Category Archives: Reflections

Kevin Avery Ministry Update

(This is an abbreviated ministry update sent out by Kevin Avery, our Missionary in Residence.)

Hi, everyone! As Thanksgiving approaches, we want to say again how grateful we are for your support and encouragement. This year has been beyond challenging, but we enter God’s presence with great hope, knowing his plan is truly good, pleasing, and perfect. It never ceases to amaze me how he chooses to use us (as followers of Christ) to be an extension of his goodness and mercy to the nations.

My physical health is still our biggest concern. I long to be able to minister to others in person again on a daily basis, but my body is not ready – at least not yet.  I need to use several hours a week seeing doctors or rebuilding my strength and balance with physical therapy and exercise. Restoration also requires a lot of prayer to know which treatment to pursue. Different opinions abound, but we sincerely believe God will restore me. We just have to listen and faithfully follow his plan. And of course, we pray fervently for miraculous grace.

In the time needed before I’m able to return to full-time ministry, I believe the Lord is able to use my weaknesses for his glory. I have started a YouTube channel (called Broken Yet Full) to increase awareness about our faith in the midst of disability, weakness and brokenness. I welcome you to follow – even subscribe to – my videos. It is a very transparent look at my life, and it is all free. We pray the Lord profoundly uses it.

I will continue to help edit Joni and Friends’ Disability in Mission blog, and I serve as the Communications Liaison for Lausanne Movement’s Disability Concerns. Both of these roles are also volunteer. I hesitate to emphasize any of this because I don’t serve to glean kudos. I serve because it brings me such joy. I only write this bio to show that despite my inability to serve in China, I am still ministering – and thank the Lord I can even minister at all. 

These months have broken me in numerous ways, but thank the Lord that the weaker we are, the stronger he can shine. Thank you for allowing me to share all of this and thank you for walking alongside us for all these years.

Broken Yet Full YouTube Channel ~ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWG_dLn6H4aG6pE9vMQAjw/featured 

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The Fall Foliage Tour – 2021

One of our family traditions is to take a Family Fall Foliage Tour. I mention this every year. I drive, Dorothy is in the front seat and, when they were younger, our girls rode in the back. Now we need at least two cars to travel through Tulsa’s Memorial Park Cemetery. The place is quiet. There is never any traffic, and the trees are usually spectacular. The roads are a little tricky in places, but the trip is worth it. In the old days we could feed the ducks, geese, and swans, but since the pond was renovated and the swans moved across town, the signs say we cannot feed the ducks.

This year the trees are suffering—too harsh a winter and too dry a summer. Yet there are many that are recovering beautifully. It is best to go looking at the trees on a sunny day. In the late afternoon, as you wind your way around, suddenly a shaft of light will be shining directly through a tree – maybe it’s a glorious red and orange-leafed maple tree, or something else. It does not matter. It is like a spotlight has been turned on and God is saying, “Look at this!” We all turn and look with awe.

I learned long ago to embrace the beauty of a cemetery and contemplate the friends and strangers it holds dear. We all have a lifetime of friends and loved ones buried in cemeteries. There is much to learn about life by visiting a cemetery as the leaves are turning and floating to the ground. On our visit last Sunday, there was more stopping and walking around in different areas than usual. The youngest grandchildren had questions. We stopped at the grave of entertainer Roy Clark where are daughters quietly sang their Roy Clark Elementary School song. Mr. Clark had visited their school occasionally. At another stop we discovered the grave of a Mr. Gibbons. According to the headstone, Mr. Gibbons was born on February 21, was married on February 21, and died on his 86th birthday on February 21. Take time to visit a meaningful cemetery before the winter winds arrive.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Stand in awe of God’s majesty. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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The Grandfather Clock

It was a wonderful gift given by some dear friends. They were downsizing and moving into the senior housing at the Baptist Village in Owasso, Oklahoma. Vernon Smith and his wife Esther helped organize our church in 1935. Vernon was a banker, a deacon, church treasurer and the first choir director. Esther’s funeral service in 1975 was the largest I had ever officiated. Later, Vernon married Ollie Shannon, whom he had rediscovered at their high school reunion. When Vernon and Ollie moved, we received their grandfather clock. 

Grandfather clocks need to be moved gently. There is a pendulum, heavy weights and chains, and delicate moving parts all housed in a cabinet nearly seven feet tall. It fit perfectly in our front hall just down from the bedrooms. It chimes every fifteen minutes, longer and longer rings until it “bongs” the hour. At first it nearly drove me crazy. I knew when it was 2:15 or 4:45 a.m. in my so-called sleep. Overnight guests would comment on the clock. The Westminster Chime is the classic ring that it is set to. Also, there are options to set it to the Winchester or the Whittington Chimes. I tried them all—still less sleep. Then one day, I adjusted.

