Pleasant Hill Baptist Church
PHBC is a located in Blanchard, Oklahoma, just southwest of Norman on Highway 62.
We're a family-oriented church that offers Christ-centered worship and Bible-based teaching in a small town setting.
PHBC is a member of the Baptist Missionary Association of America (BMAA).
Join us for worship at
3308 E. VETERANS MEMORIAL HIGHWAY, BLANCHARD, OK, 73010
Sunday, Feb 12th
Valentine Banquet
6 PM, snow or no snow!
Sunday, Feb 19th
A candidate will be with us in view of a call (i.e. - to preach and to interview) as a potential pastor of PHBC.
PHBC family members, please be in prayer for God's direction and make plans to be here on the 19th!
The Great Commission is OUR MISSION.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, [even] unto the end of the world.
Amen.
Matt 28:19- 20
Sunday School
Sunday Services
Wednesday Nights
PRAYER UPDATES 2/10/12
Doris Fore (Keith's mom) recovering at home following successful cancer surgery!
Verna Tankersly and Family -
Verna's sister-in-law LouNell passed away this week.
Our Pastoral Search - please be in prayer as a candidate is presented this week!
CONTACT PHBC
BY PHONE:
405-485-3584
BY EMAIL:
phbchurch_yahoo.com
Who We Are
Est. 1937
Interim Pastor- J. Harold Hodges
The PHBC family is excited to welcome Bro. J. Harold Hodges as our interim pastor during this time of transition.
Bro. Hodges is currently the Pastor Emeritus at our sister BMA church, Southgate Baptist, in Moore, Oklahoma. He served Southgate as senior pastor for 35 years before retiring from the full time pastorate in 1997. God blessed Southgate mightily under Bro. Hodges' leadership as she grew to become a flourishing church family and a strong leader in both our state and national BMA works. Along the way Bro. Hodges has become one the most respected pastors in the BMA of America.
Alongside Bro. Hodges, we welcome his wife of 56 years, Ms. Louise. The Hodges have two children and five grandchildren.
Former Pastor David Pickard
Bro. David Pickard became pastor at Pleasant Hill in 1997 after returning to his hometown of Blanchard from a pastorate in Texas. Under Bro. David's leadership, PHBC experienced more than a decade of spiritual growth and revival that has also included a relocation from Main Street to a beautiful new hilltop site and facility just northeast of Blanchard.
It is with heavy hearts that the PHBC family bids goodbye to Bro. David and his wife, Cheryl, as they move on to pursue ministry opportunities in Conway, Arkansas, and to share a special time of reunion with their three grown children, their son-in-law and daughter-in-law and one beautiful granddaughter. With the Pickards go the prayers of many PHBC family members and friends whom David and Cheryl have befriended, mentored and discipled through the years. We know that God will guide each step of their new journey. The Pickards will always be treasured members of the PHBC family, no matter how many miles lay between us.
Tony Strickland - Music Minister
Tony Strickland is a native Oklahoman, born June 12, 1967, in Oklahoma City. His father, Buddy Strickland, has been a minister and pastor in the Baptist Missionary Association of America for nearly forty years, and the family spent time with BMA churches in central Oklahoma, in northwest Arkansas and in the Mississippi Delta as Tony was growing up. Bro. Buddy Strickland and Tony's mom, Betty, are active members of PHBC.
Tony graduated from Cleveland High School in Cleveland, Miss., in 1985. He earned an Associates of Arts and Sciences degree from Jacksonville Baptist Junior College in Jacksonville, Texas, in 1999, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Studies Education.
Tony served for eight years as youth and music minister at the First Baptist Church of Ferris, Texas, before coming to Pleasant Hill in the spring of 1999, to work with music and student ministries.
Our Ministries
Hill Kids
Our Childrens Ministries program for children age 3 to 12. This group meets during Sunday mornings for Childrens Church and on Wednesday nights at 7pm.
PHBC Student Ministries
For students in grades 7th through 12th, our student ministries offers student-oriented worship on Sunday evenings, Overflow action nights on Wednesday evenings and conferences, camps, concerts and ministry opportunities throughout the year.
Small Groups & Sunday School
The various ages groups of PHBC meet throughout the building at 9:30 on Sunday Mornings for Bible study and just sharing life.
The Pleasant Hillbillies
Our senior adults (self-named the Pleasant Hillbillies) meet on the first Thursday evening of each month for fun and fellowship.
