Rebekah Blad is the Minister of Evangelism at First Methodist Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This historic church was founded in 1886 by “rowdy” cowboys experiencing revival. Now they are seeking a fresh move of God. Rebekah discusses her doctoral research on evangelism in Uruguay, known as Latin America’s most secular city, where she learned respectful, non-coercive approaches to sharing faith that emphasize autonomy and trusting the Holy Spirit’s work.
Learn more about First Methodist in Tulsa, OK: https://tulsafmc.org/
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest with me, Ms. Rebekah Blad. Thank you for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
Rebekah Blad (00:12):
Thanks for having me. Honored to be here.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:13):
All right. So we are in one of the historic downtown churches here in Tulsa, Oklahoma. First Methodist Church. And Ms. Rebecca is the evangelism director here. Is that the title?
Rebekah Blad (00:29):
Minister of Evangelism.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:30):
Minister of Evangelism. And so this church is very historic. Tell us some about how this church was planted and kind of the roots of what God is doing here.
Rebekah Blad (00:42):
Okay. So we’re standing right in front of the picture here of when this church was planted. In 1886, it began as a meeting of cowboys. I wasn’t there in 1886, but my understanding is that cowboys that were too rowdy got kicked out, had to start their own meeting, eventually put a building around it. And here we are 150
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:03):
Years later. And so the rowdy cowboys were experiencing revival. And so they were kicked out of some other service or meeting and they started this Methodist church. And then over the years, I looked on one of these signs, it says at one point, 500 people got saved and it was a huge revival. And then they started to build the church. And now the church is such a beautiful old stone building, but the stones are living stones because you still have a great heart for evangelism. Tell me some about what you’re doing here at the church in the area of evangelism.
Rebekah Blad (01:44):
So this church is a praying church. It used to have a real reputation for healing. And so that’s really where the heartbeat of this church that kind of overflows into evangelism. And I think the roots of that healing are still here. I’m trying to think of how to say this, but as in everything, there’s a life cycle. So there are times where you’re really on fire and times when you kind of get tired and times where… Anyway, so we are in a season of what I think is a work of courage in this congregation that has a long history and we’re looking towards the future and say, we have a good future. The Lord, I think of the scripture where Caleb is 80 years old and he says, Lord, give me this mountain. If you are still who I think you are, give me this mountain.
(02:31):
And so we have a lot of grandparents who have been praying for generations for revival and we’re starting to see it. So specifically what that looks like in evangelism is for the past year and a half, definitely, possibly before that, but I’ve witnessed it for a year and a half, is a huge focus on testimony. Wherever you are, you are an evangelist. I have the title, but my role here is to train every single person, old, young, in between to understand themselves as an evangelist. Now you might not have to have a title, that’s not required. You have the Holy Spirit, you have Jesus living within you. So whether you’re at the grocery store, QuikTrip, whatever, just get really comfortable with sharing your faith. So when I interviewed for this position and I’m thinking about it and I’m praying about it, I felt the Lord say, and it wasn’t an audible voice, but I just had this lingering sense that he was saying there is a work of courage that I want to do in this congregation.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (03:27):
And so you’re talking about the power of sharing your testimony. Can you share a little bit about your testimony? You grew up here in the Methodist church. And so what has God done in your life? And then how are you testifying about that to others?
Rebekah Blad (03:44):
Oh, that’s such a good question. Well, I met, I guess, I can’t remember a time I haven’t known Jesus. So I was about to launch in, but I was born, I’m a fourth generation pastor. So I was born into a family of faith, really claimed Christ as my own at 12 at a holiness camp meeting where I sat in the very back row because this was for other people and it turns out it was for me. And so I walked all the way down to the front, gave my heart to Jesus and said, “You can have all of me, not just the little bit, not just the family part, but all of me.” And then tried to live that out.
(04:18):
I got married really, really young and that did not go so well. So by the time I’m no longer married and somewhere around my early 30s, late 20s, I really felt this sense of, I knew God loved me, but I though his activity was mostly for other people. I was pretty dejected. When maybe like many people in Tulsa, we have these expectations of God and then we have our actual lives. And when these don’t match up, sometimes it’s easy to throw the baby out with the bath water and just say, “Well, you lied to me. What is this?” I never lost my faith, but I really was really shrunken down.
(04:59):
Still loved the Lord, absolutely believed in his power for other people, was still saved, just tired, discouraged, going through a long divorce. And a church member, Tracy Hall, started talking to me about this thing called fire camp. And at first I though, fire what? What is this? But as the conversation went on, I had a real prompting that I couldn’t shake of, you need to do this. So I signed up, tried everything to get out of it because even as I had the prompting of you need to do this, I also had the weariness and sort of the, oh my, I don’t know if I can. So I went to urgent care to try and get a diagnosis that would get me out of fire camp. They point by point did strep. No ma’am, you don’t have strep. Did COVID. You don’t have COVID. Ma’am, you don’t have anything.
