GuyMelton.com: What Were You Thinking?

Oasis Weekly Email Newsletter............December 12, 2010

I havent shared our Weekly Local Oasis Newsletter with our extend Oasis Family and we have some very important things to share this week about two BIG events coming up.

 

Dear Guy,   This week we are Homeless. I share our story on my blog, please do check it out! Even those who are homeless don't have to feel hopeless, or helpless. But it's easy to feel that way for sure. You don't have to be poor to be homeless, and you can be rich and be hopeless. Helpless is, many times, a choice. The story I share shows how to bring Help and Hope to the Homeless . Or for that fact, our series this weekend, talks about how we can see life from a new perspective. In the second message of our Christmas Series, Believe, the title is Life Never Really Works Out For Me.  I know many of us feel that way right now, or will feel this way at some time. There are some really very helpful ways we will discuss this weeekend and next week at our 7 Nights of Worship Services, that will help us to have a new Perspective. I hope you will be here. The very person who really doesn't want to be here Sunday; or feels, "I just don't have the energy" or "I'm too busy" is the one who NEEDS this message the most. I hope you will all be here. Here can be in Pines, North Miami or Hollywood.   Christmas Eve is almost here!! Yes, I said it's almost here!! Just two weeks from today. Doesn't seem possible does it?  This year we have not only the printed invites you can pick up at your campus to invite someone, but we also have Email Invites through our website, where you can just fill in the email address for those you want to invite and if desired, put a little note to them and invite them. You can just CLICK this LINK and put your friend's name in. Now I don't know how much easier it could be to invite someone than this. Christmas Eve, along with Easter, is the most attended time of the year for those who do not normally go to church. Your church is decorated and we are ready to share the most amazing Love Story with your friends and family at our traditional Christmas Eve Service. I hope you'll be there, and please invite a friend to come with you. The invite has all 3 campus times on it.   JANUARY 10, 2010  --  1:10 p.m.  THIS  will be one of the BIGGEST DAYS in our church's 18 year history. You don't want to miss it. It is the first time in almost 17 years that all our Oasis Family will worship together under one roof. That seems amazing. At the time we had to go to multiple services in our little trailer building, we only had about 200 attending. Today on any given week in all services on all our campuses, we can have 2,500 folks attend our multiple worship services. This day, the 2nd Sunday in January, I look forward to ALL of us being together in one combined service. It's going to be ONE of those DAYS. I'm just telling you!!! You don't want to miss it!! It will be the ONLY SERVICE AT ANY CAMPUS for that entire week of January 9-15. So, you miss it...you miss your Oasis Family and your time of worship for the week. God has done Amazing things here at Oasis these past 18 years.  We will celebrate that, but also "Look Forward" to the Amazing things He will do in the future. For more information you can go to the article on our website. We will have electronic email invites up after Christmas for you to invite your friends also.   JANUARY 10, following the Combined Service, will be a gigantic TAILGATE Party. This is when we all eat together and enjoy some time of fun and fellowship. You and your family will bring your favorite International dish representing your culture, and if you're single, you will be asked to bring your favorite, appetizer or dessert from your culture. We will put it all together and will eat together. If you're not sure what a Tailgate Party is, well, in sports they do this before a BIG game. But  we are doing it afterwards. It's just a big time of fun, and eating. More info to follow on where to bring your food before the service, etc.   I will keep it to this for now. There's tons of stuff on our visitoasis.org web pages about what is happening around Oasis Church. Please make sure you go there!   I also share on my blog this month some of my family's favorite Christmas traditions. I'm sharing 25 of our traditions up until Christmas Day. I love Christmas! Will you go on and check them out? Maybe you'll start a new one, and even better, make a comment and share one of your favorite traditions with me. I want to hear them. I love to hear of people's Christmas traditions. (One of mine has to do with Frosty the Snowman...you need to make sure you see that one so you'll be prepared!!)   God bless you, and I'll see you sunday.     Guy Melton Pastor Oasis Church http://www.guymelton.com http://www.visitoasis.org

1/10/2010 is officially out...................

This weekend the announcement I have been dying to make for several months now was finally let out of the bag. Im so excited I could hardly contain myself as I shared the announcement  in three of our Services.  This historic day in the Life of Oasis Church will be one of the highlights of our 18 years.

For the first time in 17 years we as a Church family will all meet together. Since we were just a year old and had to go to three services in our little trailer , the original building, we have never met together under ONE ROOF!! On January 10, 2010 at 1:10 P.M. we will all meet together for our Weekend service.

