Weaving a witness

in Oklahoma

special commemorative issue

special commemorative issue of Contact, the Magazine

Weaving a witness
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. Thats 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 Smiths 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. Yesteryears extensive history is interwoven with todays first drafts, just as Christs story lives and thrives today through us. The Oklahoma stories are innumerable, as grains of sand in time. The magazines 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 Gods glory. Because every church, every person matters in our story.

July 2012

in Oklahoma

Features
Great-great-grandpa teaches .................................................................4 The church cared for me as a young child............................................ 7 Violence cant defeat churchs 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 Historys 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

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This photo of Rev. Matthew Scrapers great-greatgrandfather Arch hangs today in the Smithsonian museum. It was taken in the 1800s, when he was a delegate from the Cherokee Nation to Washington, D.C. By Matthew Scraper

hey called him Arch because they couldnt 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 Archs 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 Archs family didnt 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 journeys end. And in northeast Oklahoma, Archs 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.

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Great-greatgrandpa teaches
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 Nations high court and ruling council; he was key in developing a womens 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 familys land in Oklahoma, leaving them only a fraction of what they had built through great sacrifice. Archs 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 fathers 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.

Already aware my parents both hail from the Great Plains, in recent years I have traced my familys 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. Its likely that you, too, have a family story with multiple chapters; that you, too, are woven from the threads of more than one heritage.

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 wont 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?

Identity: Christian
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 didnt 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.

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 Gods family.
Rev. Matthew Scraper is pastor at Marlow First United Methodist Church.

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 Scrapers Home as seen in the 1920s from Salem Methodist Church.

The church cared for me as a young child L

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 Havens 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 Tulsas 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 Gods 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 dont make a big deal about it; its a covenant between and attend seminary while caring for her family. Growing up in a family that didnt 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 7

Courtesy photo, Norman Magazine

from previous page She sees McFarlin making a difference through Gods 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 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,

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.

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 firstNative American woman to serve as a district superintendent.
Source: General Commission on Archives & History

Photo by Holly McCray

Historical timeline of The United Methodist Church

Violence cant defeat churchs 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 bombs 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 churchs 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, Ive 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.

The church building, however, was heavily damaged. Quickly, the property was closed off by U.S. marshalsit 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 buildings west side. They didnt 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 Christs 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 Churchs 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.

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Photo by Bill Mullins Jr.

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 churchs 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 windows 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 Churchs 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 Memorials museum store.
Light reveals the colors in a stained-glass angel ornament held by Bill Mullins, who made the piece using a shard from First Churchs broken windows.

Banner hanging in St. Pauls Chapel, NYC

OIMC teams deploy after 9/11

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 terrorisms impact. For more than 120 years, across six generations, Mohawk skywalkers have helped build New York Citys 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. Weve stepped forth and done a lot of things that we probably wouldnt otherwise, he said.
Schutz is a freelance writer living in Moore.

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Photo by Jane Purinton

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 Oklahomas churches. The meeting was historically significant for a couple of reasons. First, the meeting came just weeks before Oklahomas 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 Churchs work, Pyle wanted to bring attention to another element of Oklahoma Methodism he feared might be lost during that evolving era.

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.

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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. Pyles letter captures a changing era in Oklahoma and reminds readers of the roots of the regions Methodism. Focus on Native communities

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 denominations 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 Conferences 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 governments Indian agent at Union episcopal leader. Agency, stated in 1881 that Indian congregations have no use for those in whom they have no confidencea 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 nations expansion in the 1810s boarding schools. continued 13

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 Rileys 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 miles through the mud and deep ruts. Missouri Methodism and had The people of God overcame that challenge and more. ma 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

from previous page By foregoing mission stations, Methodists could afford to push the Harrells 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 tonguesone 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, Folsoms 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 Conferences 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 chargea 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. Folsoms 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 dont 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 Folsoms 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 1890stoward 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 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 Conferences 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 them, up here, Theodore Brewer Though Indian communities and Joseph F. Thompson wrote in clearly became a secondary concern the Conferences official organ Our to early 20th-century mainstream Brother in Red. Methodism, they did not fade away. The policy of some of the Indians demanded more control over [Indian] Nations is to raise up and their own congregations and pushed educate their own teachers. Is the Methodism in ways that benefitted Church to be behind the Nation? them irrespective of the wishes of Equally important as the religious Church officials. training, schools served as bases They created their own space for church expansion. During this within the larger Church community that allowed them to grow. After era, Indian sovereignty and federal heeding the calls from a collection of oversight restricted the Churchs 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 churchs 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 Churchs 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 Churchs work. excluded from the Womens Missionary Society. As a result, these Operating the Conferences official newspaper, Our Brother in Red, required Indian approval since it was published at the Harrell women organized a separate Indian Womens 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

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 allotmenta program designed to divide collectively-owned Indian land into individually-owned sectionschurches 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.

