BROADCASTER Vol. 4
June 22, 2023
May 1, 2023
This month continue to stay updated on our most recent events by staying connecting with your church family and our ongoing outreach of ministry.
May
5-6 – Lifeway Women Simulcast
25-29 – Mexico Mission Trip
27-June 3 – Student's Pueblo Mission Trip
June
7-9 - Kids Blast
11-14 - Broken Bow Float
18 - No evening activities
25 - HIA/4th Sunday Fellowship
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Weekly:
Core Costs: $29,056
Giving: $36,981
Ministry Budget: 37,789
Vision Budget: $41,509
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On Wednesday, April 19th Shawnee Oklahoma sustained major damages inflicted by a thread of storms that moved through the area. Major impact was sustained by Oklahoma Baptist University, which took on severe damages, resembling the majority of the areas community.
OBU student Ryleigh Andrews, captures how this community has come together in recovery. "In the wake of the April 19th tornado, Oklahoma Baptist University stands triumphant and hopeful. Faculty, students, and volunteers have made all the difference after OBU’s campus sustained major damages. There is a night and day difference in the state of things since last Wednesday because of their willingness to serve. However, there remains much to do in the Shawnee community. The people of Shawnee need the encouragement and servant-heartedness of OBU students and faculty. The OBU administration is already giving students and faculty the opportunity to help in the community. Although this has been a difficult situation for OBU and Shawnee as a whole, God continues to comfort his people and give them hope!"
As many students will be returning to campus in the coming weeks please continue to keep the Shawnee community in your prayers as many individuals have been displaced by this storm.
On April 7th our church family was able to take the time to celebrate Good Friday together. This special service took place on Friday evening which gave a great start to such an important weekend. During this service the church was able not only to spend time worshiping but also partake in communion together.
We are so thankful to all the new faces that joined us for Easter Sunday! As we celebrate Jesus's resurrection we wanted to give special attention to how grateful we were that everyone took time to be there that morning and spend time together. It is because of this that our young adult sunday school wanted to make sure to great everyone that came in, in a special way. Everyone who was able chose a door and grabbed a sign to how happy we were that we were able to spend this time with them as they continue to plant and grow new relationships.
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Coming up June 11-14th the young adult ministry will be taking a group to Broken Bow Oklahoma for their annual float trip. This is a great time to not only relax but also to grow new and old friendships. "For me the float trip allowed me to grow with a lot of people in the church. The fellowship and worship that I experienced was amazing and I really felt as if I took a vacation with a lot of followers of Christ and we all just loved on each other while we were there," said First Southern intern, Evan Stafford. For more information contact the church office.
Ranchos Dos Countries is a mission organization founded/created by Deborah and Fernando Martinez. They work in the surrounding communities of Mexico including Zaragoza and Morelos! Members who go on the Ranchos Dos Countries mission trip will have the opportunity to work alongside brothers and sisters in Christ while serving children and families of the communities. This trip especially will be a focus on children and blessing them with fun games, food, and gospel presentations! We are excited to see how the Lord moves and goes before us in Mexico, May 25th-29th! - Ryleigh Andrews
Join us May 5-6 for our women's retreat! Take this time to grow with like minded believers. Enjoy listening to our key speakers including: Jennifer Rothschild and Jen Wilkin. There will be food, fellowship and several door prizes. Be sure to check with the church office for more information.
Our mission into the Dominican Republic held the purpose of training the missionaries there on Storying. This is when we share the stories of the gospel in a direct and meaningful way to better tell the gospel story. While they have a good foundation of believers, they are currently working to raise up leaders to send out and start their own churches. While we were there we also did a lot of fellowshipping and spent time with the missionaries there, creating relationships and filling their cups. Being a missionary you give up everything and they needed that community to help refill. We were also able to go into the Haitian refugee villages and speak to people there. There was a lot to see of their culture even after fleeing Haiti to hopefully find a better life in the Dominican Republic. Going on this trip opens your eyes to seeing what a first world country is like while not having to sacrifice a lot of the “luxuries” we have in America. I would encourage anyone who can to go serve in the Dominican Republic! They are wanting to have a VBS with one of public schools during the summer time which would be such a great opportunity to share the gospel with so many kids at one time!
- June 7-9 Kids Blast is coming up! Blast is a simple but powerful camp designed to intentionally provide multiple opportunities to share the Gospel with kids through what they love to do most… have fun! Staring from 9am to 12:15pm kids completing Kindergarten through 6th grade are welcome to sign up! Register online or on the app.
-Crosstimbers Kids Camp is June 19-22 in Davis, Oklahoma for kids completing 3rd-6thgrade. The cost will be $140 and space is limited so be sure to register online or on the app by the deadline, June 4th.
-If you are interested in teaching Little Sprouts teachers are being hired now for the 23-24 school year. For more information contact the church office or see Sara for more information or to apply.
-Right now we are recruiting Summer Volunteers to work with kids for Sunday and Wednesday evenings. Go to http://flr.ms/7VP to see details and to sign up.
Please be continuing to praying for our worship ministry as we continue to work and grow together. Please also keep in mind our Kids Worship as we are needing helpers who are willing to help pour into the kids and be useful through our worship. Music skills aren’t necessarily required to fill these positions but they can be helpful. Our ministry is also looking for donations of electric pianos or guitars if anyone would be willing to donate so kids can learn to play, we would be extremely grateful.
