Pastor's Point - April 2024
Dear Church Family,
I pray you all are doing well and enjoying the blessings of God in your life. This month I have just two quick points to share.
Recently I have been sharing some of the “one another” passages from scripture with our church staff at the beginning of our staff meetings. These are powerful truths that will help us live better in community with each other. The reason I decided to focus on these passages with our church staff is because it is very important for us to prioritize our relationships and use a biblical standard in how we treat one another. It is important for us to have hearts that are looking to prioritize others. This does not just happen. We must make a conscience effort to apply ourselves to live out these verses.
As we live in community with people in our families, churches, or work environments we have the privilege of living in such a way that we encourage, strengthen, and support others. Now if we are honest sometimes it is hard to live that way. Living in community with others can be hard, challenging, and difficult. I love this quote from Scott Hubbard from his article, The Art of One Anothering. He states… “I sometimes think I could be very holy if, after doing my morning devotions, I just stayed in my room all day long. I find that patience, for example, comes easier by myself. Peace, too. I feel a general kindness and goodwill when I’m alone. I imagine myself ready to bear others’ burdens. But then I leave my room and begin interacting with some of those “others” face to face. And before long, I wonder where my
holiness went. Patience now feels fragile; peace goes on the retreat. My theoretical kindness finds itself unprepared for real annoyances, and my shoulders seem too weak for real burdens. People, it turns out, have an irritating way of poking the spiritual fruit on my table, only to reveal just how many of those apples and pears are plastic.” The Lord will help us in our weakness to bear the fruit of the one another passages. There is nothing better than healthy, supportive, and
encouraging community. We as followers of Christ can be used to build that kind of community if we will only apply ourselves to living out the “one another” passages that we find in God’s Word.
Second, I just want to share how thankful I am for all of those that serve on our church staff. Each one of them goes above and beyond in their service to the church and ultimately to the Lord. I love and appreciate each one of them as partners in ministry and as my brothers and sisters in Christ! I also want to point out, if you did not know, that Pastor Bryan Gotcher just celebrated his seventeenth anniversary of service here at Oakhill! We go back even further than that because we served together at my former church for a couple of years as well. All total we have about twenty years
together serving the local church. I can honestly say that the “one another” passages have been instrumental in allowing us to minister together for these last twenty years. I thank God for Bryan and all the many roles that he has filled in our church family throughout the years. I refer to him affectionately as the “Swiss army knife” of ministry because of all the different roles he can fulfill in the church and in ministry to the Lord. He has been a good friend and fellow pastor with me for many years, and I am looking forward to all that God has in store for us as we continue to serve here at Oakhill!!
I love you and I love being your pastor!