This and next Sunday!

This Sunday was great. We had our first new official volunteer... So excited about having you LBz. We also tore everything down in record time today! We are getting this thing down to an art form.

Next Sunday is going to be the beginning of an new intense message series. It's called Elephant in the pew and we are joining with 5 other churches to talk about what God has to say on some very important and often times taboo topics. Here are the next few week's topics:Addiction, adultery, pornography, and prejudice. Please invite your family and friends. God can change lives over the next few weeks, but people need to have to opportunity to hear the message. BE the CHANGE!

Rick Warren

In my experience as a church planter, I've noticed that it is difficult to find Godly pastors who have time to pour into your life. I have two Pastors who have been hugely supportive to me, and to Carl Martin and Phil Keowan I want to say, from the bottom of my heart "thank you." You have had a part in every life that has been and will be touched through Oasis. The other day I had an amazing experience. Rick Warren of Saddleback church began following me on twitter. I thought that it was so cool that he took the time to look up church planters on twitter and that he cares enough to follow people like me, so I sent him a quick note to tell him thank you for caring. I did not expect him to respond, but he did! That's right, Rick Warren of Saddle back church, the Author of Purpose driven life actually took the time to respond! I don't say that because I'm bragging on me, I say that to brag on him. A lot of people can say that they believe in and support church planters, but few people, especially people of his status actually prove it on such a personal level. Thank you Rick for being and encouragement. It came at a much needed time! Thank you God for Calling Godly men Like Rick!

Hey Oasis, This is Rick Warren's message for Oasis Church, word for word.

"Curt, we're in this together man.Tell your church we're partners in ministry &that I asked you to tell them I prayed 4 u & them! rick"

What an amazing dude!
JESUS get's the glory for that one!!!!!

P.S. Clay, this mid week post was for you man!

Sunday Sum-up.

Today we were in the third week of our "One Man's Journey" Series. Here are a few random thoughts, some related to the message and some not.

-Living as a follower of Jesus is an amazing experience.

-Living as a follower of Jesus doesn't guarantee you that you will always have the "Warm Fuzzies."

-If we are not willing to abandon the normal (What we have always known) we are guaranteed to get the same results that we've always gotten... and for the huge majority of us... The results of our normal lives isn't usually God using us to do AMAZING things... Why? Because we refuse to give up the normal...

-Was it Albert Einstein who said that the definition of insanity is "doing the same thing expecting different results."?

-Hey... FYI... Jesus' methods weren't normal then and they're not going to be normal now.

-Just for the Super Spiritual... Yes, normal is a relative term, but by normal, I mean our normal every day lives... Get off of your high horse!

-If Jesus came today instead of 2,000 years ago, I'm sure the results would be the same... Yep, I think that we'd crucify Him. We'd make some pretty good Pharisees.

- When we abandon what we've always know to be... our normal... we are going to deal with some difficult emotions. If we're not careful, we can confuse the emotions that occur with abandoning the normal with the Holy Spirit convicting us of sin. Abandoning the normal will rarely feel right, but what we feel isn't what's important. What's important is what's actually right.

-People WILL abandon you when you follow Jesus.

-You MUST be willing to abandon EVERYTHING if you're actually going to follow Jesus ANYWHERE that He calls you.

-Jesus abandoned everything for you!

-If you are one of our attenders and you would like to volunteer on Sunday mornings, please let us know. You can email us at Web@ocgreenwood.com or you can just let the ladies know at the Guest Services table on any Sunday morning.

-For those of you who are pouring your lives into Oasis, Thank YOU!

Sunday Sum-up.

Today was awesome! The volunteers did an amazing Job. We had a lot of people out sick and EVERYTHING still got done. You guys rock!
Here are a few thoughts from the day.

-I LOVE to see people excited about church!

-Pansy Christianity has got to stop!

-The YMCA is doing a fantastic job with the renovations.

-Jesus matters far more than any of our agendas, including my own.

