Saturday, January 7, 2017

A Christian Hero, Sis. Dorothy Ritchie

Hey my dear friends, this is Odie. The first few days of January have been eventful. It has also been very, very cold. It is definitely time to go south!

We were in a fabulous church service last Saturday night at The First Church of God in Christ in Wichita when 2017 began. God blessed me greatly that night and it was a tremendous boost to my faith for the year ahead. We are just 7 days into the year and already we have been in several awesome services.

Tuesday-Friday this week found us in Amber, Oklahoma. We had a fantastic time with Pastor Russell Cheek and his family and the church. I enjoyed getting to know everyone at Amber Mission Holiness. This revival was a last minute addition to the schedule but, as Dad says, "we stumbled into the will of God". The Lord made that fact very plain to us the very first service. His presence was so sweet and near every night.

This week we have had several dear friends visit the revival in Amber. One of the dear friends that came is Sis. Dorothy Ritchie. I am privileged to have her as my friend! It is always a blessing to be in church with her. Sis. Dorothy sends me an occasional encouraging text and brightens my day. God knows how to bring wonderful people into my life. 

 

Tuesday night there was a nine year old girl that received the Holy Ghost. It was beautiful! Sis. Ritchie testified of getting saved and Holy Ghost filled at 10 years old. 70 plus years later she is still going strong for God! Sis. Dorothy worked along side her Dad in ministry for several years as I do. Then she worked with her husband for decades until he went to heaven. 

They had an evangelism and singing ministry for a long time. Their travels even took them to our home area, in Ohio, when my parents were young. They had a big influence on my Dad. I grew up hearing about the Ritchie's, but never getting to know them. 

Bro. Lendell Birdsong introduced us to Sis. Ritchie one time when we were at Blanchard and my Dad was so thrilled because he remembered her so fondly. I am so glad that Bro. Birdsong made that introduction. Over the last few years Sis Ritchie has became a dear friend to our family and ministry. She has become my dear friend as well.

City Reach in Oklahoma City was a reality and ran without a hiccup because of her! She worked many hours to make that meeting a success. Her hard worked payed off. She was a tremendous blessing to us! You could tell that she had been down that road many times and knew exactly what to do.

Sis. Ritchie is a woman of God I admire. I love you Sis. Dorothy! Thank you for your Godly example. It is an honor to call you my friend. 

Thank you for reading today. I pray you have a God Blessed weekend. 

Odie

Friday, January 6, 2017

Revival In Pictures - Amber, Oklahoma

We are having a wonderful revival this week at Amber Mission Holiness Church. We have been blessed with lots of visitor and the presence of God has been here to help each and every night. We have one more night and we are anxious to see what God is going to do in the service. I have a sneaking suspicion that it is going to be good.

One of our regular features for years has been our Revival In Pictures posts. These posts are always some of our most visited posts. We regularly hear from readers who look closely at the pictures from revivals and often see people they have not seen for years. It is amazing how folks we know all over the country are interconnected way back and they love to see pictures of their families.

Other readers view the pictures so they can finally put faces with the names they have heard through the years. They have heard of Pastor so and so but never met him. Or they have seen Pastor so and so but finally get to see his wife and children and the church he Pastors though our pictures.

We also have folks tell us they like to see the pictures of the church facilities, inside and out. They like to see the way the kitchen is laid out or how the instruments are arranged on the platform. Others want to see the actual musical instruments themselves. That is why you will occasionally see a closeup of a bass guitar or an electric guitar.

Now that we are back in the routine of revivals every week, we are back with Revival In Pictures. We sure hope you enjoy the Amber Mission Revival In Pictures.

Thanks for reading.






















































































































Pastor Russell and Sis. Tonya Cheek




Meet the Cheek family. Bro. Russell




Sis. Tonya




Savannah 20




Ben 17


Caleb 15


Brooklynne 13





Zion 10

Charity 8



Israel 5


Cherish 3


Josiah 9 months