Around 10 years ago, members of the First Baptist Church of Bristow collectively decided to forego a traditional Sunday service for a day of loving and serving members of the community. Pastor D.J. Carney described it best, referring to the church’s decision as the choice to be the hands and feet of Jesus in service and love to fellow community members. They aptly named their day of serv ice “I serve Sunday.”
This Sunday, October 3rd, church members will be out and about, serving and loving the community for “I serve Sunday.” Pastor Carney humbly noted their commitment to serving the Lord and the community, saying “We love. We want to help. We want to do. It’s about focusing on being the church, serving our community well, and reaching out to people.”
In an effort to serve the most dire of needs, the church reaches out to City Hall and Mayor Pinson’s office, the Bristow Housing Authority, Bristow Public Schools, and local veterans’ groups. Church members perform many types of service, including cleaning out or tending to flower beds, picking up and disposing of litter, conducting mild home repair, and constructing wheelchair accessible ramps. In fact, the church constructed the ramp for the Bristow VFW Post 3656 and performed some much-needed restorative work with the American Legion in years past.
Pastor Carney noted those most often served by the church are some of the most vulnerable community members: veterans, widows and widowers, the poor, elderly, disabled, frail, and shut-ins. The group focuses its efforts on those vulnerable groups in an effort to serve those most in need and often overlooked or forgotten.
For now, “I serve Sunday” is a day of service occurring once annually. Each year, church members commit to serving the entire day as they love and serve the community. Furthermore, anyone from the community interested in serving with the church is welcomed to join them for “I serve Sunday.” Any interested non-church members from the community simply need to contact Pastor Carney at the church prior to serving. Pastor Carney did note, however, that the church may expand “I serve Sunday” to twice per year in the future in an effort to serve and meet more of the community’s needs. That decision will be made by the church at its own discretion.
To learn more about First Baptist Church or join them in serving the community, please call the church at 918-367-3351. The church is located at 226 East 6th Avenue, sitting on the southwest corner of the intersection of Chestnut Street and 6th Avenue. The church meets on Sundays for small groups at 9:30 a.m., worship service at 10:45 a.m., small groups for all ages at 5 p.m., and again on Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. Additional information about the church is accessible via their website: https://fbcbristow.com/.