Dear NEO family, I am excited about this weekend and the chance we have to gather as a District for inspiration, exhortation and the business of the District. Gloria and I feel so blessed to be on the NEO team with YOU. Our District Leaders have been working hard preparing for the gatherings and are committed to use your time well, but we need to spend time together as a TEAM to hear from our leadership and to celebrate our victories. Here is the schedule: · It all begins with the Missions Convention on Saturday morning, May 31 at 9am (registration opens at 8:30). Rev. Brian Utter will be our speaker. Our NMI Council will help prepare your missions leadership team for a great year focused on the mission of God throughout the world. ·  Our second gathering, the opening service of District Assembly, is on Sunday, June 1, 5pm. (Registration opens 4pm.) We will spend the first 30 minutes celebrating God’s work in our District this past year, focusing on Missional Church Awards. We have a lot to celebrate! Please be present so we can honor you for your partnership in the missional awards. The next hour will focus on the call of God on our brothers who are getting their first license...and those who are being ordained – Joel Heid and Beckie Richburg. We will also honor our beloved Claude and Betty Guy as they retire from full time vocational ministry. Our General Superintendent, Dr. Eugenio Duarte, will speak and ordain. Don’t miss this special time as a District family and join us for the reception after the service. ·  Assembly will continue on Monday beginning at 8:30 am (registration opens 8am). I am pumped to share my report and hear from our pastors. For the verbal part of our Pastors’ reports, I will have all Pastors (and spouses) come up by Zone. I plan to go to each pastor and ask a question relating to mission and impact. Then, each zone will close its time with Zone Coach praying for the zone pastors and churches. I believe you will find this very meaningful. We will also hear from Dr. Loren Gresham, President of our university, Southern Nazarene University. Bill Weisman, Director of New Start Development for the denomination, will challenge us, and we will have reports from denominational ministries and schools. It is going to be a great day!

NEO Youth Camp

Register now at neoknyi.com for early-bird rates!

NEO Kidz Kamp

July 18-21 We will be returning to Cave Springs.  Our speakers will be Linda and George Crummer (we loved them last year and by popular demand they will be back).  Our theme is “Walking in His Footsteps”.  Make plans now, begin your fundraising and send the children of your church to a long weekend they will never forget.  Early-bird registration by July 1: only $190. All forms are now on our website!

REGISTER TODAY http://palcon.org/ I hope you are able to attend the upcoming PALCON (Pastor's and Leader's Conference). This is a time to gather with other ministers and be encouraged, equipped and enriched. You'll enjoy the sessions with Tom Noble (outstanding Wesleyan/Nazarene Theologian.... "Holy God~Holy People"). Gabriel Saguerra will press us forward in our thinking; Carla Sundberg will deliver clear direction; they will join our gracious General Superintendent, Eugenio Duarte in leading our worship times. Workshops, late night entertainment, free time...a great time! Do you need some scholarship funds to offset the cost? Our funds are limited but we are committed to help if we can.

Dear NEO Family, It was my privilege to represent you at the SNU Board meeting last week. Whenever I spend time with SNU administration, faculty, and students, I am reminded of how blessed we are to have Southern Nazarene University as our university. Lives are being transformed there! The investment by faculty and staff into student lives is amazing. The school offers an excellent education, preparing students for careers and life. We heard a ton of information, but let me share a few things that stand out to me: · The board committee I serve on toured the Health Center. Students pay $36 per semester and are able to make as many visits as needed during the semester. They have an incredible staff, including Dr. Amy Siems, who volunteers four days a week. Students made 2,552 visits to the center this year. · You will be pleased to know that SNU operated in the black for the 25th consecutive year, an incredible accomplishment these days. · The residence halls have all been renovated in the past 5 years, along with the opening of the A.M. Hills Residential Center a couple of years ago. · J.D. & Mary West Science Laboratory is on schedule to be complete by January 2015. View construction-cam at www.snu.edu/cfts · SNU Online program receives EXCEPTIONAL rating from Sloan-C - The only program in the country to receive this high rating!    · 100% of current SNU students applying to medical and veterinary schools have been accepted for fall 2014  · NEO’s own Larry Snowbarger has been elected the new President of the Alumni Association. · NEO’s own  Jordan Leibold has been elected the Student Government Association President for the second year in a row!

