CP Prayer Focus: Ronnie Payne serves Christ through serving Sans Bois Association

As the director of missions in Sans Bois Association (SBBA), Ronnie Payne serves alongside churches in southeast Oklahoma. Through the SBBA, he supports and encourages 30 churches and pastors as they strive to advance the Gospel. Ronnie feels privileged to serve Jesus by serving His Church and sharing His Gospel with the world.

Ronnie also considers it a challenge to serve the Church and to share Christ with the world.

Regarding serving the Church, Ronnie said, “Finding young men called by God who have the heart and courage to pastor and love people in small rural churches is a challenge. Helping churches in a post-Christian era who are struggling to understand how to proceed without pastoral leadership is a challenge.”

Ronnie said there may not be an open rebellion in Oklahoma toward God as in other places of the country, but hard hearts and strong wills are plentiful—just more camouflaged. Cultural influences, spiritual complacency and worldly compliance affect every heart.

But with persistent prayer and one-on-one relationships, results can be realized.

“When I became a Christian as a young teenager I began to pray regularly for my father,” Ronnie said. “Twelve years later, at the close of his life battling cancer, my father surrendered to Christ. Three months after that, my mother was saved as we talked about Christ around the kitchen table. I have pastored and worked among college students and have had the joy of seeing many come to faith in Christ. Some of the sweetest have been our own children and now some of our grandchildren trusting Christ as Savior.”

Please pray for Ronnie’s family and for the pastors and churches of SBBA. Pray more laborers will be called to pastoral ministry. Pray God will be glorified, and the gospel preached in southeast Oklahoma and that His servants would be found faithful.

Because of the generous giving of Oklahoma Baptists through the Cooperative Program, an amazing array of ministries are supported. This unified giving encourages fellowship with other believers all over the world. Collectively, Oklahoma Baptists are advancing the Gospel together.

Ronnie Payne is featured in the 2023 Missionary Prayer Guide for Oklahoma Baptists. For more information about the Cooperative Program, visit oklahomabaptists.org/cp.