connectionIndependent Assemblies

uniting ministries worldwide

May/June 2009 | Volume 1 Issue 1

lindsey’s songOutreach

her Defiant faith

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North Central Texas Fellowship Meeting Monday, June 15, 2009 Victory Temple Church2101 Acosta St Grand Prairie, TX 75051Rev. Leland Hall (972) 642-9008

JulyNational Conference July 13, 14, 15, 2009Bricktown Hotel2001 E. RenoOklahoma City, OK 73117(405) 235-1647

AugustInterstate Fellowship Meeting Monday, August 10, 2009 Faith Community ChurchWhitefield, OKRev. Bill Fitzer(918) 967-2554

North Central Texas Fellowship Meeting Monday, August 17, 2009 New Life Ministries101 S. Main StreetRed Oak, TX Rev. Mark Lowery(972) 617-1135

For more monthly meeting/event details, please visit our website atwww.independentassemblies.org.

calendar

www.independentassemblies.org

MayTwo Man Golf Scramble is set for May 7 & 8 at Purcell, OK Municipal Golf Course. To register, contact Ken Anderson at kda@valornet.com

Interstate Fellowship Meeting Monday, May 11, 2009 Calvary TempleEdmond, OKRev. Dale Drain(405) 348-2334

North Central Texas Fellowship Meeting Monday, May 18, 2009 Malachi Ministries 507 North I-35EWaxahachie, TXRev. Diana & Phillip Downs(972) 923-9203

JuneSE Texas Regional Minister’s Meeting Friday, June 5, 2009 6:30 PM Trinity Assembly1008 E. Lobit Ave.Baytown, TXRev. Herb Hawthorne(281) 723-2278

Interstate Fellowship Meeting Monday, June 8, 2009 First Grace ChurchGlenpool, OKRev. Ronnie Spoon(918) 744-4717

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connectionMay/June 2009

Contents

From the President

This month marks the end of an era and the beginning of a new one!

Pastor Ken Anderson, the Independent Assemblies Secretary-Treasurer, has produced the monthly newsletter for the last 13 years. Those of us who read the newsletter know what a great job he has done in keeping us informed and inspired, as well as tickling the funny bone with jokes each month! While he remains actively involved in the fellowship, he will be stepping down as the newsletter editor/producer. Thanks Pastor Kenny, for your efforts over the years!

We hope you enjoy the new look and content of this month’s “IA Connection”. This magazine will be coming to your home and church bi-monthly, and will also be accessible in digital format on our web site. Our desire is to produce an `official voice of the fellowship’ which reflects excellence in ministry, and brings honor to the work of the Lord.

Your input is greatly appreciated. Feel free to send meeting changes, articles, and updates to me at mickey.keith@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1546, Ada, OK. 74821.

Faithfully,

Calendar

Lindsey's Song

National Conference 2009

Member Focus

Rescue Missions Outreach

Board Member: Ken Anderson

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Produced by Layers Media, Inc.www.layersmedia.com

Independent AssembliesPO Box 1546

Ada, OK 74821(580) 310-0222

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Wendy and Ronnie Spoon are the proud parents of a young girl who models the kind of faith

that many of us hope to realize in our own lives. Lindsey Spoon is nine years old and has cerebral palsy, but her defiance, hope and courage have lifted her above those limitations.

A little girl whom doctors doomed to mental retardation recently wrote a wor-ship song complete with verse, chorus and melody. Lindsey told her mother she wanted to go to her room and be alone because she wanted to write a song. “It’s kind of funny because she’s always written little songs but this was different,” said her mother, Wendy Spoon. “Everything flowed and went together and rhymed and before her songs were what you would expect from a nine year old.”

Ronnie and Wendy Spoon pastor First Grace Church of Glenpool, Oklahoma where Ronnie had recently encouraged his congregation to write songs for their worship services. Lindsey’s song entitled, “You Are” expresses the devotion of a

saint’s heart toward God who encompasses everything believers need.

The Spoon family has come to expect the miraculous. Born almost four months premature, Lindsey and Wendy both should have died because of complications in labor, but right from the start Lindsey was a fighter. Doctors put her on a ventila-tor but she fought to breathe on her own so much that she was hurting herself. Five days later, much sooner than expected, they took her off the machine. Wendy and Ron-nie brought their newborn baby home four weeks earlier than doctors expected. “It’s still a surprise to everyone,” said Wendy.

