What a  difference a few decades make. I have realized that 2026 is a milestone year in the shaping of my life and faith. I shared Sunday morning that 1956 was the year I prayed for Jesus to become my Lord and Savior. He answered that prayer with a sense of peace and assurance. Our pastor shared with my Sunday School class what it meant to become a Christian in the deepest sense. He talked of God’s love and forgiveness and sin. I already knew what sin and guilt looked and felt like. He talked of God’s forgiveness, not just when we got in trouble. He talked of prayer and trust and everlasting love.  I opened my heart to God and prayed. What a meaningful life these 70 years of walking with Jesus has provided me.

On May 15, 1966, I was Licensed to the Gospel Ministry by the Northwest Baptist Church in Miami, Florida. Our pastor was Homer G. Lindsay, Jr. Becoming a Licensed Minister meant I was recognized by the church to preach and lead the church ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. It also meant I am legally certified to officiate at weddings. Sixty years ago this week, I completed my freshman year of junior college. I spent the rest of the 1960’s at Samford University, the Baptist college in Birmingham, Alabama. I regularly was called upon to travel early on Sunday mornings to preach at various, mostly rural, churches around the state. I also spent a couple of years, when needed, as a revival song leader for the full-time evangelist, Bob Posey.

During my seminary days in Ft. Worth, Texas, I chose to join a very good church and become a fifth-grade boys Sunday School teacher. I wanted to experience the inside of a serving church for a few years before one day becoming a pastor. I also wanted to share the story of God’s love with those boys just like my pastor did with us. Dorothy and I met and married at that church. We sang in the choir and taught the junior high youth on Sunday nights. Then one day in 1973, the Lord called us here to Tulsa, where we have witnessed the difference God makes in the lives of those who trust Him.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Open your heart.  And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Myrtie Fleming profoundly influenced my spiritual formation as a believer. She did not like the name Myrtie, so she called herself Myrtle. We called her Gram. She was my mother’s grandmother and was born in 1882. One of my earliest memories of her was her 50^th Wedding Anniversary in 1953. I had never seen her so dressed up, with a fresh hairdo from the beauty shop and wearing a corsage. My family gathered at my grandmother Jerry’s house, which Gram and my great-grandfather Papa shared. I especially remember the professional photographer in the living room to pose the whole family. I had to sit on the boney knees of Papa who was not used to hugging or holding children. For years afterward my family would go to Jerry’s house to have Sunday lunch after church.

  I spent many weekends at my grandmother’s house after Papa died. Jerry spent a lot of her time reading. I hung out with Gram. Before I went to bed at night, and again in the early morning, I would get into her bed and listen to the family stories. After a couple of unfortunate instances, I learned to watch out for the hot water bottle hidden in her covers. Sometimes she would reach for the black leather Bible on her nightstand. In it were listed the names of her family members and closest friends. She had written down their birthdates and when they had died. Sometimes a wedding date had been added. My name was in her Bible, and so were my sisters and our parents.

  Gram’s favorite song was Rock of Ages because it was the song her minister father always requested that she sing. I learned nearly as many hymns from Gram as I did in church. She listened to me and sought to answer my questions about God, sorrow and the hard places in the Bible. She taught me about the power of God’s story and the high calling of a minister. I was talking with her the night she had her first stroke. She was the first person I ever stayed with overnight in an emergency room. Hers was the first funeral I ever attended. I still have her Bible. This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and I cannot help but ask: Who have been the women of faith that have helped shape your life?

  Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Thank God for women of faith.  And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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This is from Kevin Avery, our Missionary in Residence. A fuller version, with pictures can be found on his Facebook page, Kevin Avery.

Prior to dealing with nerve damage from multiple sclerosis, I never dreamed I would become wheelchair bound. I certainly never dreamed I would become home bound, much less needing others to get me on and off the bed. When Dayna and I committed to join together as one that glorious day in 1997, we committed to stay side by side whether in sickness or in health. Still, we had no idea of what was to come. Likewise, our future is completely unknown.

Medically speaking, further decline with MS is likely; unless, of course, I receive miraculous healing, which would be absolutely wonderful. I know that the Lord could certainly heal me. He is the Lord God Almighty! But physical healing is not my main concern.

