Local church leaders discuss September 23 "Fire Night" youth festival

Blackwell’s church leaders came together Saturday night at the Kay Room on Doolin for a meet-and-greet dinner as well as a night of song and worship all to promote the upcoming Oklahoma Youth Fire Night which will be held September 23 at the Blackwell Event Center on the fairgrounds.

Youth Fire Night will be done as a follow-up to the successful “Resolute” event held in June which drew hundreds of local youth for a night on song, dance, and worship.

Fire Night will be hosted by Apostle Liberty and the Spirit Move Ministry Team. Liberty is a faith-based public speaker with 70k subscribers on YouTube and 13k followers on Facebook.

The September 23 Fire Night will begin with a prayer walk at 10 a.m. followed by a leadership lunch at 12:30 p.m. and finally the Fire Night Service at 7 p.m. with the doors to the Event Center opening at 6 p.m.

Saturday night’s Kay Room meeting was lead by Ginger Newland, Jamie Buxton, and Naomi West who lead the room in song and played the keyboard with her husband John.

Newland spoke to the room stating that Blackwell’s churches shouldn’t be in competition with one another, but rather that they should be complementing eachother and noted that there was power in prayer, especially in regards to helping to spread faith to Blackwell’s youth.

“Liberty and the Spirit Move Team came to us- we didn’t seek her out,” Newland said, “the lord sent her to us to help build up the Kingdom of God here in Blackwell.”

Speaking of The Resolute, which was held over the summer at the Blackwell Event Center, Newland said:

“The Resolute wasn’t about one church- it was about unity. It was about all of our churches. The youth needs us, and that’s what we’re aiming to do with Fire Night.”

Prior to the summer’s Resolute event, Newland spoke to the Journal-Tribune and stated:

“Our young people, they’re just trying to find their place. Their identity is so lost. We know with all the stuff going on, all the things in our world, all the social media – all the things they’re watching and listening to are imparting these lies that they have believed. We want to impart truth to them.”

Buxton, who works with special needs students at Blackwell High School, also told the Journal-Tribune at the time:

“I see on the young kids depression, confusion, lack of identity, more so than even in my generation. My heart is to say, ‘Look, you do have a purpose. You are loved. You do have an identity in Christ, and you don’t have to be confused.’ … That’s my heart for the kids that I see, even in the high school.”

Newland told the room that at The Resolute they had fed 300 kids and saw over 60 of them run to the altar, something she had never seen before.

“They ran, they ran to that altar,” Newland said at Saturday night’s meeting, “the youth here want to be saved and to serve God. And we hope we can continue to encourage that this September.”