People On Sundays
Merl Childs displays his artwork in dowtown Oklahoma City on Sunday, June 7, 2009. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Merl Childs learned woodworking while serving 6 months in a federal prison. On Sunday, he set up a display of his work on a bench near the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum in Oklahoma City and started shaping crosses. Childs, who lives in Del City, has been making crosses for about a year and a half. He sits in the morning sun between a tour bus from Durant, Oklahoma and a fence filled with momentos. “I’m gonna be a famous artist someday.”
Merl Childs poses in Oklahoma City on Sunday, June 7, 2009. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
People on Sundays
Julie Keesee holds Jeremiah Payne as they worship at Word Church All Nations during services at a hotel in Oklahoma City on Sunday, April 19, 2009. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Outside a drab hotel in northwest Oklahoma City, hangs a yellow sign advertising a church. A laminated, paper sign is velcroed to their designated room on the second floor when church is in session. But Adam Payne, a member of the church who also leads the Thursday night group, reminds me, “It’s not about the building. It’s about the people you’re supposed to be with and what God has for you.”
A few Sundays ago, only 10 people gathered at the hotel room, but the services are beamed worldwide through podcasts and the group’s internet site. According to Payne, there are 50-75 people who rotate in and out of services, some attend other, bigger churches in addition to the smaller group. Before church begins, food is set out on a table in the kitchenette, coffee is brewed and members of the church sing happy birthday to one of the children. “It’s like a home church,” says Payne. “We all participate. You don’t always get that experience in a larger setting.”
Word Church All Nations meets at a hotel in Oklahoma City Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
People on Sundays
James Colvin, who says he never wanted to be a preacher, thumbs open his bible to the pages of Theolossians as he talks about devils, God’s calling, desperation, unemployment, illegal immigrants and the ticket he got for solicitation on Saturday. “I am a child of God, that God has chosen,” he said, standing outside his home, a dilapidated RV, in the Buy For Less parking lot at Hefner and Penn in Oklahoma City.
James says he got a ticket for solicitation for “flying” his sign near the Toys ‘R Us store at Memorial and Penn in Oklahoma City on Saturday afternoon. He said the ticket would cost him $160, but without his tools or a job, Colvin doesn’t know how he’ll pay the ticket. He’s pawned his tools from construction work that he used to do and he’s trying to get home to California, where they pay people for recycling. In the mean time, he’ll have to show up in court to contest the ticket. James blames the government and the economy for his unemployment, but mostly he blames illegal immigrants who, he says, chased him off of job sites. “They hated me because of my love for Jesus Christ.”
James preaches to me about Jesus for nearly an hour. As I thank him for talking with me he says, “I don’t know if you’re here for good or if you’re here for evil, but it makes my day that you came.”
Since my work week begins on Sunday morning, I’m going to try to find a new subject each week and continue this photo column called ‘People on Sundays.’
-John Clanton