I am grateful—grateful for Jesus and grateful for my family. I am in awe that my mom would relocate from Houston to Tulsa for my sake, and any time I would apologize to Dayna for becoming such a burden, she was always quick to reframe my comment, telling me that she and other members of the family were joining me to help carry the burden I’m holding. “We are in this together.” Because I am blessed so much by family and friends, I am able to bless others. Thank you! It is such a joy to join others across the world in prayer. Through WhatsApp and Zoom, we pray for the nations and for each other. Such a joy!

I cannot say that I am thankful for dealing with multiple sclerosis, but I am thankful for what it has taught me. Prior to the nerve damage from this autoimmune disease, I often tried to do things in my own strength, even when trying to please the Lord. I now know how ridiculous that this self-reliance had been. These days, there is not a minute of the day when I forget how much I need the Lord and others. Much more than praying for physical healing, I want to communicate with the Lord, face to face, like Moses talking with God in the tent of meeting. Like what David said in Psalm 27:4, I want to dwell in the presence of the Lord all the days of my life.

Thank you, Jesus, for allowing me to enter the Holy of Holies by the blood of the Lamb. Thank you for empowering me to love the Lord with my whole heart and to love my neighbor as I love myself. May your peace and righteousness rain on us all this day and forever. Amen.

Kevin Avery

April 27, 2026

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Teachers are a whole lot like people. One day I saw my first-grade teacher, Mrs. Thompson, at the grocery store. I thought it was strange. Why would she be at the store? In the ninth grade I was shocked one night at church when my science teacher, Mr. Mashburn, turned out to be one of the guest soloists at the Christmas Cantata. Right then I had this incredible insight—schoolteachers must be people too. Some of us take a little longer to discover the obvious. My favorite teacher was Mrs. Evans. She taught fourth grade.

Do you remember the rule about not chewing gum at school? Mrs. Evans explained it this way: “Do as I say, not as I do.” She always chewed bubblegum after lunch. Sometimes she forgot to throw it away before class. She told us that the real reason we could not chew gum at school was because some children did not throw away their gum properly. She made us look under our desks. Petrified gum and freshly chewed gum can be easily distinguished. Her solution was Lifesaver mints every day after lunch for everyone. Mrs. Evans also taught us how to read with understanding. It was one thing to read the words, she said, it was quite something else to understand the “intent and content” of a book or story. She opened my world. Also, she could blow the biggest bubbles with her gum.

I liked some of my teachers more than others. I preferred the explainers, challengers and encouragers, but I have been shaped by each of my teachers. I have worked with public school teachers and principals now all my adult life, from homeroom parent to community board member. The teachers I know live for those moments of insight and understanding. They rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Teachers prepare, plan and provide, over-and-above all that they can, so their students will catch the joy of life and discover their own dreams for tomorrow. As the school year rapidly comes to its conclusion next month, be mindful of the teachers who sacrifice so much in order to make our world a better place. 

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Thank the teachers you know. And let’s experience the love and power of God together. 

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I came across some long-forgotten notes and papers while searching for things totally different. I recognized these were from a retreat I had attended in Atlanta about 2003. It was a gathering of urban pastors from across the south to talk about ministries in our old neighborhood, metropolitan cities. We were seeking to discern the patterns of God’s leading in the congregations located in or near the heart of our city centers. Most of the 25 or so of us knew each other either by reputation, through denominational service, or from college or seminary days. We covered a wide range of topics. My notes reminded me that we even spent time discussing war. This was after 9/11, and deployments to the Middle East were affecting thousands of families. How do pastors and church leaders reconcile the call to war, the call to peacemaking, and the teachings of the Prince of Peace? 

We sought to understand how Jesus dealt with evil in everyday relations, not just demon casting. I wrote notes that reflected a couple of things that struck me that were discussed about war. Because of Jesus’ work of redemption and reconciliation to all the world, war is no longer God’s work in the world. War is of the devises of men. Our nation continues to exhibit Vietnam Syndrome, which is ambivalence toward foreign wars because of that war’s mix of honor, controversy and shame. War magnifies the suffering—people are dying, widows are being made, children are orphaned, and the once whole are lamed, maimed, and blinded. The concluding words of our discussion on war spoke of a healthy dose of humility.  As the current US/Israeli War threatens to purposefully “wipe out the Iranian civilization,” my observation is:  this needs to end now. This war is not just. War is evil, and pretending our God chooses us in any war, goes against all that Jesus died and rose again for.  

