Tag: First Freewill Baptist church

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National Sunday School Teachers Day

Today is National Sunday School Teachers Day, so in honor of this I will tell you about several that influenced me.

Not surprisingly, they are all from Owasso, not that the ones that came after them were bad, they just couldn’t really hold a candle to those that came before them.

Let’s get started, first up, Caroline Hall, this amazing woman realized she had a bonafide nerd in her classroom. She worked at the Baptist Book Store in Tulsa, she would bring me books on all sorts of topics. She taught me why Freewill Baptists believe the way they do, she brought me books not only regarding our denomination, but others, and other religions. She knew how to get through to the nerd in me, she was amazing and after all of these years I still remember her fondly and remember the things she taught me.

I will also say this, she gave me my first piece of OU swag, which I still have to this day. She was also the first to come to my house after my son, Michael, passed away.

Next up, Grace Wimberly, this woman was incredible, I remember the first day of the new year of Sunday school she stood in front of the class and said this is the same stuff we learn about year after year. I have to teach from the lesson plan, but we can get through that in about 5 minutes. What do you all really want to learn about? My hand shot up so fast it would have made your head spin. My bestie Tammi sighed in exasperation, she new that the nerd in me was coming out full force. I said Revelation, I want to learn about everything in that book. She said ok, and she accepted the challenge, she made charts, little books for all of us, hand made, this was the days before computers were ubiquitous, handmade pie charts, graphs and the book was put together by her and her husband Al. I’ll never forget how she made me feel, like what I wanted to learn was more important than a cookie cutter lesson, created by people who didn’t know us. She was caring, she was straight to the point, said what she thought and meant what she said. I learned asking questions and doing research was the way for me to delve deeper into the Bible.

Ed and Fleeta Sunday, they taught as a couple to young 20 somethings. Fleeta said something one Sunday that really hit home for me. She said that with everyone concerned about what was on television that they forget about what they are consuming when they read. Me being a huge reader, well that hit home, because at that time I would literally read anything. That is not always a good thing, I learned to fill my mind with things that would propel me closer to God and also expand my capacity for learning. This includes fiction, I do love fiction, but I am picky about what I read.

Thank you to these Sunday School teachers that helped form who I am today. You gave me the resources to understand why I should have the courage of my convictions. You taught me to question, and to search out the answers to my questions. You taught me that God had made me exactly the way I was supposed to be.

If you know any of these (except Grace, she’s in heaven now) please tell them I said thank you.

Who are some Sunday School Teachers that influenced you?  And why? I would love to know other peoples experiences.

As usual, any comments, questions or criticisms can be left here or sent to me at angie@angieworld.com.

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Day 2 of Valentines with Foy and Odela

Yesterday’s note was chosen by choice, todays was random. This one is from Al and Grace Wimberly, Sister Grace (I’m Freewill Baptist, that’s how we refer to each other) was one of my favorite Sunday school teachers. I am going to tell a little story that my dad told me about the Wimberly’s. They have both gone to their heavenly home, so I know they won’t mind me revealing this fact about them.

They were not native Owassoans, they actually chose Owasso to retire to, not really sure how that happened, but they did. They were big couponers before it was a thing. The money they saved in coupons went into a jar, every June they would take that money to Brother Pirtle (the preacher of our church) and give it to him to pay for children who would not be able to afford it otherwise, to go to camp. Here is their note to my parents:

Al and Grace Wimberly

Jan. 12, 1982

A Tribute To Foy and Odella Testerman On Their 50th Wedding Anniversary

Foy’s smile – Prayers in the Church – Comments in adult Sunday school Class. In 1982 they read through the Bible and we had wonderful discussions on Friday when we where grocery shopping at Safeway. Odella’s pecan pies at birthday suppers and when the Ladies Auxillary took food into bereaved families. The positive testimony for Christ and the Free Will Baptist Church in the community. “Do you know the Testerman’s they go there?” Was the question asked by people when they found out where we went to church.

What a pleasant time to go their place. The walk down the hill to the huge garden. Those big beautiful potatoes. The bucket of turnips that we where given. Foy’s willingness to share his knowledge about gardening. Odella’s story of the rabbits in their first garden. She carried a gun to the garden instead of a hoe. The raccoon’s that ate their corn. Odella’s beautiful sewing.

The crowning point of taking Angie in and giving her a christian home atmosphere. Our prayers are that God will still use that act of mercy to His glory. Wish to God there were more Testerman’s in this world and in the churches,. We love you Foy and Odella and thank you for letting us share your anniversary.

