The volunteers for Episcopal Services were awarded the 2018 Volunteer Group of the Year!

Ray Chance won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year for Jess Dunn Correctional Center, at the Annual Volunteer Appreciation Banquet held at Christ Church, Tulsa on May 18th!

These volunteers work every week in the two prisons located in Taft, Oklahoma: Eddie Warrior for female offenders, and Jess Dunn for male offenders. Both prisons provide Evening Prayer services, as well as providing Communion and Baptisms. Each volunteer team serves once a month, and each prison has weekly services. Ray Chance is a Volunteer Chaplain at the Chapel at Jess Dunn, for which he was honored with his award.

Two other volunteers serve in other capacities: Kathryn Cox teaches Moral Reconation Therapy, currently facilitating a program for Resonance in Tulsa for women out of prison. The Rev. Linda Paul is a Volunteer Chaplain, and she also teaches the sexual abuse recovery program each week at Eddie Warrior.

Episcopal Services are inside our state prisons, under the direction of Prison Missioner, the Rev. Nancy Brock, and serve hundreds of offenders each month at various prisons around the state. We all serve with the 25th Chapter of Matthew in mind, as we not only visit those in prison, we continue our Baptismal Covenant to seek and serve Christ in all persons.

If you are interested in being a volunteer, please contact the Rev. Nancy Brock at the Diocesan Office via phone at (405) 232-4820 or via email at [email protected]. 

The Rev. Nancy Brock, Marty Hartmann, the Rev. Nancy Brown, Kathryn Cox, Ray Chance, the Rev. Linda Barton Paul, Art Paul, Robert Johnston, Penny Johnston
Also on the team but not in the picture: Ted and Jan Garvin

Grace Church, Ponca City hosted a Members Talent Exhibit recently.

About 26 participants displayed paintings, jewelry, stained glass creations, architectural drawings, stitchery creations, woodworking, photography, collections, and demonstrations of therapeutic drumming.

A tour of our 70+ stained glass windows was conducted. Refreshments were served.

It was free and open to the public and was well attended!

On Thursday, April 26th, St. Augustine of Canterbury, Oklahoma City hosted a training/workshop titled “Active Shooter in a House of Worship” with the assistance of the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security.

The workshop lasted a little over two hours and from the feedback we received from the Clergy, staff, parishioners, and volunteers who attended, they all enjoyed the presentation very much.

We had every table full in our Parish Hall with over 45 people attending! The following churches/groups were represented:

• All Souls, Oklahoma City 
• St. Christopher's, Midwest City
• St. Augustine of Canterbury, Oklahoma City
• The Diocese
• St. Elijah
• Grace, Yukon
• St. Paul’s Cathedral, Oklahoma City 
• St. Paul’s, Clinton
• PGR Members (Moore, Oklahoma City, Yukon & Wellston)
• Church of the Redeemer, Oklahoma City

We appreciated the positive response, and look forward to your continued support in keeping our Parishioners comfortable and safe in worship.

For those congregations who were not able to attend and would like to set-up a course for their congregations, please don’t hesitate to contact Capt. Jim MacBride at the Oklahoma Office of Homeland Security (OKOHS) at (405) 425-7589 or email [email protected]. 

Art-Full Treasures from the Trash Art Show came to a close with an Open House at St. Paul’s, Holdenville on Sunday, April 29th.  It was the culmination of months of promotion and teaching in the community. 

The goal: less trash, identify what can be recycled, and how can “trash” be repurposed. 

After visiting and teaching in the Holdenville Elementary School, and many businesses in town, 50 exhibits were entered into the show. Judges from the Holdenville Society of Sculptors and Painters selected first, second and third place winners in both the Adult and Student division and $450 in cash awards were given. 

The “best in show” entitled “Large Mouth Bass has now acquired a new home at the Holdenville Hatchery where it will continue to raise awareness of recycling and repurposing. 

It was a great event for all! 

This year’s Bishop’s Cup golf tournament raised approximately $22,000 for St. Crispin’s and was an immense success! The weather was beautiful at the Firelake Golf Course in Shawnee as our 21 teams set out for a great day of golf!

We had a number of generous sponsors, including numerous congregations sponsoring holes, tee-boxes, or both, including: St. Phillips, Ardmore; Church of the Resurrection, Oklahoma City; All Souls, Oklahoma City; and more!

We also had organizations, businesses and individuals help sponsor the tournament, including: Mike and Dana Langley, Preston Hanner, Steve Renee Bauer, Holland Hall, GH2 Architects, Lingo Construction, Hughes Lumber, and many more!

Additionally, Emmanuel Church, Shawnee sponsored the Hole-in-One Challenge, entered a team, and organized the Mulligan sales. Their Rector, the Rev. Tom Dahlman, organized the event with much help from Diocesan Staff like Tyler Davis, Director of Stewardship & Development, and Nicole Baxley, Director of Communications, and the Rev. Sean Ekberg, Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Oklahoma City.

This year’s tournament was a great success thanks to our teams, volunteers, and generous sponsors! We hope to see you all next year!

More photos coming soon!

2018 The Bishop’s Cup Winners:
All winners received a customized Bishop’s Cup edition of the Bishop Ed Bobblehead
Gold team winners will also have their names engraved on the official Bishop's Cup Trophy

Gold

Doc Chambers, Blake Dutcher, Joby Dutcher, and Jimmy Lee
[With an impressive score of 55 (with a par of 72)!]
(St. Andrews’, Lawton)

Silver

Brad Barr, Will Mahoney, Andrew Royce, and Brad Warner
(Christ Church, Tulsa)

Bronze

Clay Ferguson, Brian Kershaw, Josh Merrill, and Zach Russell

The Disaster Preparedness and Recovery team recently responded to the wildfires in the western part of the state. They joined with other agencies and denominational disaster relief agencies at a MARC (Multi-Agency Resource Center) and handed out gift cards. Over $6,000.00 was given to these victims who had lost so much.

There were over 400 sq. miles burned and a lot of homes and structures that went up in smoke. Many of the stories told were about losing a family’s homestead that went back several generations.

One gentleman shared that his family’s house was one of the oldest in the area, as it was 200 years old and he had to watch it burn. Some people were in their 70s or 80s and asked: “how do we start over?” But all of them seemed to have a good attitude and were very appreciative of all the support they were getting.

As you can see from the photo, Jim Gorton and the Rev. Mary Davis from St. John’s, Woodward, were on hand to help give out gift cards and to listen to the stories of so many.

I would also like to thank anyone who contributes to the Disaster Relief Fund so we are able to reach out in times of need.  This is just the beginning of recovery from this disaster, and it will take years to rebuild. We will be part of the long-term recovery plan, overseen by Oklahoma Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, just as we have been for other disasters. We are just now finishing up recovery work from the 2015 storms in the state. It takes time, a lot of labor hours, and funds after such a disaster to help the victims rebuild. That includes volunteers, as well as funds. If you would like to assist with recovery through financial gifts or other volunteer opportunities, please contact the Rev. Paul Snyder.

If you would like to contribute to the Disaster Relief Fund, please make your check out to “the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma” with “Disaster Relief Fund” in the memo line, and mail it to:

The Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma
Attn: Disaster Relief Fund
924 North Robinson
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

On Sunday, April 22nd Grace Church, Ponca City welcomed Bishop C. Wallis Ohl to the parish.

At this visitation, Bishop Ohl celebrated the Eucharist, preached, and baptized 3 of our youth.

We also enjoyed getting to visit with him at the dinner after church!