Baseball umps embrace Calling for Christ
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--"You're out!" "Safe!" Both are frequently heard calls in baseball -- and a group of umpires who make those calls wants to be sure their colleagues are not "out" but "safe" in the arms of Jesus. "Calling for Christ" is an organization of Christian umpires that got its start at Oklahoma's Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center.
Bill Merrell continues recuperation
NORMAN, Okla. (BP)–Bill Merrell spends his days working on the computer, reading as much as he can, keeping up with current affairs and praying for Southern Baptist Convention leaders and pastors. That sounds like a busy day for most people, but for type A personalities like Merrell, it doesn’t compare to what he used to […]
Okla. Baptists, at 100-year mark, hold on to CP ‘rope’
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| Will Rogers impersonator Gene McFall, Christian artist Wintley Phipps and the Oklahoma Baptist Symphony helped Oklahoma Baptists celebrate their Centennial Nov. 14 at First Southern Baptist Church in Del City. |
Gene McFall, portraying Oklahoma’s favorite son Will Rogers, was at center stage, guiding the program through a parade of choirs, music and ministry highlights from the last 100 years.
McFall, who carried a rope through the presentation, told the crowd at the conclusion that just as a rope is an essential tool for a cowboy, the Cooperative Program is an essential tool for Oklahoma Baptists.
1,009 messengers attend 100th annual BGCO meeting
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--The 100th annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma was attended by 1,009 messengers Nov. 13-14 at Quail Springs Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.
Speakers exhort collegians to elevate their lives for God
MOORE, Okla. (BP)--College students were encouraged to make their dream as big as the God who gave it to them during an Elevate conference sponsored by the North American Mission Board and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma.
Special agent adds ministry to post-Murrah bombing duties
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| Opportune moment Federal special agent Jim Gunnels, right, poses with chaplain Richard Sale. A couple weeks after the Oklahoma City bombing, Gunnels was sitting in the middle of the street sobbing one night when Sale, a South Carolinian, happened by to offer his counsel. |
A special agent with the Federal Protective Service, the married father of two daughters, ages 5 and 7, was working on an emergency preparedness project with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the U.S. Marshall Service and the FBI, focusing mainly on natural disasters. The group of government officials met on Wednesday mornings, every other week in Oklahoma City or Austin.
Prayer for Native Americans being heard, Blackaby says
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--Henry Blackaby says the prayer he has prayed for 60 years has been heard.
Chaplain sees bigger picture of war in Iraq, consequences
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| Baptizing & making disciples Capt. Andy Taylor, a Southern Baptist chaplain in the Army, baptized a Jew and a Catholic in a makeshift baptistery in Iraq in 2003 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As he has watched many soldiers turn to Christ, Taylor realizes the importance of a personal relationship with God on the battlefield. Photo courtesy of the Baptist Messenger |
"I was concerned," Taylor said. "A story flashed across my mind of a pastor in Nevada who had been given the right to bring a weapon in the pulpit because a woman had threatened to kill him. As a chaplain, I do everything other soldiers do, except I'm not allowed to carry a weapon."
Taylor said he kept preaching, and the soldier walked up to him and then right by him.
Okla. Baptists elect 1st woman to post of 2nd vice president
DEL CITY, Okla. (BP)--Oklahoma Baptists made history when messengers to the annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma elected a woman to one of its three top offices.
Gambling’s toll on Kathy’s family: prison, bankruptcy, suicide
TOPEKA, Kan. (BP)--In a time frame of less than five months in 2003, Kathy Bassett sat in a courtroom and watched her son handcuffed and led off to prison; she stood by as her 73-year-old mother declared bankruptcy; and she dealt with the devastating news that her only brother had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