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Humans

I saw something, for once not on Facebook, it struck me, the person said that the five slain officers were overshadowing the civilian deaths that had recently taken place.
I admit I sat there for a long time just looking at it, the words, the sheer audacity, the sheer non-understanding of why these five deaths are resonating with the nation. No, the world, they ran into the line of fire to save the people protesting them. How does that not express the profound meaning that their lives had? That their deaths have? They ran towards gun-fire to save people who protested them.
I have seen a lot of things recently spouting “race” as if ones’ race is based on skin tone. It’s not, we are the human race, created in God’s image. He did not create different humans with different skin tones, He didn’t say “you know what, I’m going to separate these people I have created by color”. He didn’t color code us. He created man in his own image and saw it was good.
Good. We were created good, prejudice is not inherent, it is learned. I was taught all of my life to judge a person by the content of their character not by the outward appearance. A hard lesson for me, oh, not by skin tone, apparel. I judged by what a person wore, their hair style, shoes, oh my, yes the shoes. My poor mother, she really had her work cut out for her with that one. I remember one Sunday, in Owasso, OK at the First Freewill Baptist Church, a woman came in with jeans.
WHAT!? This had to be 1979 or around there, I was aghast, one simply did not do that in 1979. As soon as we got in the car to go home I just could not contain myself. The judgements flew out of my mouth at a rapid rate. I could not believe someone, much less a woman, would come to church in jeans.
I’ll never forget the look on my mothers’ face, it wasn’t anger, it was sadness and disappointment. She looked at me for a long time and said Angie show me in the bible where it says don’t come to church in jeans. Or for that fact where it says all ye women come in a dress.
I sat there in that back seat and just stared, then I said well you won’t let me do it, she said no, I won’t. Here’s why, when we go to God’s house we wear our best, that’s why it’s called our Sunday best. You are very fortunate that your Sunday best is stylish, nice, pressed and what we, as your parents, deem appropriate.
Not everyone has those kinds of garments, did you ever once, in the middle of your judgement think that the jeans were her Sunday best? Those are the best jeans she owns, they are clean, no holes and fit, her shirt was nice, clean, pressed and she was presentable. She was dressed in her Sunday best and here you sit, judging her. I never forgot that, disappointing my mom it was up there with disappointing God. I learned a strong lesson that day, it is one, I admit, I still struggle with.
To judge a person by something they cannot control is idiocy, people cannot control the color of their skin. The pigment they are born with, it is who they are, that is not something we should be judging on.
No matter what color your skin is, if it is white, peach, ghostly white (Irishman shout out there), brown, light brown, dark brown, black, olive (Tammi shout out there), tan, red, yellow or any other color that can be found in a child’s Crayola box, one should not be judged for it.
Before my life in Owasso, the one I don’t talk about too much, I lived in Oklahoma City, as a matter of fact, I lived in a really tough neighborhood. Capitol Hill, if you are from there, then you know, it’s rough. Or it was when I was a kid.
In the 1970’s Oklahoma began desegregating, I know, 10 years behind everyone else.
There was a good mixture of skin tones in my elementary school, we had everyone, white, black, brown, red, everyone. You know what, no fights based on skin color, I did have a fight with a boy named Kevin, he was my skin tone. He made me mad and I hit him with my lunch box. My metal, partridge family with the thermos in, lunch box. Mr. Jackson was our principal and I went to see him fairly often, only once did he call my grandparents. Never anyone else.
Did I mention he was black? A lot of my teachers were as well, I never thought anything about it. Skin color was never mentioned and as children no one cared. At all. There was one incident, but I really can’t talk about it here and it’s not “race” related it was more an explanation gone wrong issue. And yes, it had to do with me.
When I got to Middle School, Capitol Hill Middle School, things had changed, it was not an equal mixture of skin tones, it was roughly 75% black, 15% white and the rest Indian, I am using these terms due to the fact that is what we used then. Please take them in context to the time frame.
In middle school, still no issues, no one made any reference to skin color, a lot of classes, as I look back, I realize I was the only one in there that had a pale appearance. No one held it against me, I wasn’t called names. I was confused when I watched the nightly news, as it was talking about “race” riots, minorities and things of that nature. In my school, I was the minority, so I really didn’t understand.
Then I moved to a different part of Oklahoma City and started going to Jefferson Middle School, way different demographic, back to more of an equal balance of skin tones. Here is the funny story from there, I saw my friend Paulette from CHMS and we were thrilled to see each other. I said I didn’t know you guys were going to go here! She had a twin brother named Paul. She said yes, her mom and dad wanted to get out of the old neighborhood. She then said, and I’ll never forget it, there were too many black people there. I looked at her for a minute and said Paulette, you know your black right? She laughed and said that is what she said to her mom and dad. She said she really never got an explanation for that one.
Oh and before you think oh they must have been too light skinned for “the community” at that time. Not the case, her family was very proud of the fact that they were pure, no Indian and no White. I didn’t know what that meant until later, all I knew was Paulette and I were friends, her family welcomed me into their home and mine welcomed her into ours.
Then the move to Owasso, now, I have to tell you, Owasso was a shock to my system, a huge shock, on so many levels. Gone were the museums, the symphony, no orchestra at school, I was so depressed about moving I didn’t want to join the basketball team, I had played in OKC, I didn’t want to join the band, seriously, I was a cello player. No cellos in Owasso at that time, also, not a lot of people that didn’t look like me.
I remember the first day of school there, my BFF Tammi and I went, we took the bus, spent all day going from class to class. Then after school, we waited for our bus, I couldn’t take it anymore, I whispered what did they do with the black people, she said I don’t know, but don’t say anything because they might do away with us. Tammi came from Tulsa, huge diversity there as well.
Owasso is much more diverse now, however it wasn’t then, and it was a shock to my system.
But I still was being raised in a household where you did not judge based on outer appearances, especially based on something you cannot change.
Something has to give in this country, if you are judging me based on my pigmentation then you are prejudice, if someone is judging you based on your pigmentation they are prejudice.
I am a regionalist, I admit that, I judge on what region of the country you are from. I states, well, I am not overly fond of I states. I am not going to say what those are here, as I would get hate mail. Just know, that the job I have, I get to see how people behave when they think they can get away with speaking to humans any kind of way. I think we all know what that means.
Every day, I work side by side with people who do not look like me, we all get along, we all joke with one another, help one another and share knowledge and experience. We don’t base our opinion of someone’s ability to do their job based on the pigmentation of their skin.
We are one race, we are the human race, God made one race, humans, until the aliens come, and they totally are, but for now, on this big blue marble, we are it. Human. We might come in different colors, different shapes, sizes and have different thought processes, but we are all one. And if you are a Christian or even Jewish, then we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. We are brothers and sisters; we all need to remember that.
I do not judge a situation based on a snippet of a video someone took with their phone, from an angle that doesn’t show everything that happened. I do believe that the media and politicians and people who are in power want to keep everything stirred up. They want to keep humans fighting over pigmentation.
Just stop, stop and take a good long look at what the people in power don’t want you to see. Take time out to forge friendships with people of differences. Physical, emotional, intelligence and personality, those differences in us make the whole.
I’ll leave you with the words of Downtown Julie Brown, peace, love and gossip.
As always, if you have any comments or questions you can direct them to angie@angieworld.com