All 3 campuses, all 13 services including all our 7 Nights of Worship services will be meeting together. Up until now we have not been able to find any building that will hold our entire church. Several months ago we relieved permission to use the actual church that birthed us 18 years ago. At the time the name was First Baptist Church of West Hollywood, now Hollywood Community. Its located at the corner of 441 and Taft Street.  It is where I grew up, got married, graduated from High School, saw our kids born, accept Christ and Baptized. I served on Staff 13 1/2 years before they sent Tonia and I out to Pembroke Pines to start Oasis Church in September 15, 1991.

Following the service on January 10th, we will use the facilities, gym , football field and parking lots to have a large Dinner/Lunch together.  You'll hear all the details in the weeks ahead.

It will be one of the great days. The auditorium seats more than 2,000 for our adults and our children will meet in their children's classrooms. 

I cant wait !!!! Mark your calendars!

P.S. Today in our Noon service, one of the first 8 people to be baptized in our first ever baptismal was in attendance. Nancy King now one of our Church Council members was part of the night at the church in West-hollywood, when we baptized our first new believers. Right in the auditorium we met in 18 years ago for our first Baptism. We are coming back. Who knows we might even do another Baptism at the service.

I want to thank the Leaders of Hollywood Community Church who have graciously allowed us to use this wonderful facility for no charge. What a blessing.

 Click Here to see what this is all about.

Some thoughts on Thankfulness in the "Fog" of War............

Below is a portion of what I shared with our Prayer Partner Team/Inner Circle, in my weekly Prayer email today. May God be close to you and your family and you feel His presence this Thanksgiving Season....

Happy Thanksgiving!!! I know this is almost just a "cliché" in our day. But it really is something that we must stop and really ponder. While it's true, everyday should be a day of thanksgiving, the reality is that many days we are not very thankful. I mean it isn't easy if you've lost your job, had pay cuts, losing a home, car or even a family member who is sick or suffering. Thanksgiving season always tends to make us at least try to take some time and ponder, even in the midst of tough days, to count our blessings. We really are a blessed people. We are a blessed country. The Apostle Paul said it best when he said "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I find myself". Now that is a context of what Thanksgiving is really all about.
 
Please try to take some time this week to count the many things we all can be thankful for. So when someone in the next day says, "Happy Thanksgiving", stop, and think about it!! What is there to be thankful for in your life. I have so much that I tend to overlook in the fog of "War". Meaning in the day to day stress and busyness, I tend to just see the darkness of all the things around me. Last month, I took some time off of watching the constant "dooms day" news  channels, and even my Facebook posting, just because it's easy sometimes to allow the circumstances of life to keep me from really realizing how much God has done for me.
 
When our boys were in kindergarten they all memorized Psalm 100 in their class at the church we attended. They would proudly quote the entire Psalm at the Thanksgiving Table that year. I think maybe all of as adults this Thanksgiving need to go back and read Psalm 100. I know I'm going to do it.
 
You are one of the people I'm thankful this week. Thanks for praying for me. Thanks for praying for our staff, Oasis Church and the many who are on our Prayer Digest each week. I know so many families who count on you to pray for them as they go through some tough storms of life. Thank you. I'm grateful.
 

First International Campus of Oasis Church.......................

The newest Campus of Oasis church has come to Fort Lauderdale. The New Oasis of the Seas is now making Port Everglades its new home. Oasis of the Seas is the largest Cruise-ship in the World and holds 6k Guest and 2k crew.

The way I see it, since they took our name, we are adopting them as our New International Campus of Oasis Church. So add 8,000 a week to our attendance, and Ill be expecting the Tithes and Offerings to start coming our way of the 8k new members at the first sailing in December!!!

 BTW, Ill be pastoring this Campus and when its at Sea be the Campus Pastor!!!!

"The Unseen"/ Heavens Angels Part 1

This past Sunday we began a short 2 week mini Series called the "UnSeen"  This week the theme was Heavenly Angels, next week "Hells Angels".

As I promised in the services I spoke I would share some of the things we could not during our message. I will also share some of the referenced Passages of Scriputres we mentioned but could not read.

"Heaven’s Angels"

Hebrews 1:14; Hebrews 13:2

All

angels are ministering spirits, sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.--Hebrews 1:14

Hebrews 13:2--

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing many people have

entertained

angels without knowing it.