(05:48):
Whatever it is you’re trying to get out of, I can’t give you a reason. So I got on the plane, went to fire camp and I experienced deliverance from all kinds of emotional bondage and lies I believed. And that was February of this year. And so my new testimony, yes, I have a life of faithfulness with Jesus, but my new testimony is I get to walk in freedom and courage and this work of courage that I thought was for the congregation. I am now living. I thought it was for other people. Jesus is for other people. My goodness, he’s for me. And I get to talk about the man that I love. And that’s my testimony now.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:23):
So that’s the Christ for All Nations Evangelism Fire Camp. It’s the ministry founded by Reinhard Bonke, led by Daniel Colinda now. And this week the church here is hosting a fire camp and we just came out of a session where they’re interceding the students are crying out to God for Tulsa to be saved. And it really made my heart stirred up because I was born here in Tulsa. I grew up here in Tulsa. My parents became missionaries when I was 10 years old, but we always kind of came back to Tulsa. And then I graduated from college here and then kind of stuck around. And Tulsa’s such a great city and it’s had great moves of God in the past during the 70s and the 80s. I mean, God really moved here in Tulsa. I mean, you’ve got some great schools and great ministries here and it feels like we need another great move of God in our city because people need Jesus in Tulsa.
(07:23):
And so the students from the fire camp right now, they’re going to go out, they’re going to be preaching the gospel on the streets of Tulsa. And I think that just this afternoon, we’re going to see many people give their lives to Jesus here. It’s amazing.
Rebekah Blad (07:36):
It’s amazing. And I’ve had my own conversion of, I used to think that evangelism was almost disrespectful and the Lord set me free of that. And I think that he’s doing some of that in this old church as well. And fire camp’s a huge part of that. So I would never have dreamed of street preaching even as a Christian. I would’ve said, “Oh no, that’s so…” Fill in your excuse there. And now I’m down there with these people, going to join them preaching. I mean, just so excited, so full of faith. And the Lord can do that work and all of us take our old definitions and say, “You know what? What if we look at this through a new lens? What if I actually am good news? What if all these…” I could go on and on and on, but there’s so much joy and expectation and such a good future for the city.
(08:19):
I feel like we’re just on the edge
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:20):
Of
Rebekah Blad (08:20):
Reviving.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:21):
And I so love the heritage of the Methodist church because you have John Wesley in England and he went from town to down preaching outdoors and just saw such a great move of God that really changed the face of England. And then here in the United States, you’ve got the great history of Francis Asbury, who was a circuit rider, who would travel from town to town across America, planting Methodist churches and preaching the gospel. And so it’s such a great heritage of evangelism, of preaching the gospel. And it’s so beautiful to see that First Methodist church here in Tulsa is continuing that Wesleyan tradition.
Rebekah Blad (09:07):
True
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:07):
To
Rebekah Blad (09:07):
Our roots.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:08):
Amen. Yeah. So you and I actually met over at Or Roberts University. You are a doctoral candidate over there and you helped to edit some of the different books that ORU is putting out with Dr. Ma. That’s
Rebekah Blad (09:26):
Right.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:27):
And you were editing. And so I think, did you edit some of the chapters that I wrote for
Rebekah Blad (09:32):
Some of the – When I met you in person, I though, Daniel King, how do I know that? Oh, from grammar, from your footnotes, from chapters that you’ve written. So we met first through that.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:40):
That’s awesome. And so you’re working on your doctoral project, which kind of has an evangelism component too. Tell me a little bit about that because it’s kind of a totally different context than Tulsa.
Rebekah Blad (09:49):
It is. Yeah. So it’s still evangelism, but it’s probably opposite. If Tulsa’s the buckle of the Bible belt, my research is focused on the country of Uruguay, specifically the capital city of Montevideo, Uruguay, which is the most secular city in the most secular country in Latin America. And so in fact, the secularism, if you know anything about France, Uruguayan secularism is modeled off of French secularism, which is a radical separation of church and state. And so this has all kinds of implications for what it means to be a Christian. What does that look like? It’s kind of socially shameful. I think actually this is probably where I got some of the idea that it’s disrespectful to share your faith because I was a missionary in Uruguay when I was 19 and 20. And so that was my start in ministry. And I learned so much.
(10:41):
I’m not saying that that’s a wrong perspective, but it’s definitely a very Uruguayan perspective. And so the idea is that you would never trespass into someone’s mental real estate and try to change their mind. How dare you? And so it’s one of the places that –
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:56):
Which is the opposite of the great commission. Jesus said to go and preach the gospel to every person and to…
Rebekah Blad (11:02):
Although Uruguayans have something to teach the global church, which is you cannot coerce. So you’re right, go and preach the gospel, but don’t coerce and don’t guilt. I think there’s a narrow road in there somewhere, but I had gone all or nothing. Preach the gospel or don’t preach the gospel. The Uruguayan church, and it’s multifaceted, but the particular church that I’m studying preaches the gospel respectfully. There’s a huge… The emphasis is on autonomy. It’s you and the Lord. And so there’s this trust that sometimes I think the American church might be able to learn from is we have to really respect the process. This is something they say all the time. They say, trust the spirit.This is what the missionaries say. Trust that the Holy Spirit that worked in me can work in this person as I share, but I don’t coerce. I share, but the decision lies with you.
