Your change can make a difference! Support the lives of babies and mothers by filling bottles with your change, bills and checks and returning it for collection. Your donations will be used to save the lives of babies and make a positive impact on the mothers. Please join with us in making a lasting difference in this life and the next. Bottles will be at the Terraza by the North Entrance.
Thank You,
Cheryl Phipps
bigOstudents off-campus summer schedule
We are heading into living rooms and backyards this summer, lookout, because everywhere we go we will be meeting with the Living God of the universe. A big thank you to all those below who have graciously opened up their homes for us to meet!
*Denotes the presence of water suitable for submersion.
June 9th—Johnson *—220 N. Prescott Cir - 67212—(721-0752)
June 23rd—Schultz *—1213 Hickory Creek Ct - 67235
June 30th—TBA—
July 7th—Wolgamott—1225 Hickory Creek Court - 67235—(721-3669)
July 14th—Furr—1846 Northwest Pkwy - 67212—(721-7707)
July 21st—Underkofler—2514 N. Parkridge Cir - 67205
July 28th—Wright *—2844 Wild Rose Ct - 67205—(773-2647)
August 4th—Stevenson—2209 Amarado - 67205—(722-0699)
August 11th—Moffitt—2306 N Pepper Ridge Cir - 67205—(729-1614)
“I was born again!” Who would have thought that I would be saying this for the first time at age 48, and that my own son was the one who started me on the path leading to this day.
My family didn’t attend church when I was growing up. We moved around quite a bit, and I visited different churches growing up; sent with neighbors when I was really young and later with friends. I knew all the Bible stories, but never felt that desire to know more. I didn’t get it. Nothing was calling me!
When my husband and I decided to get married, we decided to look for a church that we could join. We tried a few churches and ended up going to West Heights United Methodist. After we got married, we attended for awhile, but didn’t feel a connection with the church, the people, or most importantly, God.
Years passed, and then my middle son, Kyle, began attending Olivet while in high school. Some friends invited him, and he loved it. Over the next couple years, I watched the changes in him and saw his passion. Where was this coming from?
When Kyle started inviting us to come to church with him, I was curious. The first time I walked into Olivet, it felt like home. I had never felt anything like this in any other church I had gone to. It was almost like I found what I had been looking for all my life, but didn’t even know I was searching. I was welcomed by Pastor Ron and others and felt they were genuinely glad that we were there. My guard came down and I felt safe; no one was judging me because I didn’t attend church or have a strong faith base.
I started attended services more to feel the love I experienced each time I was there and watched joyously as Kyle was baptized. I became close friends with Morgan Mayfield, who I worked with too, and she, my friend Amber and myself started having conversations about faith experiences and God over lunch. She invited me to a new community group she was starting, and I met an unbelievable group of women who shared their faith stories and started encouraging me to start thinking about what I believed in. I also started to feel that God was talking to me through Pastor Ron and Morgan’s husband, Brian, every Sunday morning up on that platform. I even told Morgan that what I was hearing was directed right at me.
Then in October, 2007, I was volunteering at Olivet for their annual Fall Festival; reaching out to the community with food, games, music, fun, and fellowship. It was a beautiful fall day, and as I looked around that parking lot at the hundreds of families interacting with Olivet’s families and youth, I was filled with this amazing feeling. I can’t even describe it. At that exact moment, Pastor Ron came over and started the conversation that would change my life.
After a few minutes of talking, he finally asked me if I believed and what would it take for me to profess that belief. I told him at this time, on this day it would only take a small tug of a hand, and that is exactly what he did. One small tug, and I professed my belief that Jesus had died on that cross for me; to wipe out all my sins, and to give me the chance to begin again, newly cleansed, born again!
And that is exactly how I feel! My eyes turned outward instead of inward, and I stopped thinking about me, me, me all the time and started really looking at others and ways to help, share, and love. Jesus gave me this opportunity to use my life in ways that glorify Him and what He did for me. It’s a struggle every day, and I don’t always get it right, but I’ll keep working at it until the day Jesus calls me to Him. Thank you God for my encounter with the cross!
Laura Ferguson
Dear Pastor Pracht,
As one of the few Nebraskans with the IMB, I was on the internet looking
to see where are the Southern Baptist Churches in Kansas-Nebraska. It was a
pleasure to find your website, and see the good things God is doing at your
church. My parents moved from Lincoln to Wichita several years ago, and I’ve
enjoyed getting to know the city you call home. I appreciated what you put
on your website about the Gospel, that it is not a beginning, but a way of
living by Grace. I don’t find that too often on a church’s website!
My reason for writing is very simple…to thank you for helping me and
5,600 other missionaries serve our Lord overseas. I love to thank Southern
Baptists for all they have done for me in helping me to fulfill my ministry,
for putting clothes on our backs, food in our stomachs and a roof over our
heads. Thank you for helping my children with both their childhood and
college educations. And I love sharing with Southern Baptists the wonderful
things God has done because of their gifts through our ministries over these
past 15 years. Unfortunately, I cannot visit our churches as freely as I
would like. My family and I were robbed and beaten in our home in Brazil,
and right now I’m recovering from surgery. I have spoken at fewer churches
this stateside assignment than any other during my ministry with the IMB.
But I decided there was something I could do–I can write to the pastors of
our people, and say “thank you.” Thank you, Pastor, for all you do to help
us do what we can in places where the Gospel is known so poorly.
With a grateful heart,
Mark A. Ellis