What keeps you awake at night these days? For me it is the ever-present blanket of grief and loss this year that is weighing on my heart. Since last December I have officiated or participated in 18 funerals, all with long personal relationships. I listen for the “still small voice” of God’s grace.

After I set the clock back to the Westminster Chime, I barely noticed 3 a.m. Before long I was sleeping through the night again. One day Vernon asked me how I was adjusting to the clock. He proceeded to tell me about the secret little hook that prevents it from chiming at all. By then it was too late. About thirty-five years have passed listening to that grandfather clock. It keeps perfect time if I remember to wind it regularly. The sound of the chime has become so familiar I rarely hear it at all. I have adjusted to its rhythm and sound. I wonder sometimes if the chimes were turned off, would the quiet keep me awake?

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

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He’s Everything to Me

In the stars his handiwork I see. On the wind he speaks with majesty. Tho he ruleth over land and sea, What is that to me?

I keep near my desk what I call my Falls Creek Bible. This is a hardback edition of the Good News Bible (Today’s English Version) from the hippy-dippy era of church music. I turned to it when I learned of the recent passing of composer and lyricist Ralph Carmichael, creator with Kurt Kaiser of Tell It Like It Is: A Folk Musical About God. I carried this Bible to the Falls Creek youth camp for many summers. Occasionally I would make it available for the young people to record a commitment to the Lord that they had made that week, and sign and date it. It is a treasure chest of the Spirit at work. 

I will celebrate nativity, For it has a place in history. Sure, he came to set his people free, What is that to me?

A highlight of every night of every Falls Creek camp was the mass choir of teenagers under the leadership of Warren M. Angell, Dean of the School of Fine Arts at Oklahoma Baptist University from 1936-1975. On the night of August 2, 1979, both Ralph Carmichael and Buryl Red, the founding director of a national choir of Baptist Music Ministers, The Centurymen, rehearsed and led the choir in some of their beloved songs like Carmichael’s Pass It On and The Savior Is Waiting, and Red’s In Remembrance of Me and He Is Alive from Celebrate Life! I treasure both of their autographs in my Falls Creek Bible.

Then I met Him face to face, And I felt the wonder of His grace. Then I knew that He was more than just a God who didn’t care, who lived a way up there.

Ralph Carmichael was the musical composer, artist and director for many famous singers, such as Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Elvis Presley, and Peggy Lee. He was a self-confessed sinner. But he found his joy and much controversy in introducing “contemporary music” into church worship. He has been called by many “The Father of Contemporary Worship.” He was 94 when he died on October 18.

And now He walks beside me day by day. Ever watching o’er me lest I stray. Helping me to find the narrow way, He’s everything to me.

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

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Coming Clean Again

In the summer of 2016, we attended a sweet and beautiful family wedding in Indiana. Following the wedding came the family pictures, then the reception dinner. There was a long delay from the staff in the starting of the dinner. At one point, I confess, I became restless and got up for a cup of coffee. On my way back to our table I noticed two boys playing by the unattended wedding cake. They were playing a dangerous game of “who can poke their finger closest to the cake without touching it.” Since these boys were closely related to me, I made my way towards them. It did not take long to point them to the food line and redirect their efforts. Mission accomplished. Then one boy suddenly had a thought and whipped around to get my attention, but I was much closer than he realized. My hot cup of coffee was almost at my lips when the bump happened. Hot coffee soaked my shirt and jacket. He was very sorry. It was an accident, but I needed to clean up.

We are always having to clean up, aren’t we? Spills, accidents, hot days outside, housework, you name it, we are always cleaning things up. Coming clean is a way of life, isn’t it? We bathe, wash our clothes and brush our teeth. Hopefully, regularly. So it is and so it should be for us spiritually. Coming clean with our sins—before ourselves, before others and before God Almighty—is the spiritual necessity for each of us every single day. Confession is good for the body and the soul.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

 I stopped by the gift shop at the golf club, where the reception was held, and was bought a new shirt by the boys’ mother—the only shirt in the shop in my size. I took my coffee-soaked self into the locker room and washed out the stained shirt. (The red spots on my chest and stomach weren’t too bad.) After I put on the new shirt, I felt clean again. It felt good. If you ever see me in a bright pink shirt with the Valle Vista Golf Club logo on the sleeve, just know it was the one I was wearing when I stepped up to lead the blessing at the wedding dinner.

