John Elam

Meet baby Carina and her mother Rosa:

Northwestern Baptist Association provided one year’s worth of formula for baby Carina through the ASOSAP, Hope of the Pokomchi.  Rosa and Carina are from the village of Cruachuz Guatemala.  Carina weighed 4 lbs at birth and through our support and 6 months later she weighed 10 lbs and is growing.

By Patricia Keplinger (Member, FBC Laverne)

Have you ever asked someone why something was done a certain way and the response was “because we’ve always done it that way!”

On Saturday evening, October 15, 2011, Northwestern Baptist Association stepped outside the box and changed the traditional agenda for its’ Annual Meeting from a general time of preaching and worship to a more specific time of encouragement and exhortation for the leaders and worker of their association.

Director of Missions John Elam, stated “As an association I can do very little to impact the work of any particular church. Together though, we can commit to be effective in what we do, hold each other accountable to God’s word and eagerly desire to be used as a vessel of honor in the hand of the Lord.”

With over 100 people in attendance, Pastor Elam continued that we’re to “be useful to the kingdom of God and our goal should be being used of the Lord and His glory on this Earth.”

Followed by an amazing dinner and opening in prayer, the keynote speaker was introduced. The keynote speaker of the evening was Pastor John Ligon from Marlow First Baptist Church. Pastor Ligon emphasized that the New Testament Church, as described  in Acts 2, was “… the most courageous, outrageous organization  in the world today… and there was no church on the planet that could compare.”

The message, entitled “Church Matters” focused on the three main components. The first, whether in the building or rebuilding phase – face the facts- activity does not equal spirituality. The second, find your quiet place and listen to God. Pastor Ligon shared that whatever the facts are where we minister, we must do it together as stated in Nehemiah 2:17, “Come let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” As he continued into verse 18, using the NKJV, Pastor Ligon quoted,  “ Let us rise up and build.   There, they sat their hands to this good work. ”

The emphasis of this message, as stated in Nehemiah, was that we are to work together on the vision of our local church.   Pastor Ligon continued by  saying  that the key is to HAVE A VISION and DREAM BIG!

As stories and funny jokes were shared, he reminded attendees that every time the New Testament church was persecuted, it grew.

In Pastor Ligon’s closing comments, he encouraged believers’ to keep the faith.  He stated, “You cannot take God out of the formula and cannot take faith out of the process… we must always, always keep God at the center of what we do.”   With a great deal of encouragement and compassion, he shared, “YOUR CHURCH MATTERS! Face the facts, keep your eyes on the future and remember YOU DO MATTER, each week matters.  JUST GO AND GET IT DONE!”

On July 25th, 2010 1000 Hills Ranch Church held their first gatherin’. A “Come as you are Cowboy Church” 1000 Hills has seen God work in the lives of many un-churched people.  People drive from Gate, Freedom, Mooreland, Vici, Harmon, and even Higgins to come to Cowboy Church.

Now a year later 1000 Hills celebrated their 1 Year Anniversary. To celebrate they held their church gatherin’ at the WW Livestock Auction with a horseback greeters, Longhorns in the parking lot and a host of people in attendance! The service was videoed and DVDs will be made to hand to the  un-churched.

God moved in a mighty way as we saw more and more un-churched people  attend that morning. The evening brought a whole lot of celebrating. A Catfish fry, Barn Dance, and Baptisms were all done at Pastor Beau Hague’s Ranch.  Fifteen were baptized in the horse tank and more than 200 came and filled their belly’s with catfish, and all the fixins’. After the dinner and Baptisms many boot scooted to some good ole country music.

God has blessed 1000 Hills and they are looking forward to the future. There are plans to purchase 40-50 acres and build a covered arena in Woodward. 1000 Hills exists to reach the un-churched western culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ by tearing down religious barriers and building authentic relationships!

Pastor Beau Hague

FBC Seiling took 10 people to Olathe, Colorado to work on an inactive church building in that association.  We worked with Regional  Missionary Brad  Cowger and our team was able to fix the air coolers on the roof, clean all the carpets, install a new ceiling in the hallway, paint four rooms in the upstairs, and generally clean all around the church.  They hope to find a pastor to move in and restart the church.  We also helped a new church start, Church180, on Wednesday by going door-to-door handing out literature about the church.  Our church is hoping to send a team each summer to that area and help Brad and his churches in that association.

