District Assembly & Conventions June 10-11, 2022 Tulsa Central Why District Assembly and Conventions? encourage and recharge celebrate what God is doing build a sense of unity and team recall us to mission focus and alignment relate to something bigger than our local church more info NMI Convention Friday, June 10 9am – Noon Report of District NMI President, Carol Stevens   Chick-fil-a Lunch               Speaker: Roberto Rodriguez, Border Initiative, El Paso The Rodriguez family currently serves as Global Commissioned Missionaries for the Church of the Nazarene, assigned to the Nazarene Border Initiative based out of El Paso Texas. They began their service with NBI as Mission Corps Missionaries in February of 2012. Roberto and Rhesa are Work and Witness Coordinators for the US Mexico Border, where their responsibilities include organizing and hosting work and witness teams, encouraging and supporting current churches, both......

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NEO Pastors, “I Want to Celebrate…” Brad Farnsworth, Broken Arrow Core… I was overwhelmed by our church’s response to the crisis in Ukraine. I heard the story of Pastor Serhii in Ukraine and contacted him. They have been driving women and children to the border non-stop day and night. Our church gave over $5,000 to support his church. Steve Brown, Cleveland…We at Cleveland have had some wonderful folks coming and seeking the transformational grace of God as we are walking through the series Way, Truth, Life: Discipleship as a journey of grace. God is convicting, encouraging and challenging us in this journey. It is a joyful time. Ben Finkbeiner, Cushing Kinetic…We are thankful that Paula and a team from Core came to Cushing to remodel the kitchen and Cafe area!!! We are also praising the Lord that 3 people have Inquired about baptism!!!! We are meeting with them individually and......

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March 11-12 Join us as we gather as a district for a time of prayer and intimacy in the presence of the Holy Spirit! This will not be a typical Wednesday night prayer meeting. There will be no speakers and no notebooks. Our only agenda will be to listen and spend several hours together in deep, personal engagement with the Holy Spirit. Dr. Daniel Ketchum, former Global NYI President and Global Missions Director, as well as Field Strategy Coordinator for multiple fields in the Eurasia Region, has led groups of Christians into encounters with the Holy Spirit all around the world for several decades. There will be large group times of prayer paired with times of breaking up into trios, we will worship our Lord, and we will be quiet before Him. However, there will be no pre-set agenda – we will respond as we sense the Spirit’s leading.......

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Join us as we gather as a district for a time of prayer and intimacy in the presence of the Holy Spirit! This will not be a typical Wednesday night prayer meeting. There will be no speakers and no notebooks. Our only agenda will be to listen and spend several hours together in deep, personal engagement with the Holy Spirit. Dr. Daniel Ketchum, former Global NYI President and Global Missions Director, as well as Field Strategy Coordinator for multiple fields in the Eurasia Region, has led groups of Christians into encounters with the Holy Spirit all around the world for several decades. There will be large group times of prayer paired with times of breaking up into trios, we will worship our Lord, and we will be quiet before Him. However, there will be no pre-set agenda – we will respond as we sense the Spirit’s leading. Each prayer......

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Dear NEO Family,  As we begin a new year after two of the most unusual, discouraging and confusing years I have experienced, I have been thinking about the great hymn, “How Firm a Foundation”. How thankful I am for the faithful God depicted in the words of this hymn: · I have faced some challenging tasks in 2021 demanding wisdom and strength beyond what I have to offer. You have, too. I heard a speaker say last week that every pastor should get an honorary doctorate in crisis management! How helpful to hear God say, “Fear not; I am with thee. O be not dismayed, for I am thy God, I will still give thee aid. I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.” · According to the New York Times on the day I am writing, COVID has resulted in......

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Happy Thanksgiving! One of the many blessings I give thanks for in 2021 is YOU! It is a joy to serve alongside the amazing people of Northeast Oklahoma. You are doing more good than you realize! You are loved and appreciated! Dave McKellips The Quarter-Time Church Member: Five Observations by Thom S. Rainer, Founder & CEO, Church Answers If your church is typical, over one-half of your members attend one out of four weeks or less. I am convinced that the decreasing commitment of church members to their local churches is one of the greatest problems in our culture today. More than polarized politics. More than petty social media. More than the divisions related to a pandemic. You see, healthy churches are positive forces in culture and communities. They serve and love others. They unite families. They communicate the gospel, where one finds true hope and peace. But when church......

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I am so thankful for the wonderful team of pastors we have in Northeast Oklahoma. Our pastors are heroes. We have especially been appreciative of the incredible work of our pastors during this pandemic. NONE of our pastors were ever trained for, nor have they ever had to lead ministries during a pandemic. Yet, they rolled up their sleeves, innovated, learned, and creatively put into place new practices so the work of ministry could continue. I have been hearing of some of the creative ways our churches have honored pastors during the month of October. We still have one more Sunday and I would encourage you to add one more method of expressing appreciation. I would ask every layperson to approach your pastor(s) this week, look him or her in the eyes and say, “I am so glad Jesus put you here!” We give thanks for Dr. Russell Human, ......

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We thought we were emerging from the pandemic. Now we are not so sure. And the pandemic is only one of the challenges we have faced in the last 18 months. We witnessed racial injustice, riots, political division, mixed messages from politicians and scientists, and economic collapse. The truth is, there are a lot of things that we do not know, especially when it comes to the future of the church. Ed Stetzer writes, “I do know these are difficult days that have presented us with many challenges. On the flip side, I do believe these challenges come with great opportunities for ministry. How we seize these gospel opportunities will determine whether we emerge from this season in a state of survival or positioned for revival.” I love that scene in the movie Apollo 13 in which they’re trying to bring back to Earth the crippled spacecraft, and the......

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Do Your Friendships Reflect God’s Heart? by Kevin G. Harney We should follow Jesus’ example by cultivating friendships with nonbelievers. Christian community and being part of a local church are essential for a healthy life of faith. God delights when we are active in the body of Christ, his family. But too many Christians get so invested in relationships with their believing friends that they forget to develop and nurture friendships with those who have not come to experience and embrace the grace of Jesus. It is easy to circle the spiritual wagons and take a defensive attitude toward the world. Some Christians see nonbelievers as the enemy. When this attitude prevails, we tend to break off our relationships with people who are not Christians. If we do interact with nonbelievers, we tend to keep these relationships shallow and safe. This way of thinking is diametrically opposed to the......

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