Do you think anyone has ever said of you, “I wonder if that was an Angel?" 

sermonnotes

Guy Melton, Pat Roberts, Waymon Byrd

Oct 24-30, 2009

Seraphim:

directed by Gabriel

Cherubim:

directed by Michael

To Serve the _____________________________.

I Corinthians 13:1 (pg 798); Matthew 18:10 (pg 683); Matthew 10:42 (pg 676)

To Protect the ____________________________.

 Fast Facts about Angels:

*They are spiritual creations, but not confined to the supernatural world. (Psalm 148:1-5;

Col. 1:15-17)

*They do not die (Luke 20:36) marry or reproduce (Matthew 22:30)

*They often appear as humans (Hebrews 13:2)

*Their own appearance cause fear (We should respect, but not fear angels)

*They are innumerable (Hebrews 12:22) but there are millions of angels. (Revelations

5:11)

*We do not become angels when we die

*They are highly organized and differ in power (Jesus said he could call ‘legions’ of

angels)

Elisha (

2 Kings.6) Great story of the Guardian Angels

•

We should mimic angels, not worship them (Psalm 103:20)

•

What do they do? SERVE and PROTECT

John 17:15  Jesus Prays for our Protection

Read the entire Chapter of John 17

One Question:  Is there anything in your life your actions that someone would say; "I wonderr if that was an Angel?"

The Intangible "X" Factor.............

This weekend at Oasis , Pines Campus I brought the final Message in our "Reel Life" Series on the  Book of Luke and the Parables of Jesus. Since I had some Church family news to bring and an update on our Budget status I had to shorten the message and mentioned I would put some of the things on Pride and in the Message on my  blog.  So below Im just sharing some random thoughts on the theme of Humility and Pride from Luke 18:9-14, the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Once the full message is up on our website, you can access it to watch or listen to it HERE.  Also, make sure you catch the Video that was produced by our Tech Director Joel Collins . It will be on the Website also. There are 3 he has done for the series and you'll want to check them out HERE. 

• In the Bible, the original meaning of Pride has the meaning most often proud or puffed

up, to breathe, to blow up, or puff up, inflate.

It is seen as actually being our normal instinct or our nature as Humans to be full of

Pride.

In our World today, we would say that person is so Arrogant (like Florida Gator Fans) conceited

-- They are delusional/blinded by their own Pride

Ever know someone like this? To be swollen with pride (I Tim. 6:4) - 4he is conceited

and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels

about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions

Pride is very deceptive.

Pride is the desire for attention and praise from other living beings.

It means being at the center of the world and having everyone look to us, and

acknowledge us as superior.

It means raising a finger in the air and saying, "I’m number 1", "I’m the greatest."

Beyond a football team doing this. That’s in fun!!  For a pic of Pride and Humility in a Sports analogy, its like Gator Fans are the Pharisees , full of pride and arrogance! Miami Hurricane fans are a picture of the Tax Collector and show humility!!!

  God says repeatedly that He detests this pride.

"I abhor the pride of Jacob" (Amos 6:8).

It is a self-centeredness; I am the center of MY OWN little Universe!! We actually

displace God in favor of MYSELF

We don’t normally say this!!! We just act like it!! When Pride is in our Life it is not

always seen by us. We are blinded!!

God is to be acknowledged, not our own selves.

I Corinthians 8:1 states, "knowledge puffs up (makes us proud), but love builds up."

Pride goes before a fall, Proverbs tells us. 16:19-19

Pride brought down the most powerful Angel in Heaven!!

WE KNOW WHAT PRIDE DOES. IT KILLS RELATIONSHIPS,

IT ALIENATES, AND GOD HATES IT.

Ill share some thoughts on the Theme of the Message, Humility, in a day or two.

