Our Blog

Student Ministry August 2018

Dear Church Family,
Recently I have been thinking about the fact that we call ourselves a church family. We are indeed a family built up of adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, who purchased us through Jesus Christ our Lord and elder brother. Similarly to how we all have family names that denote to whom we belong, our heavenly family name is Christian. It is our new last name. It was given to us when we were born again into this family of God. My true name is Brian James Van Doren Christian, and that declares that I belong to Christ our Savior, God our Father, and the Holy Spirit our helper. Everyone who has this same family name is my sibling… and that has a very significant meaning for how we live together.

Oakhill Baptist Church makes up one local gathering of this family, which has spread over all the earth and is still growing day by day. It is the specific gathering of my family (Christians) to which I belong. Families in the world today do not always give us an accurate depiction of how we are to interact with one another in our heavenly family. If we think that the Christians should live like families of the world, then we should rarely speak to each other, disrespect and hold grudges against each other, seek the approval of others more than our family members, and spend very little time with one another. Clearly this is mistaken, but unfortunately it is too often true of some gatherings of the Christian family. This is what happens when a gathering of the Christian family listens more the world and their own selfish tendencies than they do to the Word of God. Thankfully, our church as a whole prefers to listen to God’s Word over the ways of the world and our selfish impulses. We, as a whole, choose to spend time together in fun fellowship and deep discipleship.

Time spent together in fun fellowship and deep discipleship is exactly what a healthy family needs. That is what the student ministry has been focusing on this summer. We have spent much of our time together simply having fun and enjoying a few laughs. But we have also been focusing intentionally on our relationships with Christ and how that ought to impact how we relate to one another. Those last two sentences are not mutually exclusive, however. Often we have had fun fellowship and intentional discipleship at the same time! The reason this is so important is because it is in these times that the gospel is worked out in our lives. Students know that “Jesus” is the right answer in Sunday School. But they won’t see how Jesus actually guides their thoughts and actions when interpersonal drama creeps in unless they are experiencing regular Christian fellowship and intentional discipleship. They need to spend time with their heavenly family and be committed to seeing the gospel that unites us together worked out in their relationships. We all need this. And we need to lead the younger generation to strive for this. The question is, will we be committed to our heavenly family, or will we be committed to ourselves?

Sincerely,
Brian Van Doren

Student Ministry July 2018

Dear Church Family,
         As many of you know, Kayla and I are expecting our first child in November, and we could not be more thrilled and excited! We have been waiting for what seems like a lifetime to learn the gender so we can know a little bit more about this person whom God is creating in the womb. She wanted a girl and I, of course, wanted a boy. But when it was time to go find out, we both had come to the place of complete contentedness about whatever gender it turned out to be. You can’t control these things, so why not be excited for a surprising adventure? So that was our determination. Either way, we were ready for what God had in store for us.

When the sonographer said, “it’s a boy!” we had insta-tears! Insta-tears are tears that basically explode from your eyes immediately due to anticipated joy. We were so thrilled! Not because we got what we were hoping for, but simply because we were getting to know our baby boy just a little bit more. We already knew his name. We’ve been thinking about baby names for several years now actually, so it was not very difficult to decide. His name is Samuel Lewis Van Doren. We did not just choose that name because it is obviously super cool. It has very important meaning and nostalgia behind it.

Samuel means “asked of God,” or “God has heard.” We named him Samuel because God has heard our prayer for a child and has answered us. We want our son to know where he came from and Who made him. He is not a random by-product of biology. He is a gift from God. Lewis means “renowned warrior.” While that sounds good, there is more to it. My grandfather on my mom’s side is named Lewis. He has been a huge influence on me in my Christian walk. He taught me that Jesus is my hero, and that there is nothing better than living my life for Him. We want our son to know that our Lord is a renowned warrior who defeated sin and death for him. We want our son to be a renowned warrior who will put his faith in Christ and live a life warring against sin and worldliness in his own life and around him.

This may sound a little intense to some of you, and that is ok. But it is our conviction that children are gifts from God that are given so we can make an impact on the world for His glory and our children’s blessing. Psalm 127:3-5 says, “Behold, children are a ^[c]gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward. ⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the     children of one’s youth. ⁵ How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They will not be ashamed When they speak with their enemies in the gate.”  Arrows are designed to be shot out and to make an impact on their target. Children are also    arrows that we are to raise and send out to make an impact on the world. We must raise them in the gospel and train their hearts. Samuel is our first arrow, and we are praying that he will fly in the power of the gospel exactly where the Lord would have him fly!

Thanks for reading. I hope this encourages you to influence the younger generation to live for the Lord and make an impact for His glory.