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. Outreach to more tribes Methodist North and South reunification in 1939 meant the Indian Mission diversified further, as shown by the Creek Districts 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. Gregorys 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.

Pickett Chapel United Methodist Church , OIMC

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. 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 buildings 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. Also in keeping with tradition, men and women sat separately inside the church until 1978. In 2001, The Lords 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 churchs 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

Source: Oklahoma United Methodist Archives at OCU

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Historys headwaters at Red River

By Doug Scott 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 Doaks Stand. In northeastern Oklahoma in 1833, Rev. Thomas Bertholf built Rileys Chapel in honor of his wifes mothers 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

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.
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 Mount Scott United Methodist Church is considered the mother church of the Southern Plains IndiansKiowa, 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.

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 nations 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 housesabout 10 of themsurrounding 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.

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.

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A UMNS photo by Mike DuBose

Trumpet summons pioneers to worship

By Bill Mullins Jr.

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 states 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 oclock 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

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. Lukes Methodist Episcopal Church South. St. Lukes later constructed its first building at the site of this meeting. As St. Lukes 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

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 Oklahomas Highway Patrol (OHP), he is assigned to Tulsas 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.

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 denominations 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 Tulsas 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

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A
Photo by Holly McCray

frican-Americans did not enjoy the shared Church structure experienced by Native Americans and whites when the 1939 merger created The Methodist Church. 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. 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. 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. 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.

AFFIRMING A FOUNDATIONIn 2007, ground was broken for the first building

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.

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 mens and womens 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. Antonios family and friends werent 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.

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 Gods 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. Gods 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. Ive encountered many people going through certain situations, and Ive 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!
Reprinted with permission, Tidings magazine, Asbury UMC, Tulsa, November 2011

Source: A Brief History of The Methodist Church in Oklahoma, by Christina Wolf, Vertical File, Oklahoma Methodist Archives, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma Historical Societys Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture

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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 Linebaughs 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 Linebaughs, 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.

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o
Pleading for more pastors

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 states 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.

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)

From EUB to UMC

By Jim Dembowski
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.

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, Warfields 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

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 Wares 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.

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Photo by Holly McCray

Deep faith endures at Kulli

By Holly McCray enora Clarks voice trembles when she talks about God. I cant help but cry, because I think about all the lost people out there in the world that dont know Him. It just makes me sad that they dont know that Hes 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 Gods 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 cant remember the verses now like I used to, Clark said, but I know Hes there with me every day. You just cant 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

Current Oklahoma churches continuously ministering 150-plus years:

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

OIMC button 1844-1994

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 Tuklos first-ever parsonage, built three years ago. She preaches in both English and Choctaw. The rural church has new signage theyve got to know where were 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.

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 constructed in 1965, replacing a building ravaged by fire in 1964. Bethel Hill bears witness beside a state park and a lumber companys pine timber forest.

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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 Sallisaws First United Methodist Church. The church will launch a second

worship service in August, the pastor reported. Attendance has grown 20 percent in two years. A childrens 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 childrens 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, its 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 churchs story. Referring to a newly completed stone church building:

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.

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

At age 71, Betty Smith reflects the majority age category of Canadian UMCs 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. Thats 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, Im not quite as energetic as I used to be. Sometimes when I get tired, Ill think theyre looking down on me and theyll be disappointed if things dont go well. So Smith directs Canadians afterschool program, Faith Weavers, for kindergarteners through children age 11.

Most of all its a chance for me to serve and maybe do something of value to the community. Our community doesnt have a lot for children to do. I feel thats a positive thing we can offer. Smiths 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 Christs 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:

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.

What some United Methodist terms mean:

Annual Conference: an organizational unit within United Methodism (and all predecessor denominations), consisting ofchurches 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 preachers 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 Lords Supper) while the fully ordained minister was traveling the circuit.

2 3

Was your ancestor a missionary? The Commission has obituaries for many of the denominations 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.

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 cwolf@okcu.edu
Excerpt from online Researching Your United Methodist Ancestors, original article by John E. Sims, adapted with permission, GCAH, 1994

STARTING A NEW CHAPTERRefurbished stained-glass

Photo by Mike Lee

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.

