RURAL CHURCH TURNAROUND
T
ahlequah, Oklahoma is a thriving county seat town of nearly 20,000 people. It is the home of the main campus of Northeastern State University where about 10,000 students are enrolled in one of its three regional campuses. Tahlequah is also the capital of the Cherokee Nation, an American Indian tribe, that boasts more than 500,000 citizens nationwide with a tribal complex that employs about 11,000 people in its 14 county region with an annual budget of $600 million. Tahlequah is also home to its elected Chief of Police, Nate King, who has served in that position since 2013. But travel Highway 62 east to South Welling Road and follow it up the mountain and 14 miles from that thriving county seat town you will find the remnants of Welling, Oklahoma. Not too many years ago Welling boasted a general store, post office, a few other businesses, a rural school and a General Baptist Church. A few of the old store fronts remain. The Post Office has been relocated to a small building on down the road. The old school building sits up the hill but classes have not been held there since school consolidation in the late 1960s.
Nevertheless the Welling General Baptist Church, organized in 1911 remains and has recently shown signs of new life. In 1914, men, women and children of the church began construction of what continues to be Welling General Baptist Church. An active part of Cherokee Home Association, the Welling Church even hosted the General Association of General Baptists in 1933. While the coal burning stove is no longer in the sanctuary, the native rock façade is still present on the original building and evidence of growth is apparent in the different expansions over the decades. Seventeen Pastors have served over the 105 years of the church’s existence. Tahlequah is also home to Nate King who was first elected Chief of Police in 2013. As an active member of the Blue Springs General Baptist Church, he served in a variety of leadership roles there in partnership with Pastor Robert Hunt. Then he felt a call into ministry in 2015 and began preaching to the youth at Blue Springs along with associational gatherings. Nate had grown up within the Cherokee Home Association and was no stranger to the members of its churches. His late father, John King Jr., had served as a pastor within the association for thirteen years. His mother, Geneva King, was and is still active as a Sunday School Teacher and now the Sunday School Superintendent at Blue Springs General Baptist Church. Late maternal grandparents Frank and Rose Dumond were constants at Blue Springs General Baptist Church and within the association along with Great Uncle and
General Baptist Messenger Fall 2019 | 11
