Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning, good morning, and welcome, welcome, welcome.
Speaker 1: It is time now for our community connection and we've
Speaker 1: got some great friends in the house today. We have
Speaker 1: Pam Builger and also John Ford and I just wish
Speaker 1: the weather was a little bit nicer today, but we
Speaker 1: do have some transition coming on, transition in the weather,
Speaker 1: transition overall. John tell us about this changeover that's going
Speaker 1: on with first United Methadist Church.
Speaker 2: Tom, I would love to and Pam and I are
Speaker 2: here today to represent the first United Methodist Church that's
Speaker 2: the one on Price Road. But we are in the
Speaker 2: process of what we're calling the changeover zone. And for
Speaker 2: those athletes in the area are like to watch athletics,
Speaker 2: it's a track title and it's in a relay and
Speaker 2: you have about a twenty meters section where one runner
Speaker 2: passes a baton to the other and we are in
Speaker 2: that fast paced zone. But if you're having a track meet,
Speaker 2: and if you're a relay team, that is a critical
Speaker 2: part of your success. At the church, we're actually going
Speaker 2: where we're transitioning from one pastor to another pastor, and
Speaker 2: we think it's important that we plan that transition because
Speaker 2: it's good for the church.
Speaker 3: It's good for the members, it's good for the community.
Speaker 2: Greg Teiner has been our pastor for the last seven years.
Speaker 2: He's been a pastor for thirty two years. Greg Andy's
Speaker 2: wife have decided it's time to retire. They're headed to
Speaker 2: Oklhoma City area to be with their family. And he's
Speaker 2: done a wonderful job for our church and we want
Speaker 2: to give him a very positive sendoff. I know when
Speaker 2: I retired from Phillips, it's been a big part of
Speaker 2: your life and you're going into a new endeavor, but
Speaker 2: you really like what you've done, and we just want
Speaker 2: to make sure we send him off the right way.
Speaker 2: And it's interesting one of his goals in retirement is
Speaker 2: to read three hundred books.
Speaker 3: A Year's admirable goal. Wow.
Speaker 2: But then we're also welcoming Terry Keenan, who is our
Speaker 2: new pastor, and he's coming to us.
Speaker 3: We're gonna talk.
Speaker 2: A little bit about Terry, and it's interesting. I have
Speaker 2: some background, and this is kind of what Terry said,
Speaker 2: let people know about him. He said, I am a
Speaker 2: left handed, adopted, working class Generation X Pentecostal preacher's kid
Speaker 2: reared in northeast Oklahoma, I have two grown children, both
Speaker 2: are adopted as he was adopted, and three grandchildren. And
Speaker 2: he said, I am one of about twenty siblings and
Speaker 2: he says no seriously, but the youngest of seven in
Speaker 2: his adopted family.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: So that's a story. I'm looking forward to the story.
Speaker 2: But other background, he grew up in Oklahoma City. He
Speaker 2: got his undergraduate degree in Biblical and pastoral studies from
Speaker 2: Southwestern Christian University in Bethany. That's also where he met
Speaker 2: his wife. He got his Masters of Divinity from Saint
Speaker 2: Paul's School of Theology in Kansas City. He got his
Speaker 2: doctorate from Ashland, Ohio Theological Seminary, and for the last
Speaker 2: six years he's been the district superintendent of the church
Speaker 2: for Northeast Oklahoma. And he said, I'm an ou fan.
Speaker 2: I like to watch NASCAR or any races, and I'll
Speaker 2: talk at length about Riach sixty six.
Speaker 3: Well, that is an interesting background.
Speaker 1: That is that crosses a lot. Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 3: So we've got a lot going on.
Speaker 1: We're welcoming the new pastor, we're honoring in our retiring pastor.
Speaker 1: What kind of things we have coming up here to honor?
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, first of all, I am excited to be
Speaker 4: here with John. He is a longtime member and I'm
Speaker 4: a newer member, so it's been fun to get to
Speaker 4: know others in our church and planning this has helped
Speaker 4: us do that as well. Greg has, like you said,
Speaker 4: been at our church for seven years, but in the
Speaker 4: ministry for over thirty, and that's a calling and that's
Speaker 4: definitely definitely worth celebrating.
Speaker 3: Do you understand that in your family?
Speaker 4: Absolutely? My dad was a minister, so I understand the
Speaker 4: ministry a little differently than others. But it is not
Speaker 4: just a Sunday job. It is all week calls, all
Speaker 4: the time meetings. You have to be very hush hush
Speaker 4: about things because a lot of things are confidential, and
Speaker 4: to be a good minister is a tough thing to
Speaker 4: do and it is definitely calling. So I do understand
Speaker 4: that Greg has been a great spiritual leader at our church.
