The Sanctuary Comes to Life in Broken Arrow
BROKEN ARROW, OKLA. – A replica of the sanctuary from ancient Bible times, Messiah’s Mansion, came to life at the Broken Arrow Seventh-day Adventist Church, April 6-14, 2024, and what a magnificent sight it was.
Messiah’s Mansion Directors Clayton and Carolyn Leinneweber, based in Harrah, Okla., along with their nephew and traveling cook, Travis Hunt, Deb Olson and staff and students from Tulsa Adventist Academy, arrived to begin setting up on the evening of April 2. History was repeating itself from 21 years earlier when Messiah’s Mansion graced the same ground at the Broken Arrow church.
Many volunteers were on hand to help with setup, including members from the Broken Arrow church and our sister church in Claremore. In addition, former Broken Arrow pastor Nathan Shires and his wife, Gurpreet, returned from California to help.
This event took a year to plan and many prayers were offered up during this process. Meetings were held to work out logistics for traffic flow, parking and serving meals to the staff/tour guides/volunteers and to set up schedules for volunteers to assist in the many areas needed to bring this to reality.
Tours were offered to the public from 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. daily, with sign-up available online or on a walk-in basis. Broken Arrow church members were very involved the entire time, as it was felt that God could greatly use this as a witnessing opportunity to the surrounding community and the greater Tulsa area as a whole. A total of 1,600 people toured Messiah’s Mansion and many individuals indicated an interest in Bible studies. Broken Arrow church members are now following through with visiting these contacts to make arrangements for Bible study.
The enemy worked tirelessly to prevent this event from occurring, but in the end, God prevailed, as He always does. Messiah’s Mansion was a great blessing to many, and church members hope that the seeds sown will reap a harvest of untold proportions that will last into eternity.
By Judy Tyree
