Contact Magazine Fall 2011 - Oklahoma Conference Ministries

Weaving a witness
in Oklahoma
special commemorative issue
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special commemorative issue of “Contact, the Magazine”
July 2012
Weaving a witness
in Oklahoma
A milestone Oklahoma
Methodist moment triggered the
publishing of this magazine. After
44 years, the South Central
Jurisdictional Conference has
returned to this state.
This quadrennial meeting of
Church delegates from eight states
last occurred in Oklahoma in 1968,
a milestone year. That’s when The
Methodist Church and Evangelical
Rev. Dr. Joseph Harris
United Brethren denominations
merged to form The United Methodist Church. Also that year,
Bishop W. Angie Smith’s retirement set another milestone. His
24-year episcopacy in Oklahoma (1944-1968) remains a record
today for Methodism.
Thus the approach of the 2012 SCJ meeting, in July,
prompted us to ponder the history of the Oklahoma Area,
consisting of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference
(OIMC) and the Oklahoma Conference.
We began following threads of stories from both, embracing
the SCJ theme “Woven Together for Transformation.” We
gained valuable help from Commissions on Archives & History
in both annual conferences and their archivist, Christina Wolf.
The communications group of the SCJ Host Committee
supported us.
We also found ourselves challenged in this work.
Historical accounts date back to the early 1800s in Indian
Territory. And today we have more than 600 diverse churches
in the two annual conferences. Yesteryear’s extensive history is
interwoven with today’s first drafts, just as Christ’s story lives
and thrives today through us.
The Oklahoma stories are innumerable, as grains of sand in
time. The magazine’s space is limited.
So this publication is not a chronological account, not
an inventory of Church milestones. These pages offer Oklahoma
Methodism as both past and present, seeking to weave an everstronger witness to God’s glory. Because every church, every person
matters in our story.
Features
Great-great-grandpa teaches..................................................................4
‘The church cared for me as a young child’............................................. 7
Violence can’t defeat church’s spirit.....................................................10
OIMC teams deploy after 9/11...............................................................11
Native American influences on Oklahoma Methodism....................12
Pastor on patrol........................................................................................18
Trumpet summons pioneers to worship..............................................18
Pleading for more pastors......................................................................20
From EUB to UMC: Church salutes 2 who transitioned.....................21
Deep faith endures at Kulli.....................................................................22
‘God has even bigger plans for us’ .........................................................23
Older members inspire young...............................................................23
Researching your United Methodist ancestors?................................24
Building for the Kingdom.......................................................................25
Officially designated United Methodist Historic Sites............... 17, 26
History’s headwaters at Red River........................................................17
Spheres of influence................................................................................28
Go west, young preacher........................................................................30
A pledge to keep: Couple gives up home to help church.................32
Did you know? Unusual names of Oklahoma cities and towns......35
We invite you to read and then pass on this commemorative
magazine to other church members and people in your community,
sharing it in places where others can read the stories of Oklahoma
Methodism and our impact on the past and the future.
— Rev. Dr. Joseph Harris, Director of Communications, and Holly McCray, Editor
CONTACT The Magazine
is a publication of the Department of Communications – Oklahoma Conference of The United Methodist Church
1501 N.W. 24th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73106
www.okumc.org
All contents copyright © 2012
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to CONTACT, 1501 N.W. 24th St., Oklahoma City, OK 73106-3635.
ON THE COVER: SACRED SCENE — Pastor Trevor Smith and Jennifer Hart pray for Jason Bartel, center, after he was baptized at Brushy Lake in June 2011. The holy moment reflects
Methodist history of the 1800s in Indian Territory. Rev. Dr. Smith expected to baptize up to a dozen people at the lake this June. He serves First United Methodist Church, Sallisaw,
Okla., established in 1848. Story, page 23. Photo by Joan Kobert
3
Already aware my parents both hail from the Great Plains, in
recent years I have traced my family’s ethnic history far beyond where
we currently reside. My paternal grandfather is Cherokee and Irish;
my paternal grandmother is Choctaw and English. My maternal
grandfather is English and German, and my maternal grandmother is
German and Swiss. Those ancestral lines form the bulk of my heritage.
My family is registered with the Cherokee Nation.
Our stories are complex; this truth applies to all. It’s likely that you,
too, have a family story with multiple chapters; that you, too, are woven
from the threads of more than one heritage.
o
Great-greatgrandpa
teaches
Persecution and struggle
When he spoke his Native language, Arch, my ancestor, was
persecuted in school, even beaten, like so many others in his time. He
also was forced to cut his hair and adopt the customs of the dominant
European-American culture. Today I enjoy speaking my Native language
in public (as best as I can), although I seldom find that opportunity.
It is far too common today to find Christians, in public places,
hoping we won’t have to identify too much with the Body of Christ.
Because of that fear, we miss opportunities to live out our calling, to
make a meaningful difference in other lives. Are we so fearful of the
social persecution that might result when we proclaim our faith?
o
This photo of Rev. Matthew Scraper’s great-great-
Identity: Christian
grandfather Arch hangs today in the Smithsonian
Learning the genealogical history of my family was a blessing.
Although physically I appear to be “a white man,” I identify myself as
Cherokee. When people ask me why, I typically respond, “I didn’t grow
up in England or Germany or Switzerland or Ireland. I grew up here, on
the land my ancestors walked upon for a very, very long time.”
museum. It was taken in the 1800s, when he was a
delegate from the Cherokee Nation to Washington, D.C.
I have come to know this is who I am.
Perhaps the lesson here for Christians is that you and I must begin
to remember our primary identity as people of faith.
Arch Scraper, my great-great-grandfather, grew up very near a
Methodist camp-meeting site in Alabama. There is speculation that he
and his family were brought into Methodism there. Regardless, when
Arch moved to Oklahoma, he married the half-Cherokee daughter
of Joseph Washington Vermetho Leeland Mertis Little, a Methodist
minister, according to my family tradition.
From that time, we Scrapers have been Methodist. Today my
father, Randy Scraper, and myself both are clergy in the Oklahoma
Conference.
The United Methodist religious heritage is rich, meaningful,
and powerful. It has been forged in the fires of both persecution and
experience. Perhaps we who live today for Christ, drawing from the
stories of Native Oklahoma, can learn to be thankful for that religious
identity. Perhaps we will begin to view our relationship with God as a
fundamental component of our primary identity, and not as a mantle
we take up whenever merely convenient.
What will happen if, instead of being fathers and mothers, we are
Christian fathers and mothers? What if, instead of being husbands and
wives, we intentionally choose to be Christian husbands and wives?
What if we choose foremost to be Christians working in our vocational
fields? What opportunities for meaning, purpose, and abundant life will
unfold for us if we embrace our relationship with God as our primary
identity? I shiver to imagine the impact of that in the ongoing story of
God’s family.
Rev. Matthew Scraper is pastor at Marlow First United Methodist Church.
By Matthew Scraper
T
hey called him Arch because they couldn’t figure out how
to pronounce his real name. He was born in 1820 in what
is now northeast Alabama, and his life was marked by
hardship.
Sometime around Arch’s 18th birthday, a group of people he
had never met, who lived in a place he had never been, decided
Arch and his family should move to what is now Oklahoma. But
Arch’s family didn’t want to leave their two-story plantation home
or the farm that had been in the family for many generations. As
the day of their removal drew near, they held onto hope. Surely the
group making this decision on their behalf would see reason, would
develop compassion.
But Arch and his family experienced neither reason nor
compassion in the ordeal that followed.
Because they refused to leave their home, Arch and his family
were rounded up at gunpoint by soldiers and taken to a cattle stockade.
They spent several months there, awaiting deportation, watching
people die from the disease that invariably accompanies living in
such muddy and unsanitary conditions. Then Arch and his family
set off on a long journey, with death and loss as constant companions
— a journey that became known as nu-na-hi-du-na-tlo-hi-lu-I, or, in
English, “the trail where they cried.”
After such hardship, perhaps the young man thought he would
find a measure of peace at journey’s end. And in northeast Oklahoma,
Arch’s family did re-establish living, eventually controlling nearly
1,000 acres of rich pastureland.
But just as Arch began to believe the peace he sought might be
available to him, he was forced to fight in the Civil War — first against
the North and later the South — to defend his tribe and his family.
4
After the war, Captain Arch took on other types of battles as he
sought to secure a safe and prosperous place for his family. He singlehandedly cleaned up an Oklahoma town controlled by outlaws; the
town carries his name to this day. He served on the Cherokee Nation’s
high court and ruling council; he was key in developing a women’s
institution of higher education west of the Mississippi River. He
traveled to Washington, D.C., as a delegate for his people and his
home. Today his picture, taken while he was in D.C. during a treatysigning period, hangs in the Smithsonian.
Arch lived long — just long enough to see the federal Dawes
Commission divide his family’s land in Oklahoma, leaving them only
a fraction of what they had built through great sacrifice.
Arch’s father was named Di-su-ga-s-gi, a name very difficult to
translate. Perhaps the closest interpretation in English is “to scrape at
the skin.” As became custom in his time, Arch took his father’s name
as his own surname.
Such is one chapter in the early history of the Scrapers — my
family — in Oklahoma.
Weaving a family history
Coming to understand all that we are takes time.
My father has said one-half of our family traveled across the prairie
in covered wagons to Oklahoma, and the other half was there to meet
them when they arrived. Every family has a story, inevitably with many
chapters, and mine is no exception. Likewise, our state history has more
than one chapter, each rich in its history and traditions.
In Fall 2011, I was blessed to preach a series that engaged one of
those chapters in greater detail as the congregation I serve sought to
discover what Christians today may learn from Native Oklahoma.
Rev. Matthew Scraper
and his youngest
daughter, Megan,
embrace in 2008 on
what was once called
Scraper Mountain in
northeast Alabama.
Historical society records
of that area list “Chief
Scraper’s Home” as seen
in the 1920s from Salem
Methodist Church.
5
Courtesy photo, Norman Magazine
‘The church cared for me
as a young child’
Rev. Linda Harker
By Amy David
the youth and program director at New Haven UMC in Tulsa in
Norman Magazine
1986, the year Ralph retired.
Seven years later, she became New Haven’s associate pastor,
inda Harker, 59, said she has to laugh at God sometimes.
Never did she or her husband think she would become a
where she served until October 1998. That fall, she was appointed
United Methodist pastor, she said.
to the position of senior pastor at Tulsa’s Faith UMC.
Rev. Harker has just begun her second year as senior pastor at
After five years as Muskogee District superintendent (2006-11),
McFarlin United Methodist Church, Norman, Okla. Of the UM
she was appointed to McFarlin last year. “It has been an amazing,
churches being served by a female senior pastor, Harker serves one
strange, wild journey,” Harker said.
of the six largest in the United States, according to
GCF&A analysis.
Harker: “The first time I preached, I remember walking away from that and
In her late 30s, Harker dedicated 11 years to remembering where God said to Moses, “Take off your shoes, for you are on
answer God’s call to ordained ministry by going to holy ground.” Once I was ordained and began to preach on a regular basis,
school year-round to earn an undergraduate degree
I began to do that. I don’t make a big deal about it; it’s a covenant between
and attend seminary while caring for her family.
Growing up in a family that didn’t attend me and God. It reminds me of the holiness of having the audacity to preach.
worship, Harker took herself to church at a young I want to be faithful to my covenant to God, and I never want to forget it.”
(Interviewed by Jim Dembowski)
age.
“Because the church cared for me as a young
McFarlin Church ranks sixth largest in the Oklahoma
child, I know the difference the church can make. It was where I
Conference
for average worship attendance, 934, and membership,
found love, acceptance, and care. It was where I found great joy.”
5,479.
(Statistics
from 2011)
After marrying her husband, Ralph, she continued to volunteer
Harker
said
she continues to be in awe of the beautiful building
in church wherever the Air Force stationed them. Then, based on
and
congregation
in Norman.
her volunteer experience and the advice of a friend, she got a job as
continued
L
7
from previous page
“I can remember driving up University (Boulevard) and seeing
the tower peeking over the trees, seeing the church, and being
overwhelmed with awe.”
She has seen a lot of energy and excitement in the membership,
She sees McFarlin making a difference through God’s direction.
“I see a church that is known by the way we love and serve through
our words and actions.”
Bishop Robert E. Hayes Jr. said about one-third of current
Oklahoma Conference clergy are women.
