Our story
Northeast Fellowship held its first service on March 17, 2024, in the building on Hefner Road where Lone Star Baptist Church met for decades.
Before we began
For more than sixty years, Lone Star Baptist Church gathered every week to worship. When the church closed in 2021, its last members weren’t ready to see the building sit empty.
They called Harvey Sparks, Lone Star’s former interim pastor, who now leads Portland Avenue. He suggested working with the North American Mission Board to start a new church in the same building.
“It was not an easy decision for them to shut their doors and give their assets to a new work, but they were willing to step out in faith for the sake of God’s glory.”
Harvey Sparks, Pastor of Portland Avenue
A sending church said yes
Harvey took the idea to Chris Gulley at Cherokee Hills, where Stephen Brown was in the pastoral residency and serving in the college ministry.
Stephen didn’t see himself as a church planter. He prayed about it, talked it through with Sabrina and a few close friends, and said yes. Cherokee Hills agreed to be the sending church, and eight families came with him, along with several single adults.
“I didn’t think I had the personality for it. When I think of a church planter, I didn’t think of myself.”
Stephen Brown, Teaching Pastor
How we got here
1959
Lone Star Baptist Church opens in Oklahoma City.
2021
Lone Star closes, and its members look for a way to keep the building serving the community.
Mar 17, 2024
Our first Sunday as Northeast Fellowship: 25 adults and 10 children, with two Lone Star couples among them.
Mar 2025
We mark one full year as a church.
Where we are today
Gather to know Christ. Go to make Him known.
Those two lines shape what we teach, what we plan, and how we make decisions. Our first Back to School event sent more than 300 kids home with new backpacks and served a meal to over 400 neighbors. We also partner with Britton Elementary and the Oaks Homeschool Co-Op, and you’ll find us out in the neighborhood on prayer walks, at community events, and around a shared meal.
Sunday potluck, August 2026
Trunk or Treat
We don’t do this alone
We’re a Southern Baptist church and part of the Metro Baptist Network, the association of Baptist churches in the Oklahoma City area.
We didn’t get here alone. These churches and partners helped plant Northeast Fellowship:
Cherokee Hills, our sending church
Portland Avenue
Surrey Hills
SEND Network Oklahoma
“All of us are partners with other churches around the world. Every single one of your church members is also a church planter alongside you.”
Stephen Brown, Teaching Pastor
Be part of the next chapter
Sundays at 1805 E Hefner Rd.
Equip classes at 9:15 AM and worship at 10:30 AM.
Read more in the Baptist Messenger: “A New Chapter” (June 2025) and “Church Plant in Northeast Oklahoma City Thriving after First Year” (April 2025).