By Ben Fisher ’27 from an interview with Pastor Steve Evans

I recently talked with Pastor Steve Evans, the pastor at Lord Lutheran Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. During our discussion, I learned about the various struggles the church faced during COVID before he worked there with the community staying strong despite not having a pastor. With his help, the congregation was able to be revived through a new initiative called the Senior Moments Ministry. Pastor Steve’s reasoning behind this is that “there are more people now turning 65 every day than there are kids being born”. He further stated how “ churches are only getting more senior-dense, and the more that we can do to help keep them engaged and involved just helps them live a better, a better life”. To do this, the congregation has enacted a number of initiatives to help seniors engage with their community, find their passions, and grow a closer relationship with a loving and forgiving god. 

We’re trying to portray the positives of senior moments. We’re about building, trying to build community for seniors.

Pastor Steve Evans

One of the initiatives was setting up a quilting group where members were able to make quilts for members of the community such as hospital residents and cancer patients. Through community donations of quilt materials, the sewing group is on track to reach 250  members, providing congregation members a new passion and purpose for carrying out God’s work in caring for others. Another initiative the Senior Moments Ministry provides is a choir group called Notables OCK that sings church songs at veterans homes and the local mall. With around 70 members, this group provides an opportunity for people to find their vocation in spreading God’s message through music. Painting classes are another way to help congregation members engage with the community and find their passion by providing an opportunity to make art, which has been given away and auctioned in the past to help fund the church’s initiatives. Through the Village program, seniors are also able to learn important life skills so that they could live fuller lives while carrying out God’s word. Each of these initiatives achieve the goal of providing a thriving community for seniors that brings them closer with each other, the community, and most importantly, with God. As Pastor Steve says, “We’re trying to portray the positives of senior moments. We’re about building, trying to build community for seniors”.

Because seniors have a whole lot of things to contribute, and I think that’s one of the biggest opportunities that this whole thing is showing us.

Pastor Steve Evans

During our discussion, Pastor Steve told me that the church’s main agenda was hospitality and “loving your neighbor as yourself”. I think this message aligns perfectly with the church’s initiatives because they’re providing new opportunities for living life with other people. One thing that really stuck with me was when Pastor Steve said that “it’s really easy to start feeling like you don’t matter. And that’s not the case. Because seniors have a whole lot of things to contribute, and I think that’s one of the biggest opportunities that this whole thing is showing us”. This is what the Senior Moments Ministry is all about; restoring that sense of worth that God made sure all humans have. The Senior Moments Ministry also promotes sharing the perspective of a forgiving and merciful God, encouraging a communal understanding that we all make mistakes and that God will always accept our repentance. 

In the near future, Pastor Steve hopes to continue implementing new programs into the ministry, such as a senior prom so that congregation members can have an experience that many of them missed out on when they were in high school. Abstract and creative activities like these follow Pastor Steve’s saying that “You never know where a seed might actually find the light and the water that it needs to start growing. Be open to that cause. God will surprise you”. I look forward to seeing how this community continues to grow, and wish the best for Pastor Steve’s future ambitions in making a community that becomes closer with God and each other.