A Church Alive: Camargo Christian Church

     If you're driving through the tiny town of Camargo, Oklahoma located on Highway 34 between Vici and Leedey, you might be tempted to think of it as dying. The school has long been closed, the population is somewhere shy of 200, and Main Street consists primarily of a single bank, a convenience store, and a car wash.

    However, as you walk into the sanctuary of the Camargo First Christian Church, though it boasts an age of more than 100 years, you'll discover that it, along with this community, are far from their deathbeds. In fact, this little church is very much alive.

     The girls and I (without Jason this week) arrived at the church a little early and excited to attend. My grandparents and great-grandparents were long time residents of Camargo, and I had been in this church on different occasions through the years for birthday celebrations, funeral services, and worship, so it felt good to be returning to a town and church in which so many sweet memories had been created.

      We stopped outside the historical church building to snap a few pictures before going in, and the sounds of bells drifted out to us, prompting me to hurry us inside, thinking the bells were a signal for church to begin. I was wrong, but what a sweet surprise we discovered when we entered. In the front of sanctuary stood several young children, holding bells, and practicing for an upcoming bell choir performance. They were surprisingly good and so cute, and I was so happy that we were able to get a sneak peek of what's in store for the congregation next week.

My girls posing in the beautiful arched entryway.

     As the kids returned to their Sunday school classroom to finish up before church, congregation members began to enter, and I was pleased to see so many friendly familiar faces. And then, I was simply shocked to see so many, many more as pew after pew filled up. God's children from 8 months to 80 years took their seats, and I was surprised to see so many young families entering the room to be seated next to couples and individuals representing every generation possible. In fact, by the time the service began, somewhere around 30 kids and their families (including grandparents and even great-grandparents) were settling in to worship, and as traditional hymns were beautifully led and prayers were lifted up and offering taken, I realized that this was not a quiet church body where I had to worry constantly about any sound my children made. All about were the sounds of little voices being lovingly hushed and the rustling of restless bodies and opening candy wrappers (which resulted from the handfuls distributed after the children's sermon to keep the kids occupied as they returned to their pews rather than being swept off to another room).  All about were signs of a healthy body of Christ embracing ALL those who had come to worship.
    


A stage full of children up front for the children's sermon.

 

What a sweet little face we got to enjoy!

     I was a little discombobulated by the lack of a church bulletin to follow as the service began, but I soon realized how unnecessary it really was as Pastor Richie Oakes and his wife Marylu, along with several other faithful members guided us seamlessly from one portion of the service to the next. We took part in the weekly communion service as the body and blood were passed from pew to pew, and my children felt comfortable enough that my youngest even stood up during the sharing of joys and concerns to announce excitedly that she is going to have a new cousin. (I was a little worried that my brother and sister-in-law might not have wanted her to share their surprising and joyful news, but she's over-the-moon and there was just no stopping her.)

    The morning's sermon was delivered my Pastor Richie and just the sound of his voice brought back so many memories of my childhood years traveling to stock shows with the Oakes' family: singing songs and telling jokes, working hard, fighting with one another,  freezing to death with the windows down in December to keep Richie awake, and lots and lots of laughter. I knew I was in for a blessing, and I was right! Pastor Richie's down-to-earth, conversational-style sermon was easy to follow and his lessons easy to receive. As his words created pictures of miracles in my mind, I could feel Jesus "breathing down my neck" as the Holy Spirit refreshed me from within. What a blessing that not only those present at Camargo Christian Church that morning have the opportunity to hear God's Word spoken within these walls, but people all over the world are invited to attend through the miracle of technology at http://churchesaid.com. I would definitely encourage anyone reading this to visit this site and take the opportunity to listen to Pastor Richie's messages.

      As the service came to a close, it was wonderful to see so many congregation members lingering to spend time with one another. Just outside the doors is the Camargo City Park, and the kids made great use of it as parents enjoyed the lovely weather and gathered in groups to visit. My girls made new friends while I talked with old ones. We found ourselves right at home among the members of the Camargo Christian Church, and I could see exactly how God has used this little congregation in this tiny little town to impact generations of His people over the past century.....and how He will continue to use it as a beacon to Him in the generations to come.