Do you have the "X" Factor?????????? Oasis Weekly Update for October18, 2009

For those who are not on our Local Oasis Email I am sharing this weeks update I sent to our local Oasis Family. I know we have hundreds of folks who we call our extended family who are friends of Oasis, members who have moved away or just friends of mine or family. This way I can keep you up on whats happening here in South Florida and hopefully as you think about us you will be praying for the ministries and peoples of Oasis here in South Florida and around the world. Sometimes you wont be able to open the links below or there is a word or two cut off a line because the format of my blog is different than our email update. Sorry if its an inconvenience. Guy

Dear Extended Oasis Family: So many times we talk about the "X" Factor in sports, business and even in human relationships!! It’s always that special something that person has. Well, this week as we conclude the "REEL Life"series in the book of Luke, we will find out the "X" factor that few people have but every one of us should! I bet you’ve never heard this before. If you want to try now and figure out the "X" factor before this weekend and next week’s 7NOW services (nightly @ 7 p.m.), you can read the passage in Luke 18:9-14.  Once again this week I have been amazed at all God is doing in and among Oasis Church. But especially I love what so many of our folks are doing outside the walls of Oasis Church. That is what Mission is all about. We Worship, we connect through Community, but the third value at Oasis is Mission, and normally that means you take the Gospel out of the building and into the world. Just a few things lately I noted by some of our ministries and individuals who have taken the Value of Mission very seriously.  I won’t mention some of the ones we’ve noted before but want to mention some I’ve just recently noticed. Surge/Youth Ministries is teaming up with His House Ministries of Opa Locka in ministering to orphaned and displaced children in South Florida. For more information on this great Christian ministry to the least of these, and updates on what our Youth are doing you will want to go to our Students Page on visitoasis.org. Women’s Ministry is sponsoring a Food Drive for Single Women in South Florida, along with Sheridan House Family Ministries.  KidsWorld is gearing up beginning in November to partner again with Samaritan’s Purse through "Operation Christmas Child". I hope all our families who have children will get involved. What a great way to teach our children how to give and minister to "the least of these". Marla Tallant of our Hollywood Campus, serves at the Daily Bread Food Bank,which has been in the news lately about their building burning down. This is a huge feeding group that churches and families get so much blessing from all year round. I heard that Ben Windle, our Hollywood Campus Pastor, and John Adams, the Worship leader at Hollywood both went over on Monday and helped Marla clean up the incredible mess after the big fire that destroyed not only the building but the 92,000 lbs of food that was in the building. You might want to learn more about the Food Bank and how to get involved by contacting Marla or Ben at the Hollywood Campus.  One of our Community Groups helped a grieving family recently with a very unselfish act. Check it out --  now that’s community at its best! Our North Miami Campus is doing a food drive also in order to stock their shelves with much needed items for those from the community coming in for help.   One of our long-time members, Angel Betancourt is also involved in a feeding ministry to the homeless that will be hosting a special Thanksgiving meal and service at our Hollywood Campus next month. Some of our people might want to get involved in this.    These are just a few of the exciting things happening among our folks who are "going" on Mission. It’s not all about coming to Oasis, but going to the World!! There are hundreds of exciting stories about what God has done in the lives and families here at Oasis Church. I never get tired of hearing of them and celebrating them. If you want to hear about two incredible stories, of two very special people - a single dad, and a miracle mom, then you can go here, and here at visitoasis.org now and see pics and stories of these incredible people. Over 80 adults attended our first Tuesday night 7NOW study on the Purpose Driven Life. You don’t want to miss this! It is a 7-week study and you can come this Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Hope to have you there.  Childcare is also available for those who are attending the service.   Don’t forget, Monday night we are still studying the Book of Acts. It’s not too late to attend this night of worship or any of the others --  7 Nights a week.  Now I can’t touch on everything, but this is just a little bit of what God is doing this week at Oasis.  If you have not worshiped in giving God His tithes and offerings this week, you can give online here right nowin a secure and very quick way.  Try it out and let me know how you liked going online to give. Have you ever done it before? Do you use envelopes regularly? I would like to have some feedback on how you prefer to give.  This weekend at our Pines Campus, I’ll be sharing live in all the services not only the teaching message, but a very important message and announcement to our Oasis Family.  You do not want to miss it. It might be one of the most important announcements I’ve made in a long time. The campus pastors at Hollywood and NoMi will also be sharing a little along the line of my announcement.  Guy Melton/January 10, 2010 Pastor Oasis Church http://www.guymelton.com http://www.visitoasis.org

Multi-Site Conf - Part 2 WINS

    Yesterday I shared the first part of what I am sharing on Thursday to a Conference on Multi-site churches. I'm sharing our Story as Oasis Church, and our journey.  Tonight I am sharing the Wins we've seen since we began our 2nd and 3rd Campus.  Yes, we have learned a lot of things through our failures and mistakes, but there are also a ton of WINS!!

I will do two more posts on the 7 Nights of Worship part also.