Clergyman Phil Fenn said he is very
Harker: “When I was just a young child, a welcoming presence at church
supportive and appreciative of the work
Harker is doing in the McFarlin congregation,
was Mrs. Leggett. She was there every Sunday on the front steps, arms
which he led for 22 years and where he
open wide. She became my Sunday School teacher. She was the one who
remains active in retirement. “Every minister
helped me understand God’s love. She made sure she was on the front
brings their own vision and leadership style.
steps waiting for me. How do you ever know God’s love unless someone
Linda Harker has brought an invaluable skill
shows you?” (Reprinted with permission from the Muskogee Phoenix, April 16, 2007)
set.”
The Harkers have two grown children
and is pleased with what God is doing through her and that people
and a preschool-age grandson. The pastor golfs with her husband,
are responding. “The Spirit has been set free and God is blessing us
and she enjoys fly fishing.
with growth.”
Reprinted with permission from Norman Magazine, 2012
Historical timeline of The United Methodist Church
Photo by Holly McCray
,
Lois Neal, left, joins Elaine Robinson on April 14, 2009, after a ceremony at Oklahoma City University. Rev. Dr. Neal is the first Native American woman to graduate from Saint Paul School of Theology at Kansas City, Mo., and is a retired clergy member of the
Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference. The April ceremony honored Rev. Dr. Robinson as she began serving as first academic
dean for the Saint Paul School of Theology at Oklahoma City University.
L
ois V. Glory-Neal was born July 22, 1931, in Tahlequah,
Okla., where the capital of the Cherokee Nation is
located.
“In 1979, I received this most sacred, intimate call to the
ordained ministry,” she described. “I realized that fulfilling this
call included four years of college and then seminary. I was bold
enough to enter Oklahoma City University, a private United
Methodist college, at age 50.
“After raising seven children and serving with my late husband,
Rev. Oliver Neal, in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference
for 30 years, I graduated from OCU with a B.A. degree in May
1984. That fall, I entered Saint Paul School of Theology.
8
“I was 57 when I graduated.”
She ministered on the reservation in Horton, Kan., while
attending seminary. Rev. Dr. Neal is believed to be the first
Native American woman to receive full annual conference clergy
membership in The United Methodist Church. She then served
four years as a pastor on the Kickapoo/Potowatomi reservation
and, in 1992, she became the first Native American woman to
serve as a district superintendent.
Source: General Commission on Archives & History
9
Photo by Bill Mullins Jr.
Violence can’t defeat church’s spirit
By Chris Kinyon Schutz
ews helicopters whirred above Oklahoma City on April
19, 1995, photographing the smoking ruins of the Alfred
P. Murrah Federal Building. A bomb had shredded the
nine-story building. The explosion killed 168 people and
injured almost 700.
Inside the radius of the bomb’s shock waves was the historic
First United Methodist Church, built in 1904. Merely the width of
a street separated the downtown church from the federal building
site.
At home, Bill Mullins Jr., a longtime church member, was glued
to his TV, wondering if his church had been impacted.
Each time TV cameras panned the wreckage of the federal
building, they stopped before Mullins could get a glimpse of the
church at 131 N.W. Fourth St.
Watching and waiting, he told himself, “I need to pray.”
But, Mullins said in a recent interview, “I could not utter a
word of prayer.”
When he did get word on how the church had fared in the
explosion, he learned custodian Paul Ice had been working in the
choir room, on the church’s north side, that Wednesday morning.
The explosion “picked him up and threw him across the room,”
Mullins said.
Ice also was struck by flying glass but refused immediate
treatment and insisted, “I’ve got to go turn the gas off,” recalled
Mullins.
A few other people also were at the church when the blast
occurred. Ice was the only one injured, “by some miracle,” Mullins
said.
N
10
The church building, however, was heavily damaged. Quickly,
the property was closed off by U.S. marshals—it was part of a crime
scene.
Despite the battering, First Church was a mission scene, too.
Its lobby served as a temporary morgue in the aftermath of the
bombing, Mullins noted.
He said the blast shattered many stained-glass windows
original to the church. When members were allowed back inside,
they decided to collect and save the broken bits of glass from the
once-beautiful windows on the building’s west side. “They didn’t
know what they were going to do with it,” Mullins said.
One member was startled to find a particular piece of glass
on the floor. It had been part of the Good Shepherd window. The
portrait of Christ’s face was intact in the glass, “without a scratch or
chip on it,” Mullins said.
Due to the significant building damage, the congregation had
to find another place for services. Trinity International Baptist
Church offered to share the use of its building at 1329 N.W. 23.
For three years, Trinity Baptist and First UMC took turns using the
sanctuary and classrooms each Sunday.
In the initial days and weeks after the bombing, members did
not overlook the great mission needs beyond First Church’s own
damaged doors. They noticed the many people coming to the
devastated downtown, grieving and placing mementos on the fence
that enclosed the federal building, said Mullins.
On July 4, First Church opened the outdoor Heartland Chapel
on its property, providing a place for anyone who wished to stop and
reflect on what had happened, Mullins said. Ten weeks had passed
since the explosion.
Light reveals
the colors in a
stained-glass angel
ornament held by
Bill Mullins, who
made the piece
using a shard
from First Church’s
broken windows.
Photo by Jane Purinton
First Church had big decisions to make: Stay downtown or
relocate? Expand the facility? Build an entirely new one?
“We had a responsibility to be downtown,” summed up Mullins,
who now serves as the church’s historian.
Before the bombing, a family life center on the property had
been envisioned. The church decided instead to build a larger
sanctuary on what had been a parking lot. The new sanctuary has
seating for 950 people, compared to the former space, which could
hold 400 and now serves as a fellowship hall.
Using $2 million from the federal government, insurance funds,
money gifts from members, a $2 million loan now fully repaid, and
donations “from all over the world,” the church was repaired and
expanded.
During actual construction, the Heartland Chapel was
disassembled and carefully stored.
“It was supposed to have been temporary,” said Mullins. But the
open-air structure came to fill an enduring role near the bombing
site. It was rebuilt on the church property and now faces the
Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.
Today the chapel has wooden benches made by the Woodcarvers
of Oklahoma, granite benches, and an altar topped with marble
salvaged from the Murrah building. A box holds copies of the New
Testament, free to anyone, and there is a slot in the box for prayer
requests.
The chapel also has become more than a place of mourning.
Some couples have held their weddings there, Mullins said.
Another chapel was added indoors, between the new sanctuary
and fellowship hall. Light streams into the space from a special new
stained-glass window. The recovered glass shard with Jesus’ likeness
is at the window’s center.
An inscription on the window reads, “The Lord takes broken
pieces and by his love makes us whole.”
Other pieces of the glass that members salvaged have been
fashioned into angel-shaped Christmas ornaments and pins, said
Mullins, further extending First Church’s faithful witness for God.
Mullins himself has worked with the glass, creating
“thousands” of the angels, although not all of them. The items
have been offered at church fund-raisers and in the Memorial’s
museum store.
Banner hanging in St. Paul’s Chapel, NYC
OIMC teams deploy after 9/11
N
ew United Methodist disaster response ministry with Native
American communities emerged following the 1995 bombing
in Oklahoma City. Trained teams formed in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary
Conference (OIMC). Some specialized in fighting wildfires; some provided
spiritual and emotional care to people in crisis.
Two OIMC teams deployed to New York City after terrorists struck the
World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Sadly, both Oklahomans and New Yorkers
suddenly shared in firsthand knowledge of terrorism’s impact.
For more than 120 years, across six generations, Mohawk “skywalkers”
have helped build New York City’s tall structures, working with the steel. Their
legendary skills have been chronicled by PBS and The History Channel. Among
their accomplishments: the Empire State Building, the United Nations, the
George Washington Bridge. Another one: the World Trade Center.
After 9/11, the OIMC Disaster Response Teams were sent to provide
spiritual and emotional care to the Mohawk ironworkers now dismantling the
building that previous generations in their family had erected. The teams spent
four weeks in New York City, talking with the workers, hearing the powerful
stories of their grief.
Contributed by David Wilson, OIMC Conference Superintendent
Jesus’ face in a piece
of glass that survived
the 1995 bombing now
centers a new stainedglass window at OKCFirst UMC, above.
And one Sunday each spring, the church embraces the address
that places it at the starting point for the Oklahoma City Memorial
Marathon. Due to the crowds, Sunday morning services are shifted
to Saturday night that weekend, Mullins said.
The church offers a blessing service for the runners’ shoes,
and wheelchair racers can get their gloves blessed. A free pancake
breakfast for all is served in fellowship hall on race day.
Looking back, Mullins is proud of how First Church
responded to the bombing and its aftermath.
“We’ve stepped forth and done a lot of things that we probably
wouldn’t otherwise,” he said.
Schutz is a freelance writer living in Moore.
11
“Some of them are full-bloods unable to speak English,” he
wrote, but “whose lives are devoted to bringing the bread of eternal
life to their people.” Besides, Pyle continued, these individuals were
on the front lines of Christianity. “The Creek country is likely to
be the scene of the last conflict between the powers of light and the
powers of darkness, between paganism and Christianity, between
the false and the true,” he warned.
Pyle’s letter captures a changing era in Oklahoma and reminds
readers of the roots of the region’s Methodism.
Focus on Native communities
“Under the Arbor,” archival photo of a Methodist meeting in Oklahoma, undated (Oklahoma United Methodist Archives, Scrapbook 001)
Native American influences
on Oklahoma Methodism
By Dr. Tash Smith
n Fall 1907, Oooalah Pyle wrote a letter to the Christian
Advocate, the national newspaper for the Methodist
Episcopal Church South (MEC South), giving his
own report on the just-finished Annual Meeting held
by Oklahoma’s churches. The meeting was historically
significant for a couple of reasons.
First, the meeting came just weeks before Oklahoma’s
statehood became official. After years of white settlement and
political maneuvering, the region was about to be transformed
from a territory dominated by Native communities into the 46th
state.
Second, the meeting was the inaugural gathering of the newly
created Oklahoma Conference. The MEC South had been active in
the territory for decades, but since 1844 the work had been under
the administration of the Indian Mission Conference. The shift
from that name signified the changing status of the denomination
in the region and its outlook toward the future.
In his report to the Christian Advocate, Pyle reflected on
changes he had seen in the region.
“Time was, and not so long since, when the Indian Territory
was supposed to be given over to Satan and his servitors. It was a
refuge for criminals from other states, and the outlaw and desperado
found safety and protection amid its wilds,” he wrote. “Today the
civilizing influences of Christianity have spread themselves over the
land, and churches and schoolhouses are found on every hand. The
Methodist Church has been the pioneer in this grand work, and in
consequence many of the converted Indians are members.”
Yet, amid his praise for the Church’s work, Pyle wanted to bring
attention to another element of Oklahoma Methodism he feared
might be lost during that evolving era.
I
12
Boiling Springs United Methodist Church, OIMC
Three men chopped cotton in order to purchase the original 5 acres
for Boiling Springs United Methodist Church, near Ada in southcentral Oklahoma, about 1910 or 1911. And they returned to work in
the cotton patch to buy 15 more acres when additional land was offered. Those men were Andy Frazier, Loman Frazier (Mishontombi),
and Mose Burris. At one time, as many as six families who resided on
the church grounds drew water from the namesake bubbling spring
less than one-quarter mile from the church.
As a Native minister himself, who preached to his fellow
Creek Indians near Okmulgee, Pyle was proud that one-fifth of
all preachers at the 1907 Annual Meeting were Indian. Though
these ministers did not fit the profile of mainstream American
Methodism, Pyle did not doubt their commitment to Christianity.
and 1820s put the majority European-American population in
direct conflict with Indian communities. Dozens of Methodist
congregations already were spread across these Indian communities,
the result of white missionary efforts.
The federal government decided on a policy of removal in
1830. The Indian Removal Act forcibly moved entire Native
populations from their land in the east in exchange for land west of
the Mississippi River.
To rebuild those congregations in Indian Territory, the Church
continued to send individual white missionaries to work alongside
Native ministers. This approach
proved successful, as membership
among the Cherokee and Choctaw
Little Washita United Methodist Church, OIMC
numbered in the thousands by the
1840s.
To accommodate this growth,
the Methodist Episcopal Church
c r e a t e d t h e In d i a n M i s s i o n
Conference in 1844. The inaugural
Annual Meeting was held that
October at Riley’s Chapel, near
Tahlequah in the Cherokee Nation.
Nearly one-fourth of the official
attendees were Indian.
