Home Christian News Oklahoma Church Meets One Week After Losing Building, Parsonage

Oklahoma Church Meets One Week After Losing Building, Parsonage

Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief descended on the area and offered its help to those in the Kingston/Madill area. Todd Fisher, Oklahoma Baptists’ executive director, and several others left a gathering at Falls Creek Conference Center 60 miles away to give their support. Gary Dempsey, director of missions for Johnston-Marshall Baptist Association, joined them on-site.

Pastor Keith Rogers looks at the damage to Texoma Southern Baptist Church from a March 21 tornado. Photo by Jeremy Rogers

Small victories came despite the destruction. In the mayhem of the storm, Keith and Cindy Rogers’ two dogs had gone missing. Their Maltese, Harley, was located in the bedroom closet. Benson, their miniature Yorkie, was found wandering about 150 feet from the house.

On March 27 Texoma Southern Baptist Church members went to the building and shared their appreciation with those cleaning up the destruction. Then they gathered at a nearby community center. They sang “Victory in Jesus,” “Heaven Came Down” and “Serve Him with Gladness” a capella. Geraldine Hodges, 75, presented “I’m Feeling Fine” from memory during the offering. Rogers preached from Galatians 5 for the message “Is It About You or Jesus?”

The sky was sunny and the weather was warm, approaching 80 degrees. It gave the air of a new beginning.

“Things went well,” Rogers said. “We announced there would be a leadership team assessing damages. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the community. But we had a good day in the Lord.”

This article originally appeared at BaptistPress.com.