 

God bless America!

 

 

 

 

Flashing lights and Smoke Machines: Life Church Yukon

    I'm really excited to share with you our first experience at a Life Church, but first, let me tell you about Car Church.

    Wait! First, let me tell you about why we were having Car Church in the first place:

      We woke up early Sunday morning knowing we weren't going to be able to attend church that morning. My oldest daughter's basketball team had signed up weeks before to take part in the High Five program for the Oklahoma Thunder basketball team's home game against the Chicago Bulls. It was a 12:00 game, we were required to be there an hour early, and being a couple hours from the city, we would be driving and arriving around the time most churches start. Several of us regular church attendees had some misgivings about missing church for a basketball game but decided that we were still part of the Body of Christ no matter where we gathered, so we gave God the praise for the opportunity and headed to OKC as the sun was coming up.

     My niece had stayed the night and was riding to the city with us to spend a few days with her aunt and uncle, and my daughter's bff was joining us for the game, so I headed east out of town with three happy eleven year olds in the back seat chattering along. A few minutes later, I declared that we would have church in the car this morning, and this is how it went:

                              Praise and Worship:  I cranked up the tunes and all four of us began to sing along. The tune was upbeat and we were rocking out, worshiping God together through music.

                              Prayer Concerns: I looked down at my speedometer that was pointing somewhere near 80, and up into the flashing lights of a flashing patrol car. The concern was obvious, and the prayers began.

                                Confession and Contrition: As the grim faced patrolman renounced my sin and asked for an explanation, I apologized profusely while frantically searching for my license and registration in a purse packed with junk, a console full of papers, and a glove compartment stacked with all manner of ridiculousness. After hours (or a couple of interminably long minutes) of really uncomfortable silence while I dug and shoveled and searched, I finally gave up and begged for mercy.

                                  Morning Message: While the officer returned to his patrol car to decide my fate, I proclaimed to the girls in back the importance of staying organized and following the rules and not allowing your life to get trashed out due to being overly busy. All this was said while continuing to search my purse for my illusive license and tossing not one but FIVE oranges out of my purse, over my shoulder, and into their laps as I spoke, until a distinct throat clearing at my left shoulder stopped me mid-toss and I turned to the officer even more humiliated than before while the girls behind me choked on giggles behind their hands.

                                  Absolution: "Mrs. White," the officer sternly stated, "You currently have no  record on your license, so I'm going to give you a warning this time. However, if you'd like to continue with no record, I recommend you get all of these offenses taken care of and set your cruise control."

                                 Praise, Adoration, and Prayers of Thanksgiving:  Praise the Lord!! Just as God offers us salvation through Jesus Christ and bids us to "go and sin no more," I had been given grace in the face of my failures, no record was kept of my wrongs, and I was allowed to continue on my journey praising God and thanking Him for a second chance today and always. However, as we drove away, I declared to the girls that I would be focusing on my driving for the rest of the trip, and I was sure we could find a Life Church to attend on the way home, which is exactly what happened!

We don't get a lot of time together without the sisters!
What a blessing this day turned out to be!

    
     It was close to 3:00 when we left the Thunder game, and a quick internet search revealed that LifeChurch.TV of Yukon had a service at 5:00 which was absolutely perfect.  It was on our way home and gave us time for a quick stop at the outlet mall for a little shopping. I had never been to a LifeChurch before, but I've had several friends recommend it. One of the main reasons for encouragement was that there are so many service times offered on both Saturday and Sunday that you can always find time to join a worship service even when you've got a busy, over-booked weekend schedule, as most of us do, at least from time to time.  In addition, I'd been told that the pastor was excellent, and the kids church had been highly suggested for my girls by my friend's son who is the same age as my oldest.

Actual feelings face.

Might be on Mom's blog face.

