Plenary speaker Nancy McCullough discusses her life journey. She is associate pastor at OKC-Chapel Hill.
	Far left, presiding at Communion is Pastor Valerie Steele of Okemah, center. At left, Mardi Crutchfield of Avant adds washcloths to personal hygiene kits packed at the School of Mission. Photos by Nannette Morrison of Tahlequah

Service went hand-in-hand with study July 27-30 at the annual School of Mission, held on the OCU campus.

About 200 people attended, reported Dean Jane Bond. They studied poverty, Haiti, and "Immigration and the Bible." They contributed to the offering, benefiting Skyline Urban Ministry in Oklahoma City and UM Advance work in Haiti.

And they took part in Alive in Christ Saturday Night worship at Skyline, serving those in need a meal provided by Stillwater-Highland Park Church; toured Neighborhood Services Organization sites; and packed personal hygiene kits for Skyline and for Restore Hope Ministries in Tulsa.

Bond described the sense of unified purpose among participants. "People are gathered with others of like mind. You get inspired to work for peace and justice," she said.

Supplementing the studies were classes by presenters from Oklahomans Against the Trafficking of Humans and the Oklahoma Policy Institute, and also "A Theology of Shopping."

New in the Media Library

Nine videos related to the studies are available for free check-out through the Conference Media Library. Contact Amelia Ballew, 405-530-2075, aballew@okumc.org. 

• Poverty — "Standing in Need: Systemic Poverty in Our Midst"; "America’s Working Poor," from ABC News Nightline (22 minutes); "The Global Banquet: Politics of Food" (2 segments, each 28 minutes); "Always … Therefore: The Church’s Challenge of Global Poverty" (28 minutes).

• Immigration and the Bible — "Jasmine’s Story" (11 minutes); "Gospel Without Borders" (2 segments, 31 and 53 minutes).

• Haiti — Two 12-minute segments from CBS’ 60 Minutes: "Haiti" and "The Lost Children of Haiti"; and also "Haiti: Perspectives on a Living History."

The Oklahoma Cooperative School of Christian Mission is jointly presented by the Mission & Service Ministry Team and United Methodist Women.