By Don Rush

First Baptist Church of Oxford pastor Nathan Peloquin sees a need, he and others from his church sensed locals were in need of something and they figured out what that something was and what they could do about it.

“Our community has been through hard times during the last few years. Many of us have experienced loss due to Covid, myself included. Many are still affected by the tragedy of the school shooting last year,” he said. “First Baptist is reaching out to meet those hurting in Oxford. We want to reach them spiritually. We want to give them hope with our upcoming Hope Conference.”

Planning for the Hope Conference started back in February.

“First we decided we want to reach out,” Peloquin said. “Then we needed to develop what the theme would be. We came up with, ‘amidst all these tragedies is God good?’ Then we needed to find a speaker and then the logistics of making it all happen.”

The Hope Conference is a three day affair, with the daily programs lasting about an hour. Special guest speaker will be founder of Brains and Bibles and theologian Joel Willoughby. Brains and Bibles is a non-profit based in Ankeny, Iowa. The conference will be at the church, 150 Pontiac Street. There will be a nursery available for infants and programs for children from kindergarten to third grade.

Hope Conference is Aug. 19, 20 and 21. The first two days the program is from 7 to 8 p.m.; the last day the conference is from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We want to be a healthy church,” Peloquin said. “In God’s love and treating each other and our community with the love of God.”