At eighteen months she was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. “They told us she would be unable to walk, that she would have mental retardation and she would never be the kind of child who would go to school,” Wendy remembered. “It was something you don’t expect for your child,” said Ron-nie. “Nobody on either side of the family has a handicap so it was a big shock. I just refused to accept it.”

“I never accepted the mental retarda-

Lindsey’sby: Mindy Wood

“I just pray that by His stripes we’re healed and by the Word of God that

begins to work in her life and in all aspects

that it continues to manifest in her life”

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tion or not walking. Even at that age Lindsey began to show us, ‘if you tell me I can’t do it, I’m going to try harder,’” said Wendy. Recognizing her determination as a gift from God they carefully responded to their daughter’s actions. “It was really hard because we didn’t want to say, ‘Lindsey you have a disability’ or ‘you can’t do that’ and we never said that to her. We would say, ‘You need to be careful’ or ‘Ask for help if you’re going to do that.’”

At four years old Lindsey started school. “One day she got up and said, ‘Mom I’m not going to let you take me in my wheelchair to school today.’ I said, ‘Okay, how do you plan on get-ting there?’ She said, ‘Well, I’m going to walk. That’s what my friends do and that’s what I’m going to do.’ We took her walker to school and it took her twenty minutes. She only got half way to her classroom but she did what she was going to do. Everybody was just shocked. I got her in her classroom and I managed to get to my car before I just lost it.”

Lindsey received an award for her determination. She recently took dance lessons, rides horses in a physical therapy program called Bit By Bit, and enjoys picking a guitar when she gets the chance. Her faith and determination have touched her parents. “The one thing I’ve learned,” said Wendy, “is not to limit what Lindsey can do and not to limit what God can do because they’ve both proved me wrong!”

“I just pray that by His stripes we’re healed and by the Word of God that be-gins to work in her life and in all as-pects that it continues to manifest in her life,” said Ronnie Spoon. “That’s what I pray, that the kingdom of God come to her life.”

Lindsey plans to write more songs and you can listen to “You Are” when you visit www.fgcglenpool.com

You are, You aremy everythingYou are, You aremy destinyYou are, You are my every reason in life You are, You aremy love song You mean everything to me(2 x’s then chorus) This is for You LordSo come on, come onThis is for You LordSo come on, come onCome on downRight here on earth(return to chorus)

Lindsey’s Song

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AnnuAlConferenCe

10thMinisters

independent Assemblies

Mike Hayes is the founding and Senior Pastor of Covenant Church in Carrollton, Texas. Mike committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ and the call of ministry at an early age. After completing college, he established a wide-spread evangelistic ministry that took him across the United States as well as several foreign countries.

In 1973, Mike married Kathy Parker, who at that time was part of a very popular music ministry with her family, “The Singing Parkers”. In 1976, after the birth of their first child, Mike and Kathy moved to the Dallas, Texas, area to establish Covenant Church. Beginning with only a vision, Covenant Church and Covenant Church’s Spanish-language congregation, Mundo de Fe, have grown to over 15,000 members across 12 locations in the North Texas area.Keynote Speaker - Mike hayes

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BricktownHotel

oklahoma city, ok

2009July13-15For more information visit www.independentassemblies.org or call (580) 527-6030

Randy Ethridge, accountant turned pastor, found himself among sheep without a shepherd when he answered the call to pastor a small church in Stroud Oklahoma. Despite a beginning so small they were meeting in a park, today their church stands on 18 acres where the famous May 3rd tornado swept away the popular strip mall. Since 2002, their work blossomed to reach unwed moth-ers, to men just out of prison and the youth cul-ture.

Maranatha Outreach Center is headed by Kay Ethridge and house mother, Terry Parker, whose efforts to sustain these women in careers or find homes for children go a long way to prevent abor-tions. “Every young lady is required to work and further their education. Our goal is independent liv-ing. I’ve seen them come in with a Wal-mart sack and leave driving away in their own car, with the education and skills to support their children.”

Local builder, Tom Wright partnered with the church to establish the Love Foundation, a home for men released from prison. Wright houses the men and teaches them a skill while shepherding their hearts.