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Local Missions Among Internationals
Our new Afghan neighbors in Oklahoma City continue to need our friendships. This ministry helps with English, understanding how to do things in America and assistance with all kinds of areas of life are needed, as they're rebuilding from scratch.
We need more people to get involved with these Afghan friendships and are especially in need of more ladies to be involved in these friendships.
Drivers needed to get children to school:
As we plan toward the Fall Semester, we are wanting to find another solution to get an Afghan family’s 8 children to and from school. This will likely be the parent driving a load with their car and a volunteer taking a load with their car. We’ve been using the church van which has been working fairly well, but are looking for other options to avoid schedule conflicts and costs. Please consider helping us continue to love them in this significant way.
If you are able to help please contact Paul Colley through the church office. Thank you!
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Our church body is constantly trying to reach out and reach others. As we do this we want to continue to look for ways to serve one another within the church. Below is a list of areas that are in need of people. If none of these seem to fit you, please contact the office for more ways to get involved.
Blast Leaders
Expectations: volunteer during Blast Weekend (June 7-9) from 9am to Noon. Specifically needed are “Tour Guides” who take kids to each location each day, check-in and check-out desk helpers, greeters, and preschool volunteers. Must have completed 7th grade to serve. Younger volunteers will be placed with younger elementary kids or preschool.
Resource Room Attendant
Expectations: Volunteer 1-2 hours a week cleaning and organizing the Preschool Resource Room.
Kids Center Greeter
Expectations: Volunteer twice a month at the door greeting kids and families.
Specific Times of Need (select one or more):
- Sundays 9:15-10:15
- Sundays 10:15- Close of service
- Sundays 4:45pm-5:45pm
- Wednesdays 5:45pm-7:30pm
Kids Center Check-In
Expectations: Volunteer at the check-in desk entering guests into the computer and giving them instructions to enter.
Specific Times (select one or more):
- Sundays 9:15-10:15
- Sundays 10:15- Close of service
- Sundays 4:45pm-5:45pm
- Wednesdays 5:45pm-7:30pm
Summer Wednesday Night Co-Teachers
Expectations: Serve alongside another teacher each Wednesday night during the summer (Mid-May to Mid-August) from 6:00pm-7:30pm. There are needs in every class. Classes are Babies, Toddlers, 2s-3s, Prek-Kindergarten, 1st-4th, and 5th- 6th.
Sunday Night Co-Teachers
Expectations: Serve alongside another teacher on Sunday nights from 5pm-6:15pm. We have needs in Preschool and Elementary classes right now and would like to emphasis an immediate need along with people to fill in during the summer months.
Preschool Worship Care Co-Teacher
Expectations: Volunteer at least once per month to teach and love on preschoolers during the worship service. All classes have 2 volunteers and classes will include babies through 3 year olds. Volunteer must be flexible to serve where needed.
Kids Center Cleaning
Expectations: Volunteer once a week for 1-2 hours to thoroughly vacuum the floors and clean the windows in each classroom in the Kids Center.
*Please note that all those who serve with minors must complete a screening process including background checks & sexual abuse awareness training.
Contact Sara in the Kids Ministry office to sign up to serve at sara@firstsouthern.tv or stop by the Kids Center.
is made up of two groups: the Teaching Team and the Event Team. Our teaching team is made up of women who lead our Women’s Bible Studies on Sunday evenings, Tuesday mornings and Wednesday evenings. Our Event team meets monthly to plan various women’s events and works together as a team to bring them to fruition. We are currently in need of a Wednesday evening Bible Study leader, whether it be teaching the class or facilitating a DVD-led study. If you feel the Lord’s calling to participate on our Women’s Ministry Team, please send an email to women@firstsouthern.tv.
On Monday evenings a group of young adults gathers to pray and go out into the homes of numerous Afghan families to develop friendships, love on them, and share the good news. There are several scheduled weekly rhythms of prayer and visiting taking place all the time so if there is a way you would like to get involved please contact the office.
We need more people to get involved with these Afghan families as we grow these friendships. The need is beyond our current ability to address it and we especially need more ladies involved. Please, contact Paul Colley or call the church office for more information. Thank you!
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Future and Possible Mission Endeavors for 2023
-- India (August, dates TBD): this is already in the planning process; the objective - encourage the leadership and students (ministry, prayer, worship), expose our team to their disciple-making and church-planting practices and strategies, serve in whatever areas we can assist needs (discovering those in this planning process), learn more about prayer, spiritual warfare, evangelism, house-church models as persecution has increased there. This will be a small team. Time away will be 7-9 days as best as we can assess at this time.
-- Albania (Possibly October): serve a multiplying church movement with English ministry, music, evangelism, special needs ministry; learn from them, expose of people to a church and it's practices that is reproducing churches into the 4th generation across Albania.
-- Japan (TBA): we have some connections with a church. Conversations are in process as to what this could look like for a team to come and serve. Japan has historically been a very mysteriously difficult place for the church to multiply. The missionary contact there is always in need of encouragement and help. They are seeing fruit; this would be a great opportunity to partner with another church in Arkansas who is already working with them.
— Togo or Ghana (possibly this fall): we have two connections of fruitful works we may partner with that would love for us to serve. More to come!
-- IMB Missionary Care Mission Trips: we are considering doing one or two mission trips for the sole purpose of missionary care with some of the IMB missionaries we are connected with relationally already. As we determine this, we will be making the dates and locations known.
