The Duncan Banner

Religion

December 3, 2010

Marlow First Baptist bringing joy with toys

Joshua Kellogg The Duncan Banner

MARLOW — There is an image that bothers pastor Joe Ligon of First Baptist Church in Marlow. That image is of a mother or father, standing in a grocery store, trying to decide whether to buy food for their family or purchase their Christmas presents this year.

That was the idea for the inaugural Toy Store event that will be at 2 p.m. Saturday in the First Baptist Church life center. The Toy Store will allow parents and children to “shop” the toy store for a toy for each child and not pay a dime.

The Toy Store was birthed from the success of the church’s previous events, being their gasoline and grocery buy-downs that were earlier in the year.

“We started talking to church members about this idea back in October,” Ligon said. “We discussed how we wanted to do this next and how it could work and started planning.”

Immediately, Ligon and members of the church started speaking to other churches and businesses in Marlow about being involved and contributing to the cause. Members of the Ministerial Alliance stepped up and have been donating time, money and services.

“For the first year we are doing this, we are surprised at how generous people are,” Ligon said. “I’ve heard of families taking their children shopping and buying toys to donate and teaching them about giving.”

The life center will be dressed up as if it were an actual toy store, with aisles and shelves dedicated to housing toys. Once the parents and/or kids have decided upon a toy, there will be gift wrapping available to wrap their presents and refreshments will be served, including coffee and hot chocolate.

“The community has stepped forward very quickly to help these children this year,” Debbe Ridley of the Marlow Chamber of Commerce, said. “There are lots of smart people running this event and they will have a lot of happy little kids that wouldn’t normally be.”

Ligon is unsure of the expected turnout for the Toy Shop but keeping in line with their previous events, the demand might exceed even his wildest expectations.

“We had over 700 families show up for our grocery buy-down event, that was more than three times the crowd we expected,” Ligon said. “If we get 600 toys, that will benefit 600 kids, we want to make sure every child gets something this Christmas.”



— Joshua Kellogg is a reporter for The Duncan Banner. He can be reached at 580-255-5354, Ext. 142, or via e-mail at joshua.kellogg@duncanbanner.com.

Text Only
Religion
  • May 24 Church Briefs

    May 24, 2013

  • 5-17 Church Briefs

    May 17, 2013

  • Jubilee Full Gospel Tabernacle brief

    Jubilee Full Gospel Tabernacle will be holding a Gospel Music service 7 p.m. tonight featuring “Buck” Pratt and other artists.

    May 10, 2013

  • 5-10 Church Briefs

    May 9, 2013

  • Church Briefs

    April 19, 2013

  • Church briefs

    Area church briefs for Friday, April 5, 2013.

    April 5, 2013

  • March 22 Church Briefs

    Editors note: These are the correct church briefs for Friday, March 22 edition of The Duncan Banner. They were not published in today's paper. We regret any inconvenience this may have caused our readers.

    March 22, 2013

  • Highland Highland Park to celebrate 60 years

     

    It is said that it’s the people who are the church and not the building itself, so when a church celebrates a milestone, it is the people who rejoice over how long the place that brought them together has been there.
    The congregation of Highland Park Baptist Church will celebrate the church’s 60th anniversary Sunday. Lunch will be served after the morning services and following the meal, they will host a Remembrance Service to honor the memory of members who have passed away during the last 10 years. 
    Members will also get to share their experiences in the church and the Highlanders Quartet will perform.

    March 1, 2013 1 Photo

  • Bringing ‘The Noise’ to Main Street’s SCWC

    It could get a little noisy on Main Street Duncan tonight. That’s because The Palace Theater will transform into an open venue for people of all denominations to share their love of music and worship through “The Noise.”

    January 27, 2013

  • Raw Church provides holiday musical light show.jpg RawChurch provides musical light show

    Christmas magic is in the air, or rather the airways, at RawChurch. Last year’s initiative from the church to start a synchronized light show with about 12,000 lights has expanded with an additional 4,000 lights to bring extra magic for the holiday season.

    December 22, 2012 1 Photo