Sunday Morning Ministry

Since we aren't able to have a Sunday morning service, YET...we have decided to minister in the community, as a church. We went to the City Rescue Mission and volunteered to serve food to the homeless and the poor. We are starting out by doing it every other Sunday morning, but I'm fairly certain that it will become an every Sunday morning event for those of us who were present this past Sunday. It was amazing and heartbreaking all at the same time.

I'm a behind the scenes kind of gal, so when asked to help serve food...I had no problem. The rest of our crew were asked to serve water, pickup trays when the people were finished, to have conversations with those who were being fed, to make connections with them...as Brad said, "what we do back here (the serving line) brings them in here, but the real ministry is out there, making connections with those you are helpless and hopeless." It was amazing for me to watch as Brother Rob and his twin girls, Emma and Madison, went around striking up conversations with all kinds of people. For those of you who know Brother Rob, he doesn't meet a stranger and is rarely at a loss for words and it is really cool to see God working through him. My husband tends to stand back and get a feel for the situation, but once he gets started, it is hard to slow him down and before too long, he was striking up conversations all over the place too. The biggest blessing for me, was to see my sister, Kim, who has such a heart to serve, ministering in such simple ways as laying a hand on the shoulder and speaking softly to the people, asking if she could get them more water or take their tray or simply listening when they wanted to talk and to see my very energetic, 7 year old nephew, having the time of his life, offering water to everyone, including those who had water. He was so excited that he could help too. I was blessed to be able to have conversations with those on the serving line and in the kitchen and to hear their testimonies of how God had delivered them from drugs and alchohol and was helping them to raise families in the way they should go and not the way their parents had went.

At the end of our shift, my husband came to me and asked if I would go with Brother Rob to talk to a woman whose family, of 6, had recently ended up in the homeless shelter. Both parents had recently lost their jobs, causing them to lose their homes and they had come to Oklahoma, from California, trying to find new jobs, but were now at the CRM. The wife was frustrated, feeling helpless and had arrived at hopeless and didn't want to live anymore. So, I went with Brother Rob and walked right in to a hornet's nest, due to a situation that was occurring as we were going over to that side of the building. By the time I met the woman, her hopelessness had been replaced by anger and she said to her husband, "So, is the church going to help us or are they JUST going to pray?!" That is why I referred to that meeting as a hornet's nest, because there was no way to walk into it without being stung. In that moment, Brother Rob and I both got a glimpse of the helplessness and frustration these people were feeling, because as a church, with a vision of helping those who have fallen upon hard times, those with addictions, those who are helpless and hopeless, we realized at that moment, all we had to offer them was prayer and the Word of God and while those are two very powerful things, in that moment, it wasn't enough and because we couldn't help them in the physical aspect, the door to minister to them spiritually, was being closed.

I've never been one to beg or plead, especially for money, but the ministry that God has called us to in this city is one that takes money, more money than a few bake sales, doughnut sales or any other kinds of sales can raise. I'm begging, pleading for those who read this blog, if you have a heart for missions...don't just raise money for foreign missions, we are doing our part for October World Missions too, but remember that right here, in the U.S. we are surrounded by mission fields and it takes money to minister to those who are lost, hopeless and helpless. Spread the word that we need help, if you want to help, contact me and I'll send you mailing information, if you can't help financially, PRAY that God will provide the finances needed, PRAY that God will provide workers. If our neighbor knocks on our door and asks for bread and we send them away by saying, "be filled" and do nothing to meet that physical need, then what good have we done. We can give them spiritual food, but if they are struggling to have those physical needs taken care of, they will not accept the spiritual food that we've offered. Help us reach this city of 1.2 million people.

Up and running!

Brother Nick, Brother Rob and Pastor Ray have been working on a church website and it is now up and running. It is totally awesome. God anointed them as they worked on it and they did a great job, so check it out and let them know what you think: www.tcogokc.com.

Sister Tammi

Welcome Bro. Nick!

Last night, we were privileged to be able to accept Brother Nick's transfer of membership. Unfortunately, I was dealing with a migraine and forgot my music AND my camera. Fortunately, I remembered the music in time to have my sister grab it on her way out of the house, but...sadly, not in time for the camera. Therefore...I am so sad to say there are no pictures of Bro. Nick being given the right hand of fellowship, but that doesn't mean that we aren't thrilled to finally to be able to claim him as one of our own. Woohoo! We've doubled our membership in four weeks...we seriously need to keep this up.

