This Coming Sunday

I am so excited about this coming Sunday! RRRRRRR! that's me clinching my teeth, while thinking about rushing at the enemy with our Core by my side! We will spend time this Sunday talking about being in the right place for the Glory of God. Our Core will get a chance to write down where they want to serve and then all during next week the Lead Staff will spend time praying over every name and each position. Then the fun begins of finalizing Items, processes, budget and so much more! This past week we bought a trailer and now it's time to look at what we are going to fill that trailer with. In the UFC Referee voice "Let's get it on!"

Sunday

Yesterday we talked about VHQ which stands for Volunteer Head Quarters. VHQ is one of our four areas that we will have on Sunday Mornings by launch. The past four weeks we have talked about each of the four areas. Guest Services, Children's, Worship, and VHQ. I was really excited to talk about the importance of volunteers to everything that we do. We have an amazing opportunity placed before us and volunteers are what will make the difference. This coming week will be Aces in their places. It's going to get real for the core staff over the next several weeks. Let's do this!

Awesome!

Last night a few of our Core Group members gathered at a home to make a short video for our Launch Team phase. The purpose of the video is for the core group members to have something that they can give to their friends to watch so that their friends can learn about Oasis in a very un-intrusive way. When we thought up the video I new that it would be interesting to do, but I had no idea how I would be impacted. As I sat there in the room with people talking about Oasis, why they got involved and their desire to see lost people come to Christ, is was so touched. Most of the time all I could do was close my eyes and hold back the tears as I heard their statements. I am so excited about the video and I know that it is going to impact people. Thank you so much for all that you guys do as a core group! I love you guys! You've got this vision and passion.... Keep it strong!

this coming sunday

I'm really excited about this Sunday because we will be talking about volunteers. The way we handle volunteers is hugely important to me. I believe that we must highly value them and they need to know that we value them. The reality is that if someone doesn't know that you value them, then it's very likely that you don't value them enough. I love to observe relationships between people, and what I've noticed is that when someone doesn't think that they are valued, often times it's because they are not shown that they are valued. I believe that if we truly do value someone then we will do our best to show them. This Sunday we will talk about valuing volunteers and how we want to show that we value them. This must be a high priority of ours. The reality is that people want to volunteer, but for some reason many people hate volunteering for a church. We will talk about why many people hate volunteering for church and what we need to do shift this existing condition.

P.S. Tomorrow I will blog about a video project that some of our core group helped us with tonight. It was amazing!

Update

This Sunday was really good. The YMCA hosted a triathlon and asked us to host a service for any of the participants who wanted to attend, although the triathlon ended early enough for all of the participants to get to their own churches. We got to get just a very small taste of what it will be like at launch. When we Launch, we will have a lot more set in place. I really enjoyed actually having a sound system. We have been meeting without any sound and this week we will go back to that format until we get closer to launch. I think the biggest thing that we saw was that we will need more people to keep from draining our core group. We only set up a few things and I must say that it is draining... but very exciting at the same time. The folks we had setting up did an amazing job. You are an amazing Core Staff! I want to say thank you to the YMCA yet again for their amazing partnership. Please continue to pray for us. God is going to do an amazing work through Oasis Church. Please don't forget that now is the time to give financially with many purchases for Launch coming up soon.

Columbine Anniversary

Monday will be the 10 year anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings. I can only imagine the pain the Columbine classes of 1996-1999 still deal with to this day. Take a minute right now to say a prayer for those affected there and the emotions and memories that they still deal with today. Being a teacher reminds me of the fragile lives of teenagers. We can all look back and remember the things that we experienced that shaped us in middle and high school. There have been many school shootings over the years, as a matter of fact you can click on this link here to go to a map of the US with all the school killings since 1983. Note that our own Oakland Elementary in Greenwood is on that map. There are a lot of students who have been and will be hurt in their adolescent years that can only be healed by a miracle working God. Please pray for the church, that we will be a healing ground for hurting people, an avenue through which people meet an amazingly loving and gracious God. Pray for Oasis Church, that we will have a heart of compassion for hurting people. The church is the only hope for a dying world. Let's act like with know that is true!

Update

This Sunday we will be hosting a service at the Y for all of the triathlon participants. I am so excited about it. The service starts at 11 and we will be setting up in the back of the Y in the Exercise room. This will be a wonderful opportunity for us to see just a tiny little bit what we will look like on launch day. We are going to set up the pipe and drape and we will actually have a sound system this time. We are going to need some help setting up, so anyone who can come and help needs to be there at 9:30. We will be loading in from a back door on the Y, so just come to the back and look for Rick's truck. Anyone who can't help at 9:30 needs to be there by 10:30 to help greet people. You are an awesome Staff.

Mmmm

Nope, that's not blood. Just ketchup. She's not a vampire.