That same year, the divisive
issue of slavery split mainstream
Elm trees lined the original driveway to Little Washita United
Methodism into northern and
Methodist Church, and large elm trees shaded outdoor Sunday School
southern factions.
classes during warm weather.
The Indian Mission
This church was founded in 1893 in rural southwestern Oklahoma.
Conference was, in the words of
In the early years, the unpaved road from the main highway to the
Methodist historian Walter Vernon,
church was particularly challenging during inclement weather. It was
“the daughter of Arkansas and
very difficult to travel that 2 ½ miles through the mud and deep ruts.
Missouri Methodism” and had
The people of God overcame that challenge and more.
“m a ny ti e s t o Te nn e s s e e a n d
Mississippi Methodism.” Its decision
In 1996, renovation began on the building that had weathered the
to join the newly founded Methodist
elements since 1930. Members donated their time and work, and
skilled construction help came from a group of Arkansas Christians.
Episcopal Church South in 1845
Pews were refinished, through the efforts of Terry Tahsequah, workseemed logical. As a result, the
ing with inmates housed at a nearby correctional facility. Even the
Southern Church directed the vast
children helped, with painting and by cleaning up lumber scraps.
majority of Methodist work in the
region for several decades.
That work was completed by 1998. And in 2001, a new fellowship
For most of the 19th century,
Methodism grew in this area due
to its explicit focus on Native
communities. National and local
officials created a network of
conferences, districts, and circuits
that spread the denomination
and that utilized the talents and
connections of its Indian members.
While whites held most positions
of authority, Indian ministers served
vital roles as local preachers and
translators and spread Methodism
into individual communities.
Conference officials also tapped
their Indian members to acquire
land and property for churches, in
order to increase the denomination’s
physical presence at a time when
white ownership of Indian land was
heavily restricted.
By the time the federal
government opened up the territory
to white settlement after 1889, the
Methodist church was well
positioned as a dominant force in
the region.
The white population boomed
after 1890 and remade Oklahoma
hall was dedicated. That project drew additional support from work
Methodism to resemble the rest of
teams of the Texas Annual Conference.
the nation in its ethnic makeup and
Native leaders crucial
attitudes. But Indian communities did
not fade away.
Between 1844 and 1889,
Instead, these congregations used their status as Christian
Methodism emerged as one of the strongest denominations in the
communities to operate within a very narrow space — somewhere
region. What makes this achievement noteworthy are the methods
between full assimilation into mainstream society and outright
and ways the Church used. Methodism developed in Indian Territory
exclusion from it.
because of two distinct aspects of the Indian Mission Conference’s
For much of the 20th century, Methodist Indian congregations
work. Both demonstrated the influence of Indians in the process,
found ways to protect, cultivate, and direct their own culture
although white officials believed they directed the work.
within a Christian context, which eventually culminated in the
First and foremost, Methodists incorporated Native ministers
creation in 1972 of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference
into mission work quicker than rival denominations, a decision
(OIMC) of The United Methodist Church. Today the OIMC and
prompted in part by the demands of Native congregations.
the Oklahoma Conference form the Oklahoma Area, under one
John Q. Tufts, the federal government’s Indian agent at Union
episcopal leader.
Agency, stated in 1881 that Indian congregations “have no use for
those in whom they have no confidence”—a statement aimed at illprepared white missionaries.
Journeys begin in the East
Second, the Conference avoided expensive mission facilities,
The story of Oklahoma Methodism begins hundreds and
relying instead upon localized preaching places and Indian
hundreds of miles to the east. The nation’s expansion in the 1810s
boarding schools.
continued
13
from previous page
By foregoing mission stations, Methodists could afford to push the
Harrell’s attitude toward mission work reflected expectations
work into more isolated communities, while the focus on boarding
held by white officials. A parishioner once described his sermons
schools gave the Church influence over the religious education of
as “plain, simple, direct, personal, and powerful” and “that he never
the youngest generation of Indians.
told ‘funny’ stories, seldom quoted poetry, and was little given to
These techniques gave Methodists considerable clout in the
anecdote.”
19th century. Such notable Native leaders as John Ross (Cherokee),
“We need more white men to preach to our people,” Harrell
Samuel Checote (Creek), and Greenwood Leflore (Choctaw) were
told the Board of Missions in his 1871 report as Conference
members.
superintendent. “At present, most of our charges are filled by our
In general, Indian ministers filled two basic positions in Indian
Native brethren, who only speak the Indian tongue; they cannot
Territory: local preachers and translators. At the 15th Annual
read the English, have no access to our Commentaries, or any books
Conference, at Skullyville in 1858, the Church ordained “ministers
on theology; they can only read the portions of the Bible that
of four different tongues—one English and three the Red men of
have been translated into their language, [and] consequently their
the Forest.”
information is quite limited.”
Since most white missionaries were unable to speak any Native
Harrell believed in doctrinal preaching grounded in biblical
language, Indian translators were vital to spreading Christianity. It
training, and he feared that poorly trained Native ministers would
was not uncommon to attend large gatherings and hear the message
harm more than help the Conference.
translated into half-a-dozen languages.
From this perspective, Willis Folsom was seemingly everything
Just as important were those who served as local preachers. In
men like Harrell wanted to avoid.
large circuits such as the Doaksville
“He is no doctrinal preacher,” said
Circuit in the Chickasaw Nation,
Folsom’s presiding elder, E.R. Shapard,
Grace Chapel United Methodist Church, OIMC
where it took the appointed
in 1884. “He is a poor counselor
preacher three months to visit each
in worldly matters, no politician at
congregation, local preachers dealt
all, [and] is easily imposed upon by
with the regular needs of parishioners.
pretenders and hypocrites.”
In 1873, the Indian Mission
The Conference’s memorial for
Conference reported more than four
Folsom after his death in 1897 was no
times as many local preachers than
kinder: “He was, strictly speaking, a
preachers in charge—a higher ratio
man of few talents. His education was
than any other annual conference in
limited; his opportunities were few.
the MEC South.
He was never what you would call a
Conducting services in Native
good preacher.”
lang uag es or scheduling camp
But Native congregations did
meeting s in conjunction with
not judge their ministers according to
traditional Indian gatherings ensured
the standards held by white officials.
The people of Grace Chapel United Methodist Church have been
t h a t In d i a n s c o n t r o l l e d t h e i r
Native converts were less obsessed
blessed to express their faith in a wide circle since the church
interaction with Christianity. This
with church dogma and more
was planted, in 1978, in southeastern Oklahoma. In the most
reliance on Native clerg y, however,
concerned with Christian experience,
recent decades, members of its United Methodist Women were
sent to events in Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky, Florida,
created a problem for Church officials.
which explains how Indians could
Pennsylvania, and Missouri. Youth members attended events as
Elements of Indian culture did not die
incorporate Christianity into their
far away as Germany. Family camps have been held in Colorado
out as mainstream white society
own community without totally
and North Carolina. Young adults have represented Grace in
hoped.
supplanting their own customs or
Chicago and St. Louis.
beliefs.
Folsom’s success, therefore, was
because he brought Christianity to
The stories of two pastors
Indians in ways they could understand.
The careers of John Harrell and Willis Folsom show the dual
A white minister, fresh to the mission field, once chastised
agendas of white church officials, who often directed the larger
Folsom for preaching at an “Indian Cry” (an Indian funeral
actions of the Church, and of the Native ministers charged with
ceremony steeped in Native traditions that many whites considered
carrying out the day-to-day work.
superstitions). Folsom responded “with a faint smile on his face
Originally from the Arkansas Conference, Harrell served in
and said, ‘You don’t know the Indians.’”
the Indian Mission Conference for nearly half a century. He died in
For Folsom, individual prayer was the key. Preaching from I
1876, after collapsing in Vinita in mid-sermon. During his tenure,
Timothy 2:8 at congregations throughout the Choctaw Nation,
he held appointments in the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Muscogee
Folsom implored “men everywhere to lift up holy hands in
Nations and eventually became superintendent of the Conference.
prayer” while he put the power of Christianity into the hands of
Folsom, on the other hand, was a mixed-blood Choctaw
individuals.
minister who came to Indian Territory in 1832 after the federal
Folsom’s work demonstrated that Indians were less concerned
government removed his people from their lands in Mississippi. He
with the specifics of doctrine and more focused on how
spent most of his career as a local preacher in the Choctaw Nation.
Christianity could speak to their specific needs.
He was admitted into full connection in the Conference in the
Rather than enforcing new difficult-to-understand doctrine
1890s—toward the end of his life.
alien to the community, the emphasis on prayer eased the
14
transition for individuals into a Christian society. It also did not
require that Indian converts immediately throw off the elements
of their Native culture once they became Christian.
Investing in schools
In April, the federal government opened the “Unassigned
Lands” in the central part of Indian Territory to white settlement.
Over roughly the next decade, land rushes to the CheyenneArapaho Reservation, the Cherokee Strip Outlet, and the KiowaComanche-Apache Agency increased the white population even
more.
By the early 20th century, mainstream Christianity,
Methodism included, viewed the prospect of Indians having any
authority over churches as counter-productive. When the federal
government pushed its policy of allotment—a program designed
to divide collectively-owned Indian land into individually-owned
sections—churches supported the policy and encouraged Indians
to sell their allotments to whites. Methodist-run Indian boarding
schools were viewed as outdated projects, occupying large
sections of increasingly valuable land that could be used for white
settlement. A group of ministers from Oklahoma even petitioned
the government to speed up the process of transferring Indian land
to white ownership.
In addition to the reliance on Native ministers, the second
aspect of the work that allowed Methodism to grow in the 19th
century was its avoidance of expensive mission stations in lieu of
boarding schools and smaller preaching places.
At various times, the Indian Mission Conference operated
schools among each of the Five Tribes and, later, among the tribes
in western Oklahoma. New Hope Seminary in the Choctaw
Nation, the Asbury Manual Labor School in the Muscogee
Nation, and the Methvin Institute on the Kiowa-ComancheApache Agency became centerpieces in the Conference’s desire
to train a generation of Indian Methodists.
Some Conference officials argued the Church relied too much
on whites to develop the work. “When
we want a preacher, we draw from the
Native congregations persevere
Pawnee Mission United Methodist Church, OIMC
older Conferences, instead of raising
Though Indian communities
them, up here,” Theodore Brewer
clearly became a secondary concern
and Joseph F. Thompson wrote in
to early 20th-century mainstream
the Conference’s official organ Our
Methodism, they did not fade away.
Brother in Red.
Indians demanded more control over
“The policy of some of the
their own congregations and pushed
[Indian] Nations is to raise up and
Methodism in ways that benefitted
educate their own teachers. Is the
them irrespective of the wishes of
Church to be behind the Nation?”
Church officials.
Equally important as the religious
They created their own space
training, schools served as bases
within the larger Church community
for church expansion. During this
that allowed them to grow. After
era, Indian sovereignty and federal
heeding the calls from a collection of
oversight restricted the Church’s
Pawnee Mission launched in 1956, when a newly licensed pastor,
white and Indian ministers for change,
ability to purchase land outright. This
Steve Chibitty (Comanche), was appointed to minister to the
the MEC South created the Brewer
was as true among the Five Tribes as
Pawnee people. By 1959, a church building and parsonage were
Indian Mission in 1918 and gave
it was among the western tribes on
completed. Among the church’s members was Principal Chief
Indian members more administrative
government-controlled reservations.
James Sun Eagle of the Pawnee tribe. He also was licensed to
preach and did so faithfully until his death in 1962.
control over the Church’s work.
To gain any advantage it could,
In this Indian Mission, Native
the Indian Mission Conference often
ministers such as Johnson Bobb,
drew upon its Native members to
Johnson Tiger, and Guy Quoetone emerged as the driving force of
petition their leaders when it needed land, as was evident with
the work.
congregations in Tahlequah, Sallisaw, and Claremore when the
And Native congregations engaged in Christianity in ways
Cherokee Council gave the Conference land under the stipulation
to fit their needs. In the words of Bishop A. Frank Smith, who
that church trustees were also Cherokee citizens.
presided from 1930 to 1944, camp meetings became a “world
within a world.” Another observer noted that Indian customs and
Land runs shift paradigms
not white expectations dictated the flow and length of events such
as Quarterly Conferences.
By the late 1880s, white Conference officials grew tired of
In 1929, a group of Native women in the Indian Mission felt
the influence Native leaders tried to exert over the Church’s work.
excluded
from the Women’s Missionary Society. As a result, these
Operating the Conference’s official newspaper, Our Brother in
Red, required Indian approval since it was published at the Harrell
women organized a separate Indian Women’s Missionary Society of
Institute, a Methodist-run boarding school in Muskogee overseen
Oklahoma, to conduct work among Indians.
by the Creek Council.
