By Ron Lohr
TULSA, Oklahoma--Feb. 23 was historic.
The Worldwide Church of God was invited to a joint Sunday night worship service with Eastwood Baptist Church and I was the main speaker.
The idea for the combined service came from Preston Nix, Eastwood Baptist pastor.
The Baptists wanted to reconcile and simply love us. They were friendly, and the pastor and his staff were considerate of us in every aspect of the service. If anyone doubts there are Christians in other fellowships, you should have been there.
This relationship started last summer when I asked Rand Holm, regional pastor in Arizona, to help me make contact with Christian pastors in Tulsa through his contacts in Arizona.
The Arizona contact called First Baptist in Tulsa but the pastor was unavailable, and he then called Preston Nix at Eastwood Baptist, a large Southern Baptist congregation two miles from where we have met for 22 years. He called me and we met for lunch.
Preston said he did so with some reservations and brought his associate pastor, Chip Reynolds, along.
My wife, Patty, and I had a pleasant lunch with them and I told them the church's story. They were both moved by what they heard and often said such words as "unbelievable."
They later invited me to attend a Baptist Alliance luncheon with them. The presentation was by Lonnie Latham on conflict resolution. Lonnie is the executive director of the Tulsa Metro Baptist Association. I spoke briefly.
Pastor Nix has made it possible for us to join them at their summer camp. We have had our own camp for the past three years and welcome the idea of joining them for Faith Week. We will be with 800 other Christians.
The combined congregation of 478 was responsive, and everyone was friendly. Several came up to me afterward and asked for my forgiveness for the way they had viewed the Worldwide Church of God.
The most moving event for me was when a woman came up to me who I first met when I was a freshman at Ambassador in Pasadena in 1964.
The woman, Sharon Couchman, and her husband had been disfellowshipped from the Worldwide Church of God in 1975. She was not a member of Eastwood, but saw an article in the Tulsa World about this service. It was a wonderful reunion. I hadn't seen Sharon for more than 30 years.
One WCG woman was talking with one of the Baptist women about their Renaissance Ministries Women's Conference. The Baptist woman asked her if she was going. The WCG woman said she was planning to go if she could get the money. Later, as she was leaving, the Eastwood Baptist woman handed her the money, saying she had collected it from some of her friends and wanted her to accept it as a gift to go.
Ron Lohr pastors the Tulsa, Oklahoma, church.
March 18, 1997, WN, page 3
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