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DR. VERN CHARETTE

“Brother Vern” is our Senior Pastor. He grew up with an alcoholic father and had a sister die at the age of 39 due to alcohol and drugs. As a teenager hailing from the "Westside” of Tulsa, Vern was following suit. Vern was a high school dropout, in trouble with the authorities and living an immoral life. An African American preacher witnessed to the 18-year-old and invited him to church. In the summer of 1990 and in a little store front church in Tulsa, Vern, broken by the power of the gospel, gave his life to Jesus.

God confirmed Vern’s call to preach at the age of 19, after a trip to Falls Creek. The same trip, in which, Vern also met his wife, Jennifer. In 1997, the GED graduate entered Oklahoma Baptist University and started his formal educational journey. After graduating from OBU, Vern would go on and earn an M.Div. at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis, Tennessee and a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. During these years of formal education, Vern continued his evangelistic ministry and has more than two decades of itinerate evangelism experience. Vern also has more than seven-years’ experience teaching “text-driven” preaching as a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and has served in an adjunctive role with both Southwestern and the Haskins School for Oklahoma Baptists.

Vern and “Jen” celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary recently and have a son named “Christian,” after John Bunyan’s famous character in Pilgrims Progress.

Worship Pastor

First Baptist Church Coweta is prayerfully seeking God's person for this vital staff position within our multigenerational church. We are a healthy church that is in a growing community with many new young families relocating to the Coweta area. If you are interested in applying for the position, contact brother Vern via the email link below.

ALEX DUVALL

Alex is the Youth Pastor. He grew up in a Christian household with loving parents who taught him about God. After a number of personal setbacks and hurts, Alex came out of a battle with depression by turning to God. During his days as a college student, he felt God calling him to ministry. After a season of prayer, he knew that God was calling him into full time youth ministry. Not only does Alex possess a Bachelors degree in International Business from ORU, he has served as a Service Director and Senior Counselor at a large sister church, leading many adult volunteers and touching the lives of many students. While a student at ORU in 2017, Alex met Eleora Wilson and they were married in Coweta on April 14th, 2019. Eleora claims she converted Alex into a Baptist in March of 2021.

CHRISTINE GRIEBEL

Christine is the Director of the Preschool and Children. Christine has been married to her husband, Todd, since 2000. They have three boys: Michael, Matthew, and Mason. Originally from northern Iowa, Christine's family moved to Coweta in 2009. She began working in the preschool department in 2011 as a teacher. She became the director in 2013. In May of 2021, Christine also became the Children's Director.

MARK LIGHT

Mark is the Senior Adult Director. Mark was saved in 1963, at the age of eight, at Paradise Hills Southern Baptist Church in San Diego, California. PHSBC remained his church home for most of the next 30 years. There, he met his wife, Cindy, and they were married in 1974. He served in several positions including youth Sunday school teacher, youth director, deacon and part time music director. His employer transferred him to Oklahoma in 1996. They became members of Olivet Baptist Church, where Mark joined the choir and was privileged to sing on the worship team and in quartets. In 2018, he and Cindy moved to Coweta. In January 2019 they joined first Baptist Church of Coweta, where they have served since that time. Mark and Cindy have two grown sons and four grandchildren.

LIA GRAHAM

Lia Graham is the Administrative Assistant and has been on staff since 2009. She has been married to her husband Kelly since 1987. They have three children, Brandon and his wife BayLee, Alisha and her husband Jake and Kent. They also have two grandsons, Hunter and Waylon and two granddaughters, Sage and Blaire.