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Honor the Prince of Peace. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Easter 2026 is here already. In preparation I was reading the back story of some of the traditional Easter hymns we sing each year. I came upon this first-person account in the Companion to the Baptist Hymnal:

Although history has revealed that this world has never been very stable, it seems that our century has been especially a time of upheaval and crisis. Our world is a planet filled with injustices, betrayals of national and personal trust, bigotry, greed, and immorality, situated on a nuclear powder keg, the fuse of which is well within the reach of men who may be lacking in sound moral judgment and personal integrity. It was into this world at this time we were bringing our third little baby. Assassinations, riots, drug traffic, and war monopolized the headlines. It was in the midst of this kind of uncertainty that the assurance of the Lordship of the risen Christ blew across our troubled minds like a cooling breeze in the parched desert. Holding our tiny son in our arms we were able to write: “How sweet to hold our newborn baby, and feel the pride, and joy he gives. But greater still the calm assurance, this child can face uncertain days, because He lives.”  Bill and Gloria Gaither named their tune Resurrection for the Baptist Hymnal (1975 Edition). 

All the Easter hymns and songs are designed to be sung on any day that celebrates Jesus. Sunday is the Lord’s Day. Sunday is Resurrection Day. Easter is the embodiment of John 3:16. All sin, suffering, death and grief give way to the resurrection power of life today, and for eternity through Jesus. Our testimony has become,  Because He lives, I can face tomorrow; because He lives all fear is gone!  Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living  just because He lives.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Celebrate Easter! And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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In November 1997, I was leading a week-long prayer mission in the capitol city of Chad in central Africa. That Sunday afternoon the church leaders invited me to participate in a previously scheduled “everyone goes around the circle and prays” type meeting focused on the persecuted Christians of their country. As the time of prayer unfolded, I realized the people gathered for prayer had a different understanding of religious persecution than is usually discussed in U.S. church life. For them, religious persecution meant living on the edge of denying Christ, or becoming a refugee, tortured, or killed. 

From his observation point on Patmos, John becomes an eyewitness to another Palm Sunday, as recorded in Revelation 7:9-17. This passage tells of his vision of a great multitude waving their palm branches before the throne of the Lamb. According to the opening verses of the book, John’s vision took place on the Lord’s Day.  At this other Palm Sunday, the crowd reflects the persecuted believers of every land and time. At this other Palm Sunday, the martyred people’s blood-drenched clothes have been bathed again in the blood of The Lamb who was slain. At the other Palm Sunday, the witnesses’ garments glisten with the purity of the Savior’s love.  An abiding promise echoes through to the faithful—Never again, never again, will you have to suffer or die.

Our prayers that afternoon for the persecuted were interrupted by the presence of a stranger, who was whisked back to a different room. Later that evening his story emerged. He claimed to be a Muslim Imam. He told of a dream in the night of Jesus calling his name. He began reading a version of the Sermon on the Mount, eventually deciding to convert to Christianity. He was running for his life from his family and community, still dressed in his religious garb. The church was supportive, yet wary of the danger he might pose. The concluding conversations determined not to underestimate God’s salvation reach. Let us wave our palms in prayer this Palm Sunday for the faithful witnesses.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life. Stand with the faithful.  And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Blessed are the peacemakers,for they will be called children of God. Matthew 5:9

These words of Jesus are found in the heart of the Beatitudes. Eirēnopoiós, peacemaking in the Greek, means to actively cultivate and maintain peace in relationships. It is a characteristic of the children of God as they live out the Kingdom of God on earth. Peacemaking is an intentional effort to understand others despite the multitude of differences that can separate and divide. Peacemaking is a work of transformation as conflict is resolved and a spirit of unity is created. Jesus goes on to amplify peacemaking when he calls disciples like you and me to turn away from eye-for-an-eye thinking to actively loving your enemy. I refer to this teaching as Jesus encouraging us to turn our enemies into our friends.

