Dr. Leroy M. Cole
The Baton Is Passed...
AFTER MORE THAN 50 YEARS, Rev. Dr. George C. McCutchen, Sr. is still in the race, but he has passed the baton to Dr. Leroy M. Cole, the New Pastor of the Mighty Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, in Tulsa, Oklahoma and he's hit the ground running! Relocated to the city on Friday, He and our First Lady, Jeana, settled into their Tulsa residence on Saturday, Shared His First Sermon as Pastor of the Mt. Zion Church Family on Sunday, and he's still running.
Leroy McGlenn Cole accepted Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior during his youth and was baptized at Popular Spring Baptist Church in Savoy, Mississippi. He accepted his calling to the gospel ministry at the age of seventeen.
Pastor Leroy Cole, a native of Meridian, Mississippi is the son of Reverend James Cole and Sister Cora Lee Cole. A graduate of Meridan High School in Lauderdale County, Pastor Cole has earned a Bachelors Degree in Industrial Technology from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi. He earned a Master of Ministry Degree and his Doctor of Ministry Degree from Andersonville Baptist Seminary in Camilla, Georgia. He has also studied at the Interdenominational Theological Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia.
Pastor Cole is married to the former Jeana McPherson of Jackson, Mississippi. They are the proud parents of Kellie, Kristie, Karla, Laboris and Corey.
Pastor Cole is committed to God and to serving his people. He has served as pastor of the Rhodes Creek Baptist Church located in Terry, Mississippi and the Belmont Baptist Church located in Raymond, Mississippi. He has also served as associate pastor of Shady Grove Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi. Since 2008 he had faithfully and prayerfully served the membership at the historic Mount Zion Baptist Church of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Locally, he serves as President in the First United Baptist District Congress of Christian Education. A member of the Five Star Revival Ministerial Alliance of Tulsa and a second year facilitator at the annual H.L. Collier Bible Institute.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, the anointing that rests on Pastor Cole’s life is manifested through his leadership ability, innovated teaching, and by profound visions. Pastor Cole challenges everyone who attends Mount Zion to experience the love and joy that only God can give by giving your best in worship.
Dr. Cole informed Mt. Zion that he has no biological family in Tulsa, but we are his family. Max Lucado reminded me that,
We are God's idea. We are his. His face. His eyes. His hands. His touch. We are him. Look deeply into the face of every human being on earth, and you will see His likeness. Though some appear to be distant relatives, they are not. God has no cousins, only children….
With this in mind, we are God's children and each other's siblings, brothers and sisters through Jesus Christ!
Dr. Cole and Mrs. Cole are in the process of meeting their newfound family, here in Tulsa, teaching and discipleing their newfound family; ministering to their newfound family; fellowshipping with their newfound family; and counseling and coaching their newfound family. Dr. Cole is determined to become all things to all men, that he might by all means save some. Dr. Cole's life is centered on living out the gospel and in preaching and teaching the gospel. Nothing else is of any concern to him.
Pastor's initial sermons to the Mt. Zion family are in the series entitled, "My Worship Is For Real" and he's teaching bible studies focused on "The Elements of Worship." Come worship with us to experience how God impacts your life when you live a life exemplifying worship.
After observing Mt. Zion his first Sunday as Pastor, on succeeding weeks as Pastor he informed us that…
To be prepared to worship in spirit and in truth on Sunday, we have to prepare spiritually, on a daily basis. It is essential to our spiritual development and our spiritual health as a church, so initially Pastor Cole provides these recommendations and opportunities for spiritual development, I'm sure there are more to come, but lets begin by,
Reading at least one scripture and praying every morning
Attending Prayer Meeting and Bible Study each Wednesday at 12:00 noon or 6:30 pm.
Bringing your prayer requests and writing them down on paper that will be provided and place your prayer requests in the prayer box located in the Sanctuary. Pastor requests that you do not write your name on your prayer request. For he stated, God knows who you are, we will pray as a church family, and trust God to move in your situation.
As we worship through our financial giving…. Pastor shared God's word from Haggai 1:5-8…
5.Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways.
6.You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
7.This is what the Lord Almighty says; "Give careful thought to your ways.
8.Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored," says the Lord.
In Pastor's first sermon to the Mt. Zion Family, he ministered from Isaiah 40:29-31,
29.He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
30.Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men will utterly fall:
31.But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
Pastor Cole is not only a Preacher; He's a Pastor, Teacher & Leader. So as a church family we will run with our Pastor, as he runs to reach the world for Christ…
We'll run swiftly,
We'll run with power,
When we get tired, Jesus will refresh us!
So…Get Ready, Get Set, and…
Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20 NIV)