PHBC Music Ministries
Musicians of all ages and talent levels participate in weekly worship services, and the door is ALWAYS open for more!
Church History
In the early fall of 1937, as America lingered in the last grips of the Great Depression, a small group of faithful Baptist believers gathered in the home of the Floyd E. Casey family in rural Blanchard, Oklahoma. The groups' prayerful desire was to organize a new local church to serve as a vibrant lighthouse to shine the hope of Christ to the surrounding community. That night Mr. and Mrs. Casey, first church clerk George Daily and first moderator Charley E. Smith joined with twenty-two other souls to form the charter membership of a new congregation, which they excitedly named the Blanchard Missionary Baptist Church. By evening's end, a new spiritual family had been born that would touch lives in Blanchard well into next century and beyond.
The first home for the little congregation was a 28 x 30 foot building situated on the land of Mr. Will McDonald, near what is today the intersection of Oklahoma State Highways 62 and 9, just northeast of Blanchard. Worshippers sat on rough wooden-slat pews with their feet on a floor of Oklahoma red dirt. An old pot-bellied stove warmed the little sanctuary through the winter months. It was in these rustic settings that Mrs. Tula Dailey, inspired by the
beautiful rolling hills surrounding the site, suggested that the church be renamed Pleasant Hill Baptist Church. To all in attendance, the name seemed a perfect fit.
Mr. Raymond Whitford and Mr. J.A. Worthington were Pleasant Hill's first candidates for baptism in November of 1937, and the church building itself was officially dedicated in December of that same year. New pastor Charley E. Smith brought the inaugural message, which was followed by dinner-on-the-grounds with a sumptuous spread of Oklahoma home cooking and time for sharing and laughter. It seems that, from the very beginning, the members of Pleasant Hill understood that being a part of God's family was much more about relationships than it was about facilities.
Even so, in 1942 the Pleasant Hill family deemed a move into town a wise step toward further growth. The church borrowed the sum of one hundred and twenty five dollars to help cover the cost of moving the building to 205 S. Main Street.
The Main Street facilities went through a great deal of renovation throughout the next decades, much of it under the leadership of Dr. Elzie Periman. Dr. Periman, a beloved and respected community leader who served twice as pastor of PHBC (from 1942-1952, then from1956 until his death in 1974) led the church family to
begin construction on the auditorium which still stands on that site. An educational wing was added in 1963, and a family life center with full size gym, large kitchen and classrooms was the final addition in 1981. Each addition was designed to make Pleasant Hill a more welcoming and accessible place for worshippers of all ages, and the passing years saw the congregation's hard work rewarded. The Main Street site became a Blanchard landmark, greatly loved and revered as home to multiple generations of the PHBC family for sixty-three years.
The late 1990s, however, brought a great deal of change to Blanchard. The rural label began to fade as housing addition after housing addition began to appear in response to McClain County becoming one of the fastest growing areas in the state. Ever faithful and creative, God provided PHBC an opportunity to meet the town's new growth head on and also revive a bit of church history at the same time. In 2003, 8.5 acres along State Highway 62, the thriving community's main artery, was made available for purchase. Fittingly enough, the land was less than quarter mile from the church's original 1937 site and was once more located on a picturesque hilltop. Led by God through the vision of pastor and Blanchard native David R. Pickard, Pleasant Hill was on the move once more.
Work was completed on phase I of Pleasant Hill's new site on Highway 62 in fall of 2005. In September the church family moved into the large auditorium (capable of seating 350+ worshippers). Classroom space and a fully equipped kitchen/fellowship hall for smaller gatherings and meals were also key features of the new facility. Phase II is currently in the planning stages and will include already much needed additional education space. Long term plans for the site include the construction of a larger auditorium and conversion of the existing worship space into a gym and classroom facilities.
The Pleasant Hill family is ever thankful to our Heavenly Father for the many blessings that He has provided through the years, and for those blessings that He continues to pour out daily. As we offer our lives back to Him in return, it is our fervent desire to reach every heart we can with the message of Jesus Christ, the risen and living Savior. As we have been blessed by God, so we seek to share our blessings with others.
Pastors of
Pleasant Hill
Baptist Church
- Charley E. Smith 1937-1939
- Leo E. Pate 1939-1940
- Noah N. Ivans 1940-1941
- Elzie Periman 1942-1952
- B.F. McCullough 1952-1954
- James Flippo 1954-1956
- Elzie Periman 1956-1974
- Dennis Ramsey 1974-1975
- Wayne Cullen 1975-1990
- Alvin Southerland 1990-1994
- James Mills 1995-1996
- David R. Pickard 1997-2011
Do you know the Roman Road?
