{"id":8727,"date":"2023-12-27T13:39:43","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T18:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=8727"},"modified":"2023-12-27T13:39:43","modified_gmt":"2023-12-27T18:39:43","slug":"116-soldiers-give-their-lives-to-christ-at-oklahoma-church-christmas-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/12\/116-soldiers-give-their-lives-to-christ-at-oklahoma-church-christmas-event.html","title":{"rendered":"116 Soldiers Give Their Lives to Christ at Oklahoma Church Christmas Event"},"content":{"rendered":"
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First Baptist Church Lawton \/ Facebook | Inset: Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An Oklahoma church is bearing the fruits of obedience after it decided to do two weekends of its Christmas program instead of one. First Baptist Church of Lawton\u2019s worship pastor, Xavier Abraham, approached Senior Pastor Mike Keahbone with the idea of adding another weekend. It was a request that seemed impossible. \u201c[Abraham] approached us with the idea of doing it two weekends in a row, and our immediate reaction was, \u2018No way.\u2019 Because it just takes so much to pull this thing together. I mean, you\u2019re talking about a 39-foot tree, over a hundred thousand lights, and just the manpower it takes to assemble the tree, the manpower it takes to just perform the performance,\u201d Keahbone told <\/span>CBN News<\/span><\/em><\/a>. Speaking to\u00a0<\/span>The Baptist Press<\/span><\/em><\/a>, after some prayer, Keahbone said he felt \u201cthe Lord was in it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0The second weekend was added over December 1 to 3. Expanding the weekend also enabled the church to offer an exclusive showing for soldiers from the local Fort Sill in the area. Normally, the soldier would not have been able to attend the next weekend\u2019s showing, the usual time scheduled for the event. The exclusive event saw 700 soldiers attend, with 116 of them making professions of faith. \u201cWe obviously shared the Gospel that night, and it turns out we had 116 professions of faith, several others that want to know more, and then a whole bunch that already knew the Lord,\u201d Keahbone told <\/span>Baptist Press.\u00a0<\/span><\/em>He said the event has now opened the door for more ways to serve the people of Fort Sill. \u201cThis was a bridgebuilding opportunity with them,\u201d he said. Soldiers who made decisions or had questions were given cards to fill out. The church will share those cards with the chaplains at Fort Sill, who will follow up with their assigned soldiers. Attendees were also given challenge coins by the church to commemorate the event and the decisions those soldiers made. \u201cWe wanted all of our soldiers here to know that they\u2019re a part of our family, and that they can always count on First Baptist Lawton to pray for them, and support them and to have their family\u2019s back,\u201d said Keahbone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Keahbone gives credit to God for the incredible outcome. \u201cThat moment would not have been an option had we not done this extra week. It was just amazing,\u201d he told CBN. \u201cIt shows the faithfulness of God \u2026 to be able to trust Him when he\u2019s leading us. Anybody can say, \u2018Well, God told me this,\u2019 or \u2018God told me that.\u2019 \u2026 And, really, the evidence is \u2026 what happens after that?\u201d More important than the impact on the church, Keahbone noted the impact on those who gave their lives to Christ. \u201cTheir eternity was changed forever. And \u2026 not only their eternal destination, but the impact of these young families. These are young, basic trainees, and most of them haven\u2019t even started a family yet, but they\u2019re gonna be able to start their family off on the right foundation, in the right way, with the Lord as that anchor piece in their heart,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An Oklahoma church is bearing the fruits of obedience after it decided to do two weekends of its Christmas program instead of one. First Baptist Church of Lawton\u2019s worship pastor, Xavier Abraham, approached Senior Pastor Mike Keahbone with the idea of adding another weekend. It was a request that seemed impossible. \u201c[Abraham] approached us with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":8730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n116 Soldiers Give Their Lives to Christ at Oklahoma Church Christmas Event<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An Oklahoma church is bearing the fruits of obedience after it decided to do two weekends of its Christmas program instead of one.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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