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

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Dini Goes to Church

This is a reposting of the official account of the day Dini came to church.

On September 7, 1979, I received an urgent phone call asking for my assistance. One of our church members at the time, Ty Frederick, was trying his hand at breeding cockatiels. I was very interested in his new hobby. He called me that evening to say that a new mother was rejecting her two hatchlings. He asked if I could come over and help him. We decided that I would take one and he would work with the other. I took the hatchling home and fed him with an eye dropper and kept him warm with a towel in a shoebox. After his feathers came out, I began to teach Dini to fly and to talk. One of his favorite sayings was, “He’s a good bird.”  Then, one fateful day in the spring of 1981, I brought him to church to show the children.

The world’s longest children’s sermon began during the morning service as usual. When I took the bird out of his cage to show how he was trained to talk and fly back to me… well, let’s just say he flew and flew and sang, all through the rest of church that morning. I thought it was poetic that Ty was singing a solo in worship when Dini decided to make it a duet. No one slept through church that day! We worked all afternoon to try and coax him back to his cage. He loved singing in church. Later, after the evening service, I climbed an extension ladder and lifted a long pole with an improvised crossbar up to his perch near the sanctuary’s cove lights. He got on the crossbar, then as I slowly inched the pole down, he jumped on my shoulder like he was supposed to have done 10 hours earlier!

I looked up the life expectancy of the cockatiel—they live about 20 years. According to Wikipedia, there was one bird confirmed to have lived 35 years. Dini was a noble pet that outlived a number of our cats. For around eight of those years, he shared his cage with a female cockatiel we called DeeDee. We thought Dini would like the company and that they might even mate. He mostly tolerated her. She died unexpectedly one July. He did not seem to miss her. Dini died on May 7, 2011. He lived 31 years and 8 months with us, greeting us every day with songs and whistles and chatter. He was a very good bird.

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

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The Great Resignation

It is being called “The Great Resignation.”  The Great Resignation was first noted by economists following the release of the April 2021 Jobs Report. Articles continue to be written about this in the nation’s leading financial and business journals. What happened was that 4 million US workers resigned or quit their jobs all at once in April. This was separate from those being laid off or fired from their places of employment. It happened again in May and by the end of June a total of 11.5 million workers had stepped away from their careers. Millions of these were high paying professionals making well over six-figure salaries. This is a seismic shift in the economic landscape of America. It also coincides with a massive return to the workplace following the shutdown. Millions of workers said, “Not me.” Speculation centers on low wage earners demanding better pay, and lingering health concerns in the time of a virus resurgence. But the astounding number of high paying job resignations points to a reordering of personal priorities. 

“The Great Reprioritization,” as some are now calling it, is earnestly gaining momentum across our land. As a pastor, I can see where this last year of sickness and upheaval is causing people to reevaluate their lives and dreams.  Congregational studies are reporting that fully one-third of all church attenders before the pandemic are not planning to go back to church with any regularity, if at all. 

This all gives me great hope for our future as a nation, and for the local church. People who make such dramatic changes in their lives are thoughtful, aware of the risks, and seeking fulfilment in body, mind and spirit. The great resigners will seek a healthier job and life balance. They will create new incomes and deeper satisfactions. Those who have tasted the joys of Christ, but been hurt or betrayed by church people, will discover a healthier faith and life balance with authentic believers. The disillusioned and discouraged need genuine relationships that are honest and true, just like you and I do. Now is the opportunity to reprioritize our faith with service and justice for all. Or, as Isaiah put it, Today… is the day of salvation.

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

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WWJD — What Would Julia Do?

(Note: I asked Connie Connely to share this week’s Reflections) 

Years ago, many of my third-grade students wore bracelets that said WWJD.  When I asked what it meant, they told me, “What would Jesus do?” I never had one of those bracelets, but if I did, I would wear it every Sunday to remind me of Julia Ford, “WWJD — What would Julia do?” as I replace her as the leader of our Ladies’ Sunday School class.  Who am I kidding?  No one can replace Julia!

Brother Darryl didn’t ask me to step in as the leader because I have style and flair.  No, it was because I was there!  Plus, I know how to use the DVD player. Julia not only talked the talk as a Christian, but she also walked the walk.  When I was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2017 and had to make a couple of trips to MD Anderson in Houston, Texas, Julia called to check on my mother, who was 88 years old at the time.  Julia checked on everyone.  She would telephone, send cards, and bring cookies to my door for a fun surprise. When I would ask her to come in for a visit, she would say, “I can’t stay long because I have some other deliveries to make.” That was Julia, always taking care of people.