Do you know any one who needs a relationship with Jesus Christ? Better wave those hands high in the air. Everyone knows someone in need of salvation. Make a list. Do it now.
Now you got some names, so what? This needs to become a major part of your prayer list. How many times do we reject those who have rejected the Lord? Maybe a better plan of attack would be to have a full on assault ... of love and understanding.
Now it gets hard. You need to take that love you've been storing up and take it straight to those who need Jesus. Witnessing can be sometimes be the toughest thing we do as Christians, but imagine if our forefathers had decided that they shouldn't share the Gospel. Or maybe if they had decided that it was too hard altogether and just thrown in the towel. Where would we be? It's a big step to share your faith, but just ask those who do it on a regular basis how rewarding it can be. Start today. Lifes are depending on it!
Do you have a need the PHBC church family can assist you with?
Don't hesitate to let us know (see the "contact us" link) - we would love to pray with you today!
All submitted information will be kept confidential.
Our hilltop site is a beautiful location, but
our current building just Phase One of a much larger vision!
Come grow with us
as we reach
Blanchard
for Christ!
Jody Miller
If you are from Blanchard you might have heard Jody's story. But have you really heard it all? Jody's testimony has been posted to her web site and is linked right here. Get the whole story, straight from her, and let it be a blessing to you.
Sunday Nights have transformed into Student Worship Night!!!!
join us at 6:00pm every Sunday.
Wednesdays are not forgotten.....
They have now become Youth ACTION Night!
We'll put what we learn about being a Christian into action.
Get out and see the World. Here are some links to some of our Missionaries based all over the globe.
February Events:
Feb 12th
Church-wide Valentine Banquet
6 p.m.
Feb 19th - Pastoral Candidate
in view of call! a.m. & p.m. services
Feb 26th Rachel Sturgell Wedding Shower!
2:30 PM
March Events:
BMA of Central Oklahoma Midyear Meeting
Eastern Gate, Wynnewood
Saturday, March 3rd, 9:30 a.m.
Annual PHBC GIRLS' CONFERENCE!
Saturday, March 10th
April Events:
City-Wide Easter Egg Hunt
Saturday, April 7th
EASTER SUNDAY!
April 8th
WHAT'S GOING ON ????
STUDENT WORSHIP
EVERY SUNDAY NIGHT AT 6
OVERFLOW ACTION NIGHT
WEDNESDAYS AT 7PM!
STUDENTS, EXCELLENT JOB LEADING WORSHIP ON FEB 5TH!
WINTER JAM - FEB 18TH!
CHICAGO MISSION TRIP - June 14-19!
(Flip through the tabs to get more info.)
Free Song Download from KLOVE Radio:
http://www.klove.com/music/store.aspx
PHBC STUDENT
MINISTRIES!
Worship, Ministry
& Fun
for 7th-12th
grade students
Who are you living for?
What are you doing about it?
and Why?
Persecution. com
Recent News about those who have shared their love of Christ and now know the true meaning of Following Christ.
CONTACT US: at PHBC Student Ministries!
Tony Strickland - (405) 640-7403
Dennis Morren - (405) 420-3434
Dave Vallerand - (405) 206-3464
HILL KIDS!
Our K-6th Graders meet each Wednesday at 7:00 for music, Bible stories and fun. Hill Kids programs are also a ton of fun as our little ones learn to use their talents for to reach others for Christ
Our Hill Kids Staff:
Bro. Tony, Ms. Gayle and a cast of dozens of moms and dads!
FOR MORE INFO ON HILL KIDS, CALL TONY at 405-640-7403
Some shots from Our 2011 Christmas Program
"THE CHRISTMAS KID"
Promise Keepers
ALWF
THE PLEASANT
HILLBILLIES
(Adults over 50)
HILLBILLY
CHRISTMAS
PARTY, 2011!
THURSDAY, Feb 2nd
6:30 PM at PHBC!
NEED MORE INFO ON THE HILLBILLIES?
Call Ray and Kathryn Gomez
405-485-2015
PHBC offers worship through Christ-centered, musically-blended services that seek to stir hearts and to inspire a deeper relationship with
God.
Worship at PHBC includes the powerful teaching hymns of the faith, as well as beautiful and inspiring music that God is still moving writers to create today.