A few years later, Norton Tahquechi petitioned the Indian
“I was surprised and humiliated,” one presiding elder wrote in
Mission for a church near Mount Scott in southwestern Oklahoma,
1889, “when I read an editorial in a paper edited by an Indian of
to serve his fellow Comanche Indians, but the Mission denied this
intelligence, containing the expression that a Mission Board had
request for fear of angering other denominations working in the
been allowed to exercise its office.”
area. Tahquechi and the Comanche ignored Mission officials and
The turning point for Methodism in the region came that same
built their own church out of discarded material from nearby Fort
year.
Sill.
continued
15
Pickett Chapel United Methodist Church , OIMC
By Doug Scott
T
Outreach to more tribes
Methodist North and South reunification in 1939 meant
the Indian Mission diversified further, as shown by the Creek
District’s 1941 report on its efforts to reach Creek, Shawnee,
Sac and Fox, Osage, Kaw, Seminole, Euchee, Ponca, and Pawnee
communities.
Over the next 30 years in the Indian Mission, membership,
salaries, properties, and opportunities all increased steadily as
more Native ministers assumed positions of importance within
the Mission.
Finally, in 1972, The United Methodist Church elevated the
status of its Native American work in the region and created the
Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.
Today, Methodist Indians are a minority in Oklahoma, but
their overall importance and influence in the region looms large.
Because of its Native American congregations, The United
Methodist Church holds a place in the region that extends back
nearly two centuries, exceeding most other denominations.
Indian congregations created a foundation for the Church in
Oklahoma that later generations of Methodists continue to enjoy.
Likewise, Church institutions gave sanctuary to Indian
communities struggling to survive the cultural assault of the
early 20th century. As mainstream society pressured Natives to
assimilate, Indian Methodists used their Christian experience to
preserve aspects of their culture and maintain some autonomy.
In Oklahoma, the story of Methodism is inextricably linked with
the history of its Native American citizens.
Excerpted, plenary address by Dr. Tash Smith (St. Gregory’s University, Shawnee,
Okla.), Seventh Historical Convocation of The United Methodist Church, hosted
at Oklahoma City University, July 22, 2011. Extensive sources. Reprinted with
permission. Full document: online Methodist History Journal, January 2012, www.
gcah.org.
History’s headwaters at Red River
The story of Pickett Chapel, in rural Oklahoma southwest of Tulsa, is interwoven with
the Euchee people, whose history entwined with John Wesley in what is now Georgia.
That area was the Euchee homeland.
Arriving in Savannah, Ga., in 1735, Wesley met members of the Euchee and Creek
Nations. When he left in 1737, he penned cruel and mean-spirited descriptions of the
Native peoples. He saved his worst for the Euchees.
Euchees did not accept Christianity for many generations after meeting the founder of
Methodism. When they did begin to convert in large numbers, key in that work was
Noah Gregory, a Euchee orphan who embraced Methodism.
He was educated at Asbury Methodist boarding school in Eufaula, Okla., and in the
late 1890s began to preach among the Euchee people. In 1900, he was ordained a
deacon in the Methodist church.
he earliest Methodist influence was probably started
in 1815 in what is now southeastern Oklahoma, in the
Pecan Point area at the Red River, by circuit rider William
Stevenson, the first Protestant preacher in Texas. The Pecan Point
area applied to both sides of the river that came to delineate much of
the Texas-Oklahoma border.
A marker by the Oklahoma Historical Society marks the site
of the first Protestant church service by a Methodist preacher, in
1818. The site is located just north of the Red River, south of Harris,
Okla., in McCurtain County. In 1820, this region was given to the
Choctaw Indians by the treaty of Doak’s Stand.
In northeastern Oklahoma in 1833, Rev. Thomas Bertholf
built Riley’s Chapel in honor of his wife’s mother’s family. He
erected a second structure bearing the same name in 1843, about a
mile from Tahlequah.
In 1844, the Indian Mission Conference formed there. The
first-year membership reported: 2,992 Indians, 133 Negroes, 85
whites. Four deacons were ordained, two Indian and two white.
Some of the black members were slaves of whites and Indians.
One of the local preachers was Samuel Checote (Cherokee), who
Also in keeping with tradition, men and women sat separately inside the church—
until 1978.
In 2001, “The Lord’s Prayer” was translated into the Euchee language. That
achievement came 100 years after the first Euchee church (Snow Chapel) was
established.
The hymns sung today at Pickett Chapel United Methodist Church reflect diversity in
the church’s membership, Native and non-Native. And a blue banner hangs behind the
pulpit, declaring in golden letters: “Euchees of Pickett Chapel always forward, never go
back.”
1844 Journal, Indian Mission Conference
Scott chairs the OIMC Commission on Archives & History.
Sources: “Oklahoma Methodism in the 20th Century,” by Leland Clegg and Bill Oden,
1968; “Oklahoma, the Story of a State,” by Edward Dale, 1958; “History of Oklahoma,”
Edward Dale and Morris Wardell, 1963; “The Story of American Methodism,” Frederick
Norwood, 1974; “Mark of Heritage,” Oklahoma Historical Society, 1976.
Official United Methodist Historic Sites:
Mount Scott Kiowa United Methodist Church, near
Lawton, Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference
The Euchees brought many of their traditional ways with them on their new journey of
faith. Pickett Chapel, built in 1915, reflected that.
The layout of the church site was styled after the traditional ceremonial grounds, and
eventually 13 camp houses and a parsonage encircled the church. A meeting arbor
was attached to the building’s east side. The cemetery was placed to the west of the
church, beyond a creek, following the traditional understanding that the soul journeys
toward the west after death. And before a church bell was installed, campers were
called to services by the blowing of a horn.
would become one of the principal leaders of the early ministry in
Oklahoma as well as the Cherokee Nation.
A Creek War hero, James “Jim” McHenry, also became an early,
major Methodist leader. In 1855, when McHenry was admitted to
trial pastoral membership, his bishop said, “The lion has become a
lamb, the brave, a preacher. The war-whoop is hushed; the midnight
foray is with the past; the Bible and the Hymn Book fill the hands
that once grasped the torch and tomahawk. The bold, valiant savage
… now travels a circuit, preaching peace on earth, goodwill to men.
The Lord make him an apostle to his people.”
Scores of Native men and women devoted their time and energy
to the expansion and survival of Methodism in Oklahoma. They
overcame overwhelming odds to keep the faith, and their work had
a great influence on the connection and gathering places for future
generations to worship. Many of our people will never be mentioned
by name, but their work and influence will never be forgotten as we
face the uncertainty of the future.
Newtown Indian United Methodist Church, near
Okmulgee, Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference
U.S. President William Howard Taft spoke at Newtown
Church, Okmulgee, Okla., during his tour of the nation’s
southwest and the Pacific coast. The year was 1909.
President Taft voiced his concern for the welfare of Indians.
A feast followed his speech; pits had been dug to prepare
barbecue beef. The U.S. president joined in the dinner and,
by all accounts, enjoyed his day at Newtown Methodist
Church.
Newtown Church has hosted many important dinners and
events. It was the site for the Indian Mission Conference
every other year during the episcopal term of Bishop Angie
Smith. The annual conference participants were fed in the
camp houses—about 10 of them—surrounding the church.
“On Sundays we used to start feeding dinner at noon and
were still feeding at 5,” recalled one church member.
Newtown last hosted the annual conference in 1950.
The church is designated as a United Methodist Historic Site
by the General Commission on Archives & History.
Mount Scott United
Methodist Church is
considered the “mother
church” of the Southern
Plains Indians—Kiowa,
Comanche, and KiowaApache. It also is
designated as a United
Methodist Historic Site by
the General Commission
on Archives & History.
About 1886, a Methodist
missionary met Chief
Stumblingbear of the
Kiowa and asked for the
privilege of preaching
to his people. The chief
took him to the tribal
community at Mount
Scott, a natural landmark
in the Wichita Mountains
of southwestern Oklahoma.
A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose
from previous page
In Anadarko in 1941, Ted Ware organized a Kiowa
congregation even as his district superintendent was sure Ware
would fail and offered to “eat his hat” if Ware succeeded. After
meeting for several years in private homes, in another Methodist
Church before being kicked out, and even in an old creamery in
town, the J.J. Methvin Memorial Church opened its own doors
for Kiowa Methodists in 1945.
Carrie Sahmaunt was an
active member of Mount
Scott Kiowa United
Methodist Church, Lawton,
Okla., until her death in
2006, at the age of 101.
The church was built by her
family in 1895.
Daily the missionary preached, telling about the love of
Jesus Christ, and the people began to respond. The chief
was converted and encouraged others to accept “the Jesus
road.” He even sent his daughter, Virginia Stumblingbear, to
school in Pennsylvania; when she returned, she served as an
interpreter for the missionaries.
Source: Oklahoma United
Methodist Archives at OCU
16
17
A
Trumpet summons pioneers to worship
frican-Americans did not enjoy
the shared Church structure
experienced by Native Americans and
whites when the 1939 merger created The
Methodist Church.
O
n April 22, 1889, Oklahoma City went from a population
of zero to a bustling town of 10,000. Those who became
leaders of this new city immediately went about their business of
building for the future — and that included organizing and building
churches.
This date marks the greatest land run in the state’s history.
This run opened the Unclaimed Areas of Indian Territory for white
settlement in what is now central Oklahoma.
April 28, the first Sunday following the land run, is important
to the history of Methodism in Oklahoma City and in western
Oklahoma. The morning began with a bugler from a nearby military
encampment going throughout the city, playing “To Church” on the
bugle and announcing, “The Methodists are meeting at 10 o’clock
at a high point on the north side of town.” That location today is
downtown, on Third Street between Robinson and Broadway.
The call for Methodists was made by James Murray, who had
been the Methodist Episcopal Church superintendent of Missions
Pastor on patrol
By Nikki Boyd
ntonio Porter recalls how his heart was stirred while
listening to his grandfather preach in a little church in
Hartshorne, Okla. At the age of 12, he knew God was
calling him into ministry.
Years later, Antonio has not forgotten that call.
An officer in Oklahoma’s Highway Patrol (OHP), he is
assigned to Tulsa’s Public Affairs Office, assisting police agencies on
the city, county, and state level, and on campuses, as well as tribal
police. His duties include work with church groups, schools, and
other organizations.
A
18
for Indian Territory, and W.P. Shaw, a Sunday School member in the
Methodist Episcopal Church South of Missouri.
On that spring day, the call drew a worship attendance of
about 60 men, about a dozen women, and about a half-dozen
children. Rev. Murray delivered the sermon, and Shaw gave a brief
talk.
This is the first meeting on record of Methodists in Oklahoma
City. The group was composed of members of the Methodist
Episcopal Church (North), the Methodist Episcopal Church South,
and probably a few from the Methodist Protestant Church.
Two churches were organized as a result of this meeting: First
Methodist Episcopal Church and St. Luke’s Methodist Episcopal
Church South. St. Luke’s later constructed its first building at the site
of this meeting. As St. Luke’s and First United Methodist Churches,
both congregations continue in ministry today in the capital city.
Mullins is a member of the Oklahoma Conference Commission on Archives
& History. Source: Golden Anniversary History of First Methodist Episcopal
Church.
1880s treaty map
Antonio Porter
And he has just begun his second year as pastor of Rose Hill
United Methodist Church in Tulsa.
Antonio is one of the denomination’s bivocational clergy. The
Tom Harrison Scholarship has assisted him as he completes studies
in the extended learning program at Asbury Theological Seminary,
Wilmore, Ky. The scholarship is named for the senior pastor at
Tulsa’s Asbury UMC, which ranks first in worship attendance in
the Oklahoma Annual Conference.
Through his OHP role, Antonio reaches out to kids who have
been in trouble and first-time offenders, desiring to help them find
positive role models for their lives. He had a part in the creation
Photo by Holly McCray
By Bill Mullins Jr.
AFFIRMING A FOUNDATION—In 2007, ground was broken for the first building
As the African Methodist Episcopal
(AME) Church, organized in Philadelphia
in 1816, spread across the nation, it
established an Annual Conference in
Indian Territory, but its ministry over
time was limited to the larger cities, except
for smaller towns where residents were
predominantly black.
to house the United Methodist Wesley Foundation near Langston University, the
only historically African-American university in Oklahoma. The completed campus
ministry center, 6,000 square feet, serves both college students and residents of
the historically black Langston community. UM campus minister Cecelia Brooks is
shown at center.
