Our Blog

March 2017 Pastor's Points

Dear Church Family,

First, I want to say thank you to the church family for helping us exceed our financial goal to ensure that we pay off our church debt by the end of 2017!!  We had the goal to raise $92,000.00 and we received monies and pledges totaling $94,000.00.!!!  By exceeding our goal by $2000.00, it will allow us to use less monies on hand to pay off our debt!  Thank you for your sacrificial giving!!!

Second, I pray that you were able to be in service on February 19^th as I shared possibilities for the future of our church family.  If you were not there I encourage you to go to our website (www.oakhillbc.org) and listen to that sermon.  In it I lay out biblical and practical reasons why we as a church are taking steps to continue to reach out to the lost in our community, as well as rededicate ourselves to making disciples.  One of the steps we are asking our church to take is for some of our existing 2:42 groups to consider meeting at another time other than 9:30am on Sunday morning to free up more parking for our worship services.  We have 193 parking spots and by the national average you can figure two people per car which comes to a total of 386.  We always are over this number every Sunday.  Our current adult 2:42 groups are considering what they can do as it relates to meeting at an alternate time.  Some groups have already let me know that they can meet at another time or location to help with this parking challenge.  There are some groups that are not able to meet at another time and I understand and want to thank them for considering it.

We also had a question and answer time on February 22 to speak into the reasons for the need for some of these adjustments.

From that meeting, I want it to be clear that…

1. No one is being forced to change the time their 2:42 group meets. We are simply asking for our groups to consider sacrificing a preference of a meeting time to help meet the practical concern of parking.  Each group will make their own decision.
2. It was presented that student ministry would not meet on Sunday mornings after August 13^th, but that may not be the case if we find there is a need for a student group to meet for those families that may stay on Sunday mornings.
3. We will be starting all new Life Groups off our campus because of the lack of parking and physical space in our building. With this will come an adjustment to our Sunday morning children’s ministry schedule.  This adjustment is necessary for multiple reasons.  We must create a sustainable model of ministry which uses our space and volunteer base to their greatest effectiveness.

I know it is sometimes hard to change the patterns that we are used to, but the Gospel and making disciples is so important that I believe it is worth asking us to be open to these adjustments.  Also, you will find a frequently asked question/answer sheet at the welcome center about this new model of ministry to help answer questions that you may have.

Finally, I want to encourage us all to keep our eyes on Jesus during this time.  Let’s walk in his love and desire above all things what he wants in this world and in our lives!!  We can never go wrong by seeking out his will and displaying his love!!  I am so excited about our future!! 

I love you and I love being your pastor!

FEBRUARY 2017 PASTOR'S POINTS

Dear Church Family,

I have been writing an article for the Oakleaves for over ten years now and almost without fail I always start it the same way: “Dear Church Family.”  You know that is what we really are.  We are brothers and sisters in Christ!  We have been adopted into God’s family as we place our faith and trust in Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

We are called to do life together.  And we do not have to guess what that looks like.  God’s Word is clear on this matter.  I have been reading a book called Follow Me, by David Platt.  And this month I want to share an excerpt out of this book for you to consider.  Platt shares…

“Biblically, a church does not consist of people who simply park and participate in programs alongside one another.  Instead, the church is comprised of people who share the life of Christ with each other on a day-by-day, week-by-week basis.”

“We are to live alongside one another for the sake of one another!  The Bible portrays the church as a community of Christians who care for one another, love one another, host one another, receive one another, honor one another, serve one another, instruct one another, forgive one another, motivate one another, build up one another, encourage one another, comfort one another, pray for one another, confess sins to one another, esteem one another, edify one another, teach one another, show kindness to one another, give to one another, rejoice with one another, weep with one another, hurt with one another, and restore one another.”

“These “one another’s” combined together paint a picture not of people who come to a building filled with customized programs, but of people who have decided to lay down their lives to love one another.”  And at the end of all of this we find this understanding of what the local church truly is.  “The church is a community of Christians who love one another and long for each other to know and grow in Christ.”

This is a big part of us being effective in making disciples here at Oakhill.  We need to belong to a community in a “life group”.  “True community exists when we are individually surrendered to God, collectively serving together, and willingly sacrificing for the good of each other.”

I love you and I am thankful to call you all family.