P.S. – We have posted some pictures and a video on Facebook under Pat Dougherty and Becky Dougherty

Ft. Supply Summer

Here at Ft. Supply we had a very busy summer.  We attended Falls Creek, we took two to kids camp, and had a tremendous VBS where we had 6 children come forward for baptism and 1 come forward to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Pastor Ken McKinley

Buffalo Summer Ministries

High Plains Resort Ministry

We are in the midst of our 7th summer of doing weekly campground worship services.  Each Sunday from 8:30 am to 9 am at Fort Supply Lake, averaging 5 each Sunday in July with a High of 25.

Cowboy Breakfast and Chapel

We provided a breakfast and chapel  service for the Woodward Elks Rodeo Roping held at Lauer Arena in Buffalo on July 18.  The guest speaker was Dale Hirschman of Weatherford, OK

VBC

Our VBS was July 17-July 20 with the Big Apple Adventure.  We had a great response from the students, the staff and families on Family Night!  Our VBS mission project was the NWBA Campground

Mission Trip to Walden Co

We took a team of 8 youth/adults to Mountain View Baptist Church, Walden CO on July 30-Aug 5.  We did the Big Apple Adventure VBS averaging 38   children, half which had no church affiliation.  It was the largest VBS in the history of the community!  The afternoons involved helping an 80 year od missionary couple, Henry and June Johnson, who take dry goods and clothing to the Indian Reservation in the Dakotas and cutting firewood and stacking for the church to give to the elderly.  The  evenings included a youth recreational outreach and devotional time.  This was the third year for the trip to Mountain View.

Pastor Jerry Hodges

During the hot month of July nine folks from Lincoln Avenue loaded up in a 15 passenger van and traveled 10 hours to St. Louis, Missouri.  We spent a week working with Global Encounter Ministries and First Baptist Church of Ferguson in the inner city.  The ministry site is a beautiful old park named January Wabash Park in the old suburb of Ferguson.  Our main objective is to minister to children in the community and to help their families connect with FBC Ferguson.

Each morning we arrive at the park between 8:30 and 9:00 for a time of prayer and seeking the Lord in preparation for a day of ministry.  A little after 9:00 we would drive through the neighborhoods we canvased the afternoon before and pick up children.  While we are picking up  children on our van route the rest of our team is greeting parents and children who are arriving at the park.

By 10:00 the thick Missouri humidity and hot July sun are pushing the heat index to near 100 degrees.  Our missionaries begin serving snacks and cold drinks to the crowd of children who have already gathered.  Around 10:30 the dedicated morning, park   joggers are finishing up their last laps and we begin to recite in chorus our memory verse.  “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10  After a short Bible Study about how we are lost and Jesus is the great seeker some of the kids elect to head to the courts for a Basketball Clinic with Coach Tina Pinckard & Sophomore Kaity Shoaf.  The other children elect to attend an Arts and crafts clinic with everything from your typical beaded necklaces to your non-typical introduction to drama.  Around noon Michelle Dostal (our amazing meals on wheels) shows up with a hot meal for the children before we send them home for the afternoon.

After we enjoy a quick lunch our team loads up in the van to knock on some more doors and invite more kids to come tomorrow.  Around 2:00 the heat index is nearly 108 degrees and we are downing bottles of water to try and stay hydrated.  In spite of the intense heat our missionaries had thankful and joyful hearts.  We didn’t come to St. Louis to be comfortable – we came in the spirit of our Lord – “to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus > anything;

Student Missionaries: Megan Kirkendall, Shawn Haskins, Kiara Perez, Hannah Dirks, Kaity Shoaf, and Addy Dirks

Pastor Andrew Dostal

The last of summer camps ended in early August with our Associational camp. Throughout the entire summer,  the cabins were put to good use as were the pool and tabernacle.

Children, youth, collegiate groups and adults alike enjoyed the nature trails, the swimming pool; and never were the air-conditioned cabins appreciated as much this summer!

The Paruna cabin, though unfinished served as a worship center, an arts and craft unit, and a recreation/refreshment area.  Most of the camps  enjoyed the water slide Todd built.  But above all, hundreds of people received knowledge of God and many accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  This summer’s camps included Kan- Ok, North American    Baptist, Nazarene, Woodward 1^st, two 4-H camps, and our NWBA. We had  family reunions filling in the weekends. A large group of youth from Colorado headed for Falls Creek, several local  church groups and many other   Individuals have passed through the gates this summer. Several missionaries came from around the world to share the mighty works of God and the good news of Jesus on these grounds.

As summer winds down, we look across the grounds and give God all thanks and praise for the faces that were forever changed here. The camp is now available for fall, winter, and spring scheduling so call the office and we hope to see you soon.

Pastor Todd and Tonda White

Cross outside of Tabernacle-Summer 2011

Northwestern Baptist Assocation
580.256.2678
secretary@northwesternbaptist.com