     I really had no idea what to expect, and my daughter (who is not quite as friendly and adventurous as her younger siblings) had no desire whatsoever to attend kids church, but with some encouragement from her friend, and a demand from her mother, she poutingly deigned to attend. We followed the signs to registration and got the girls signed up. They each received a name tag with a number that corresponded to a sticker given to me that would have to be presented in order to retrieve them. We were welcomed by some very friendly volunteers and shown to a special classroom for 5th grade students that looked like a pretty good time to me. There were several games including basketball and foosball and a comfy looking couch area in front of a big screen television. The girls were told they would get the VIP treatment and were offered snacks and drinks and were headed in that direction when I left them and followed the signs to the auditorium.

        Before passing into the auditorium (I wonder why it's not called a sanctuary?), I encountered a large coffee, tea, and water bar. There was a variety of snack and drink options, and church members were eagerly filling cups and carrying them into the auditorium with them. Feeling a bit sacrilegious, I filled a cup of ice water and found a seat near the center back.

      So far, I had not been spoken to by anyone in the lobby or the greeters by the door, and I felt a little awkward as I sat alone in the congregation as others entered in groups of family and friends. I noticed a few other singles in the congregation and was a little surprised that like myself, they continued to remain alone, with several seats separating them from the others as the auditorium began to fill up. I wondered if this was common in all churches and if I had simply never noticed because I'm usually surrounded by family of my own.

    The church itself was unlike any I'd ever been in before. The closest I  think I've been to would be Jr. High Church Camp or a Women of Faith Conference. The stage itself was backed and flanked by a trio of huge tv screens counting down the time until service began, and music was blaring as laser beams flashed off of the machine made smoke hovering above. It was definitely a festive, fun-filled atmosphere, and as the booming bass vibrated up the floor causing my pant legs to shake in time to the music and tickle my stubbly legs, I realized that I was probably a little past due for a shave. (Too much information again? Sorry, again!)

     As the countdown came to a close, a live praise band took their places on stage, and we joined in as the words to songs that were new to me but easy to catch on to flashed across the screens. The musicians and vocalist were excellent and the words to the songs meaningful and touching. People across the room lifted their hands in praise and danced in their seats as they sang along in praise to our God. I was surprised by the continued feeling of isolation I was experiencing. I think perhaps the fact that I couldn't hear myself or any of the people surrounding me singing over the volume of the band kept me feeling like I was in a bubble of my own, there but separate. (Once again, this could very well have been due to the newness of attending church alone, and I in no way mean it as a ridicule against this particular church family. Its simply how I was feeling at the time. )

     As the praise band left the stage, the local pastor stepped up to welcome, encourage, and pray for the congregation. He also introduced the senior pastor of Life Church who soon appeared on the large screens to greet his congregations. Pastor Craig Groeschel  and a handful of others launched LifeChurch in 1996 with a vision of creating a different kind of church. Nearly 20 years later, there are Life Churches throughout  the US and their services can be viewed live throughout the world through the power of Internet. Pastor Groeschel can be found leading in person at his church in Edmond, Oklahoma, but he provides leadership to all his churches behind the scenes and on the big screen. He often provides the morning message for all of his church families while various local pastors provide the messages around four times each year, but this particular morning, Pastor Groeschel introduced an upcoming sermon series entitled "I Deserve It" and a guest speaker to present the morning's message on Chasing Light: Part 2: Greed. Paster Peirre Du Plessis from The Father's House in Rochester, New York presented the morning's message, and as I nodded in agreement and chuckled with the other members of the Body, I finally found myself feeling a part of the congregation as a whole. (If you're interested in hearing a really great sermon for yourself, you can find it at http://www.lifechurch.tv/watch/chasing-light/.)  By the time we'd all received the message, the offering had been taken, and we were dismissed with an invitation and a prayer, I was feeling much more at home with this body of Christ. I took a few minutes before we left to ask some questions, meet some very kind people, and learn a bit about Life Church as a whole.

      I find myself intrigued by this relatively new style of church, and would definitely encourage anyone seeking a modern, contemporary worship style to seek out a Life Church near you. In addition, I highly recommend anyone who finds themselves unable for whatever reason at this time to join a church family, to experience and learn from the messages by tuning in at www.lifechurch.tv.  You can view live services several times a week or view messages on demand from their archives anytime. There are several sermon series that I'm really excited about seeing as soon as possible.