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Building for the Kingdom

n March, Tulsas Nueva Esperanza United Methodist Church, one of several Hispanic ministries in Oklahoma,

began worshipping in the building that formerly housed Tulsas 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, Guymons 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 Nueva Esperanza United Methodist Church in October 2011, the district trustees approved the Hispanic congregations move to that building. Rev. Peil also noted Nueva Esperanza operates a food pantry that serves more than 1,000 people monthly.

D.D. Etchison Memorial UMC

Lawrence (Kansas) Indian UMC

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.

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Archival photos provided by Oklahoma City University show football team and female music students.

Photo by Holly McCray

(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 OCUs 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 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.

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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 citys east side and St. Pauls 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. Pauls 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 generations 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 Muskogees Jim and Violet Egan. Within these orbits of nurture, young women and men of that decade, including myself, acknowledged Gods call on our lives. In that decade, young women sensing a call to a church vocation could pursue Christian Education, Youth Ministry, or the

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 CONNECTIONPictured

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.

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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)

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 Methvinmarried and the father of five childrenas 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 constructionand 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

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 years 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.

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Methvins 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 Womens 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.

o
Fast Facts
In 1850, Revs. Samuel J. Checote and David Winslettak translated the hymns and Book of into the Creek language. Discipline of The Methodist Church from English 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.
Compiled by Christina Wolf

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. Parkers 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 denominations Missionary Society gave a donation of $2,500 for such a school to be built in Anadarko. The Womens 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.

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 LimelightA Story of Anadarko, and an autobiography. Methvins 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.

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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 churchs Building Committee in 1925. Mrs. Cole chronicled what developed, and her account became part of the churchs 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. (Chairmans 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

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 styleGothic, Classic, Colonialbut none offered a forward-looking, challenging creation. When they returned home, the chairman looked at C.W. and said, Youve been active in your objections to our plans. Why dont

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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. Coles 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 affirmative. Boston Avenue. The soaring art-deco A few days later, Miss Robinson went structure took two years to build. The to the Cole home. A sketch rolled up in her members moved in and dedicated the hand, the light of inspiration in her eyes, sanctuary in June 1929. Almost all of the she said, Prepare for a shock. needed funds, $1,360,000, had been The chairman and C.W. both were s e c ure d , wi th a l o a n f o r $ 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 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, Youve 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 couldnt 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, Ill bet youd 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; thats 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.

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Fund keeps familys connection to home church

By Kristin E. Van Nort
The Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation

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 Oklahomas 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 UMCs 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.

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.

4201 Classen Boulevard,Oklahoma City, OK 73118 (405)525-6863; 1-(800)259-6863

Unusual names of Oklahoma cities and towns

Love the summer?
Poolville, Okla. Sunray, Okla. Some city names make you smile: Hooker, Okla. Frogville, Okla. Slaughterville, Okla. Loco, Okla. Bowlegs, Okla. Bushyhead, Okla. Slapout, Okla. Bug Tussle, Okla. South Coffeeville, Okla. Sweetwater, Okla. Cookietown, Okla.

Want something to eat?

Corn, Okla. Grainola, Okla. Hominy, Okla. Olive, Okla.

Did you know ?

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.

     

The bread twist tie was invented in Maysville, Okla. The shopping cart was invented in Ardmore, Okla., in 1936. The nations first parking meter was installed in Oklahoma City in 1935. The first Girl Scout Cookie was sold in Muskogee in 1917. The Oklahoma State Capitol is the only U.S. capital with working oil wells on its grounds. 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 aerosol can was invented in Bartlesville, Okla. Per square mile, Oklahoma has more tornadoes than any other place in the world. The nations 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. 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.

Wildlife sightings
Wolfe, Okla. Eagle, Okla. Buffalo, Okla. Fox, Okla. Bison, Okla. Deer Creek, Okla. Elk City, Okla.

This state has a town named after a number: Forty-One, Okla. And a city named after Earths only satellite: Moon, Okla. Feeling chilly?
Snow, Okla. Slick, Okla. Cold Springs, Okla.

    

Oklahoma is full of love!

Lovedale, Okla. Loveland, Okla. Lovell, Okla. 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. Jefferson, Okla. Reagan, Okla. Wilson, Okla. Roosevelt, Okla. Carter, Okla. Clinton, Okla. Washington, Okla.

Sources: http://cathiefilian.blogspot.com/2010/01/funny-names-of-towns-in-oklahoma.html http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ok-facts.html

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Archival photo of pioneer missionary family in Oklahoma

Council on Ministries Oklahoma Conference United Methodist Church 1501 N.W. 24th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73106

(Oklahoma United Methodist Archives)

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