Peachtree Road UMC

We made it to Tulsa and are excited to start our ministry!

Our first day wrapped up with a team meeting under the beautiful Oklahoma sky in the heart of downtown Tulsa! Pastor Kujanga shared his vision for his church and ministry and gave us an opportunity to learn about those whom we’ll be serving this week. Looking forward to a restful night before we get to work tomorrow!

This morning we had a great time helping out with the fun kids at The Zone Academy! Alex, Tyler, Lance & Anna did some tree climbing with the older kids while Julia, Charlotte, Kendle and Jenny gave unlimited piggy back rides and played with the littler kids.

We invited local kids to the park for some Summer Camp fun that we'll continue every evening through our week in Tulsa. Working with Zion Community Church and The Zone Academy, we started with some games and crafts and we'll add more Bible verses and stories as the week progresses. We're so excited to share Jesus with this neighborhood!

Shout Out to our Outstanding Bus Driver Brad! Without him we would quite literally be lost :)

Also, Shout Out to our littlest Assistant Team Leader, Ella! With her 7 years of experience, she's showing us all how it's done! :) 

We're working hard every morning this week to turn an old church into the Phoenix Performing Arts Center - clearing out the old and making it a beautiful, new space for the community!

It's so exciting to see the Lord growing our community Summer Camp! Playing together, sharing together, sharing Bible stories, encouraging the children to learn Bible verses and praying for each other made it a great evening!

We were richly blessed by an amazing lunch at Tulsa Indian United Methodist Church with Pastor Larry & Pastor David where we donated backpacks for their ministry. They taught us so much about American Indian culture, the history of 39 different native nations in Oklahoma with only 2 indigenous, the food bank and other community work they're doing now and more! Pastor Larry graced us with his faith story and sent us out with a Going Forth song in the Ute language!  

We're having another great day volunteering with the kids at the Zone Academy and renovating the Phoenix Performance Arts Center. Today we painted what used to be the sanctuary which is turning into the theater area of the Phoenix. This evening we'll have another fun night of Summer Camp with games, crafts, Bible stories, snacks and fellowship with the Country Club Gardens community.

Our Worship meeting every night after the day's many activities are done is such a blessing! Our favorite worship songs are lead by Pastor Ryan, with him, Lance, and Brad on guitar. The music lifts us up, songs filling the courtyard as the sun sets and evening turns to moonlit night. 

Pastor Chris, Pastor Ryan, and Pastor Mary have been leading us in a study of Jesus forgiving and healing the paralyzed man from Luke 5:17-26. Each night they've encouraged us to dive deeper into this Bible story of faith, friendship, and leading others to Jesus, challenging us to see ourselves in the story. What roles do we play in our own lives today leading others to Jesus? 

Today we wrapped up a great week of ministry with the kids at The Zone Academy and renovating the space that will be the new Phoenix Performing Arts Center. It was hard to say goodbye to our little friends. The Phoenix is being transformed.

This evening we held a community party for the Country Club Gardens community where we've held Summer Camps every evening this week. We grilled hot dogs & hamburgers, had a bounce house, face painting, a DJ, basketball, more games and great fellowship. We were so pleased to be able to come into this community with our local church partner, Zion Community Church!

It was a great, hard-working week!

We had such a Full, Fun Recreation Day in Tulsa after a week of working hard! 

We started the morning hiking the trails and taking in the beauty of The Gathering Place along the Arkansas River.

After lunch we celebrated Juneteenth with the greater Tulsa community at Black Wall Street.

We had a special thank you dinner at The Brook restaurant where we celebrated our seniors Tyler & Alex on their last high school mission trip and thanked our PPM team.

We spent the evening cheering on Tulsa's FC Soccer Team, watched a fabulous firework display and got to take a picture on the field.

We ended the evening with worship in song and prayer, thanking Jesus for bringing us to Tulsa to do His work here.

It was a great end to a great week!

On our last morning we enjoyed worship with Pastor Larry's church at Tulsa Indian Methodist Church. It was really cool to sing in multiple Native American languages! Pastor Larry preached on the story of Jesus calming the waters, reassuring his disciples like a good Father does. Happy Father's Day to the dads on our trip - Chris, Ryan, Lance, Adam & Brad!

We had a last meal together where we ate our first meal in Tulsa - at Mother Road Market! 

It was a great trip bringing people back together around Tulsa! The Lord certainly Blessed us all in a variety of ways!