Adam Mask grew up in a loving home, but it was not a Christian home. His mother was a believer and demonstrated a degree of the fruits of the Spirit, but his father was not. Early in life, Mask had heard about Jesus and stories in the Bible but didn’t believe them to be true.
“I had heard about Jesus and was familiar with some of the stories in the Bible, but they were no more real to me than Aesop’s fables were,” Mask said.
After dropping out of high school and serving two years in the 25th Infantry Division, he was discharged from the Army with a general discharge for failing multiple drug tests. Later, Mask was arrested and served two years in prison for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute. Mask said that once he left prison he was depressed and suicidal.
“I remember my life before Christ and the angst, depression and emptiness and I thank God I have not forgotten the moment Christ saved me,” Mask said.
On May 2, 2010, Mask visited Broken Arrow, First, where his life had a drastic and incredible change.
“God used that message preached by Pastor Nick Garland and the message the following week to bring conviction through the Holy Spirit upon my heart and confront me with the reality of my sin,” Mask said. “On May 16, through repentance of my sin and placement of my faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ, I was born again. I was baptized the following Sunday.”
Soon after, Mask joined a men’s Bible study and a Sunday School class which both discipled him. During this time, he also began giving his testimony at the state prison in McAlester which became a monthly trip to preach God’s Word to the men incarcerated there. In 2013, Mask was brought on staff at Broken Arrow and in 2015, he became the campus pastor of the church’s Coweta campus – Community Church. In 2020, Community Church launched out on its own as an autonomous church and in 2021 partnered with North American Mission Board (NAMB) church plant Morgan Grace Church in Morgan, Utah.
“Morgan Grace is the only evangelical church in their entire county,” Mask said. “They have outgrown their original building and are now in a new building down- town and are doing an amazing job.”
Mask’s mission with Coweta, Community is to reach out to those hurting and broken, individuals who have no saving relationship with Christ. These include those who may have never been to church before in their lives or those who have attended church in a cultural sense but never truly placed their faith in Christ. Essentially, Mask is wanting to reach out to those who are in the same position he once was and to show them the incredible love of Christ.
“My heart is for those who feel hopeless and forgotten,” he said. “I want as many people as possible to receive that same freedom only found in a saving relationship with Christ.”
In lieu of large community events to draw people to the church, Coweta goes out into their community to advance the Gospel. Every Wednesday evening, Mask and a team of church members go door to door introducing themselves, praying over the residents and sharing the Gospel. Additionally, they are heavily involved with the public schools in Coweta by introducing themselves to the teachers and students. There are large events held throughout the year such as an Easter Egg Hunt, VBS and summer camps, but Coweta’s main mission field is the neighborhoods, workplaces, schools and recreation fields. Locations where community can be built.
“Our outreach strategy is more grassroots than big events,” Mask said. “We try to leverage our regular Sunday morning services to minister to the lost while at the same time quipping the saints to go and tell the good news of the Gospel.”
Since launching as an autonomous church in 2020, Coweta, Community has seen 212 professions of faith and 200 baptisms. This is only the beginning as Mask plans to start up various other ministries including a recovery ministry for those trapped in various addictions. He wants to see Coweta grow and plant more churches that can advance the Gospel like Coweta, Community has. Through NAMB, individuals are trained and assessed so they can be sent out to multiply churches through- out Oklahoma and North America.
“Our heart is to plant churches that plant churches, so we are excited about the implementation of our res- idency program to help individuals who are called to plant churches,” Mask said.
For more information about Community Baptist Coweta, visit communitybaptist.org.
