After many years of faithful waiting and work, the people of the Good Springs United Methodist Church have a brand new church building. The church, located near Talihina in Southeast Oklahoma, dedicated their building on November 10, 2019.
Oklahoma Bishop Jimmy Nunn, Conference Superintendent the Rev. David Wilson and District Superintendents the Rev. July Tecumseh and the Rev. Margaret Johnson were on hand to celebrate the completion of the new structure.
“I’m so proud of the people who have worked here at this church and just thrilled with what God is doing in our midst,” said Nunn.
Lay Missioner Margie Jones has led the church faithfully for over 20 years and was ecstatic about the new building.
“I look at the church and wonder what our elders would think,” she said. The construction began last July with a Volunteers In Mission team from Wayne United Methodist Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania. The team consisted of mostly high school students and their experienced construction leaders who built the church from the ground up. When the team left, the church was dried in and church members and friends completed the work.
The church had great support from friends in the community who provided free labor as electricians and plumbers and sheet rock installers, saving the church thousands of dollars, Wilson said.
“It was great to see the energy that this new building created in church members and those outside of the church who wanted to help.”
Funding for the building came from the local church, Choctaw Nation, and grants from the Shoemake Trust out of the Oklahoma Methodist Foundation and the denomination’s Native American Ministries Sunday Fund.
The church includes indoor plumbing which is a first for this small church.