    From sirens to smoke machines, this week's Steeple Chase was definitely a unique experience.  We were reminded that whether in a car, at a ballgame, or viewing a Biblical message on a giant tv screen: Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am with them. (Matthew 18:20)  After all, even without a steeple, if the message points upwards, the journey is headed in the right direction. Thanks so much for being a part of this journey with us. Stop in next week for our next Steeple Chase adventure!

 ***Just a little side-note here: As I was completing this week's blog post, Tara from Life Church Yukon called to welcome us to their church and see if we had any questions or comments about their church. She volunteers her time to make contact with all new visitors to make sure they feel connected and welcome in their congregation. What a great way to make a newbie feel at home! Well done, Tara at Life Church! Thanks for your call and your encouragement!

    

When you fail to plan....but God doesn't!: Seiling United Methodist Church

     I know you'll all be shocked to learn this, but sometimes, I just can't get everything pulled together. I've tried really hard over the past couple of months to keep the wool pulled over your eyes, to appear well prepared and put together, and on top of this whole Steeple Chase extravaganza, and really, I'd almost convinced myself that I could actually get through this entire year as a calm, well-prepared, God-led church-chasing Christian blogger with her family's weekly visits well thought out, researched, and prepared.

    Yeah, well, this week that just didn't happen.

    I have a few excuses I can run by you, like: stock show season is upon us, and we had the district steer show this week, and soccer season is starting, and I had two girls to get to practices, and for some reason I'm about three years behind on laundry, and it snowed...again!, and on Saturday we went to my mom and dad's to help clean up for their bull sale, and I ended up with this SPOT under my arm that was really itchy and might have been a bite or something because my whole body started itching, but when my mom saw it, she said STAFF INFECTION, and then I got REALLY ITCHY and paranoid, and had to go home and take Benadryl and sleep for like 15 hours, so......it just didn't happen.

     I had made no plan for church earlier in the week, and in all honesty, I can't even remember praying about it, which is my usual decision-making key, so we woke up Sunday morning with no idea where to go to church, and only a vague plan of making it back to my parents' around noon to help again and pick up our oldest daughter who had stayed the night. However, knowing there are a number of churches between our house and my parents' an hour away, I encouraged (yelled at) everyone to prepare themselves (Get something on! I don't care what! Just don't look stupid!), and we glided gracefully (sweating and griping with only half a face of make-up on) into the car just in time to be too late to attend most of the churches we'd had in mind.

     Feeling hopeful (or at least pretending I did), I began Google searching churches in the Fairview/Seiling area but discovered (surprise, surprise) that many of these little country churches don't have websites.

     "Oh, well," we thought, "We'll just look at the signs when we drive by and find one getting ready to start."

     Why, oh, why can't ALL church signs list their starting times?! We passed by church after church with cars parked outside because we had no idea if they were just getting started or had been there an hour and were about to leave.  Believe me, when you're about to enter a church you've never been to before with a family you've no hope of slipping unnoticed into a back pew with, you'd really like to avoid the absolute embarrassment of arriving at the end of the service.... or even just 10 minutes late.
 
      So, we decided to just drive on into Seiling and maybe attend church with some friends of ours...who unusually for them, ended up not attending that Sunday, and the church had started about 5 minutes before we arrived....uhm, moving on. We began driving the streets of Seiling, and when we noticed some cars pulling up in front of a church down the street, we thought surely we'd found one that hadn't started yet. BINGO! It even had a sign stating that the starting time was 10:50 am (of all times)! We were even a few minutes early. So, Seiling United Methodist Church it was! Halleluiah! God had provided a place for us to worship! And a place to bless our morning efforts.

