Articles

What a wonderful day April 28th was for me. The culmination of 7 years of filling out forms, standing in line, and waiting for the mail finally came to fruition. At the Federal courthouse I took my oath and became an American citizen.If that wasn't enough of a blessing, that night a group of brethren organized a wonderful celebration to mark this special occasion. I want to thank all those who cam...

Recently we conducted the funeral of our dear sister Atha Harkless. Her death was quite unexpected and the funeral was set for early in the week, leaving only one full working day to care for the particulars.At the funeral itself hundreds gathered for the service which the family planned with care. As far as a funeral was concerned it was quite detailed, with a dinner for over sixty followed by a ...

Car dealerships are always boasting about their “great” or “fast” service because their customers prize competent workmanship done in a timely manner. In the church, we hope that our deacons can serve in the same ways, but the quality most prized among them is that of “quiet” service.This week Carthel Miller, one of our deacons, announced his retirement from this position due to health issues in h...

My little buddy, Jacob Foster, gives me some of his Bible class drawings from time to time. They are the images of a happy seven-year-old who has lived his entire life within the loving circle of the Choctaw congregation. Pictures of the cross or people traveling to services are eagerly pressed into my hands after worship. With his beaming smile and a sincere, "Here Michael, I made this for you." ...

They leave their classroom messy after puppet show rehearsal. They make noise and always sit at the back during worship. They take up a large part of the budget and wear out a full-time minister.Some wonder why so much effort and resources go into the youth program. Here are some statistics to look at while you ponder the value of our ministry to youth here at the Choctaw congregation.Each day in ...

Our community has found it’s own version of millennium madness in the debate over the Outer Loop construction project. This Loop will connect to the super highway that will form a corridor between Canada and Mexico. Many rear that it will not simply run through Oklahoma but may even rumble through our very living rooms.Those in danger of losing property are concerned, as they should be, and every ...

I've noticed that despite good attendance at services and great enthusiasm for our various projects, we have not given sufficiently in recent months to make budget. Oh, we're not missing it by much, but every week, little by little, we fall behind in our giving.In order to encourage us to bear down in this area, I'd like to remind you of a few things concerning our offerings here at Choctaw: WE NE...

I have watched the work that so many of the sisters here in Choctaw do and felt compelled to write a word of congratulations and thanks. We are so blessed in having godly women who are truly the light of Christ in this community.I mention no names because the space is too limited to write about the good works I see being done, or for fear of neglecting to mention the ones being done quietly and ou...

Next week will mark the fifth year I have served this congregation as Pulpit Minister. During this time I have learned many valuable things. Here are five which were especially important to me. I learned to Love Louis. In my first year I grew to appreciate the man who has done so much to build up this church, brother Louis Thompson. During that first year his patience and godliness were lessons th...

The scenes of tragedy are still fresh in our minds as we pass from the recent massacre of innocents in Jonesboro to the remembrance of the innocent One massacred for us at this time of year long ago. I will compare these in this week’s lesson but for now, I want to share a marvelous article by Chuck Monan who so eloquently brings these two together in a recent article for the Wilshire Bulletin.As ...

They say that you can make statistics mean whatever you want them to. This may be true but there are some numbers that do not lie, that tell not only a story but what the story is all about.Take the number 393 for example. This is the number of dollars “over” budget that this congregation has managed to give this year. Not a fancy or impressive number all by itself. But, when you stop to consider ...

Last year at Christmas, we distributed not only 200 bags of food; we provided 200 Christmas dinners for people in our community. Our "Brown Bag Christmas" project is here once again and we have the opportunity to set 200 tables with a lovely meal so that others might enjoy some of the blessings that we will share with our own families.For those not familiar with this work let me remind you of a fe...

No one has the knock-out punch argument for the question, "Which church is the true church?" This is why there are so many "true" churches. All Christian groups claim that they are the true church and the others are mistaken somehow.Of course, in the larger picture, all religions have this "true church" perspective (witness the Muslim suicide bombers of our day) so our claim in the churches of Chr...

There was a time in the church when the brethren would conduct “prayer meetings" where the object was to pray earnestly for one another and focus the church's attention on praising God.This is certainly a Biblical idea (Acts 1:14; 13:2) as we see the early disciples often giving themselves over to intense prayer ( and fasting I might add). We have many who have asked prayers for those who are ill ...

In Haiti life expectancy is 56 years. The reasons for such a short life are well documented: Only 15% of Haitians have access to uncontaminated water.60% of all Haitian children are malnourished and the #1 cause of death of children under 3 is measles.The doctor/patient ratio is 1 doctor for 15,000 people (U.S. is 1 for 350).Their life is short, difficult and to add to the misery, it ends in darkn...

In the first century a common custom among Christians was to share a meal and then take communion at the conclusion of it; much like Jesus did on the night He instituted the Lord’s Supper. Luke may be referring to this practice in Acts 20 and Paul certainly rebukes the excesses taking place during such meals in Corinth. Jude also mentions the “Love Feast” in Jude 12 when he warns the brethren conc...

Who knew? Only three weeks to secretly prepare a surprise gift for our own Louis and Ann and an amount greater than any other we've ever collected before -- and we did it! Praise God!As I mentioned to those who were there on Sunday evening, this proves two very important points: Louis and Ann Are Dearly Loved. The entire $6,000 came from individual offerings. Not a single dime was taken from the c...

I find myself referring again to the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1, where he says, "there is an appointed time for everything." This past Sunday, Louis Thompson formally announced his retirement.As you all know, he will continue as an elder and be available for visitation and other duties in this role. Like most things in life, the end of one thing usually marks the beginnings of another, a...

This Sunday, Louis Thompson will officially announce his retirement from full-time ministry. This decision has been prompted by medical problems that he will explain to the congregation.Louis and Ann have been serving the Choctaw congregation since August of 1977 (18 years). Brother Louis worked as pulpit minister during periods of tremendous growth. A bulletin for 1984 showed that over 350 were m...

The announcer on the radio said that the BRAC commission had voted to keep Tinker Air force Base open, and close other locations instead.For several years families have been on the brink of bad news as the politics of military realignment have been played out on peoples' frayed nerves. But, at last, an answer is at hand.Our community has been spared a major economic and social blow. As we draw bac...