Orphans' Embrace

07/23/2026

Mission Trip Day 5.

Began the day with a good-natured race between one of our younger team members and one of our more seasoned members. We don’t need to share who won😁.

Finished the Show Barn project. We weren’t able to finish out the med room and tack room in the Beef Barn; but the BRT residents and staff should be able to complete it easily.

Everyone departed after lunch and we are grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lord on mission with the wonderful Boys Town Ranch.

Thank you for your prayers this week! 🙏

07/23/2026

Mission Trip Day 4.

More progress on both rooms in Beef Barn and continued adding sheet metal to wall in Show Barn. Last day of discipleship training for the BRT boys. Dinner with the staff and residents, followed by a chapel service. Our Missions Pastor, Rod Payne, and Steve Weaver led worship and LB Rainbolt delivered the Gospel message. Several boys responded and lives were impacted. Ended the evening with team sharing and encouragement and affirmation of our youngest team members.

Please pray that we finish well tomorrow as we conclude our construction projects and have a time of dedicated prayer for Boys Ranch Town!

07/22/2026

Mission Trip Day 3 at BRT. Continued construction on rooms in Beef Barn. Began project to add sheet metal wall in Show Barn. Cleaned and organized storage area for their annual Christmas Pageant costumes and props. Had a fun family team building trip to Main Event in the evening.
Thanks for your continued prayers. Temp was 103 today with a heat index of 110.

07/21/2026

Mission Trip Day 2.
After learning about the history and the mission of Boys Ranch Town, our team began building rooms in their beef barn. In the afternoon, we led the boys in discipleship training about the Armor of God. In the evening, we had a cookout for all the residents and staff of BRT. Everyone is hot and tired, but had a blast serving the Lord together!

07/20/2026

Appreciate First Baptist Church Wichita Falls praying over our team this morning in both services. We covet your prayers as we minister to the residents and staff of Boys Ranch Town this week. Working on a couple of construction projects and leading discipleship training with the boys.

07/18/2026

Just received our t shirts this week for our mission trip beginning tomorrow afternoon.
This will be our 14th trip; and the first one without our matriarch, Mrs Fern Pettyjohn. She may have graduated to heaven in May, but we have put two small fern leaves on our shirts in her memory. Her example of Christlike servanthood will be honored and remembered by us this week.

06/18/2026

If you’re looking for a ministry opportunity this summer, please consider joining our Orphans’ Embrace team as we serve at Boys Ranch Town in Edmond OK! It is an affordable mission trip and we encourage both families and individuals to minister to the residents and staff of this unique ministry for teenage boys. We will be working on some renovation projects and leading them in discipleship. If you are interested, please contact us at [email protected]

https://fbcwf.tpsdb.com/OnlineReg/545

05/25/2026

https://www.owensandbrumley.com/obituary/fern-pettyjohn

Memorial service in East Sanctuary, First Baptist Church, 1200 9th Street, at 11am on Tuesday, May 26

On May 21, 2026, Fern Pettyjohn, 90, peacefully closed her eyes at her granddaughters home and opened them in the loving presence of the Savior she had so faithfully served all her life. A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church East Sanctuary at 11 a.m. Tuesday, May

05/23/2026

Our Orphans’ Embrace team was blessed to have Fern Pettyjohn as a member of our mission trip team since the very inception of our ministry. She faithfully served on every single OE Mission Trip since we began serving on mission 13 years ago. Even in the midst of fighting cancer, she was there working and ministering to the residents and staff of various child welfare organizations and orphan/foster care facilities. She was an inspiration to all of us as she toiled without complaint in the harsh heat of Texas and Oklahoma well into her late 80’s! She was always a bright light; and children and teens were drawn to her because of the Holy Spirit who dwelled within her.

On Thursday, Fern graduated to heaven at the age of 90 after a courageous multi year battle with cancer. We know that she is now in the presence of her Savior, Jesus, and reunited with her beloved husband, Jim, and her parents and all who went on before her. We also are assured that she heard the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

She will be dearly missed by all of us; but we will continue to serve on mission and always remember the way that she embodied James 1:27: “Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”