The Oklahoma Baptist Historical Commission (OBHC) inducted four outstanding late Oklahoma Baptists into the Oklahoma Baptist Hall of Fame (HOF) at the Commission’s annual luncheon on Nov. 12. Held in conjunction with the 118th Annual meeting of Oklahoma Baptists at Moore, First, the OBHC also presented its Distinguished Service Award (DSA) and Gaskin Church History Award during the event, attended by almost 60 people.
The 2024 class of HOF inductees included evangelist Sam Cathey; women’s ministry leaders Carolyn Kay Ellenbrook and Velma Irene Hendricks; and nationally-renown chaplain Joe B. Williams.
Cathey accepted Jesus Christ as Savior at the age of 10. At age 16, he was called to preach and, at age 17, was called to pastor his first church, the newly established Grace Mission near Camden, Ark. After serving as a pastor in Michigan for six years before entering full-time evangelism in 1967. He later served as staff evangelist at Tulsa, Parkland; Owasso, Bethel; Oklahoma City, Graceway and Del City, First Southern.
Ellenbrook served for more than 47 years in the children and preschool ministries at Lawton, Trinity and for 27 years as associational clerk with the Comanche-Cotton Assn. She served four years on the BGCO board of directors, five years as Oklahoma Baptists Women’s Missionary Union (WMU) president, and one year as president of the Lifeway sponsored associational religious education organization. Carolyn also served as a volunteer for the WMU leadership team for the BGCO, and as a pre-school volunteer consultant for the BGCO Sunday School team.
Hendricks was born in 1909, near Guymon in a half dugout. At age of 15, she was asked to teach the “primary class,” ages six to eight. This continued almost without interruption for 77 years. She served in many roles, including the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU), Young Women’s Association (YWA), library conferences, establishing church libraries and ministering to young women across California and Oklahoma. She was named as one of the top 20 outstanding ministers’ wives in the Southern Baptist Convention in 1955.
Joe B. Williams had a 30-year-plus ministry as a pastor at Meeker, Morning Star; Bluejacket, First; Miami, Northeast; Tulsa, Osage Hills; Stigler, First; Ardmore, Trinity and Nicoma Park, First. He served as a chaplain with the Nicoma Park Police Dept. (1982-1987). He also served as a chaplain with the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office from 1987-1991 and became a chaplain with the Oklahoma Division of the FBI on Jan. 1, 1991 when the FBI began its national program. As chaplaincy specialist with the BGCO, he helped direct the response to the Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995 and was instrumental to chaplaincy efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and following hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Louisiana in 2005.
Receiving the Commission’s DSA was Bill C. Haggard, who served the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BCGO) as associate director of the convention’s Religious Education Dept. from 1972-1993, and then served as the department’s director form 1972-1993. The Prague native also served as the State Director of Sunday School work, State Church Building Consultant and Falls Creek Program Director (22 years). He also was pastor of five Oklahoma churches.
A History of First Baptist Tishomingo: 125 Years of God’s Blessings was deemed the outstanding submission in 2023 and earned the Gaskin Church History Award. The bulk of the 249-page volume is composed of the church’s 1976 and 1988 histories, with an update compiled by Rita Lokey.
Messengers to the Annual Meeting also elected new members of the Historical Commission, including Coen Barnes, member of Washington, First; Chris Rucker, pastor of Sapulpa, First; and Joe Sherrer, member of Oklahoma City, Capitol Hill. Historical Secretary Bob Nigh expressed appreciation to three outgoing members of the Commission: Michael Dershem, Yale; Richard McCullough, Perkins and Stephanie Parnell, Yukon.