The Colored Methodist Church
organized in Jackson, Tenn., in 1870.
Moving into Oklahoma, that entity
formed an Annual Conference in 1911
that later split into the Muskogee and
Oklahoma Conferences.
of a youth summer camp held each year at
Victory Camp in Mannford.
He often takes these first-offenders
and other youths to see the Creek County
corrections facility in Taft. He said, “We
give them a tour of the men’s and women’s
prisons to show them the outcome from
making bad choices.”
It was during a routine traffic stop
that Antonio sensed God calling him
specifically to become a pastor. He was
nearly run over by a person driving under
the influence. En route to jail after the
arrest, Officer Porter found himself
ministering to that driver. The person
later contacted him, thanking him for
sharing Christ. “This person turned their
life around and rededicated their heart to
the Lord,” he said.
Antonio’s family and friends weren’t
surprised when he told them he was going
to pursue the pastorate. “They could see
that I had a calling on my life,” he said.
“They were just wondering when it was
going to happen.”
He was appointed in July 2011 as a
part-time Local Pastor, to lead the Rose
Hill congregation.
“Our church is very small in numbers
and an older congregation, but they truly
love the Lord,” said Porter. “They believe
in doing outreach to serve others while
serving their community.”
Antonio added the church is 92 years
old, still looking good and holding strong.
Also according to Methodist history,
nationally 200,000 black members of
the Methodist Episcopal Church South
transferred their membership in the early
decades of the 1900s to the denomination
that is now the Christian Methodist
Episcopal (CME) Church.
He loves seeing the Lord bring more
diversity to the congregation. “God can
use us, no matter what our age. We would
love for anyone to fellowship with us on
Sunday mornings at 10:40!”
Antonio has been married to Vandra
for 27 years, and they have three children
(the two youngest are in their late teens).
As Antonio continues to serve both
with the Patrol and as a pastor, he realizes
the importance of God’s word in his own
personal walk of faith. “I believe the Bible
is the Word of God and has the right to
command my beliefs and actions. Being
still before the Lord gives the Holy Spirit
time to nurture my soul even beyond what
my mind perceives. God’s word ministers
to the depths of my soul and molds my
heart to His,” he declared.
He sees similarities in his two
vocations. “Protecting and serving others
is the role of both the pastor and police
officer. I’ve encountered many people
going through certain situations, and
I’ve had the opportunity to counsel with
them and lead them to Christ.”
For those who desire to be used by
the Lord, Antonio gives this counsel:
“Truly trust God. He will never lead
you wrong or forsake you. He is always
standing at the door and knocking. He
wants to share his love with us if we will
just let him into our hearts!”
As these distinctly African-American
denominations emerged and evolved
in Oklahoma, many blacks here opted
to remain members of the Methodist
Ep i s c op a l Churc h ( Nor th) . W h en
that Methodist stream unified with
the Methodist Protestant Church and
Methodist Episcopal Church South, in
1939, the national African-American
membership was assigned as a separate
entity: the Central Jurisdiction of The
Methodist Church.
It wa s not until 1968 that the
Central Jurisdiction was abolished, when
The Methodist Church united with the
Evangelical United Brethren, and those
churches moved under the care of the
Oklahoma Annual Conference of The
United Methodist Church.
Source: “A Brief History of The Methodist Church in
Oklahoma,” by Christina Wolf, Vertical File, Oklahoma
Methodist Archives, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma Historical Society’s Encyclopedia of Oklahoma
History & Culture
Reprinted with permission, Tidings magazine, Asbury
UMC, Tulsa, November 2011
19
By Jim Dembowski
Pleading for
more pastors
C
20
A
o
By Jerry Gill
hurch leader N.L. Linebaugh passionately proclaimed, “Great
emergency is upon us now, and we are doing our best to meet
it. We are building at this time about 65 church houses, and
yet we have more than 500 congregations without a church
home … and we need 100 well-trained, efficient preachers besides
those we already have. ”
The year was 1908. Linebaugh was an Oklahoma leader in the
Methodist Episcopal Church South denomination. The state of
Oklahoma was less than 1 year old.
The explosion of population in the new state, following
the Land Run of 1889 and continuing unabated for the next
three decades, was unprecedented in the history of the American
westward movement.
Fueled by subsequent land openings, the population in
Oklahoma had grown to more than 1.5 million by statehood in
1907. Disproportionately large numbers of the early settlers were
Methodists.
Never in its history had the mission of American Methodism
been so challenged.
The extraordinary expansion of the faith into Oklahoma tested
the human and financial resources of its two mainstream churches,
the Methodist Episcopal Church (North) and the Methodist
Episcopal Church South. Annual conference records of these
churches support Linebaugh’s plea for additional resources.
In 1889 the northern church reported 514 members and
seven church houses. By 1907 those numbers had grown to 17,542
members and 194 churches.
In 1889 the southern church recorded 8,170 members and
113 churches; in 1907 these increased to 42,419 members and 348
churches.
In response to pleas such as Linebaugh’s, the Methodist legacy
of lay preaching and itinerancy of its ordained clergy were crucial in
ministering to members across Indian Territory and in sharing the
Gospel with the unchurched, especially in the small towns and rural
communities springing up.
One early settler declared humorously, but with a degree of
truth, that when “10 people came together, one of them would turn
out to be a Methodist preacher.”
Both denominations relied heavily on use of licensed “local
preachers” to minister to their rapidly increasing membership bases.
In 1907 the northern and southern streams together had 425 local
pastors, as compared to 118 in 1889. And itinerant, ordained clergy
served multiple community churches, often traveling thousands of
miles annually and making incredible personal sacrifices to provide
pastoral care to their parishioners.
43-year association that began with the
formation of The United Methodist Church
in 1968 completed its cycle in the Oklahoma
Conference at the conclusion of the 2011
Annual Conference — well, almost.
In ’68, the merger of two denominations, the
Methodist Church and Evangelical United Brethren
Church, also resulted in new associations for clergy from
the formerly separate faith entities. Two of them in
Oklahoma were Phil Ware and Stan Warfield, who both
started their careers as EUB theological students and
completed their service as UMC servants.
Upon their retirement at the 2011 Annual
Conference, Revs. Ware and Warfield became the final
EUB-ordained ministers to complete their service within
the Oklahoma Conference.
The reason for the “almost” caveat in that first
sentence: Retirement is a change of status for clergy,
but it does not mean ceasing to hear the call to serve for
Christ.
In January, Warfield stepped back into a pulpit as
an interim minister, filling a vacancy caused by the death
of the senior pastor at Wickline UMC in Midwest City,
Okla. He served in this capacity until the 2012 Annual
Conference, when the bishop appointed a new full-time
pastor to lead Wickline. Both Warfield and Ware attended
that conference in late May.
The “connectional” organization of Methodism was another
critical resource enabling and supporting the rapid expansion of
the faith in Oklahoma. Grants from Boards of Extension in the
conferences and districts provided much-needed financial support
to local congregations for construction of church buildings.
Thus the spiritual legacy of the pioneer settlers is interwoven
with the story of the peopling of Oklahoma and formation of the
state’s early religious framework. Frontier farmers and working-class
citizens who migrated into Oklahoma are prominently represented
among the “people called Methodists.”
At the crossroads of American secular and Christian history in
the early 1900s, Methodism, though surely challenged, was uniquely
positioned to meet its mission “to spread scriptural holiness over
these [Oklahoma] lands” through its heritage of vital piety and
connectional polity, and through the spiritually rich resource of
dedicated lay preachers and itinerant clergy.
Church salutes 2 who transitioned
Ware and Warfield were friends prior to answering
their ministerial calls. Both attended Oklahoma EUB
summer camps for youths.
Interestingly, the merger of denominations also
brought Frances, Warfield’s wife, into the picture. The ’68
unification also had linked the Texas and Oklahoma EUB
annual conferences. Frances had been attending Texas EUB
summer camps; the merger brought her into contact with
both Warfield and Ware at the now-combined camps. The
three were summer friends during their high school years,
Not unexpectedly, their ministry assignments in the
united denomination also found the clergymen in service
at nearby churches. And both pastored at First UMC in
Duncan; Warfield in the mid-1970s, and Ware just prior to
retirement. Ware also followed Warfield as superintendent
of the Enid District.
Warfield attended Phillips Graduate School of
Theology in Enid (now Phillips Theological Seminary,
Tulsa). After enrolling at the Enid school, he was assigned
to the EUB church in Drummond, 15 miles west of Enid,
through the EUB Oklahoma-Texas Conference. Phillips
honored him as one of its Distinguished Alumni in 2002.
Ware completed his undergraduate degree at
Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva in 1965.
In 1968, he graduated from United Theological Seminary,
Dayton, Ohio, one of two EUB seminaries in the country.
His first assignment was Grace EUB in Bartlesville. This
occurred just after the merger had been approved, while
Photo by Holly McCray
o
From EUB to UMC
Bishop Robert E. Hayes Jr., center,
recognizes retiring clergymen Stan
Warfield, left, and Phil Ware at the
2011 Oklahoma Annual Conference of
The United Methodist Church. The two
men began their outstanding ministry
careers in the predecessor EUB Church.
Bishop Hayes is distinguished as the first
African-American episcopal leader of the
Oklahoma Area.
details were still being worked out. Thus, although Ware’s
assignment was to an EUB church, his first supervisor was
the Methodist Bartlesville District superintendent.
Jim Dembowski is a member of McFarlin UMC in
Norman.
Gill chairs the Oklahoma Conference Commission on Archives & History.
Sources: Annual Conference Journals of the Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conferences and their predecessor conferences; “History of Methodism in
Oklahoma: Story of the Indian Mission Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church South”; “Oklahoma Methodism in the 20th Century.”
In an archival
photo, Tsatoke
(Hunting
Horse), a Kiowa
Methodist
minister,
speaks in
southwestern
Oklahoma
at the Parker
Monument.
(Jesse Goodin
Collection,
Oklahoma Historical
Society)
21
Deep faith
endures at Kulli
By Holly McCray
enora Clark’s voice trembles when she talks about God.
“I can’t help but cry, because I think about all the lost
people out there in the world that don’t know Him. It just
makes me sad that they don’t know that He’s there and all
they have to do is call on Him. He will help through each
day of their life.”
She long has been aware of God’s support in her life; she will
be 75 in November. For 74 of those years, her church home has
been Kulli Tuklo United Methodist Church, in far southeastern
Oklahoma.
Clark credits her mother for her discipleship. A Choctaw, Clark
began boarding school at age 6. But she always went to Kulli Tuklo
church when she returned home for weekends or special occasions.
Today she teaches the little children there, those ages 3 through
5. With her help, they memorize Scripture verses, and an older
man teaches them songs in the Choctaw language. The children
sing and recite, and youths share in the
leadership, at worship time.
Spiritual practices are important
personally to Clark, too. She uses the
Upper Room devotional book and
refers to Scripture cards, a gift received
one Christmas, every day and before
bedtime.
“I can’t remember the verses now
like I used to,” Clark said, but “I know
He’s there with me every day. You just
can’t do anything without Him.”
Rosa Baker has been pastor at
Kulli Tuklo Church since 1999. Like Clark, her mother and also
her grandmother set strong examples of church involvement. Her
mother, a longtime lay leader, told her children to support the
church when they grew up, Rev. Baker recalled.
As a teen, Baker worked alongside her at church. “My mother
depended on me for every report that was made. Whenever my
mother went to meeting, I would go and sit and listen. I could hear
L
Current Oklahoma churches
continuously ministering
150-plus years:
OIMC button
1844-1994
In the Oklahoma Indian
Missionary Conference:
Kulli Tuklo UMC, near Idabel
Bethel Hill UMC, near Broken Bow
In the Oklahoma Conference:
Canadian UMC, McAlester District
Poteau UMC, McAlester District
Sallisaw-First UMC, Muskogee District
Tahlequah-First, Muskogee District
Compiled by Christina Wolf, Oklahoma United Methodist archivist
everything that was to take place. That seed must have stuck to my
heart,” Baker said.
She became a lay speaker, filling pulpits at five churches, then a
lay missioner assigned to five churches in the Rufe Circuit. She had
four grown children by the time she became a pastor in 1998; she
completed Course of Study at Perkins School of Theology, Southern
Methodist University, Dallas, and is
an ordained elder in the Oklahoma
Indian Missionary Conference.
