BRISTOW — The Rev. Rebecca Montgomery received an unexpected baptism by immersion recently when her church members tossed her into a swimming pool, clerical collar and all, at a Father's Day party.
Montgomery attributes the prank to her youth she is 29 and to the fact that she is fitting in well at the historic First Presbyterian Church.
Montgomery could feel out of place in Bristow, population 4,325. She was raised in Chicago, educated at the Princeton Theological Seminary, and has spent a year in Greece and three years in China, where she lived in a city of 4 million people.
But she doesn't.
"I live in a place where the majority of my members are agricultural or cattle folks," she said. "It's a great experience. It's been a fun adventure so far."
Montgomery said she felt called to Bristow.
"Often small churches get overlooked. I felt a passion and a calling to be here," she said. "It seems my gifts are well-placed here."
From Christ's perspective, she said, it is just as important for the people of Bristow to have trained and educated clergy as for the people of New York City or any other metropolitan area.
And the people of Bristow have embraced her. When she drove into town, the SpiritBank marquee read: "Bristow welcomes the Rev. Rebecca Montgomery."
"That wouldn't happen in New York City," she said. "It made me feel very welcomed."
Montgomery was raised in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and announced to
her family when she was in the fourth grade that she wanted to be a minister.
That goal came and went as she grew up. When she graduated from college in 2002, she felt that the timing wasn't right to go to seminary. Instead, she spent three years in China as a missionary, teaching English and American culture in a university in Jiujiang.
As one of only a few white people among 4 million Chinese people in the city, she was somewhat of a celebrity, she said.
"The first week the mayor came to meet me," she said.
Montgomery and her white companions often were invited to high-level banquets and other events because it was a mark of prestige and honor for a Chinese leader to be seen with them.
"They're all about honor and saving face and giving each other prestige," she said.
In 2005, Montgomery returned to the United States and enrolled at Princeton.
In 2008, she graduated with a master of divinity degree and took a few months off to reconnect with family and friends.
She spent 10 weeks with her grandmother in Chariton, Iowa, a small town.
"This was maybe a test for me, to see if I could really joyfully serve in a place like that," she said.
And then she accepted the position in Bristow.
"To move to Oklahoma was a pretty big step," Montgomery said.
But she's adjusting to life in rural Oklahoma.
She bought a house a couple of blocks from the church. She joined the Rotary Club, where she is often the only woman at meetings.
"I've learned so much about the cattle business," Montgomery said.
"I've been to horse sales. I've been to cattle sales. I eat at the Sale Barn on Fridays, because everybody who's anybody is at the Sale Barn for lunch. Plus it's the best food in town."
Bob Strong, who attended the church as a young man and recently returned to the area, said Montgomery is doing a "fantastic" job leading the 98-member church.
"We do a lot of new things," he said. "She brings a lot of life to our congregation."
Bristow’s First Presbyterian Church is full of history, including a singing cowboy
Bristow’s stately First Presbyterian Church was built in 1922 on land donated by the Claude Freeland family.
The exterior walls are white marble from Carthage, Mo., and the interior walls are buff Bedford stone from Bedford, Ind. The stained-glass windows are from Tiffany’s in New York City.
Church member Bob Strong said cowboy singer Gene autry once sang in the church’s choir.
Autry was a telegrapher in the 1920s at the Frisco Depot, now the Bristow Chamber of Commerce, before he was discovered by Will Rogers.