Speaker 4: And we just hope to really celebrate Key and his
Speaker 4: wife and hope that they have a great send off.
Speaker 4: And I know they're excited about being in Oklahoma City
Speaker 4: with their family, but it's bittersweet for sure. And we
Speaker 4: are going to have a big celebration on June first,
Speaker 4: which anyone's obviously invited that would like to come, but
Speaker 4: we as a church are going to celebrate him and
Speaker 4: have a big all church dinner and John's helped with
Speaker 4: some of that planning. But it is going to be
Speaker 4: really fun. There's going to be entertainment, there's going to
Speaker 4: be some surprises, and just hope it's a great day
Speaker 4: for Greg and Judy.
Speaker 3: So well, it's immediately following the service that morning. Yes, wow, service.
Speaker 3: See that's great.
Speaker 4: Great, Yeah, And so that's the plan for for you know,
Speaker 4: kind of saying goodbye like I said, bittersweet, and then
Speaker 4: then we kind of transitioned to welcoming Terry, our new
Speaker 4: other new minister, and once again there's no better way
Speaker 4: than to bring people together than food. So on his
Speaker 4: work for me, I mean it works for everyone.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So June twenty ninth will be his first Sunday,
Speaker 4: and once again we're going to celebrate with having everybody
Speaker 4: after church and sure have a nice meal for him
Speaker 4: and start to get to know him and find out
Speaker 4: his journey and how we're gonna just continue to grow
Speaker 4: our church.
Speaker 1: Wow, this is this is going to be a great time.
Speaker 1: You know, like you said, a little sad, yeah, for sure,
Speaker 1: but also wow, what a great beginning too. I guess
Speaker 1: that kind of launches us into the future here. What
Speaker 1: about the futures?
Speaker 2: Well, some of the things when Terry gets here that
Speaker 2: he wants to do, and he's kind of given us
Speaker 2: a list, and he calls it his group of seven.
Speaker 2: And on the first few days, right after he gets here,
Speaker 2: he wants to meet with the church staff. That's very
Speaker 2: important because they're going to be a team that's leading us.
Speaker 2: He wants to meet with the youth, including their parents,
Speaker 2: get to know them, and also the children's ministers, and
Speaker 2: that's going to be in that first few days. But
Speaker 2: then starting July first, he's got four other main areas
Speaker 2: that he wants to get involved in. One, he wants
Speaker 2: to go out and meet our homebound members. It's important
Speaker 2: that he see them in their home and understand their
Speaker 2: issues and make sure in their minds that they know
Speaker 2: him and that we're there to serve them.
Speaker 3: Secondly, and this is going to be fairly large. It's
Speaker 3: what he calls his cottage groups.
Speaker 2: We're going to divide the congregation in to random groups
Speaker 2: or about ten people, and we're going to meet in
Speaker 2: individuals' homes and we'll have.
Speaker 3: Fifteen or twenty of these.
Speaker 2: But this gives everybody an opportunity to meet Terry, and
Speaker 2: he considers this more of a listening time. He's not
Speaker 2: telling those groups what he wants. He's trying to learn
Speaker 2: from them.
Speaker 3: Wow, it's important. One like that.
Speaker 2: And the other thing that he wants to do he
Speaker 2: calls what he calls the top ten of Bartlesville or
Speaker 2: regional leaders.
Speaker 3: Sure top ten is just it's not a number, but.
Speaker 2: He wants to reach out the people that are involved
Speaker 2: in the businesses and the nonprofits, learn the people in
Speaker 2: this community, learn what their needs are. And then secondly,
Speaker 2: for his last is the who's who in areas of
Speaker 2: and he's listed poverty, homelessness, and other areas of local concern.
Speaker 2: He truly wants to understand our community and what the
Speaker 2: needs are, who the leaders in trying to enhance some
Speaker 2: of those needs in what he and our church can
Speaker 2: do to help. So I am very impressed with his
Speaker 2: goal for getting started understanding our community and wanting to
Speaker 2: be part of the community.
Speaker 1: As we get ready to wrap up, how can people
Speaker 1: find out more about what's going on at the church.
Speaker 1: Do you have a little website or a Facebook page.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's Bartlesville United dot com and we would love
Speaker 4: there will be lots of information on the website. Are
Speaker 4: lots of information about what time services are, about him
Speaker 4: and BBS, etcetera.
Speaker 3: Oh nice. Are you gonna have it all together? You
Speaker 3: gona have a bug summer? Yes we are.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you both for coming in today
Speaker 1: on this on this rainy day and giving us some sunshine.
Speaker 3: Think about to thank you thank for Radio for hosting this.
Speaker 2: This is so important for our community and we really appreciate.
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