Today Baker lives in Kulli Tuklo’s
first-ever parsonage, built three years
ago. She preaches in both English and
Choctaw. The rural church has new
signage — “they’ve got to know where
we’re at” — and she promotes church
activities through the Choctaw
Nation center in Idabel.
The Kulli Tuklo congregation
wants to become self-supporting and
is heading in that direction, Baker said. Although many faithful
elders have died, “we have to build up with new youngsters,” she
asserted.
Her only son died in a car wreck one year after she became a
pastor. “I always thank God that He had prepared me,” Baker said.
“Even when my son died, I was strong enough to overcome to see
the sunlight again.”
A
t Bethel Hill UMC in the southeastern corner of
Oklahoma, a younger congregation of 30-40 people
continues a faith witness that began among the
Choctaws in 1860, according to the church history on
file in the Oklahoma United Methodist Archives.
The majority of members today are younger than
60, said Pastor Edgel Samuel. His mother, in her 90s,
is the exception. The church is thriving and actively
serving, Rev. Samuel said.
The historical account said over more than a century
Bethel Hill has developed many good leaders, among
them some who have become ministers of the
Gospel. The current brick church, in Broken Bow, was
22
constructed in 1965, replacing a building ravaged by
fire in 1964.
Bethel Hill bears witness beside a state park and a
lumber company’s pine timber forest.
‘God has even bigger plans for us’
Cover story: Sallisaw ministry continues since 1848
By Holly McCray
n June 27, 1948, The Methodist
Church at Sallisaw, Okla.,
celebrated 100 years. The special
d a y h e r a l d e d “a c e n t u r y o f
progress,” states the church
history filed in the Oklahoma United
Methodist Archives.
Six decades since that high moment,
imagine those celebrants’ joy to see
progress persists today!
Established as a preaching station in
1848, the church has made changes minor
and major across time, from the spelling of
its name to rebuilding after fires.
“We believe, even after all this time,
God has even bigger plans for us,” Pastor
Trevor Smith said recently.
Last year, 26 people joined Sallisaw’s
First United Methodist Church.
The church will launch a second
O
worship service in August, the pastor
reported. Attendance has grown 20
percent in two years. A children’s choir
and youth praise band have formed. A
preschool is gaining ground.
In 2006, First UMC moved into a
new building.
“For such an old church to have a
new building gives new sense of life,” Rev.
Dr. Smith said.
Worship is central in that life. “That is
our entry point,” Smith defined.
Jennifer Hart, youth and children’s
director, said, “I feel one of my huge jobs
is to teach this generation how and where
to worship, that we can worship God
anywhere.”
At first she was surprised to learn
young people downloaded the Bible onto
their ever-present mobile devices. But she
sensed a teaching opportunity.
She declared to her 25-member youth
group, “The Bible can outdo any story
you have seen from Hollywood.” And she
applies the biblical story to modern ones.
“Otherwise, it’s no good to us.”
The young people also eagerly
embrace mission projects. “They have
given their birthday money in order to
go,” Hart said. “You learn how to serve
others and not be caught up in ‘What
can someone do for me?’ Putting your
sweat and heart in, you feel the presence
of God.”
The Harts have three daughters.
When the family initially visited First
UMC, the parents wondered how its
ministry might weigh against big playlands
they had enjoyed at nondenominational
churches. The girls rushed to their parents
after church, begging, “Can we always
come here?”
Older members inspire young
By Holly McCray
etty Smith describes her church
as “a little lighthouse.” She has
been a member almost 50 years
at Canadian United Methodist
Church, where the light of Christian love
has been shining forth since 1866.
That was when a newly elected bishop
appointed a pastor for the original Canadian
Mission. And when early preachers
despaired of success, Bishop Enoch Marvin
guaranteed $5,000 to support the work for
a year. “It will never be known just what
portion of this the bishop paid, but it is a
matter of record that at different times he
paid out of his own pocket as much as $50,”
states the church history compiled in 1994.
The record also notes that, in 1894, the
Methodists and Baptists of Canadian shared
space in a building owned by the Masons.
Poetry from 1935 also tells the church’s
story. Referring to a newly completed stone
church building:
B
“The plans before us was laid
Then there was money being paid.
There was lots of labor free and much
interest we could see …
Many to the mountain went
To get rocks for which they were sent.
They were served with good food
Which kept them in a working mood.
The ladies quilted day after day,
Some money on the church to pay.”
At age 71, Betty Smith reflects the
majority age category of Canadian UMC’s
members today. Some church-growth
models might list that as a negative. But
it was the older members who drew in
the Smiths when the young couple with
children looked for a church home in the
1960s.
“The older people had been in
Canadian forever, and they were always
a very serving community,” Smith said
recently. “That’s the kind of salt-of-theearth people we fell in love with. I think
about them and what they gave, their life
they spent for the Lord and for the church.”
She continued, “I’m not quite as
energetic as I used to be. Sometimes when
I get tired, I’ll think they’re looking down
on me and they’ll be disappointed if things
don’t go well.”
So Smith directs Canadian’s afterschool program, Faith Weavers, for
kindergarteners through children age 11.
“Most of all it’s a chance for me to
serve and maybe do something of value to
the community. Our community doesn’t
have a lot for children to do. I feel that’s a
positive thing we can offer.”
Smith’s peers join her to present Faith
Weavers on Wednesdays. Juanita Mulford is
in her 80s, Smith noted.
In the 1970s, the church basement and
parsonage provided space long-term for
elementary classes while the public school
was rebuilt after a fire.
The “little lighthouse” also is
beckoning adults from a nearby drug
rehabilitation center. Carolyn Miller drives
the bus that transports about 25 students to
worship.
Pastor Sherry Heath confirmed the
Narconon Arrowhead students double the
worship attendance. Far more fulfilling for
her is the Holy Spirit moving in all lives.
The students volunteer to attend; they
share in leadership, ushering, serving as
acolytes.
And she recalled Christ’s glory shining
forth as almost 100 worshippers with
candles formed a circle in the sanctuary last
Christmas Eve.
23
Researching your
United Methodist ancestors?
Start with 3 questions:
1
Was your ancestor an ordained minister?
Many families make the claim that “great-grandpa
was a preacher.” Such family history may or may
not be accurate. In United Methodism, the term
preacher can refer either to an ordained minister
or to a layperson who carried out the duties of
an ordained minister in a specific, limited locale.
If the person was an ordained minister, then records
held by the General Commission on Archives &
History (GCAH) may help you. The contents of this
resource are limited to full-time, fully ordained clergy
of The United Methodist Church and its predecessor
denominations. If the person you are researching falls
into this category, we may be able to provide a copy of
the official obituary taken from an Annual Conference
Journal. Many annual conferences also provide this
service.
2
3
Was your ancestor a missionary? The Commission has obituaries for many of the
denomination’s missionaries, and we have reports filed
by many of them about their work. If the person you
are researching falls into this category, then feel free to
contact us.
Where are baptismal and membership
records? Local church records, such as baptismal and
membership records, are not kept by GCAH. Localchurch records are kept at the local church. If that
church closes and merges with another church, then
the records go to the new church. If the church closes
and there is no sucessor church, the records are usually
transferred to the annual conference archives. You will
need to contact the annual conference archives to learn
more about the status of the church and how to go
about finding its records. Feel free to use the GCAH
online “conference directory” to locate contact
information about the annual conference official who
can help you.
What some United Methodist terms mean:
•
Annual Conference: an organizational unit within United
Methodism (and all predecessor denominations), consisting
of churches in a specific geographical area. Clergy and lay
delegates attend a business session each year, usually in May or
June, at which time clergy receive their preaching appointments
for the coming year. Financial business, reports of the numbers
of new members, and other matters are also addressed at this
yearly meeting.
•
Annual Conference Journal: published every year, the Journal
contains detailed information about clergy, churches, and
ministries of an annual conference.
•
Appointment: the preacher’s assignment by the bishop of the
annual conference.
•
Charge: the church or churches to which a pastor is appointed.
•
Circuit: a pastoral charge of two or more churches.
•
Local preacher/pastor: In the 19th century, this term identified a
layperson who was authorized to perform ministerial tasks at a
local church (such as preaching, marrying, and burying, but not
conducting the Lord’s Supper) while the fully ordained minister was
traveling the circuit.
Building for the Kingdom
I
n March, Tulsa’s Nueva Esperanza United Methodist
Church, one of several Hispanic ministries in Oklahoma,
began worshipping in the building that formerly housed
Tulsa’s Harvard Avenue UMC. Early attendance of nearly 140
people was reported by Pastor Daniel Llanos-Jimenez, an
Associate Member of the Oklahoma Conference.
Also reported that month from far western Oklahoma,
Guymon’s Victory Memorial UMC has launched a third
worship service; it is conducted in Spanish. Pastor Gary
Holdeman said 35 new church members were received on
Jan. 22.
Nueva Esperanza had been sharing space in Rose Hill UMC
about 10 years, according to Tulsa District Superintendent
Dan Peil. When Harvard Avenue Church voted to discontinue
D.D. Etchison
Memorial UMC
Lawrence (Kansas)
Indian UMC
Nueva Esperanza United Methodist Church
in October 2011, the district trustees approved the Hispanic
congregation’s move to that building.
o
Rev. Peil also noted Nueva Esperanza operates a food pantry
that serves more than 1,000 people monthly. New buildings welcome people to worship at two OIMC
churches. Built in 2011, the new facility refreshes the witness of D.D. Etchison Memorial UMC at Tahlequah, in
one region where Methodism took early root before the
1850s. The Lawrence (Kansas) Indian UMC also now has
a building in which to meet. Most OIMC congregations are
within Oklahoma, but the witness does extend beyond, as
this illustrates.
General Commission on Archives & History
Madison, New Jersey
www.gcah.org
973-408-3189
Oklahoma United Methodist Archives
Oklahoma City University
Christina Wolf
405-208-5919
[email protected]
Excerpt from online “Researching Your United Methodist Ancestors,” original article by
John E. Sims, adapted with permission, GCAH, 1994
Photo by Mike Lee
STARTING A NEW CHAPTER—Refurbished stained-glass
24
windows from the 1908 church building grace the new
sanctuary for Poteau United Methodist Church, consecrated
in September 2011. Near the Oklahoma-Arkansas border,
Poteau is first listed as a preaching station in 1849, according
to records in the Oklahoma United Methodist Archives.
25
Photo by Holly McCray
Archival photos provided by Oklahoma City University
show football team and female music students.
(Left) In August 2011, the five members of the inaugural
graduating class of Saint Paul School of Theology at OCU
gather on the east side of the Bishop W. Angie Smith
Chapel on campus, which houses the United Methodist
seminary and the Wimberly School of Religion.
Official United Methodist Historic Site:
Education goal emerges early: From Epworth College to Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma City University is the United Methodist highereducation center in the state and has passed its centennial
anniversary. On its campus, the first graduating class of a
new UM seminary completed their studies in 2011. Here is
an excerpt from the earliest chapters in the establishment
of higher education by Methodists in the state, which led to
OCU’s outstanding offerings today—
“The Oklahoma Street Railway Co. was the catalyst needed
to attract Epworth College (a predecessor of Oklahoma City
University) to Oklahoma City and to develop more than a
dozen new residential additions.
“This significant turn of events began in 1902 when the
Methodist Episcopal Church (North) and the Methodist
Episcopal Church South officially stated a desire to locate
a church-sponsored college in Oklahoma. Anton Classen
and John Shartel, who owned exclusive tracts of land north
and west of the city, conceived a scheme through which all
parties would profit.
“The offer, which guaranteed 50 acres of land and a
$100,000 endowment fund for the school, was made by the
Oklahoma Commercial Club and its president, Shartel. The
26
terms of the pledge were to be fulfilled by the University
Development Co., of which Classen and Shartel were the
dominant directors.
“The development company began by consolidating 480
acres of land located almost a mile northwest of town. The
directors then platted the eastern 320 acres, extending
east and west from Walker to Indiana Avenue, and north
and south from 16th to 23rd Streets. Named the University
Addition, the area had enough lots to be sold to raise the
$100,000 endowment, while 50 acres were to be donated
to the school. The remaining lots would be sold for a profit.
To make the entire project successful, Classen and Shartel
agreed to construct a streetcar line to the new addition.
“By controlling the public transportation network, the
two entrepreneurs raised more than $100,000 for the
church and attracted a college to Oklahoma City, all while
earning a profit through free enterprise. With the land and
endowment fund, Epworth College built a brick structure,
organized schools of law and medicine, and provided a full
curriculum for a college degree.”