    The Seiling United Methodist Church actually holds a pretty special place in my heart. It was the church my parents were married in, and a place where I was called to speak as a lay speaker on a special Sunday many years ago. It had to have been about 10 years ago, but I remember it was on July 10th because it was our anniversary, and I talked about how much of the advice we'd been given before our wedding could apply to our positions as the bride of Christ. I also recall that our adorable first-born toddler-aged daughter let out a silent-but-deadly just before it was my turn to speak and then shouted " 'Scuse me!" to the people behind and to either side of us. (Too much information? Sorry. Those are the kind of things that give parents the right to embarrass their children as teenagers. )

   
     Anyway, we were excited to see our friends, the Gammons, come in behind us to make us feel right at home, and enjoyed making the acquaintance of the church's new pastor, Reverend Norm Wasson, before taking our seats in the beautiful stain-glass bedecked sanctuary.

      Our two younger girls (the only children in the church until the arrival of the Gammons' darling little grandson) were excited to see coloring books and crayons provided for them at the entrance, and immediately settled in (after arguing over who got which book, changing seating positions several times, and deciding they needed the colored pencils out of my purse instead of the crayons provided) and began coloring on what I soon discovered in the hands of my 5 year old was the loudest coloring book in the history of coloring books. I don't understand why, but somehow every page turned and swipe of the crayon reverberated throughout the church until I was certain I would lose my mind and no one would possibly be able to hear the sermon. Finally, I caved in and asked her to do something I never allow....Please! For goodness sakes! Get under the pew! She was happy to oblige. And bump her head. And hit her heals on the pew in front of us. Oh, please! My nerves were seriously shot, and the service had barely even begun.

     Finally, I realized how unproductive my anxiety was, took a deep breath, sighed out a prayer for deliverance, and focused on our purpose for being with this body of Christ on this special morning. It was time to worship. Time to let go of the stress-filled week behind me, forgive myself for my lack of preparation and dedication, and focus on my Creator. Time to give myself over to the One who loves me; not just despite of or through my faults, but even because of them. Because of the lessons I'm learning through them, because they are a part of the person He created me to be, and because I am perfectly and wonderfully made.
   
      The music began, and I gave myself up to worship through the words and familiar tunes of hundred year old hymns. I reveled in the lessons found in Reverend Wasson's sermon entitled, "The Bear Went Over the Mountain," and found my excitement for our Steeple Chase renewed as we studied the calling of Abram and Sarai into the wilderness and were reminded that while we may at times find ourselves feeling lonely and scared and without a mapped out plan to guide us, with faith and God we will get to the other side and receive the blessings God has promised.

    As the service ended, we were touched by the number of members who introduced themselves and made us feel welcome in their lovely church home. The smiling faces exuded years of faith and dedication to the Body that God led us to that Sunday morning, and we feel privileged to have had the opportunity to worship among them on our Steeple Chase this week. It just goes to show that regardless of our preparations (or lack there of), it truly is God guiding us on this journey, and He knows the plans He has for us (so saith the Lord!)

 

Comfortable. Caring. Loving. Real. : Central Christain Church

    As I sit down to blog this evening about our journey to Central Christian Church this past Sunday, my heart is heavy and my thoughts are clouded with news of a loved one who went on to be with Jesus just a short hour ago. She was a woman of strength and character, a leader in her church, and pillar of her community. She led the singing in her church for as long as I can remember, and she did so as she did everything: with fierceness and enthusiasm and a will that urged others to sing out, do better, reach higher, achieve more. Whenever and wherever we came in contact, she made me feel at home; comfortable and cared for and loved. She was real. She was Joy. (And she will be desperately missed by her family and friends until that day we join her in glory!)

     Comfortable. Caring. Loving. Real. These are the same words that come to mind when I think back on our visit to Central Christian Church in Fairview.

      Running a few minutes late (Oh, when will I learn?), we rushed in just as the acolytes were returning down the aisle. We slipped into a pew near the back, and when I finally got everyone situated and sat back with a sigh of relief my first thought was, "Oh, my word! What a beautiful sanctuary!" (I remember because that's exactly what I wrote in my notebook.) I had no idea that such a gorgeous, awe-inspiring, sacred place was behind the walls of this church that I've driven past a kajillion times and never taken the opportunity to enter. From the outside, the building is beautiful if a bit unusual with an a-frame and interestingly different "bell" tower and steeple, but the inside is just simply lovely. As we settled back and looked upwards at the crossing wooden braces, my youngest whispered in awe, "How'd they do that?" And I wondered the same.