(11:57):
I’m not going to beat you over the head. I have to radically slow down because it might take a very long time for you to experience conversion and you might decide not to. I will faithfully witness, but I can’t change your mind about anything. And a Uruguayan will make that very clear to you in a way that an American Christian might not and humor you and you would not know what’s in their heart. A Uruguayan is pretty much going to say, in no uncertain terms, back off if you start into those coercion things. So it’s been kind of a journey for me as I’m researching to learn about, okay, so what does evangelism look like in different contexts and what are some opportunities and what are some challenges with that? Because it doesn’t mean that one setting is all one thing, unique challenges, unique opportunities, and I think unique lessons for the rest of the global church that we can share.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (12:48):
Yeah, absolutely. I think America is heading more and more in that secular direction. And maybe 50 years ago, people had a basic understanding of the Bible. They knew who David and Goliath was. They knew the basic gospel story, but more and more you go out witnessing in America and there’s some people who don’t really know anything about God. And so you’re starting from a very basic level and you have to show respect for people when you’re talking to them about Jesus and begin to share the gospel in a loving way, in a way that can really draw them towards Christ and be the example that can help them to know more about God.
Rebekah Blad (13:35):
I think you’re absolutely right. CFAN, we were talking about fire camp. This was a real perspective shift for me. I remember the moment when I was watching someone at fire camp, at my fire camp, preach, street preach, which is something I though was a real no-no, but he’s up there street preaching and there’s this man watching him and I can see the eagerness in this man’s eyes just waiting for my friend to give the invitation. He’s waiting almost with bated breath. I felt like the Lord said to me, “Why would you withhold the kindness of taking the conversation all the way there? Why would you withhold that kindness?” It was the shift of, “Oh, evangelism is an act of love. It’s not an act of coercion.” I had that accusation running through my mind. No, it’s an act of love and it comes from compassion and there’s no coercion in love.
(14:25):
And so anyway, just to your point, what an opportunity for the American church to offer the love.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:32):
Now, you told me that coming up this next Saturday, you’re going to do a block party.
Rebekah Blad (14:38):
That’s right.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:38):
So tell me a little bit about that. What do you have planned? And it’s with some of the students that are going through the fire camp here.
Rebekah Blad (14:45):
That’s right. So this is an annual tradition for First Methodist. It’s called Hullabaloo. You can look it up, tulsafmc.org/candy. We don’t ask anyone to try and spell Hullabaloo. That’s impossible. But what we do is trunk or treat in the parking lot, weather permitting. If it rains, we’ll do trunk or treat inside and the trunk will become a table. So it’s happening either way, but plan A is trunk or treat in the parking lot. We close Main Street in between 10th and 11th and line it with food trucks. Then across the street in the lawn area, we will have a bluegrass band. We’ll have live testimonies. We’ll have face painting. What else? Inflatables, a prayer tent, Bibles of course. I can’t even remember all. A clown, if you’re available. We’ll see. New things are popping up every day. Can I come? Can I do this? But this is, I just call it a block party for downtown Tulsa or anyone.
(15:43):
It’s free. You don’t have to pay. You don’t have to sign up. You just show up with whoever wants to come and there will be people to pray with you. There will be people to say, “Have you heard yet that Jesus loves you?” And again, we don’t coerce, but we do offer. I thought last year when we really made this shift from trunk or treat and sort of ministry by suggestion, we’ll be really nice and we hope that you know that that means that Jesus loves you. We got real explicit with it last year and started doing street evangelism and miced testimonies and things like that. And that was out of a conviction.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:15):
I think that’s a real great paradigm shift because a lot of churches do trunk or treat and they’re just being nice Christians. But then you go to some trunks and there’s witches and gumlins and stuff like that. And sometimes I’m like, and my kids love the candy, of course, but I’m like, where is God in what you’re doing? And so I think we have to be ready to explicitly share the gospel. I
Rebekah Blad (16:44):
Think you’re
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:45):
Right. And make sure that people at least have the opportunity to say yes or no to Jesus.
Rebekah Blad (16:52):
Right. Well, and one thing I learned from the Uruguayans is it is okay to talk about Jesus at a church. For goodness sake, they know they’re at a church. Don’t do it in a living room. There are others. But last year I just kept hearing that line from the scripture, “What do you have? What do you have?” We have Jesus. And to invite people to a church and not share Jesus, why would we withhold that kindness? So now we’re explicit. If anyone doesn’t want to hear it, we say, “Bless you.” But we are going to offer. They know they’re coming to a church and to come to a church and not find hope, I think is a tragedy. Amen.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:31):
Anyway. Well, as a native Tulsan, I’m so thankful that you’re doing something in downtown Tulsa. What a great thing and I’m praying that God gives you a great harvest. Thank
Rebekah Blad (17:40):
You.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (17:41):
Ms. Rebecca, thank you so much for being on the Evangelism Podcast.
Rebekah Blad (17:44):
Absolutely. Thanks for having me.