Source: “Heart of the Promised Land, Oklahoma County, An Illustrated History,”
Bob L. Blackburn, 1982. Reprinted with permission.
27
Spheres of influence
By William B. Moorer
ne town; two churches. One decade; 17 young lives directed
into what became long careers of full-time Christian service.
The decade was the 1950s. The town was Muskogee,
Okla. The Methodist congregations: First Church on the
city’s east side and St. Paul’s on the west.
In the course of our lives, we move into one orbit of
relationships, then into another, and then another. These orbits are
used by a loving God and, if we are responsive, the results are “grace
upon grace.”
In the 1950s, my own story moved through orbits of grace
present in that eastern Oklahoma community.
The two congregations there were led by a succession of capable
pastors, with a contingent of incredibly committed lay women and
men. During that decade, First Methodist was served by clergymen
Finis Crutchfield, Jack Wilkes, D. Wesley Doak, and Don Harrell.
St. Paul’s was served by Don Schooler and Nuell Crain.
Their pastoral efforts were empowered by laity including H.E.
and Margaret Newton, John T. Griffin, R.B. Lazenby, Don Hall,
and Jim and Violet Egan.
They fully supported the younger generation’s Christian
development. Examples of this dedication were apparent in the
opportunities they provided for young people to attend assemblies,
called “Life Service Camps.”
These church camps were held at Turner Falls and, later, Camp
Canyon; and at Camp Egan, established on land near Tahlequah
and provided by Muskogee’s Jim and Violet Egan.
Within these orbits of nurture, young women and men of that
decade, including myself, acknowledged God’s call on our lives.
In that decade, young women sensing a call to a church
vocation could pursue Christian Education, Youth Ministry, or the
O
Mission Field. (Ordination in the Methodist church was limited to
men until the General Conference approved this clergy status for
women, in 1956.) Also, some young women met young men at the
Life Service Camps, men moving toward ordained ministry or the
mission field; they married those men and filled another special
role: clergy spouse.
From that era, each of those Muskogee congregations sent
forth a committed caravan of young people into career ministry.
From First Church: Milton Propp, Bob Gentry, brothers Paul and
John Kapp, James Egan, Carl Ream, Willodean Burris Ream, Bryant
Keeling, Robert Montgomery, Keith Keeling, and Franklin Marlin.
From St. Paul: brothers Charles and Bill Moorer, Larry Maddin,
Sam Slack, Bill Pegg, and Bill Crawford. Five are now deceased; a
dozen of them continue faithful to Christ in their retirement years.
The orbits described here form one small galaxy of relationship
and influence. And in this marvelous universe of faith connecting
with faith, we would be hard put to calculate the total years of service
represented. This writer is honored to have been part of these orbits,
intersecting with others in training, service, sacrifice, and faith.
Moorer is a member of the Oklahoma Conference Commission on Archives & History.
Gavel (Bishop W. Angie Smith Memorabilia
Collection, Oklahoma United Methodist
Archives, OCU)
TIMELY CONNECTION—Pictured
in the early 1960s, Bishop W. Angie
Smith of the Oklahoma Area and
his wife, Bess, meet in Taiwan with
Chiang Kai-shek, its ruler, and his
wife. This photo and a bronze bust
of the Chinese leader are part of the
Smith Memorabilia Collection in the
Oklahoma United Methodist Archives,
housed at Oklahoma City University.
In Oklahoma today, Rev. Fuxia Wang
is the first native of mainland China
to serve as a UM missionary in the
United States, according to the
General Board of Global Ministries.
She was commissioned in 2010. Two
Chinese congregations are growing in
the Oklahoma Conference, as well as
several Korean churches. Korean First
UMC, in Oklahoma City, also carries
out missions in Mongolia, on the
Asian continent.
28
29
Go west, young preacher
By John Beckman
n the late 1880s, Christian denominations were sowing
new fields for the Lord on the Southern Plains, among the
Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, and Arapaho populations in
the part of Indian Territory that later became western Oklahoma.
Methodist clergyman John Jasper Methvin made a trip to the
area in 1886 to explore possibilities for church development. The
survey led him to recommend that Bishop Galloway of the Indian
Mission Conference and the Board of Missions send missionaries
to the tribes. Rev. Methvin recommended that young men without
marital responsibilities undertake that assignment.
Instead, at the 43nd Indian Mission Conference at Vinita, Indian
Territory, in October 1887, the bishop sent Methvin—married and
the father of five children—as missionary to the western tribes for
the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
After the conference, Methvin returned to his home in Georgia,
to prepare for the journey with his wife and children. In two wagons,
the family and household goods were loaded and driven across the
open prairie, sand hills, and bridgeless creeks of southern Indian
Territory. It was not until November that the family reached the
United States Indian Agency at Anadarko.
The agency buildings were picket log construction—and
already in use. A trader loaned the family use of a small wooden
shack the man had used as a kitchen: three small rooms, walls
covered with a thin ducking, no plastering or ceiling, and a roof of
cottonwood shingles. There the family endured frigid winter and
roasting summer.
Methvin started out at once on his work. He toured the
countryside from the Cherokee Strip to the Red River, to see where
I
30
the Native people lived, stopping by their tipis and brush arbors to
introduce himself and talk to them.
He faced early challenges. Many of the Native Americans did
not speak English or refused to do so with a stranger, and Methvin
did not speak any of their languages. It was difficult to secure an
interpreter.
After that initial journey, Methvin decided to concentrate his
efforts among the Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches. Slowly, the
kind heart, simple earnestness, and quiet demeanor of this patient
man of God began to crack the distrust of the people.
One of the first Native Americans to go and talk with Methvin
was Chief To-hau-sin, who gave his approval for the missionary to
continue his visits and start holding services near the chief ’s house.
Near the year’s end, a donation of $1,000 was received through
church channels, enabling Methvin to begin building a proper
parsonage and an attached church annex for worship services. But
lumber and supplies were slow to arrive, and it was not until 1888
that the building was completed.
Methvin began holding services there, and a small flock of
listeners gradually expanded in number, especially when Chief Tohau-sin embraced Christianity. He and his wife joined the church.
The Native Americans had been forbidden by the federal
government to hold their annual sun dance; tribes sometimes had
used the dances to form raiding parties. The ban caused heightened
tension between the tribes and the government. But in Summer
1889, Methvin decided to have a camp-meeting in the vicinity of
Mount Scott at the traditional time for the dance, to give the Native
Americans a safe place to go. Mount Scott is the high point of the
Wichita Mountain Range in southwestern Oklahoma.
Methvin’s Institute
The Methvin Institute flourished for 17 years as a place for
education and Christian discipleship of Native American boys and
girls. It closed in 1907, when Oklahoma became a state. At that
time, the Women’s Foreign Missionary Board felt that the public
schools of the new state would continue the work started by the
Methodist missionaries, and the funds used to support the school
were redirected to other projects.
Methvin retired from active ministry the next year, although
he remained a member of the Indian Mission Conference until his
death on Jan. 17, 1941.
Overall, Methvin worked among the tribes in southwest
Oklahoma for 20 years, establishing several churches. In Anadarko
today, the J.J. Methvin Memorial United Methodist Church carries
his name in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.
Methvin was a much-loved pastor of the “Jesus Road” for
the Kiowas and Comanches. He spoke up for the rights of Native
Americans; he had witnessed them being cheated by both pioneer
settlers and the government. He also was a noted author, publishing
articles in annual conference magazines and several books,
including “Andelle: A Story of the Kiowa-Mexican Captive,” “In the
Limelight—A Story of Anadarko,” and an autobiography.
Methvin’s early years
Rev. J.J. Methvin was born on Dec. 17, 1846, in Jeffersonville,
Ga. He served in the Confederate Army for two years, then finished
college and studied law. But he spent only a short time as a lawyer,
soon turning to preaching and teaching. He served as principal of
Nachoochee and Cleveland High Schools and as Superintendent of
Public Instruction of White County, Ga.
He was licensed to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church
South in 1870 and ordained a local deacon in 1874. Methvin was
president of Gainesville College from 1880-1883 and Butler Female
College from 1883-1885. Then he answered a call to serve as
superintendent of New Hope Seminary, a mission school, and was
elected and ordained an elder in the Indian Mission Conference.
Beckman is a member of the Oklahoma Conference Commission on Archives & History.
Sources: “John Jasper Methvin 1846-1941,” by Sidney Babcock, Chronicles of Oklahoma,
Volume 19 No. 2, June 1941; “The Autobiography of John Jasper Methvin,” Unpublished
Manuscript; “The Kiowas”, by Mildred Mayhall, 1962; “Carbine And Lance: The Story
of Old Fort Sill,” by Wilbur Nye, 1974; “Andelle or The Mexican-Kiowa Captive,” by J.J.
Methvin, 1927.
o
In this archival photo, a mixed group of Native American and white leaders of the Methodist church are shown at a meeting in eastern
Oklahoma. Rev. J.J. Methvin has a long white beard. (C.M. Coppage, Mrs. Collection, Oklahoma Historical Society)
A contribution of money from a friendly frontiersman, “Bitter
Creek” Williams, helped provide food for the camp-meeting
attendees. Williams arranged to buy cattle, and each day of the
meeting he hung four quarters of beef in the limbs of a low tree.
After the morning preaching service, each family took a portion
and cooked it. They did the same following the afternoon preaching
time.
A Comanche woman captive was converted during the
meeting, and she began to work for a church to be built near her
house. Thus was founded what is now Mount Scott Kiowa United
Methodist Church, a small rock building that still stands in its
original location, overlooking Mount Scott and Lake Lawtonka.
During the winter of 1889-90, church services were held at
Anadarko and, the next summer, another camp-meeting was held at
the site of the new Mount Scott church.
Soon after that first camp-meeting, Methvin talked with
Quanah Parker, chief of the Comanches, following another worship
service. Methvin admonished the chief for leading his people in the
taking of peyote, a cactus button that caused the taker to drift into
a drugged trance.
Parker’s response was, “White man has a book that tells him
about God, and that is good, but the Indian has the peyote that talks
to him and tells him about God. All the same God, and both ways
good.”
A new job came to Methvin in 1890. He wanted to establish a
school for Native American children, to continue the discipleship
work that had begun in the church services.
The denomination’s Missionary Society gave a donation of
$2,500 for such a school to be built in Anadarko. The Women’s
Foreign Missionary Board agreed to support the school with annual
donations and insisted the school be named the Methvin Institute,
in honor of the missionary. A quarter-section of land was given to
the school by the government, and soon the new educational center
was ready for its first students, a total of 15 children.
In time the number of students grew to 100 each year. More
help for the school came from new missionaries and from the Native
Americans. Many of the students went on to gain further education
and later became leaders of their tribes.
One of the best students was Andres Martinez, known by his
Kiowa name of Andelle. He had been captured by Apaches from
Mexico and sold to the Kiowas, where he was adopted by Heap-ofBears. He was an early convert to Christianity and was added to the
school staff as a teacher and caretaker. Andelle married one of the
teachers, Emma McWhartor, in October 1893.
Fast Facts
In 1850, Revs. Samuel J. Checote and David
Winslettak translated the hymns and Book of
Discipline of The Methodist Church from English
into the Creek language.
Predecessors of the Oklahoma and the
Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conferences:
•
Church of the United Brethren in Christ,
•
Evangelical United Brethren Church,
•
Methodist Episcopal Church (North),
•
Methodist Episcopal Church South,
•
Methodist Protestant Church, and
•
The Methodist Church.
o
—Compiled by Christina Wolf
31
C.C. and Audrey Cole
A pledge to keep
Couple gives up home to help church
By Shari Goodwin
ravel back in time to a bustling, booming oil town in
northeastern Oklahoma in 1925. World War I had ended;
the industrial revolution was well under way. Just 18 years
after Oklahoma achieved statehood, the Glenn Pool
was producing barrels upon barrels of “black gold,” and Tulsa had
become known as “the Oil Capital of the World.”
A deep desire for significance and beauty, new wealth flowing
from the oil fields, and increased ability to bring in the best materials
and craftsmen all converged in the 1920s to make Tulsa an art deco
center.
Narrow your focus to the corner of Fifth and Boston downtown,
to a building where a growing congregation of about 1,800 members
was meeting in 1925. Boston Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church
South was bursting at the seams. Portable buildings housed several
Sunday School classes. But the church was landlocked; surrounding
properties were unavailable for purchase.
Where were they to go? What were they to do?
