Greetings in Jesus’ Name! Hope your Lenten Season is off to a good start!
It was a blessing to be together last night for our Ash Wednesday Service. I was driving by St. Joseph’s Catholic Church about 1:00 yesterday, as people were leaving their service, with the sign of the cross on their forehands too. Be sure to pick up your Lenten Bible Study and Prayer Guide from the church too. It’s one more opportunity to fulfill our Mission to “Make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!”

Today –I wanted to just give a quick update on some things happening at First Church.
Last Sunday evening was amazing! We hosted “The Sing” – a City Wide Worship Service led by Charlie Hall and friends. We had over 900 people here at First Church!
I had never seen anything like it! The worship experience was wonderful; scripture was read and prayers offered for all the churches in every direction from us. It was God honoring to see the Body of Christ in OKC come together in a spirit of prayer, worship and unity. It reminded me of the prayer of Jesus for all believers in John 17, “May they also be in us so that that the world may believe that you have sent me…May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and loved them even as I have loved you.” Unity within The body of Christ is so powerful! Praise God for the part He is allowing First Church to play in helping to support and unify the Body of Christ in OKC!

Noticed anything about Robinson Avenue this week? The City began tearing up Robinson Ave. from 4th -5th Street on Monday. Last week, we met with Bryan Coon from Coon Engineering Inc. who told us the street project is slated for 3 months(originally it was to begin Nov. 1). We may not have any access on the West side of the Church during this project (that’s why they’ve moved the Start of the Memorial Marathon to the other side of the Memorial this one year). The Finish line remains the same, so we still anticipate a large number of runners and families here for The Marathon. Be sure to sign-up this Sunday if you haven’t yet, so we can order t-shirts and get our volunteer spaces filled! We need you to also recruit your friends and neighbors to help us –it’s a great opportunity to reach out to others while serving together!

Keep our students and sponsors in prayer as they leave for their Spring Break Mission trip this Friday. They will be serving at our United Methodist Boy’s Ranch near Gore, OK and worshipping at the Cookson Hills United Methodist Church on Sunday, returning Tuesday evening. No Wednesday evening activities on March 16 due to Spring Break.
Our adult study, “When God’s People Prayer” will resume on Wed. March 23 – you can still join us for the remaining four sessions!

In His Amazing Love,

Pastor Mark

PS – Remember to “Spring Forward” this Sunday! Be sure to set your clocks ahead one hour. See you here!