From John 9:6-12
-There are four things that you need to know about for when God wants to do something amazing in your life.
#1. Many times you will FEEL like God is spitting in your face.
#2. God will ask you to do some RIDICULOUS things.
#3. God will place the right people around you at the right time.
-Is He calling you to help someone do something ridiculous today?
#4. God will ask you to follow Him blindly before He gives you sight.

-Today, my son on his very own, suggested ways to reach out to other children and get them into church! AMAZING!

-I wonder if Jesus actually hocked a loogey.... How do you actually spell loogey....?

-Jesus loves you!

-Please invite your friends over the next couple of weeks. Help them to see what God wants to do through their pain.

Ready

I know that I'm a couple of blogs behind and for that I am sorry. I am so excited about tomorrow. Carolina and Georgia are currently playing the highest scoring game in the history of all history and yet, all that I can think about is tomorrow. Since I last blogged we have seen another profession of faith. That is sooooo awesome! last week we were able to be a presence on the campus of Lander University for the first official time since launch. Many of the Students seemed very excited about Oasis and we hope to see some of them over the next year. Tomorrow is week 2 of our "One man's journey" series. If you have anyone who needs to know how God wants to use the pain in their life to do some amazing things through them, please invite them to Oasis. I truly believe that God has an awesome message for many of us over the remaining 3 weeks of this series. Lord, help us as a church to do what's right no matter how hard it is, and grant us the wisdom to know what's right. Break our hearts for the lost and heal our broken land. We love you Dad! Amen.

Sunday Sum-up

Today was absolutely AMAZING! From the time that we showed up this morning, the core team was on their A game. Kevin was right on with the music. The lights and sound and video were all top notch. Guest services, VHQ and OC Kids were on it. However, I'm not just bragging on our core group for doing an awesome job, although I am bragging on them. What I am so through the roof excited about is that people's hearts were stirred. Most importantly 2 people gave their lives to Christ today! That is so freaking awesome! You can't see me right now, but I cannot sit still. I have been so overjoyed all day long. Everything that we have done over the past year and a half was worth it today. This is the third week in the life of Oasis Church and Hell will now be 2 people fewer and Heaven will now be 2 people more crowded. My hope and my prayer is that this is just the beginning. Here are few thoughts from today.

-Church planting is necessary!

-OC Kids does an amazing job. We had a kid arrive today who's mom said that he would cry the whole time, yet when he left, he left with a huge smile and he told me that he had a bunch of fun. Wow! kids enjoying church. That's a noble idea.

-2 people met Jesus today!

-Pastors who don't worry about reaching young adults simply because they don't have money, really piss me off!

-People are dying and going to Hell! What are you going to do about it?!

-2 people met Jesus today!

-Our core group is amazing.

-I am so fired up right now. God is awesome!

-I'm ready for next week.

little girl lesson

So, I was taking a shower... I know, not the way you want something that you are reading to start... Anyway... I had the door closed, naturally, and my little girl who is about 1 1/2 years old starts knocking on the door. She always knocks on the door. Every time that I get a shower as a matter of fact, she knocks on the door. The routine is always the same. She just jabbers, and I can only assume that she is telling me about her day. This particular night she was telling me about her baby doll. I could hear her knocking the baby's head into the door. Every time that she knocks on the door and jabbers away about what ever it is she is telling me, I can't help but smile. I take such delight in my daughters joyful noises, even though she doesn't always know what to say or how to say it. Every now and again she'll say something recognizable like baby or Brooks (her brother's name), but it's 99% jabbering. I was thinking, a lot of times I have no idea what to say to God or how to say it, but I imagine that He just delights in our joyful efforts to talk to Him. Think about it... God knows everything, so what can He learn from us. He understands our thoughts, and our desires are no mystery to Him. We have no piece of information that is of value to Him. Something tells me though, that He delights in our attitude of joy that we so ineptly try to express to Him... Even if we have no idea what to say or how to say it, our joyful jabber makes Him smile. Try to pray, even if you have no idea what to say or how to say it. He delights in your joy!