Evangelism program focuses on sharing faith with family members
WALTERS, Okla. (BP)--They've seen you at your worst. They know your weaknesses. They remember most of your sins. They are aware that you are far from perfect.
Tornadoes cause major damage to 3 OKC-area churches
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--At least three Southern Baptist churches suffered damage as a series of tornadoes hit the Oklahoma City metro area May 8-9.
A friendship ruptured by drugs finds forgiveness, restoration
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| A new friendship Emilio Castillo, center, and Lonnie Vaughn, right, found renewed friendship and a ministry partnership after years of separation caused by their former lives as drug dealers. At left is William Hester, pastor of Southern Hills Baptist Church in Tulsa, the sponsoring congregation of a new church led by Castillo and Vaughn. Photo courtesy of the Oklahoma Baptist Messenger |
The two men went to school together, worked together and were best friends.
However, it was the working together that eventually separated them and then brought them together once again. And the work then and now are eons apart.
Castillo was born in Texas and moved to Oklahoma in 1966 as a migrant worker. He found success in the landscaping business, married, had a family and was a respected businessman in Bixby.
Not a chance encounter, but a divine appointment with truth
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| A threat of power Johnny Lee Clary, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, shows off some brass knuckles in a 1980 photograph. Prior to his salvation, Clary was head of the Oklahoma branch of the Klan. |
With a smile, Watts replied, "I don't eat Negroes. I just came to get some ham and eggs."
Not amused, the waitress refused to seat Watts.
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| Grace that transforms The son of one of Johnny Lee Clary's former mortal enemies, Rev. Wade Watts, met Clary following a gospel presentation at an Oklahoma high school in 1999. Larry Watts approached Clary after the meeting and embraced the former Klansman. |
Watts was silent for a long time. He finally said, "Gene, if the Good Lord was to grant me one wish, I believe I'd wish to meet the leader of the Ku Klux Klan."
A strange wish for a black man to want to meet someone who's thrust was to create an all-white world.
But what happened after Watts got his wish was even stranger.
Once a zealot of racism, now a messenger of reconciliation
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| An exclamation on reconciliation Johnny Lee Clary makes point during a sermon on racial reconciliation during an evangelistic crusade he led in Wilson, N.C., in November 2002. Photo by James Edward Bates/Baptist Press |
A voice on the other end threatened, "I want you to know I am in town and I'm going to murder you. You will die before the end of this weekend. I'm giving you a couple of days notice, because you are never going to see it coming. I want you to sweat and be afraid and wonder when the bullet is coming. But rest assured, it is coming."
Okla. Baptist resolution endorses covenant marriage
MOORE, Okla. (BP)--The 1,007 registered messengers attending the 97th annual meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma adopted resolutions endorsing covenant marriage while opposing a state lottery and heard reports on ministry to senior adults and a capital campaign for Falls Creek Baptist Assembly during Nov. 11-12 sessions at First Baptist Church in Moore.
Evangelist back on the road after healing
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| On the road again Three months after major surgery for colon cancer, evangelist Bob Shoemake is on the road again. Because of his quick recovery, Shoemake said he will not miss any of his preaching engagements. |
On his 69th birthday, surgeons spent seven hours removing his colon, rectum and part of his intestines.
"I knew it was serious when the doctor rescheduled surgeries and said I was the only one he was going to do that day," recalled Shoemake, a full-time evangelist, who has also spent 18 years as a pastor and eight as a director of missions.
Bible-toting chaplain leads hundreds of inmates to Jesus
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--It's a good thing Ralph Shepherd is not a gunslinger. His belt would not be long enough for all of his "victory" notches.
Website asks about most important thing that has happened to you
OKLAHOMA CITY (BP)--Do you avoid church visitation because you might have to give your testimony? Do your knees start buckling when you knock on a door to tell people about Jesus? Do you get rattled when you try to share the most important thing that has ever happened to you?
Church finds joy serving widows; member writes instruction book
SKIATOOK, Okla.(BP)--"I've been adopted!"
This joyful statement is not from a child, but from a woman who had lost her husband of 60 years. Her excitement came from the fact she had just been "adopted" by someone in her church who will be a friend to her and see to her needs.