Sometimes this Beatitude is mischaracterized as keeping the peace. Peacekeeping is closer to policing others—trying to implement a “no-disagreement” policy, or just an avoidance of any conflict at all. Peacemaking is harder than that. Peacemaking requires time, energy, and empathy. For all the people involved, it utilizes our skills of active listening and intentional learning. It demands a willingness to change our thinking and suspend some of our previous conclusions. It may necessitate a compromise of actions and planning. Peacemaking involves much prayer and tenderness, confession and humility. Peacemaking is on-going discipleship—encouraging each other, building up each other, and loving each other beyond politeness or mere civility. It is self-sacrificing and generous. Peacemaking changes us, our emotional tensions, and our mental wellbeing. It changes our workplaces, our churches and our homes. Peacemaking changes the world to become more like the kingdom of heaven.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Make peace. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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​Rationalizing away our sins starts early for some of us. Making a certain Bible verse fit the meaning we want it to have, is an ever-present temptation for believers and cynics alike. The story is told of a cookie jar on the counter of the kitchen. The single mother tried to provide for her daughter in the best ways she knew. The mom worked in the school cafeteria so she could be on her daughter’s schedule. She mended clothes for the resale store at night. Every now and then she splurged by putting cookies in the jar. Part of the bedtime routine was to sit at the kitchen table with her daughter to read a Bible passage, learn a memory verse for the week together, and then pray. One time they memorized the Beatitudes. Another time they had a contest to name allthe books of the New Testament in order. Like most mother-daughter relationships, there was a bit of a tug-of-war of wills.

It was the constant lessons on the Ten Commandmentsthat got the best of young Taffy—especially the one about lying, and maybe stealing, and the one about respectfullanguage. That one was hardest to keep around her friends at school. Sometimes mothers just know things, and she did work at her daughter’s school. One week the cookies in the jar seemed to disappear too quickly. The mom thought it was time to confront her daughter. She started with the commandments question—what are the Ten Commandments? Taffy recited them perfectly. Mom pointed to the cookie jar as a witness to all their conversations about the commandments. “If the cookie jar could talk, what commandment would the cookie jar say had been broken?” Taffy looked at her mother, then to the jar. “The cookie jar always says the same thing, Mom, Let the children come to me.” 

Knowing God’s Word and living out the Word is a constant tug-of-war of wills—God’s vs. ours. We know how to justify our own sins and rationalize away the consequences. We can even do it with a grin and a wink. No matter how much we might try to make it work, Nonever means Yes.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Live out God’s Word honestly. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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It started with me on my knees digging around for our old vinyl record collection. Our two younger grandsons are vinyl collectors of more current recording artists. After a few conversations, I invited the boys to lunch followed by the exploration of a back corner in our closet. We pulled the two crates out to peruse them. Stuffed in the front of one was an assortment of wall calendars from 1987-2003. We pulled the calendars out of our way to treasure hunt. Four or five records were worth it. The boys moved the crates back to their spot. When Dorothy came home from work that day, she noticed the pile of calendars on the bed. I told her these were the ones with such great pictures we just had to save them. A few days later when we looked at them, we discovered a few were What Cats Teach Us Calendars and others had pictures that looked like our former cats. God is so good to have provided the world with a glorious array of animals. Here are some lessons that cats can teach us:

Make eye contact if you want something

Conserve your energy for when it counts

Climb new heights

Never underestimate the power of a purr

Find your place in the sunshine

Scratch, stretch, and yawn

Take a leap of faith

Cats, kittens, puppies and dogs always remind us to smile, relax, and enjoy the peaceful times. They need to be looked after, chased after, and cleaned up after. They offer uncritical affection and companionship. They sense how we feel, and understand some of our moods, for  they can be moody also. They are good to be around even if they pretend to ignore us. But we must remember each cuddly kitten has razors for claws and mouse traps for teeth. They were born to be wild and daring, skillful and cunning. They are patient when they see an opportunity unfold and quick to seize the moment. Universal pet healthcare is not a thing yet, and they can be gone too quickly. Grieving for a pet is a genuine emotion. The Scriptures reveal that heaven is filled with living creatures of all sorts. Maybe even cats.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. God is so good. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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