Church to host Easter Egg Hunt for 3rd consecutive year

The Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat, Oklahoma announced today that the community Easter Egg Hunt will be Saturday, 26 March 2016 at 10:00 a.m.  That’s correct; the church is sponsoring the Easter Egg Hunt.

Not sure if that is a dichotomy, an oxymoron, or a paradox?  Don’t decide until you hear a little bit of the story. 

Three years ago the Cumberland Presbyterian Church stepped in at the last minute and with the help of several donors, put on an Easter Egg Hunt.  It was not going to happen otherwise.

Then, the real story began. The church session voted to adopt the Easter Egg Hunt as a ministry.

Hold your holy horses!

Hunting Easter Eggs is not about the real Easter story. Why is a church adopting this pagan pageant for kids?  Why indeed?

Does this church not know that the world is invading Christianity? How could they do this?

Actually, the world is not invading Christianity. Christianity is invading a pagan world. The truth that Christians carry is being marched in to community after community around the world. That invasion has been underway for 2000 years.

It is not carried out with tank divisions and air strikes but with messages of how much God loves you.  Strategy and tactics still play a role.

Sometimes people don’t answer their doors when they see the Christians coming with their good news, but they will bring their children to the community Easter Egg Hunt just like they bring them to Trunk or Treat on Halloween.

Church members give out plenty of candy at both events. Parents need not worry. Their children will still receive enough candy to give them stomach aches all night long and keep the dental profession in business for decades to come.

But the kids and adults will receive more than candy eggs or hollow chocolate bunnies. They will receive gospels, Bibles, Bible story books, God Loves You books, and more.  It will still be a blast for the kids, but in the midst of all the egg hunting, the message of Easter will be given to all.

Back to 2016:  Be at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church by 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, 26 March 2015.  The hunt is for children up to age 12.

Donations by organizations, businesses, and individuals may be delivered to the church any time during March or mailed to Cumberland Presbyterian Church, Box 8, Burns Flat OK 73624.  Helpers will be needed to place the eggs at 9:00 a.m. that Saturday morning and to help give out prizes during the hunt.

Vintage Coffee is the place to be on Saturday 12 March 2016, if you like books that is!

Western Oklahoma author Tom Spence, will be selling and signing his books at Vintage Coffee in  Oklahoma City on Saturday, 12 March 2016 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.  Vintage Coffee is located at 1101 NW 49th St, Oklahoma City, OK 73118. 

Tom will have a variety of books published by Tate Publishing.  Two of the most hard-hitting books, especially for those in western Oklahoma,  are Throw Away Kids and PoMo Poverty.  In these companion selections, Tom goes beyond identifying society’s problems; he brings us to solutions that don’t wait on the government to fix or ignore the problems.

Tom is an ordained minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the pastor of the congregation in Burns Flat, Oklahoma. 

As a pastor, he recently returned from his second trip to Africa to train pastors and church leaders in Kenya and Uganda.  He has served as moderator of the Red River Presbytery but perhaps is best known as the guy who gives out wristbands that read:  GOD LOVES YOU – LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

He is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer that served in all four Marine Divisions, including a tour training reservists.  He has served in Iraq and Kuwait, Japan, aboard Marine bases on the east and west coasts of the United States, and has a substantial amount of service afloat.  His final tour was as a program manager in charge of maintenance and modifications of Marine Corps ground training systems and simulators around the globe.

Tom served as both student and instructor at the Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia—the Crossroads of the Corps, and proudly boasts that he successfully avoided a tour in the Pentagon for his entire career.  Tom wrote two books specifically about the Marine Corps.  The first was a first person collection of observations and anecdotes titled Sea Stories.  The other was Christianity for Marines.

Please join Tom on Saturday 12 March 2016, buy a few books, get a cup of coffee, and enjoy the afternoon.

Book Signing by Tom Spence

Vintage Coffee

1101 NW 49th St, Oklahoma City, OK 73118

1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

District House to host Western Oklahoma Author Tom Spence

Western Oklahoma author Tom Spence, will be selling and signing his books at District House in  Oklahoma City on Saturday, 2 April 2016 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.  The District House is located at 1755 NW 16th St Oklahoma City.  Parking is sometimes interesting on the main street but there is plenty of parking just a block off the district in the residential areas.

