It’s not often you get invited to a 125th birthday party.
So, of course, I went!
I’m just back from celebrating with OMS–One Mission Society, The Oriental Missionary Society, in Greenwood, Indiana.
As the biographer of one of its founders, Lettie Cowman, I attended with eyes on the present and a heart in the past.
I had a wonderful time.
Preparing for the 125th Birthday Party
While OMS prepared for the party, I was busy, too, for the last month.
Those of you who regularly read my blog know I’ve been writing biographies of the five founders.
Here they are:
- Lettie Cowman–Well, an entire book, Overflowing Faith: Lettie Cowman and Streams in the Desert!
- Charles Cowman–C. C. Cowman & God’s Preparatory Work; Good News and Charles Cowman.
- Tetsusaburo Sasao: Tetsusaburo and the OMS
- Ernest Kilbourne: Who was Ernest Kilbourne? The Far East and Ernest Kilbourne.
- Juji Nakada: Many posts starting here.
I hadn’t written about Sasao or Kilbourne before, so I ran those posts over the last few weeks.
And then a funny thing happened.
As I sat with the Nakada family the first night of the two-day party, the couple beside me introduced me to the man on the aisle.
When they gave him my name, and I reached out to shake his hand, his mouth dropped open.
“But, but, I just sent you an email a few hours ago.”
“Me?”
“Yes! I was flying up here to the event and reviewing the Kilbourne family history. I read those two blog posts and wondered who you were and how you knew all that stuff about my family!”
We laughed together. “I’m Lettie’s biographer.”
“She’s practically an OMS historian, too,” someone else explained.
“I think she knows more about our family history than we do,” said a Nakada descendant.
I shrugged. “I’m an amateur genealogist. I remember information like that. But I have more about your family. I’ll send it to you.”
Which I did on my first day home.
How did this gathering come about?
A bored woman received an invitation to hear an opera singer speak at a local church.
Her husband worked evenings, so off she went.
A simple story, a change of heart, a meeting with the Creator of the Universe.
Lettie sat in the audience, amazed at what she heard and troubled.
She returned to hear the speaker three nights in a row, glued to her seat and struggling with a heart conviction.
On the third night, when the opera singer gave yet another invitation, the woman sitting beside Lettie nudged her.
“Are you serving the Lord?”
“No. I’m serving the world and myself.”
“Well, don’t you want to give yourself to Jesus and serve Him?”
“Yes,” Lettie said. “But I don’t know how.”
The unnamed woman led her to the altar and guided Lettie in a simple prayer of faith.
Overflowing Faith: Lettie Cowman and Streams in the Desert, p. 18
The 125th birthday party itself.
What a splendid time!
I sat in the audience listening to the stories and the ministries. Like everyone else, I marveled at what God has accomplished through so many people for 125 years.
But I also thought about the stories through the lens of Lettie’s life.
I tried to imagine what she would have thought.
All of us were there for that weekend in Indianapolis because of a determined woman who received an invitation.
The rest is history.
OMS started each session with praise. We sang classics I knew deep in my soul. Because OMS is an international ministry, we sang in other languages.
Who knew I could sing in Spanish and Portuguese, much less–well, at least hum along to–Ukrainian and a few other languages!
A painting was given to two special guests: the aforementioned Kilbourne great-great-grandchild and my friend, Juji Nakada’s granddaughter.
I had tears in my eyes as so many came up to introduce themselves and shake hands with two people connected by blood to the founders.
(When I met missionaries at the party from multi-generational families, I kept having to ask them for their grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ names. Only then could I place them in the OMS story!)
Workshops for the 125th birthday party and a picture with Lettie and Charles.
Well, who could resist this?
OMS had a very clever children’s area during the party, where the kids heard the story but also did small crafts reflecting OMS’ original ministry through the Cowmans, Kilbournes, Nakadas, and Sasaos.
I loved the cut-outs.
Here’s the original photo that I, er, photo bombed:
As part of the gatherings, we heard about the ministry today.
These are a few notes I took:
- OMS missionaries are in 86 countries and four regions of the world.
- Missionaries reminded us that there are more Christians in Africa than on any other continent.
- Europe is not post-faith, but pre-revival.
- God preserves what He initiates
- Even when we don’t see it, He is working.
I loved being at the 125th birthday party for OMS.
I wept as we sang all those worship songs together.
Here’s hoping Jesus comes back before the 250th!
Thoughts? Reactions? Lurker?