to bring healing and wholeness in this fragmented and broken world. Your prayers and gifts to the Region help us walk and live as Jesus.

In the name of Christ,

Tom Stanley, Moderator Pamela Holt, Regional Minister