Northeast Oklahoma District Church of the Nazarene

Thanksgiving

In this season of Thanksgiving, I realize anew how much I have to be thankful for. I am thankful for God’s amazing grace and love, for my incredible family, for friends to play and pray with on the journey. And I am grateful to be a part of the NEO Nazarene family. We are partners together in the ministry of Christ. We join hands and hearts in the most exciting thing happening on our planet! It is my joy to work and pray alongside you. Gloria and I deeply love and appreciate you! May God bless you with a wonderful season of Thanksgiving. Grace and peace,  Dave

Welcome New Staff

Diana Meuller (Muskogee First) Children's Pastor with husband, Bob and children Erica, Adam, Ian, Owen, Eli, Olivia, and Abigail

Arlin and Jeannie Tyler (Tulsa Central) Worship Arts Pastor

Todd and Holly Barker with son, Easton (Tulsa Central) Youth Pastor

David and Kay Rogers Leaving Mannford

After much prayer, listening and evaluation, Pastor David Rogers has resigned as pastor of the Mannford Church. Pastor David and Kay have served the church for 6 ½ years.  David’s last Sunday as pastor will be Dec. 25, 2011. Join us in expressing our love and appreciation to this fine couple!

SNU Board of Trustees Meeting Recap

Geoff Gunter, Bud Lauhon, Kevin Lewis and I represented NEO at our recent SNU Board Meeting. The meeting was one of the best I have participated in for two reasons: 1. We participated in several stimulating sessions regarding Good Governance led by Dr. Robert Andringa. He shared many “best practices” that challenged us to think how to be more effective in our role as Trustees. 2. The innovative initiative adopted by our Trustees to create a Nazarene College Consortium with MNU (See announcement below). This is a significant step toward greater collaboration among our Nazarene Universities. Other highlights include: 1. Lives continue to be transformed at SNU! We are blessed to have a university that values and seeks a Christ-centered community. 2. SNU had a balanced budget for the 22nd consecutive year. 3. New facilities were opened in Tulsa and Bethany Campuses. 4. Everything is progressing smoothly for SNU’s move from NAIA to NCAA, Division 2. 5. Financial giving is up this year in educational budget, SNU Fund, Endowed Giving, etc. 6. With a recent grant of $800,000 from the Mabee Foundation to the Science Initiative, we hope to break ground on the 26,000 sq. ft. laboratory addition early in 2012. Phase I is estimated to cost $5.5 million.

MNU and SNU agree to form Nazarene College Consortium

November 17, 2011 In separate meetings this week, the boards of trustees of Southern Nazarene University and Mid America Nazarene University voted unanimously to form the Nazarene College Consortium (NCC) for the purpose of collaborating to create stronger and growing delivery systems for Nazarene higher education for the North Central and South Central regions. This follows conversations that have taken place across the past six months between representatives of each board. The goals of this collaboration are to increase enrollment significantly among students from Nazarene congregations and to generate significant cost savings in several areas of operational structure, with those savings redeployed primarily toward generating the intended Nazarene enrollment growth. While development of the NCC has been spearheaded by trustees, the administration of each school will be deeply involved in further planning and implementation.   Joint processes and structures will be developed to ensure significant new collaborative initiatives are in place.  However, the trustees have stressed that each school will retain its own identity, educational region, governance, administration, and finances.  The intent has been described as “forging a new collaborative model that responds to trends in higher education while honoring our educational mission and history.” Following the NCC’s formation, the presidents and boards of each of the other six Nazarene universities in the U.S. were invited to participate in any way and at any time they see fit.  All expressed affirmation and support, and several have already indicated strong interest in getting involved with the NCC soon. Representatives from each of the two boards – and possibly representatives from other Nazarene schools – will meet in December.