Book Signing set for 23 April at Beyond the Pallet

Western Oklahoma author Tom Spence, will be selling and signing his books at Beyond the Pallet in  Elk City Oklahoma on Saturday, 23 April 2016 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.  Beyond the Pallet is located at 103 South Main. 

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 returned this past summer 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, Korea, the Philippines, 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.

Tom will also have with him, two unique books with fast moving dialogue where two men—The Conversation—and two women—Going Up—drop their defense mechanisms and actually talk about important things.

Please join Tom on Saturday 23 April 2016, buy a few books, and get a cup of coffee  or something to eat at the District House in this wonderful area just made for people who like to enjoy a Saturday afternoon.

Book Signing by Tom Spence

Beyond the Pallet

 103 S. Main, Elk City, Oklahoma

23 April 2016

2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

Just over a week ago, 9 ladies from Tom's high school class surprised him at a book signing in downtown Oklahoma City.

Tom was ordained as a Cumberland Presbyterian minister in 2010.

Tom in Kuwait City with the United Nations after Desert Storm.

Burns Flat Authors Team Up for Book Signing

Western Oklahoma Authors Bob Nagle and Tom Spence are teaming up for a book signing at Pedro’s Mexican Grille in Elk City, Oklahoma on Friday, 11 December 2015 from Noon until 2:00 p.m.  Bob and Tom will both have copies of current year releases from Tate Publishing.

Bob’s debut into the writing world is a screen play titled The Flies.  You may see this on the screen one day but this is your chance to catch the story early and learn to love a fly.

Tom will have a selection of his titles from Tate Publishing as well as his self published works.  Headlining Tom’s books are Throw Away Kids and PoMo Poverty.  These two take on hard hitting issues that impact almost every person in this part of the country.  Tom will also have his novel, Even the Elect, a story of love, lust, and deception set with a background of the end times available along with other titles such as Christianity for Marines.

Come meet both authors at lunch time on 11 December, buy a few books for Christmas presents, and enjoy a great meal at Pedro’s Mexican Grille, located at 2010 West Third Street in Elk City, Oklahoma.

Watch trailers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVqHR9hyJFo&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iJfuNHvPv0&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGmK4LRdPHA&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5FP_KJcSlI&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKXbdW9zlAY&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09zAW-i_2Jg&feature=youtu.be

A genuine thank you to the Elk City Walmart

Sometimes I get upset at the lines in Walmart.  Sometimes I complain that the prices don’t ring up right at the register.  But sometimes, I just have to give a shout out to some genuine generosity on the part of our local Walmart.

Such was the subject of a letter I posted today to the manager and employees of the Elk City Walmart.

Dear Elk City Walmart Supercenter,

Thank you for your recent donations to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Burns Flat, Oklahoma.

You recently helped us to feed our Wednesday night crowd with several cooked pizzas.  This was a blessing in that the several volunteers that typically cook our Wednesday night meal received a much needed break, and let’s face it, clean up after pizza is just outright easy.  Thank you.

There’s a little more to this story that I want to share with you.  You did not just donate to a church.  You helped a community.  Most of our Wednesday night attendance is children.  Sadly, if it were not for the school lunch that many received, they would go hungry most every day.  Many of the children we feed on Wednesday night before our classes and services are children that are actually hungry. 

That may seem hard to believe, but we feed kids that don’t get much love or food in their homes.

Some of the parents of these children do not even know that they are at the church and many of these parents don’t care.  That could just be a sad statement, except when they come to the church on Wednesday evenings, they run to the front door.  They know they will be fed, and loved, and at least for a couple hours, brought up in the way they should go.

You see that you did more than donate pizzas; you helped us connect with children that are disconnected from the love they should know all the time.

The story doesn’t end here.

Recently, you donated some bicycles to the Burns Flat churches.  Pastor Dwight Shephard picked up some and distributed 2 girls’ bicycles to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  Their arrival was perfect timing as the church recently adopted the community Easter Egg Hunt.  One of the bicycles was put up for a special sort of drawing.  Adults and children were not allowed to enter their own names in the drawing, but were asked to think of a child who could really use a bike but could not afford it.

You might be thinking, “He should have specified a ‘girls’ bike.”  That was the original intent; however, prompted by the generosity of your donation, a church member donated a boy’s bike just in time for the egg hunt.

We were blessed to draw both for both and boy and girl’s bicycle.  Want more?

The reaction of both adults and youth when the names were read was one of divine providence.  I knew neither child, but it seemed that many did and these were perfect selections.

The bicycle that you donated was presented to a young lady who will not be named in this article.  She lives in Burns Flat and received quite the surprise on Easter Afternoon.  The Cumberland Presbyterian Church added several boxes of food and 2 gift cards so that the entire family was blessed.

Want just a little more?

The bicycles that you donated were picked up by the pastor of the local Assembly of God Church, given away by the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and delivered by three members of the First Baptist Church of Burns Flat.  How’s that for connecting with a community.

We thank you for your donation.  I hope that you realize it’s more than pizzas and bicycles by the time we put your gifts to use.  

Blessings to you and your employees,                                                                   

Tom Spence

Pastor