What does it mean to be a church family?
The week I moved to Oklahoma for my sophomore year of college was the same month my parents made the move from Kansas to Arizona. I went from living 30 minutes away from my parents to 8 hours away from them. I hardly knew anyone in Oklahoma when I took that leap to move to the place where my then boyfriend (now husband) grew up & wanted to come back to.
He began his junior year in Edmond at Oklahoma Christian University & I began my sophomore year in Shawnee at Oklahoma Baptist University. Having grown up attending Council Road, Brennan immediately jumped back in there, so I did too! I started my journey at Council Road in September of 2014 and became the Children’s Ministry Intern with Tallie (Thompson) Lake.
It was the furthest I had ever lived from my parents, grandparents, and siblings. I had no family here. Yet, I did.
Rick and Teri Thompson opened their home for me to live with them during the summer of 2015. Jarla Miles, Teri McAfee, Beverly Walker, Kelly King, and other CRBC women hosted a wedding shower for me that same year. Tallie and I drove an hour each way from Shawnee to Bethany twice a week bonding over Disney songs, children’s ministry stories, and dreams of our futures. Courtney (King) Webster was my school roommate that year, and she brought me into her circle of friends so fully. Millicent Gillogly and I worked in the children’s ministry here together from 2014-2017, then were in the same Table Group in 2019-2020. CRBC Women’s Minister, Vickey Banks, mentored me through her Women Up group in 2018 and we’ve now been working together in the women’s ministry for almost 5 years. A few Council Road women were in my home while I was trying to host a summer book club in 2019, but got a phone call that changed my life forever. They comforted me, called Brennan to come home, and have continued to check on me and pray for that situation.
I remember at my wedding in December of 2015, only a year and a half after joining Council Road, my dad stood up to give his speech. My dad doesn’t usually get visibly emotional, but he struggled to speak as he said that living so far away from us was a little bit easier knowing that Brennan and I had such a wonderful community surrounding and supporting us. That community is Council Road.
We are not perfect. Our relationships with all of you haven’t been perfect, but they have been worth it. I have gained an entire new family! I am so grateful for the way Council Road has poured into Brennan and my lives from the moment Brennan started attending in middle school to now. We don’t have kids yet, but they are going to be so loved in this place. We only hope we can give back to Council Road what it has given to us.
Thank you, Council Road. Let’s keep growing this family! All are welcome here!
Meet the author!
Becca Walker is the co-founder of Metro Youth Theatre of Oklahoma. She also works part time at Council Road as the Women’s Ministry Assistant/Worship Coordinator. She and her husband, Brennan, love to serve in the church that they call home. Becca’s main loves are her family, her pups Wrigley and Rizzo, Old Navy, and of course, the incredible community at Council Road Baptist Church.