Sadly, this picture doesn't do the room justice. I guess I need to take up photography to really show the beauty of the churches we visit. I wish you could see the glory of the stained glassed windows, but, alas, it cannot be.




 

        Fortunately, we arrived in time for the opening hymn and enjoyed the old fashioned comfort of holding a hymnal as we sang along. The service ran very similarly to the Methodist services we had grown up with, and we felt very much at ease as we joined in on the Lord's Prayer, Gloria Patri, and The Doxology. Unlike many churches, the Christian Church (aka Disciples of Christ) partake of Holy Communion on a weekly basis and invite all who believe in Jesus Christ as the resurrected Son of God to take part. This particular church does so (at least on this particular Sunday)
 by passing the plate of sacraments from pew to pew rather than having believers come forward to the alter.

      Soon, the children were called forward for the Children's Sermon; a time in which parents everywhere hold there breath and pray like crazy that their child doesn't say or do anything embarrassing in front of the entire congregation. (Does everyone feel this way or just those of us with loud mouthed children who are entirely lacking in shyness....and filters?) Fortunately my girls were on pretty good behavior this Sunday, and we were able to continue through the rest of the service without sneaking out with our faces covered before the service ended. After the children's service, the little ones were dismissed for Children's Church, and Reverend Ronnie Hopkins began the sermon.

 

Oldest daughter is not pictured as she is  now 11 and thinks she no longer qualifies as a child. (Insert eye roll here.)

 

      Moments into the scripture reading (done by three youth members who did a fantastic job), I was wishing that our middle daughter was still sitting beside me because once again I was in the midst of a God- moment, and I wanted her to be a part of it too. Just that morning as I was curling her hair, she was prattling on, as only an 8 year old girl can do, about the Veggie Tales movie she had been watching while waiting for her turn to get her hair fixed. It was a video we'd seen several times, but she felt the need to give me a scene by scene synopsis, and honestly, for the most part, I was just nodding and uh-huh-ing along and not really paying attention. It was the one, she informed me, where King George (But she new it was really King David) wanted all the rubber duckies in the Kingdom, and he wants another boy's duck (But she new in the Bible he really slept with another man's wife....wait, had we talked about this?! Now I was paying attention!), and not in this movie, but in the Bible, he has a son and his name is Solomon and when he grows up God gives him anything he wants and he asks for wisdom, and because he made a good choice, God gave him riches and fame too. (I was really listening now because I had forgotten about the riches and fame part and I was really impressed with all she knew.) So, when the scripture reading that morning came from 1 Kings and was the exact story of Solomon my 8 year old had told me that morning, I couldn't help but smile up at God and think, "Yes, Lord, I'm listening now. I'm really listening." (I just love when He does that!)

 

 

      Following the sermon entitled, "The King Who Had It All," the service ended with a hymn and  an invitation to come forward to accept Jesus or join the church and a recessional which was sung to the tune of a song from The Sound of Music (Which was another God-incidence, as I'd been singing Sound of Music songs all morning while getting ready.), and we gathered in the adjoining fellowship hall for snacks and a chance to visit with friends old and new. The congregation members were all so welcoming, and we really enjoyed visiting and learning more about the church and it's members before departing.

 

Our oldest daughter with our friend Rev. Ronnie Hopkins (aka Mayor Shinn).

 

 

      It came to me during this week's Steeple Chase, that as different as our experiences have been, they have also been so very similar as well. I realized how truly fortunate we are to have so many different congregations in so many different places in so many parts of the world who essentially are doing the same thing week after week, day after day. They are worshiping God and caring for one another, praying for each other, and extending friendship and love. Our churches are here to support and challenge and fight for God's people with strength and compassion and encouragement and Joy! I praise God tonight for the lessons He's teaching me through this Steeple Chase and through the life of a beautiful woman of God who will continue to be my role model as we each continue our journeys....mine into the body of Christ and hers into the home of the Bridegroom.  God bless you, my friends, and thank you for being a part of this journey as well. 

fairviewcentralchristianchurch.weebly.com