The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 68, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 1, 2011 Page: 6 of 35
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ACROSS THE NATION
6 THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
JANUARY 2011
-
BY BOBBY ROSS JR. | THE CHRISTIAN CHRONICLE
Hosted by: Healing Hands International
January 21 22,2011
Theme: An Anchor of Hope in the Eye of the Storm"
Formore information or to register:
visit www.hhi.org or call (615) 832 2000
4Sth TTnncial
Wszst Coast proaehgrs and Wadors Porum
February 6-10, 2011
STEWART WALTERS
Gayle King, Woody Square, Judy Square and Oprah Winfrey at Yosemite National Park.
Honoring:
Roberta Edwards
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Theme: "Kingdom of God"
(On Earth)
Hosted by: Las Vegas Area Churches of Christ
To Be Held At...
North Las V^gas Church of Christ
2626 N. Martin Luther King Blvd.
North Las Vegas, NV 89032
(702) 648-8283
coconmlk@earthlink.net
r-
Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey doesn’t
make it out to the woods too often.
For a recent special, though, Winfrey
and friend Gayle King hitched a pop-up
camper to a Chevrolet Tahoe hybrid and
hit the road to Yosemite National Park.
The purpose of Winfrey’s adventure:
to meet Shelton Johnson, a black park
ranger who complained that few African-
Americans visit America’s national parks.
While exploring Yosemite, Winfrey
ran into Woody Square, who has served
since 1992 as youth and family minister
for the San Leandro Church of Christ in
California. Square is black.
“Hi, where are y’all from?” Winfrey
asked Square and his wife, Judy.
“Guess why we’re here?” King chimed
in. “Because we were told black people
don’t normally come to the forest. And
we go, ‘There’s a black man!”’
“Surprise!” Square replied with a
laugh. “I’m the first one here.”
The Squares, who were visiting
Yosemite with friends from Australia,
posed for photos with Winfrey and
couldn’t stop talking about the encounter.
“It was totally surreal,” said Woody
Square, who earned a bachelor’s in
Bible from Harding University in Searcy,
Ark., and a master’s in ministry from
Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif.
“The fact that we met her was
amazing,” said Judy Square, who served
with her husband for six years as
missionaries to Papua New Guinea.
Minister gets Oprah s SUV keys,
camper a ter chance meeting
A week later, an “Oprah” producer
called and invited the Squares to fly to
Chicago and appear on the show. The
producer said the show would take care
of everything — flights, chauffeurs,
accommodations and all tips.
During the taping, the Squares chatted
briefly with Winfrey. Near the end of the
show, the host again smiled at them.
“Woody, it seems like camping just
brings you so much joy, right?” Winfrey
said to Square, who visits Yosemite
yearly. “So, come on up here, guys.”
As the Squares stood next to her,
Winfrey said, “So, I would have to say that
I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to Yosemite,
and everybody should get there at least
once in their lifetime, don’t you think?
“But the truth is,” she said, “I have to
finish the 25th season, and the next time
I go, I’m going to find a butler.
“So, I won’t be going anytime soon. So,
I want to give you guys the keys to my
Coleman camper. And, because you guys
have been so great, you need something
to pull it with. So, I’m throwing in the
Chevy hybrid Tahoe.”
Woody Square leaned his head back in
surprise.
His wife put her hands over her face.
Winfrey didn’t know it, but the Squares’
11-year-old Toyota Camry has 220,000-
plus miles on it. They were hoping to
make it last another two years.
“We really felt it was a God thing that
brought us there at the right time at
the right place,” Judy Square said of
crossing paths with Winfrey.
3rd annual
■'j "Women of Hope"
conference
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McMillon, Lynn. The Christian Chronicle (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 68, No. 1, Ed. 1 Saturday, January 1, 2011, newspaper, January 1, 2011; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1509300/m1/6/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.