Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center, also known simply as Falls Creek, is a conference center and youth camp along Falls Creek in the

Arbuckle Mountains The Arbuckle Mountains are an ancient mountain range in south-central Oklahoma in the United States. They lie in Murray, Carter, Pontotoc, and Johnston counties.

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

. It is the state's oldest church camp and is also the largest youth encampment in the United States. While the center primarily serves members of the

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

faith, attendees from other denominations use the facility as well. Falls Creek is owned and operated by the

Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma (BGCO), now known simply as Oklahoma Baptists, is a group of churches affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the ...

(BGCO).

History

Falls Creek was established in the summer of 1917, when J.B. Rounds and W. D. Moorer used donated land to host the meeting of the Baptist Young People's Union, with a total of 273 campers. Since then, Falls Creek has grown astronomically, now averaging 55,000 attendees each summer. In the 1920s, a large outdoor tabernacle was built and remained in use for many years. In 2004, this tabernacle was torn down and construction began on a new one, with services during the 2005 and 2006 sessions being held at an amphitheater. Benches from the old tabernacle, which had been signed by generations of campers, were sold as collector's items. In 2007, the new tabernacle was opened at the 90th Falls Creek session and was the first facility indoors and with

rest rooms A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

. Former Rep. and now US Senator

James Lankford James Paul Lankford (born March 4, 1968) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from Oklahoma since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2015. ...

(R-OK) was Program Director for Falls Creek between 1996 and 2009.

Geology

Falls Creek emanates from springs of the Arbuckle aquifer and flows over several waterfalls, the most notable being Price Falls, before dumping into the

Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the states of Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geography The ...

. The geologic formations surrounding Falls Creek have been dated to the

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

and contain many fossils of organisms that lived during that time. A large

graben In geology, a graben () is a depressed block of the crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German, meaning 'ditch' or 'trench'. The word was first used in the geologic conte ...

is present in the camp which contains the

clastic Clastic rocks are composed of fragments, or clasts, of pre-existing minerals and rock. A clast is a fragment of geological detritus,Essentials of Geology, 3rd Ed, Stephen Marshak, p. G-3 chunks, and smaller grains of rock broken off other rocks ...

materials of the Royer Dolomite which underwent karsting and was redeposited during the Pennsylvanian as the Collins Ranch Conglomerate.

Indian Falls Creek

Since 1947, Falls Creek has hosted a special annual gathering, called "Indian Falls Creek", of Native American

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

from Christian churches of all denominations across and outside of the United States, and from many churches residing within the state of Oklahoma. This weeklong camp session, which is the largest Indigenous Christian camp in North America, is aimed at families and focuses on topics and activities of particular interest to the various tribes, such as native crafts and language preservation through songs. It is chaired and directed by Native American pastors Bill Barnett and Victor Cope. An annual blood drive and bone marrow registry are also held at this time to increase contributions and minority representation to the repository to provide better matches for those in need, with the blood being stored at the Oklahoma Blood Institute.

Other ministries

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

umpires Ted Barrett and Rob Drake, together with Reverend Dean Esskew, founded "Calling for Christ", an organization ministering to professional umpires. In 2001, Barrett and Drake were introduced to Esskew at a conference in Denver where Esskew told them about Falls Creek's facilities. They decided to hold their first retreat at Falls Creek and have returned for several years.

Death of Moses Fitchpatrick

In August 2010, a 20-year-old camper from

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

named Moses Fitchpatrick broke off from his hiking group and went missing. His body was found several days later, two miles south of the Falls Creek property, in rough terrain. The cause of death was undetermined, but likely to have been a result of heat and

dehydration In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

Falls Creek, Oklahoma

Falls Creek is considered to be in

Davis, Oklahoma Davis is a city in Garvin and Murray counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 2,683 at the 2010 census. History Davis is named after Samuel H. Davis, who moved to Washita in what was then Indian Territory in 1887. At the tim ...

for official matters, but many locals and attendees consider it to be an independent township or self-running town, complete with a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional se ...

and shops. It also has a lake and a natural spring. Falls Creek is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

county in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Attractions

Falls Creek is the home of Falls Creek Baptist Conference Center. The former B. B. McKinney Chapel in Falls Creek was named in honor of

Baylus Benjamin McKinney Baylus Benjamin McKinney or B. B. McKinney (July 22, 1886 – September 7, 1952), was an American singer, song writer, teacher, and music editor.''A Biographical and Bibliographical Study of Baylus Benjamin McKinney (1886-1952)'' PR Powell ...

, the

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

native and Christian singer and composer of 149 gospel hymns. It was demolished in 2003-2004 for the construction of the new R.A. Young Tabernacle.

Transportation

Roads and highways

Major highways are: * U.S. Route 77D

References

External links

Falls Creek
(official website)
Indian Falls Creek
website {{Coord, 34, 25, 32, N, 97, 06, 43, W, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark_region:US-OK Baptist Christianity in Oklahoma Christian summer camps Native American religion Religious buildings and structures in Oklahoma Buildings and structures in Murray County, Oklahoma