Randy also talked about their passion for the next generation. “All my life I’ve seen programs built around adults but our programs are built around our youth. They don’t have the resources like adults do and if we can save the youth then we can avoid so many problems in life. They are teach-able, moldable and they have a passion for God.” Youth leaders, Dan and Ellen Murdoch know the cost of losing teens too well; he’s an OKC police of-ficer and she’s a detective. Randy says they make excellent youth pastors.

Randy manages People’s Electric Cooperative in Ada, Oklahoma in addition to pastoring Marana-tha Christian Center with his wife Kay. They have four children, Justin 33, Alison 25, Kyle 19 and Cameron 16.

Pastors Roger and Dawn Layne of Promise Church are acquainted with sorrow and grief. They had no idea the tragedy they would face would play a crucial role in their ministry. Within hours of mak-ing the commitment to start their church, their two daughters were travelling on their way home from a Billy Graham youth service in Oklahoma City when a semi-truck hit their car, causing them to careen into oncoming traffic and hit a van. Their oldest daughter Alicia died.

Out of that experience, their passion deepened for hurting people. Dawn says that their ministry is vast but simple. “Promise Church has been a place of hope and refuge for those who need a place to heal and mend. We want to be effective to those who are broken and distraught, those who have faced tragedy and don’t know how to go on.”

Roger’s passion is to see people heal, rebuild their lives and realize their God given potential. “I want to see people become passionate about the work of the Kingdom. As a Pastor, if I can live out my dreams through someone else then I feel I am loving my neighbor as myself. If they will take that same passion and give it to someone else then the Church will become as strong as the gates of a castle.”

The Laynes started a missions scholarship fund in Alicia’s honor, who longed for mission work. They have sent kids to Mexico, ventured to Cambodia and Vietnam and support Kent and Candy Christ-mas’ Bridge Ministry of Nashville, Tennessee.

Roger and Dawn are expanding their work to local teenagers and nursing homes. The Laynes are ordained through the IA and Roger will gradu-ate in May from Covenant Treasure School of Min-istry. Their three children Laura Tyler 21 and son in law Kenny, Michaela 15, and Ethan 10 actively work with their parents in ministry. Alicia would be 25 this year.

Roger and Dawn Layne

MinistersRandy and Kay Ethridge

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MeMberFocus

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Mike Anderson has a passion to see ministry leaders trained and equipped all over the world and

he admits that he comes by it honestly. Mike spent most of his childhood on the mission field with his parents, Charles and Lorell Anderson, where the deep im-pression of mission work would shape the rest of his life.

“In the United States it is estimated that we have 1 trained leader for every 300 people, that’s not church people but the population,” said Anderson. “In other countries there’s an estimated 1 trained leader for 50,000 people. That number is actually skewed because if you go into India, there’s 1 trained leader for every 200,000 people.” That need was always apparent to Mike and his parents.

India is especially close to his heart since he was born in Bombay where his parents worked as resident missionaries in the fifties and sixties. The Andersons returned to Tyler, Texas in the seventies where they started a church. Though they

spent twenty years there as pastors, they did not forget India. They started Rescue Missions Outreach to raise funds to estab-lish pastors, bible colleges, and orphan-ages.

Although Mike knew at sixteen God placed the same call on his life he was hesitant to answer it. Ten years later, the Lord reminded him. “I was interested in going into the ministry but I thought I’d done my time in missions. The Lord dealt strongly with me. I told him I would go and I thought I would be gone a few months but I ended up in Ghana for five years.”

Anderson hasn’t looked back since. It was there he met his wife, Pam in 1981 and by 1982 they were married and start-ing a bible school. The trouble ahead in Ghana tested them but they didn’t give up. “The U.S. declared Ghana the num-ber one hardship country in the world. Our pickup once sat in the gas line fifteen days to get gas. The electricity was on every other day and we went through a

Outreach by: Mindy Wood

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serious dirty and bloody military coop. There were a lot of people who pulled out and told us we needed to leave but to us it was never an option. The Lord took care of us and in the midst of those dif-ficulties we ended up seeing 27 churches established.”

Determination and patience were virtues he learned from his parents. “They had this incredible refusal to quit regardless of how tough things would get. They just held on and had this de-termination and strong belief that God would somehow work it out, no matter how bad it was. I observed that growing up and I didn’t realize how much it af-fected me.”