REGISTER TODAY http://palcon.org/ I hope you are able to attend the upcoming PALCON (Pastor's and Leader's Conference). This is a time to gather with other ministers and be encouraged, equipped and enriched. You'll enjoy the sessions with Tom Noble (outstanding Wesleyan/Nazarene Theologian.... "Holy God~Holy People"). Gabriel Saguerra will press us forward in our thinking; Carla Sundberg will deliver clear direction; they will join our gracious General Superintendent, Eugenio Duarte in leading our worship times. Workshops, late night entertainment, free time...a great time! Do you need some scholarship funds to offset the cost? Our funds are limited but we are committed to help if we can.

Missions Education

Our own Roy Stults, D.Miss PhD., wrote the Living Issues/Unstoppable Church CAUSES section of the Nazarene missions education curriculum for this year. The topic is persecution. Dr Stults said,  “I appreciate the interest NMI and Dr. Dan Ketchum and his staff have in this topic, and for the opportunity to introduce such a relevant and important subject to Nazarenes. Persecution is a reality that we can no longer ignore.”

NEO April Statistics

Attendance for April                                                             2012-13            2013-14          SDMI                                2892                        2891          Morning Worship             3710                        4073

full report

I Want to Celebrate. . .

Wayde Normandin, Tulsa Southwest. . . A great Easter Sunday.  Great attendance, dedicated 6 children. David Stevens, Vinita. . . A great month. God’s honors us with His presence and touch each Sunday. He deserves all the glory! Due to the date of Easter we held our elections on the last Sunday. And this year we received new members during the meeting. We always make our Annual Meeting a worship service, and the focus on disciple making really enhanced the day. An experienced member said that it was unlike any annual meeting she had ever attended. Cole Weston, Okmulgee First. . . The majority of problems are resolved from the flooding. We have some minor stuff to take care of but we’ll wait on the contractors to come finish it. Steve Davis, Sapulpa. . . Baptizing 8 on Easter Sunday; God’s provision through the faithful giving of His people; spiritual awakening and growth in our church family. Brad Farnsworth, Broken Arrow Core Church at Aspen Creek. . .  We had a great attendance for Easter Sunday. Yalmi & Norma Izaguirre, Regency Park Hispanic. . . We are working to consolidate our members and thank God it’s going well and our leaders are committed to win others to Jesus. Otoniel Dannemann, Tulsa Fuente de Vida. . . Thank God the church is in an awesome spirit and church is growing Sunday by Sunday.  This month 12 people received Jesus like a personal savior. Saul Ramirez, Tulsa Fe y Esperanza. . . Thank God it’s open opportunity to make contact with families of our community; in this moment we have 5 families of our neighborhood. Georgina Lopez, Tulsa Cielos Abiertos. . . This month we did a children’s outreach with 103 included families, and we got a promotion in the community and we had contact with 4 new families.  We bought drums with special activities.  We received a donation of the bass from a new contact of Cielos Abiertos. Scottie Behm, Chelsea. . . We had two people share their personal testimony, a profession of faith and were baptized; we had two children dedicated; we celebrated the life of Julian Jerrold Clagg, age 81. The family shared his personal testimony "The True Strength" and two of his poems about Christ he had written with those who gathered to remember him.

NEO Youth Camp

Register now at neoknyi.com for early-bird rates!

NEO Kidz Kamp

July 18-21 We will be returning to Cave Springs.  Our speakers will be Linda and George Crummer (we loved them last year and by popular demand they will be back).  Our theme is “Walking in His Footsteps”.  Make plans now, begin your fundraising and send the children of your church to a long weekend they will never forget.  Early-bird registration by July 1: only $190. All forms are now on our website!