OAKLAND – Bigger isn’t always better.

Monday, November 22, 1999

OAKLAND – Bigger isn’t always better.

Just ask the members of the Oakland Baptist Church congregation.

They may be small in size, but they are large in spirit.

On Sunday members of the church served a free pre-Thanksgiving dinner to the public.

Men and women, grandparents and teenagers, members and visitors all were fed a traditional Thanksgiving dinner by the Oakland Baptist women of the church.

"We do it all ourselves," Kathy Askelson, president of the women’s organization. "We post a sign-up sheet in the church and everybody writes down what they can bring or what they can do and we go from there."

Obviously, the members prefer the simple, direct way of doing things.

On Sunday morning Askelson and Peggy DeVries, vice president, slipped away from Pastor Mike Ryburn’s regular worship service to watch over the food preparation at the Oakland Town Hall.

Other members of the women’s organization, including Lee Wicks, secretary and treasurer, had decorated the hall in festive Thanksgiving colors.

Pastor Ryburn preached his Sunday sermon on "Have A Thankful Heart" and when the service ended, church members drifted to the town hall for dinner and fellowship.

The food choices were endless: turkey or ham, mashed potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, dressing, salads and desserts.

Lines of people shuffled along both sides of the serving table filling their plates and then moving to the tables for the pleasure of eating and visiting with relatives and friends, plus the visitors.

"One-hundred is the number of people we prepared for. If we have anymore show up, we may be in trouble," jokes Askelson.

The dinner has been a long-standing tradition at the church to serve both members and others.

Pastor Ryburn arrived in February 1998 and has launched several initiatives, that, members say, have resulted in an increased membership in the church now estimated at 75.

One of them is the church’s support of the Pacific Garden Mission’s work in Chicago, Ill., to rehabilitate the disadvantaged.

Currently, the Oakland congregation is sponsoring two individuals, Gordon Miller and Charles Johnson. Miller has a job at the Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Owatonna and Johnson is working at Quality Pork Processors, Inc. in Austin.

Ryburn said the message to remember at this, and other, Thanksgiving, is universal. "We should be thankful that God has redeemed us," he said.

There are those among the Oakland Baptist Church membership who are living proof of that.