Although his father died of a heart attack in 1986, his mother went back to India. Several years later, Lorell mar-ried Albert Wick-ware who gladly joined her on the mission field. Amazingly, she continued to travel every year to India until she was 85. Not even a double knee replacement sur-gery or doctors orders could stop Lorell from her work. She would minister for 65 years before finally retiring in 2006.

Today Mike and Pam carry on the work in India, have extended their work to the Caribbean, and oversee three bi-ble colleges in three different countries. They both travel all over the world. They have two grown children, Toby and Jeana, who both plan to be in full time ministry.

Both Mike and Pam are graduates of SAGU in Waxahachie, Texas and taught at CFNI in Dallas, Texas. Rescue Mis-sions Outreach is based in Tyler, Texas where they focus on leadership training in several countries.

Pastor Ken and Patsy Anderson have served as founding pastors of Liberty Gospel Tabernacle, Lexington, OK. since 1978. They have two children, Kenny and Sonya, and six grandchildren ranging in age from 4 to 25.

Ken andersonMeet the Board:

I was born in 1943 in Carnegie, Oklahoma, the home town of at least three generations of my family. Researching both sides of my family history has left me a very interesting and proud heritage.

I was saved at the age of 9 in a Free Will Baptist Church in Sulphur, OK. During high school, I attended Southwestern Bible College in Bethany Oklahoma. There I studied the Bible under Dr. R.O. Corvin and Dr. W. R. Corvin. In my senior year, I answered the call to the preach. My ministry began with jail services and street ministry in downtown Oklahoma City.

Shortly after graduation in 1961, I began to work for a weekly newspaper in Oklahoma City where I was trained in the printing and advertising field, and have been involved in printing and publishing in various forms since then. In 1962, I met Patsy Wade, who became my lovely wife and lifelong companion in October, 1963. After working as a draftsman for a major oil company, I established my own advertising company in Purcell, OK.,

After five years of prison ministry, I was hired in 1973 as a chaplain in the Lexington prison. We remained active in prison ministry until recently.

I enjoy playing both guitar and pedal steel guitar, and have written 15 country gospel songs. My hobbies include golf, fishing, and collectibles.

I have been a minister with Independent Assemblies since it’s inception in 1967. The five founding leaders of our fellowship have been my mentors. Since 1995, I have served on the board of directors, and became secretary/treasurer in 1997.

It has been my privilege to produce our monthly newsletter for the past 13 years. I would like to say “thank you” for the articles, anecdotes, and bits of humor that you have sent through the years. I will continue to serve this fellowship in any way possible.

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Southeast Oklahoma DistrictRev. Billy HunterAntlers, OK(580) 298-2740

Southwest Oklahoma DistrictRev. Donnie Miller Cyril, OK(580) 464-2224(580) 512-3657

northeast Oklahoma DistrictRev. Mac Blackwell Locust Grove, OK(918) 479-6057

north central texas DistrictRev. Daniel Sue Kemp, TX(903) 498-4704

Southeast texas DistrictRev. Herb HawthorneBaytown, TX(281) 723-2278

South central texas DistrictRev. Jerry EdmonElgin, TX(512) 281-5316

Midwest regional DistrictRev. Mark MaynardGranite City, IL(618) 931-4106

arkansas DistrictRev. Charles KendrickAlexander, AR(501) 303-0831

regional representatives

Mickey Keith PresidentPO Box 1546 Ada, OK 74821 (580) 310-0222mickey.keith@gmail.comwww.life623.com

Ken anderson Secretary/TreasurerPO Box 1120 Lexington, OK 73051(405) 527-6030 Fax: (405) 527-1074kda@valornet.com

robert JohnsonDirector of World MissionsPO Box 978 Blackwell, OK 74631 (580) 363-2734roj@clarionmissions.orgwww.clarionmissions.org

Jerry edmonBoard MemberPO Box 862 Elgin, TX 78621 (512) 281-5316Jedmon1234@aol.comwww.fwcelgin.com

Dr. ted estes Vice PresidentPO Box 2248 Claremore, OK 74018 pastorted@lifechangerchurch.comwww.lifechangerchurch.com

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