Below is the list of wins taken from about 50 different Wins given by our Leadership Staff. These men and women are the ones who have done most of the leading out on this huge effort and continue to lead it. They are an awesome group along with all our Lay Leaders involved.  I distilled down the many Wins given to just the 10 below.

Wins with Multi-Site:

1. Gives the Church a Missions mind-set, you find the missional and missionary

persons.

2. Gives greater opportunity to more people to be developed in leadership, and

the Arts/Worship.

3. Gives greater opportunity to reach people where they live. Culturally more

diverse than all coming out to the suburban campus, or vice versa.

4. Expands your church’s Vision outside the four walls of the present campus.

5. Gets much of the church involved in a Vision, Project, Mission larger than

yourselves.

6. A large, healthy Central Campus, gives a new campus the resources and

momentum that a new church plant does not normally have. Support is more

than just finances.

7. Opportunities to grow beyond a limited campus/parking and location.

8. Combine efforts of outreach, communications, missions etc. without recreating

the wheel in so many areas.

9. Gives gifted laymen and young pastors the opportunity to Teach/Preach. We

use a team teaching approach, of between 7-8 teachers. Rotating around to the

campuses. NO SUPERSTAR!! No name attached to the Sign, TV, Bulletins!!

10.Campuses begin to complement each other. It’s not all from one way -- it’s a

two way street. (For a suburban campus, with little homeless and benevolent

opportunities it gives us an outlet to expose our people to the urban setting).

__________________________________________________________________________

Multi-Site Conf -- Part 1 Lessons Learned

Thursday Ill be sharing our Oasis Story at a Multi-Site Conference in Jacksonville. Im looking forward to sharing. I told the key note speaker/and staff who authored a book recently on Multi-Site when they interviewed me about a year ago,  that Im happy to share but your going to get the brutal truth from me about our story. The good bad and the ugly. We've learned lots of things not to do!!

Multi-Site is hard work, and you better be called to it. Urban /Downtown Campus ministry is 5 times harder than suburban Multi-site in my opinion. God has led us to start both of our newer campuses in the urban setting. There aren't many churches doing this. 

Below I share some of the Lessons we've learned Ill share on Thursday . They actually came out of my question to our ministry leadership staff . I asked them to give me their input. Out of about 100 items listing Lessons learned and Wins achieved, I distilled it down to 10 Lessons Learned. The next several days ill share the "Wins" also. I will also share the Lessons learned in starting the 7 Nights of Worship . (7NOW)  I wish I could explain each one, but that must wait until the book is written. LOL!!

Lessons Learned in Multi-site:

1. Must have a Campus Pastor who buys into the Vision, Mission and DNA of the

Church at large. (Original Campus) Pick within if possible. If not, bring them to

central /original campus for 6 months to a year first.

2. Make sure you’re called to the Area!! When times get tough it’s only the Calling

that keeps you there. (Give it at least two years’ commitment)

3. A merger is not really a merger…it’s a TAKE OVER, hopefully a friendly one.

4. It takes at least 6 months to prepare, and preferably a year.

5. It doesn’t take a million dollars, but it will cost more than you expected.

6. Equip the campus as much as you can to be like the original, especially in the

tech side of it.

7. All ministry Directors of each Campus -- Kids, Worship, Small Groups etc.

operate along-side of the Central Campus with same values, standards and

objectives. They can’t operate as Silos alone and unto themselves.

8. Clarify the Roles of leaders prior to recruiting or hiring.

9. Campus should be self-supporting in a specified length of time. This might vary

according to the location, etc.

10.Launch as Big as you can and get momentum as soon as you can. Don’t wait

until you’re ready or it won’t happen. But do your best to do all you can to put

yourself in the position to succeed.

Thanks to our Leadership staff who gave so much input in order to share this summary of what I feel is the bottom line of the top 10 on my list.

Thanks to all of you that are part of the Oasis Family who have made this a reality. Without you and your support and sharing of your gifts , none of this could have ever been a reality. You guys bless me every-time I am around you.  

Historical News here........................

This has been another one of those weeks. Not much blogging. Facebook is just too easy to post on so I find myself doing my short posts there. But I'm determined to get back. I have so many blog posts I want to write. I will begin to share those soon, hopefully.

Below is our weekly email newsletter to our local Oasis Family. There are some really good updates from our Minsitry Leaders below. For the extended Oasis family I invite you to check it out. As usual the email was done in another format, so the links may not work for you and the last word or two cut off on a line.