When I received the phone call to pray for Julia because she had COVID, I thought, “This will be hard, but I think she will make it. If the 85-year-old lady in my book club survived COVID, surely Julia will, too.” “Why, Julia?” I have asked. Although I am 100% sure the Pearly Gates swung open wide to welcome her into Heaven, I hoped she could stay longer to watch her younger grandchildren grow up. God has His plans. Sometimes we don’t understand.

As a tribute to Julia, our Ladies’ Bible Study classes are continuing.  We have recently completed: “Chasing Vines” by Beth Moore and “Forgiving What We Can’t Forgive” by Lysa TerKeurst.  In addition, we plan to participate in another study about anxiety.  Who doesn’t need that during this pandemic? Ladies, we would LOVE for you to join us. The more, the merrier! Don’t worry about waiting until we have a new Bible Study; just come on! That’s what Julia would do!

Hope to see you on Sunday mornings at 11:15 — 11:50!  We are in the room across from the kitchen.  

Connie Connely, teacher

Julia Ann Dooly Ford, June 1, 1952—May 3, 2021

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Tulsa State Fair Preparations

Over the course of the summer, I have watched construction crews redesign the entrance to the Expo Building by the Golden Driller statue at the Fairgrounds. They have been frantically painting the outside of the building, roof and all, to the new colors of light grey and royal blue. This is to match the new logo on the reimagined gates at each of the old entrances.  It looks to me like they may be painting late into the night for another week. The Tulsa State Fair is about to open on September 30. On the other side of the fairgrounds, where the barns are, the fair has already begun for the future farmers of America.

Trucks with trailers filled with large animals have been rumbling past the church this week headed for the fairgrounds. While the painting continues, midway rides have been assembled, new parking signs have been added, and RV’s filled with people and merchandise have assembled in the designated parking lots, creating their own little camp towns.  Corn Dog and Cotton Candy trailers are escorted down the street like honored guests arriving at the ball. All that is left is for about 1,000,000 people to show up, discovering along the way that it costs real money to go to the State Fair.

I enjoy the Fair. Last year it was cancelled because of you know what. This year seems to be full steam ahead. I enjoy watching the people, eating the food, and discovering the latest, greatest miracle-working gadget ever seen on the face of the earth. If we make it to the fair, I will be searching for the first sign of autumn—the deep-fried, bacon-wrapped, pumpkin-spiced cheesecake on a stick. There is nothing quite like a state fair. But it would never happen at all without detailed preparations, hardworking people, and a common goal to hold the finest fair ever. So when you see the 4H-ers with their prize cow or pig, the blue ribbon cakes or quilts, the hot tubs or the glasses cleaners, remember the effort and sacrifice that is behind it all. Any worthy endeavor takes preparation, commitment, and sacrifice. That includes your family, your church, and your daily life.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Do what it takes. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Come From Away

I am still reflecting on the impact of the 20th anniversary observance of the 9/11 attack on the United States. I was surprised by the emotions I felt about a story from so long ago that I thought I knew so well. Dorothy and I visited the World Trade Center National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in 2018. I showed a couple of pictures during Sunday’s service. While we were in NYC, we attended the Broadway show, Come From Away. It is a musical play based on a true story about the days following the attack. 

Come From Away is about the little community of Gander, Newfoundland, the home to a long disused international airline refueling station. On September 11, every airplane going or coming to the U.S. was required to land immediately. The Gander runway was big enough to land some of the international flights. In fact, 7,000 passengers, including infants and crewmembers, found themselves stranded in Gander with nowhere to go. This story tells of the generous and heroic efforts of the townspeople to open their homes to these strangers in distress. And no one knew for how long. Or the fact that all the planes had animals on board! And many internationals did not speak English or French Canadian. “Come from aways” are what Newfoundlanders call visitors. You can watch some clips of the production on the internet. The Tulsa Performing Arts Center will be hosting the touring production October 12-17 if you would like to see the musical for yourself. 

It is the story of people rising to a dramatic and uncertain situation. There are themes centered around fear and grief, neighborly love for strangers, with a kind of loaves and fishes quality about it all. At the end of the performance, during the standing ovation, a small group of young people in front of us clapped vigorously. One young lady exclaimed for all to hear, “I have been so proud to be a Canadian!”  It has been announced that 800 recently rescued Afghans are being sent to Tulsa to begin the long process of rebuilding their lives as strangers in a distant land. Temporary housing is needed for nearly all the people.  Will the people of Tulsa respond like Gander?

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Welcome the “come from aways.” And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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