Tom will have a variety of books published by Tate Publishing.  Two of the most hard-hitting books, especially for those in western Oklahoma,  are Throw Away Kids and PoMo Poverty.  In these companion selections, Tom goes beyond identifying society’s problems; he brings us to solutions that don’t wait on the government to fix or ignore the problems.

Tom is an ordained minister in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the pastor of the congregation in Burns Flat, Oklahoma. 

As a pastor, he recently returned from his second trip to Africa to train pastors and church leaders in Kenya and Uganda.  He has served as moderator of the Red River Presbytery but perhaps is best known as the guy who gives out wristbands that read:  GOD LOVES YOU – LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

He is a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer that served in all four Marine Divisions, including a tour training reservists.  He has served in Iraq and Kuwait, Japan, aboard Marine bases on the east and west coasts of the United States, and has a substantial amount of service afloat.  His final tour was as a program manager in charge of maintenance and modifications of Marine Corps ground training systems and simulators around the globe.

Tom served as both student and instructor at the Marine Corps Base, Quantico, Virginia—the Crossroads of the Corps, and proudly boasts that he successfully avoided a tour in the Pentagon for his entire career.  Tom wrote two books specifically about the Marine Corps.  The first was a first person collection of observations and anecdotes titled Sea Stories.  The other was Christianity for Marines.

Please join Tom on Saturday 2 April 2016, buy a few books, and get a cup of coffee  or a sandwich at the District House in this wonderful area just made for people who like to enjoy a Saturday afternoon.

Book Signing by Tom Spence

District House

 1755 NW 16th St Oklahoma City

1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Get directions...

OKC Book Signing set for 20 February 2016

Retired Marine Corps officer, pastor, and western Oklahoma’s most prolific author Tom Spence will be at the Full Circle Bookstore on Saturday, 20 February 2016 for a book signing from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m.  Tom will have several of his titles, but the featured book will be Throw Away Kids:  Are we concerned enough to get involved?

Watch trailer

Tom will also feature his novel set with an end times background, Even the Elect as well as a good down home baseball story for the children—Tough Day at the Plate. 

Even the Elect trailer

The Full Circle Bookstore is Oklahoma City’s largest independent book store and is located in 50 Penn Place, 1900 NW Expressway, Oklahoma City, OK 73118.

Tom’s books may be viewed at this author page at Tate Publishing or for a larger selection, view his author page at Amazon.com.

Tom Spence

Curriculum vitae

Tom Spence is a retired United States Marine Corps officer.  He served in command and staff positions in all 4 Marine Divisions, at Marine Corps Schools in Quantico Virginia as both student and instructor, as a series commander at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, and as a program manager for Marine Corps training systems and simulators around the world.   Tom also served one tour training Marine Reservists in Des Moines, Iowa.

His service took him to Marine Bases on the East Coast, West Coast, Japan, the Philippines, and Korea.  He has served in Iraq and Kuwait, and has nearly a year serving aboard U.S. Naval vessels in areas north of the Arctic Circle, in Europe, the Mediterranean, North Africa, Central America, and the Pacific.

Tom is a graduate of Mangum High School and Oklahoma State University.  He continued his education while in the Marine Corps and during retirement with American College, Minneapolis, Minnesota; American University, Covina California; Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa; and Memphis Theological Seminary.

In 2008 he was called to ministry and was ordained in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in 2010.  He continues to serve as pastor of the Burns Flat Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  He recently returned from his second trip to Africa to train pastors and church leaders in Kenya and Uganda.

Tom also serves as an officer and chair on the Board of the Western Oklahoma Family Care Center.

Tom has published over 20 books including Throw Away Kids—a call for Christian parents to lead those who have abandon the role of parents back to this sacred calling; and PoMo Poverty—a look at modern poverty in America and what we can do about it right now without creating an entitlement mentality.

Tom’s favorite book is Acceptance of Authority.  This is for the person that had to spend an hour in detention, has received multiple speeding tickets, or has landed in prison for the next 20 years.  Tom guides the reader through what so many have lost sight of with respect to the value of authority in modern society.

Tom is married to the former Sharman Oliveri of Beaufort, South Carolina.  Tom and Sharman have two children and two grandchildren.