Welcome Bro. Paul and "Games People Play"

Welcoming Brother Paul as our newest member.

In the background, you hear the Spinners singing "Games People Play" while the pastor begins to pull games out of a box. Some may think that they've walked into the wrong place...but there is a point to all of this. How do we treat our service to God?

Some treat their service to God like a game of Yahtze. They roll the dice and see what they get, hoping they can fill in all the boxes before the game ends.

Some treat their service to God like a game of Uno. Hoping to pull all of the wilds and to miss all the draw fours.

Some have "Aggravation" while serving God and can't seem to get beyond it. If they aren't feeling the aggravation, they are causing others to feel it.

In his best Chinese voice: "Chinese Check-ahhhhs". Always trying to out-maneuver their brother or sister.

We treat God and our service to God like a game. We take Him out when we need or want something, then when we've satisfied that want/need, we put the lid back on the box and shove Him to the back of the closet and then wonder why our lives aren't blessed, why the Church isn't being blessed, why the Holy Ghost isn't moving in our services. We want to serve according to our own desires not according to God's desires.

Bottom line: Stop playing games with God and your eternity because when the game is over...you are out of time and will be lost.

Pictures of recent events!

On August 9, 2009, The Church of God was organized in Oklahoma City, OK. I've not edited any of the pictures because they would never get put on here, if I waited until I had them edited, so...here's Brother Rob and Sister Amy singing, "He Knows My Name."

Brother Jared sharing some history of the Church as well as the commission that Christ gave to the Church.

Everyone who attended the organizational service minus me. There were others that we hoped would have been there, but...we are very grateful for those who actually made it.

The campsite...otherwise known as "tent city".

Having a blast playing in the lake.

Saturday morning was "guys only" time

out on the pontoon boat with Brother Nick as the "Skipper". Although they didn't have much luck with the fish, they still managed to get in a good amount of fellowship.

Brother Paul quietly and patiently waiting for a tug on his line.

Sister Loree and Brother Bill enjoying their canoeing. Early morning and late evening seemed to be the best time to be out in the canoe since most of the big boats weren't out making waves at those times.




Sister Kim and Ethan tried their hand at canoeing and really enjoyed it. The Brock's are really good instructors, making it easy to learn how to canoe.

Sister Amy was one of the few who actually caught any fish. That may have been one of the largest caught too.

Brother Ray brought the message from Luke 15 and made us think and examine our own lives to make sure that we were "doing the will of the Father". There was an older couple camped fairly close to us. They had watched us most of the weekend, guess we provided interesting entertainment. Anyway, they had packed up their tent before we started service, but they hung around their site to listen in to the service. Sister Amy did an awesome job leading us in singing without any instruments.

Such a sweet face...I just had to take a picture!

Hope you enjoyed the pictoral history of what we've been up to. Maybe it will cause you to want to come join us for an event or even better, come join us for service.

Sister Tammi

A reminder...

Just wanted to take a moment to remind those who had planned to join us for camping, that it is this Friday thru Sunday at Wes Watkins Reservoir. Sister Sherry will be arriving around 11:00 (if not before) on Friday morning to snag a couple of campsites for the tents, close to the bathrooms. I think the sites are large enough to accommodate 3-4 tents so we can share the site expenses. We will be having a church service, on Sunday morning, at the campground. I was asked if we would be having any joint meals (potluck), and after talking to several, we've decided that we'll plan and cook meals for our own families and then eat together. I am looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the fellowship of all that attend.

We are having Bible study tonight, but I received a voicemail informing me that it will be held at Brother Paul Clevenger's home tonight and unfortunately, I have no idea where that is, so I can't tell anyone how to get there. If you were planning on attending tonight...I'm really sorry that I can't tell you where to go. Please forgive me.

I do have pictures from the service the Church was organized, but I haven't had time to sort through and see which ones turned out. I'll try to get some up in the next week or so.

If we don't see you tonight, hope we see you at the campout.

Sister Tammi

You are invited!

To join us for a very special service--

When: Sunday, 9 August 2009

Time: 4:00 P.M.

Where: 7200 S. Walker

Oklahoma City, OK

(lower level)

What's so special about this service?

We will be setting The Church of God in order during this service.

We are looking forward to having Brother Clive Jared and Brother Don Branscum in service with us.

We will have a time of food and fellowship following this service.

We would love to have you join us if you are in the area.

Come celebrate with us!