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First Freewill Baptist Church of Owasso

Watching the Andy Griffith show this morning reminded me of the church I grew up in, The First Freewill Baptist Church of Owasso. Now it is called Rejoice Freewill Baptist Church of Owasso, or maybe they took the Freewill out of the title, I’m not sure.
I know someone who has put down the church recently, saying they didn’t learn anything there. I found that shocking as I learned so many life lessons in the church in Owasso.
I learned humility, they practice feet washing, something I believe has been lost, I remember when I was a teenager and the feet washing ceremony was going to happen. In my snotiest voice I told my mother there was no way I was doing that, it was disgusting. My mother looked at me, raised her eyebrows and said “Angie, do you think you are better than Jesus Christ himself?” I said no ma’am, she said Jesus himself washed his disciples feet, how could I put myself above Christ. It drove the point home, we are no better than the other, I happily participated after that.
I learned giving from Al and Grace Wemberly, they were not native Owassoans. They moved to Owasso when Brother Al retired. I never found out what he did or how they came to choose Owasso. I’m simply blessed that they did. They were couponers before it was all the rage. However, they would add up how much they had saved and put that money in a jar. In late May they would bring the money to the church and tell them to use it to pay for a child to go to church camp that could not afford to go otherwise. I was the recipient of their generosity one year, as my parents were retired and their budget did not allow for that. I never knew we had a budget by the way, as I had everything I ever needed. The designer clothes and shoes I wanted, my parents told me to get a job and work for those, it was a good lesson.
I gained knowledge of other religions and learned Catholicism was a different denomination not a different religion thanks to Caroline Hall. She worked at the Christian Bookstore in Tulsa and insisted we study other thoughts and beliefs so we could better understand why we believed the way we did. It was a revelation to read about other religions in the world, she told us that to understand how someone believes is to respect them. When you respect someone they are more open to listen to how you believe and respect you in turn.
I learned that what I put into my mind was just as important as what I put into my body. In a class taught by Ed and Fleeta Sunday, as a young adult, they led a class on the importance of filling your mind full of good things as opposed to worldly things. Your thought process is shaped by what you put into your mind. If you only fill it with negative and unclean things what will your view of the world be like? It changed the way I choose my reading material to this day.
The First Freewill Baptist Church shaped who I would become. From Leonard Pirtle’s sermons, filled with life lessons laced with humor, to watching adults serve others, to  Sunday School teachers that cared enough to go beyond the surface lessons. I am fortunate indeed to have grown up in that place, in that time.