Our musical styles may range from traditional to contemporary, from classical to country and bluegrass and back again, but the MESSAGE is always the same- A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST CHANGES LIVES ... FOREVER!
Our Missions Statement
The Baptist Missionary Association of America Department of Missions serves to influence the world for Jesus Christ by planting churches throughout all nations. We seek to accomplish our goal by sending American missionaries, training and equipping believers, and by assisting every local church to be a Great CoMission Church.
The BMAA Department of Missions’ campus is located at 9219 Sibley Hole Road in Little Rock, Ark. Our facilities include an office building, hospitality center and a warehouse and distribution center.
As a Department of Missions, we seek to provide leadership and direction for the churches of the Baptist Missionary Association of America by providing a unified plan to carry the Gospel to the 252 nations of the world. We believe that the greatest way to bring people to Christ is by planting local churches throughout the world.
God has enabled us to minister in seventy-four countries.
BMA Missions is a team effort consisting of:
1,384 local churches and missions of the Baptist Missionary Association of America
234,110 members of the Baptist Missionary Association of America churches
22 American International Missionaries
21 North American Missionaries
5 Church Planter Trainers
680 National Missionaries
197 Support workers
140 Commonwealth of Independent States (Former Soviet Union) Missionaries
BMA OF AMERICA:
An Overview
The Baptist Missionary Association of America has affiliated churches in 32 states (and Puerto Rico). The total number of affiliated churches nationwide currently stands at 1,215 with 57 additional mission churches. In Texas and in Arkansas (where the BMAA began in 1950), the BMA has 393 churches and 337 churches, respectively. Mississippi has 178 BMA churches, Missouri 80, and Oklahoma is fifth with 43 BMA churches statewide. The total membership of The Baptist Missionary Association churches of America is 234,110 individuals, according to the 2011-12 BMA Handbook. The doctrinal Statement of the BMAA can be found at: www.discipleguide.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=40172
BMAA MISSIONS
The BMA Department of Missions is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas and is headed by Executive Director Dr. John David Smith. The department includes separate directors for BMA missions in North America, missions in Europe/Asia/Africa/Australia, missions in Latin America, missions in Armed Forces and Institutional Chaplaincy, missions in Support Ministries (including Medical Missions), and missions in Student Ministries (including Volunteer Student Missions).
Details concerning BMAA Missions efforts can be found on this page, in the ABOUT US column and also at www.bmaamissions.org
DISCIPLEGUIDE CHURCH RESOURCES
Discipleguide is the BMAA's resource arm, providing BIble study resources for all ages, information services about the BMAA and organizing nation-wide conferences and events.
The executive director of Discipleguide is Dr. Kevin Clayton. Included under the Discipleguide umbrella is:
*The BMAA's National Camp Ministries,
located in Gary, Texas. National Camp
Ministries are led by Bro. James Speer.
* BMAA Conference Ministries, operating
under the directon of Bro. Donny Parrish
* BMAA Publishing Ministries, under the
direction of Bro. Jerome Cooper.
More information about Discipleguide's various ministries may be found at www.Discipleguide.org
LIFEWORD MINISTRIES
Bro. Steve Crawley leads Lifeword Media Ministries, the BMA’s Department of Radio, Television and Internet broadcasting. Lifeword'’s International head-quarters and primary production center is located in Conway, Arkansas. Lifeword also has regional production centers in the Philippines, Ghana, Honduras and Guatemala.
Lifeword currently produces radio broadcasts in 34 different languages to countries in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean, Central America and South America. Lifeword broadcasts are also heard in China, India, the Philippines, Canada and throughout the United States, including on OKC’s KQCV FM (95.1) and AM (800) stations.
Broadcasts are also available worldwide on demand at www.lifeword.org.
Lifeword Ministries II
Lifeword produces Christ-centered quality programming in both long and short (commercial-length) formats in order to reach potential millions for Christ and to disciple believers around the world.
Lifeword began on a St. Louis radio station in 1965 as “The Harvest Gleaner Hour.” The ministry’'s name was changed to Lifeword in 1988 and the ministry team relocated to a new fully-equipped modern recording studio in 2006.
BMAA SCHOOLS:
The BMAA Theological Seminary
is located in Jacksonville, Texas.
www.bmats.edu
Central Baptist College
is located in Conway, Arkansas
www.cbc.edu
Jacksonville College
www.jacksonville-college.edu
Southeastern Baptist College
is located in Laurel, Mississippi
www.southeasternbaptist.edu
