Covenant News

Churches on the Move in Midsouth Conference

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK (November 27, 2001) - Westmoore Community Covenant Church, which has been in existence for seven years, recently celebrated its grand opening worship service in a new building, with 900 in attendance.

Westmoore Covenant had been meeting in rented space in a shopping center before moving into its current facility. National Covenant Properties assisted with financing of the project. The church, with Paul Cunningham as its pastor, averaged about 500 people in worship during the past year. Several people indicated first-time decisions to follow Jesus Christ, according to Midsouth Conference Supt. Garth Bolinder.

The Westmoore event is the third major dedication or grand opening in the Midsouth Conference this fall. Cornerstone Covenant Church of Midwest City, Oklahoma, had its Charter-Signing Sunday on September 16, followed by a new facility dedication October 7. Cornerstone Covenant purchased a warehouse near Tinker Air Force Base. They have converted approximately half of the warehouse space for worship, education and fellowship use, with most of the labor being done by members of the congregation. Randy Pratt is the founding pastor.

Meanwhile, in Norman, Oklahoma, Journey Covenant Church, a new Midsouth Conference church plant, held its first preview worship on September 9 and began weekly worship a month later. There were 530 people at the first preview service, which was held in the Sooner Theater in downtown Norman. In October, about 450 attended the first weekly service, according to pastor Clark Mitchell. Journey Covenant Church is presently meeting in an unused Wal-Mart building in town.

Bolinder says he is excited about other growth in the Midsouth Conference as well. In the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, two Spanish-speaking Covenant churches, Iglesia Del Pacto La Trinidad in McAllen and Iglesia Evangelica Misionera in La Villa, have gathered twice in the past few months for combined Prayer Summits, the most recent on November 3. Pastor Mario Portillo of La Villa Covenant, Pastor Casimiro Rodriguez of the McAllen congregation and Rev. Gricel Medina, a pastoral friend from Dallas, have led the prayer summits, which included Ecuador Covenant missionaries Cheryll and Moises Clark.

In nearby San Juan, Noel Cisneros was recently installed as pastor of Peoples Covenant Church in San Juan. The conference hopes this church will develop a Spanish-speaking congregation to worship alongside the existing English-speaking congregation. Cisneros will pastor both congregations.

For more information about the Midsouth Conference, call Bolinder at 918-481-9097 or email him at gtbolinder@juno.com.

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