Perhaps those questions are answered best by Audrey Cole, the
wife of businessman C.C. Cole, who chaired the church’s Building
Committee in 1925. Mrs. Cole chronicled what developed, and her
account became part of the church’s historical records.
Here is the story, in her words.
“How did it happen? I have been urged to tell the story. When
it is necessary to mention my own name, I shall speak of myself as
C.W. (Chairman’s Wife) and shall fade out of the picture with all
possible haste.
“We were most fortunate in having as our pastor Dr. John
A. Rice, a profound scholar, a seer. He it is who uncovered the
T
32
smoldering desire of the congregation for a new church. He fanned
that desire till it glowed with active determination.
“Before Dr. Rice was sent to Tulsa, a lot at Eighth Street and
Cincinnati had been procured, but he and others set their hearts on
a site at 13th and Boston Avenue. There were many who disliked the
thought of a new location; however, after several stormy sessions,
the official board purchased the corner. Today some of the strongest
of the original dissenters are the warmest advocates. Part of them
think they approved it all the time.
“Now for the church itself. Dr. Rice repeatedly said he wanted
to build a church before which he could stand in the rain and let it
talk to him; he wanted an interior that would impel him to worship,
whether he wanted to or not.
“Designs from several architects were studied, and the
committee rather hastily signed a contract with one. Enter C.W.,
who had been interested in art most of her life. In 1925 she did
not know enough about architecture to play the part of critic, but
she did know the plans were not inspiring. Her children and other
children were to be subjected to an environment that was less than
the best. After much haranguing, pleading, and weeping (I wish this
were an exaggeration), C.W. carried her point. The architects were
paid, and the contract was terminated.
“In the meantime, the chairman and C.W. had visited famous
churches on the East and West Coasts. They talked to several
important architects. Each suggested some period style—Gothic,
Classic, Colonial—but none offered a forward-looking, challenging
creation.
“When they returned home, the chairman looked at C.W. and
said, ‘You’ve been active in your objections to our plans. Why don’t
you show us something you think is good?’
she know that Goff would later become
That was almost a dare.
well-known throughout the country for his
“She thought of the artist Miss Adah
expressive residential architecture.”
Robinson, and went to that thoughtful
Let us move forward two years from
Quaker to pour her tale of woe into a
Mrs. Cole’s storytelling.
sympathetic ear. Could Miss Robinson
Ground was broken on May 16, 1927,
help? After some hesitation, the reply was
for the new church at the corner of 13th and
Boston Avenue. The soaring art-deco
affirmative.
structure took two years to build. The
“A few days later, Miss Robinson went
members moved in and dedicated the
to the Cole home. A sketch rolled up in her
sanctuary in June 1929. Almost all of the
hand, the light of inspiration in her eyes,
needed funds, $1,360,000, had been
she said, ‘Prepare for a shock.’
s e c ure d , w i th a l o a n f o r $ 3 0 0 , 0 0 0
“The chairman and C.W. both were
speechless when the drawing
was unrolled. Minutes passed,
and C.W. began to feel a
thrill. The vertical lines and
the round auditorium had
fired her imagination. The
chairman, more conservative
by nature, was beginning to be
interested.
“Dr. Rice was summoned.
One look from him and the
architectural boat struck
the Rock of Gibraltar. He
exclaimed, ‘Right now I lock
horns with you!’ The round
auditorium was condemned.
“However, the plan had
begun to grip the chairman,
as things fundamentally right
are apt to do. His comment
to Miss Robinson and C.W.
was, ‘You’ve sold it to me.
Now sell it to the rest of the
committee.’
“Ground was gained
slowly at first. A number of
meetings and several dinners
were required to arouse the
desired enthusiasm, but in
the end all succumbed to
the spell of the new idea. All
were unanimous in wanting a
beautiful church that should
Boston Avenue UMC in Tulsa is a National Landmark.
fill all the needs for the future
as well as the present.
“The next problem was to employ the
remaining. Members expected to quickly
architects. Since Miss Robinson was not an
fulfill that obligation.
engineer, she interviewed the firm of Rush,
Three months later the U.S. stock
Endacott, and Rush. To be sure, they had
market crashed.
never built a church like this, but who had?
As the Depression years progressed,
“The committee hired the architectural
the church struggled to meet its obligation.
firm and signed a contract for Miss
C.C. Cole, his brother J.R. Cole, and others
Robinson to supervise all the art features.
in the church family lost much of what they
She asked the firm to provide the services of
had built over the years. Ultimately the
22-year-old Bruce Goff, a former student of
Coles’ mining company closed.
hers, to help articulate her ideas and develop
J.R. was forced to declare bankruptcy
them into construction drawings. Little did
and couldn’t complete his pledge to the
church he loved; he and his wife moved to
New Mexico. Yet C.C.’s commitment to
Boston Avenue Church remained as strong
as ever. Knowing the church needed the
pledges in order to pay its mortgage, he and
Audrey began paying both their pledge and
J.R.’s.
Finally the day came when the couple
had to choose between saving their own
home, Rockmoor, from foreclosure or
saving their church building.
They chose to pay the pledges.
The family moved into one of their
rental houses, and the bank
foreclosed on both Rockmoor and
the Cole office building downtown.
Months later C.C. Cole and
a friend discussed their financial
difficulties as they walked down
Boston Avenue. The friend pointed
to the church building and said,
“I’ll bet you’d like to have back all
the money you put into that.”
Cole looked at his friend,
gazed up at the church, and replied,
“On the contrary; that’s the best
investment I ever made.”
Established
in
1893,
Boston Avenue UMC is now an
8,000-member congregation. Rev.
Dr. Mouzon Biggs Jr. has been
senior pastor since 1980.
The limestone church building
is considered one of the finest
examples of ecclesiastical art deco
architecture in the United States.
It has been designated by the U.S.
Department of the Interior as
a National Historic Landmark
as well as listed on the National
Register of Historic Places.
The tower is 255 feet high,
with 15 floors. At the top, a stylized
sculpture represents two hands
raised in prayer. Idealized statues
around the building represent early
Methodist circuit-riders and also
the Wesleys: John, the founder of
Methodism; Charles, hymn writer; and
Susanna, their mother.
The interior of the church is
equally stunning. Among the features, a
750,000-piece mosaic with a center cross
rises above the choir loft, and the sanctuary
organ contains 5,869 pipes.
Goodwin is communications director at Boston Avenue
UMC.
33
Fund keeps family’s connection to home church
By Kristin E. Van Nort
The Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation
T
he United Methodist Church has always been an important
part of Clinton “Clint” and Mabel Fuhrmanns’ lives.
As a young school-age child in the oil-patch community
of Healdton, Okla., Mabel walked to the nearby church on
Sunday mornings. Over time, she became involved in the youth
group and choir, developing strong roots in the Methodist tradition
and Connection.
Mabel met Clint at the University of Oklahoma’s Wesley
Foundation during their college years. She was studying to be a
home economics teacher, while Clint, also a lifelong United
Methodist from Hennessey,
Okla ., was a Navy
ser viceman, stationed at
OU, studying engineering.
After being discharged
from the ser vic e, Cl int
joined Mabel in Bartlesville,
Okla., where she worked for
Phillips Petroleum as an
assistant chemist. Clint was
an engineer for City Service
Pe t r o l e u m C o . a l s o i n
Bar tles vil le. The y so on
married and started their
family.
Clint and Mabel
became ver y active in
Bartlesville First UMC and
later Boston Avenue UMC
after moving to Tulsa in the
late 1960s. They were
involved in numerous
church committees, boards,
and ministries throughout
the years. They faithfully
served each church as they
were able.
Boston Avenue UMC’s strong and successful endowment
program gave Clint and Mabel the idea to establish a fund for
Healdton First UMC.
“We thought if a little church like Healdton had an endowment
with steady income, it would help perpetuate the church,” said Clint.
“We liked the idea of the fund being permanent,” added Mabel.
“They will have it forever and receive income to do with what the
church feels necessary.”
Clint and Mabel established the fund as undesignated,
meaning it does not have a specific purpose. The church can use the
income from the fund for building maintenance, missions, or other
programs.
“The fund is like continuing our membership in Healdton,”
said Mabel. “It was my first church and still means a lot to me.”
Mabel hopes church members will add to the fund over time
for the church to be able to do more with the income.
34
Clint and Mabel now live at the Oklahoma Methodist Manor,
a senior adult retirement community in Tulsa.
Looking back on their many adventures, Mabel said traveling is
one of her most memorable accomplishments. They have visited 48
of the United States. Clint has an equally great accomplishment; he
has climbed 21 Colorado mountain peaks higher than 14,000 feet,
reaching the 21st in the year of this 80th birthday.
While they have slowed down in their retirement years, Clint
and Mabel contine to live a full and rewarding life. Their dedication
to the ministry of Healdton First UMC will live on for generations
to come as church leaders use the fund to make disciples for Jesus
Christ.
Unusual names of Oklahoma cities and towns
Love the summer?
Some city names make you smile:
Hooker, Okla.
Frogville, Okla.
Slaughterville, Okla.
Loco, Okla.
Bowlegs, Okla.
Bushyhead, Okla.
Slapout, Okla.
Bug Tussle, Okla.
Poolville, Okla.
Sunray, Okla.
Want something to eat?
Corn, Okla.
Grainola, Okla.
Hominy, Okla.
Olive, Okla.
South Coffeeville, Okla.
Sweetwater, Okla.
Cookietown, Okla.
Why travel to big cities out of state? Oklahoma has them, too!
Cleveland, Okla.
Orlando, Okla.
Miami, Okla.
Pittsburgh, Okla.
Santa Fe, Okla.
St. Louis, Okla.
Chattanooga, Okla.
Peoria, Okla.
Burbank, Okla.
Fargo, Okla.
Wildlife sightings
Wolfe, Okla. Eagle, Okla. Buffalo, Okla. Fox, Okla. And a city named after Earth’s only satellite: Moon, Okla.
Feeling chilly?
Snow, Okla. Slick, Okla.
Cold Springs, Okla. Oklahoma is full of love!
Lovedale, Okla. Loveland, Okla. Lovell, Okla. 4201 Classen Boulevard,Oklahoma City, OK 73118
(405)525-6863; 1-(800)259-6863
The bread twist tie was invented in Maysville, Okla.
The first Girl Scout Cookie was sold in Muskogee in 1917.
Boise City, Okla., is the only city on the U.S. mainland that was
bombed during World War II. On July 5, 1943, at 12:30 a.m., a
B-17 bomber based at Dalhart Army Air Base, Texas, dropped
six practice bombs on the sleeping town, mistaking the city
lights as target lights.
WKY Radio in Oklahoma City was the first radio station transmitting west of the Mississippi River.
Oklahoma has the largest Native American population of any
state.
Oklahoma has more manmade lakes than any other state.
The Will Rogers World Airport and Wiley Post Airport, both in
Oklahoma City, are named after famous Oklahomans, who
both died in an airplane crash.
Bigheart, Okla. Loyal, Okla. Like to read about the U.S. presidents?
Adams, Okla.
Taylor, Okla.
Fillmore, Okla.
Grant, Okla.
Taft, Okla.
Johnson, Okla.
Lincoln, Okla.
Bison, Okla.
Deer Creek, Okla. Elk City, Okla. This state has a town named after a number: Forty-One, Okla.
The Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation will work
with you to make sure your giving desires and passions are carried
through. For more information about including your church or a
United Methodist cause in your will, call the Foundation at 800259-6863 or visit www.okumf.org.
Did you know … ? Jefferson, Okla.
Reagan, Okla.
Wilson, Okla.
Roosevelt, Okla.
Carter, Okla.
Clinton, Okla.
Washington, Okla.
The shopping cart was invented in Ardmore, Okla., in 1936.
The nation’s first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City
in 1935.
The Oklahoma State Capitol is the only U.S. capital with working oil wells on its grounds.
The aerosol can was invented in Bartlesville, Okla.
Per square mile, Oklahoma has more tornadoes than any
other place in the world. The nation’s first tornado warning
was issued March 25, 1948, in Oklahoma City. On May 3, 1999,
wind speed in Moore, Okla., was clocked at 318 mph, when an
F-5 tornado struck the Oklahoma City metro area.
Sources:
http://cathiefilian.blogspot.com/2010/01/funny-names-of-towns-in-oklahoma.html
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ok-facts.html
35
Archival photo of pioneer missionary family in Oklahoma
(Oklahoma United Methodist Archives)
Click here to go to front
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