[1]MULHALL, Okla. (BP)–“Build it, and they will come.”
This famous line from the movie “Field of Dreams” just might be a fitting theme at First Baptist Church, Mulhall, Okla.
Several months ago, deacons at the north-central Oklahoma church decided to refurbish the church’s nursery.
“We really didn’t have a reason to do that,” said pastor Troy Taylor. “We didn’t have any babies, and the youngest child in the church at that time was about 3.”
The church spent nearly $2,000 remodeling the facility, which seemed odd to many members, Taylor said. A lot of volunteer labor was used, with one man building four new cribs.
A few months after the nursery was completed, something started to happen: The church’s vision for four cribs just wasn’t big enough. “It seemed like every week, one of the young couples in our church was announcing they were expecting a baby,” Taylor recounted.
The nursery now has its first occupant, Matthew Logan Lowrie, born March 13. By December, Matthew will be joined in the nursery by eight new friends, including a set of twins, due Nov. 9.
The church is located in a town of about 200, and Sunday school attendance averages 50 to 60, which means about one-sixth of the congregation is pregnant.
“We think the Lord is just blessing us,” Taylor said. “One of the couples (who is expecting the twins) has been married 10 years and gone through a lot of hard times trying to have a baby.”
And Matthew is a miracle of sorts. His mother, Christi, has three daughters: Aftin, 13, Rhema, 12, and Rebekah, 10. She had been through chemotherapy since her daughters were born which, she said, “usually leaves you sterile.”
Taylor said remodeling the nursery was a step of faith.
“We had seen evidence of growth and some young couples joining our congregation,” he said. “Down the road, we hoped we would have some babies. It’s just that we didn’t expect it to happen with so many at one time.”
Taylor noted sometimes small churches in small towns get discouraged because “they get a small-church mentality.”
“We started praying, asking the Lord to add the increase according to his plan,” Taylor explained. “It looks like God chose to start from the nursery up.”
The new mothers-to-be are having a good time with their pregnancies. Four — Lesa Boyd, Amy Wilcox, Steffani Richards and Teri Valega — will be having their first child, or children in Velaga’s case.
“I think it’s neat they will all be able to grow up together,” said Boyd of the upcoming influx.