God bless and have a great weekend.

Dear Extended Oasis Family: As with any week there are so many great things to share. I have something that is very Historical to share with you…it has never happened before in my family and you just have to see and hear this Historical news. But the only way to do it is join with me and a couple hundred other Oasis families who are Facebook Friends of Mine. If you aren't on Face book it will be worth taking the 2 minutes to join, just so you can share in this incredible Historical announcement I made yesterday, with pictures. So…go to Facebook and sign up, or if you’re a Facebook member already, then just come be my friend.   This week I want to do something I have not done in this weekly newsletter which I began about 4 years ago.  I want to share some exciting things happening at Oasis Church. OK, you say, “You always do that, Guy!”  Yes, but this week, I’m sharing it through our Leadership Team's own words. This week as they gave updates of their various ministries in our bi-weekly meeting, I was so blessed I wanted them to share with you some of the things happening in their ministries, which so many of you are part of. I love our team. We are lean, but we are mean!!! Passionate and excited about what God is doing. So, here they are..............    Ranelle Walkenhorst/Office Manager and my Assistant: Ranelle sometimes feels her ministry isn’t as exciting when she gives her reports. But she might be the most crucial person within our team in so many ways. The behind-the-scenes ministry she and her team provide is incredible. Here is her report: "Finishing input of weekend Connection Card results.  As usual, many prayer requests, many requests for information, most importantly decisions for salvation as well as renewal.  We never get tired of receiving those!  Many great comments about services on Sunday!  They evidently love Julie-Anne (who doesn't!).  3 additional baptisms this Sunday -- one was a follow-up to Discover Oasis, completing the Next Step to make that person a member (which I believe makes 6 who have reached that step since Discover Oasis.)" Katia Driora/Surge/Youth Director:  Katia in her first year leading our youth is one of a kind. In a good sense. Her love for the Lord, His Church, and the Youth just exudes when you’re around her. Just a paragraph of a very exciting report (I can’t share all of it with you. Some of it is going to be a surprise in days ahead): "We will be starting this week a series called "He did What?" focusing on miracles Christ did from John and Mark-great examples of life-changing events when people got exposed to His presence and at the same time addressing the hurting and the skeptics. We will be also incorporating a story from 'The Voice of the Martyrs' to every Bible Study meeting to stir and prepare the soil..." If you have a teen and they don’t come to the Big Event for youth on Thursdays at  7 p.m., they should! Ben Windle/Hollywood Campus Pastor: BTW, Congrats to Ben and Mallika on a new little boy this week -- Logan Anthony, born Sep 30!! "We had a fantastic week in Hollywood! We had 22 kids in KidsWorld! 22 KIDS!! It is causing us to begin to think creatively about our space.   We had 13 guys at our men's breakfast and could've had more!  We had 3 full tables of Hollywood women at the “Girlfriends Journey” event.  John did a great job with worship!  We are really hitting our stride! God is GOOD!" Debby Brown/Women's Ministry Director: Debby just took over this position and she and her team hit the ball out of the park on their first big fall event: "As Saturday began - we had set up for 133 and you know the saying "pray and they will come" --  well, God sent them!  We had a total of 143 and God multiplied the food to feed all.  We had 18 ladies step out of their box and sign up for the Meal Ministry.  We had one lady come forward for prayer and then wanted connection to the Single Mom's Community Group.  After the service we had 3 more ladies come forward for prayer.  We also had several say they wanted to join the Women 2 Women Mentoring program this time around and over 25 ladies signed up for the Wednesday morning or evening 6-week  Bible Study - The Esteemed Journey.  With Jhael Hakimian leading the NoMi ladies and Darlene Stewart leading the Hollywood ladies, I am excited to see God working and challenging the ladies of Oasis Church in all three campuses."  Now there was much more in Debby’s update, she is like me --  loves to give lots of details, but could only share a little bit. Joel Collins/Technical Director:  Joel is another one who you never see but who has a great impact on all areas of our ministry. Practically everything you see, hear, and experience in a public worship environment -- 13 services, 3 campuses, 7 nights, is produced and made possible by Joel and his team. Now, he isn’t a man of lots of words, so his update is shorter than my intro. But you really need to know Joel and appreciate all he and his team do. Hats off to all the Tech Team! Always room for more. I love Joel's desire to train his volunteers on a regular basis, as he puts in his update:  "Team building planning, and will begin Saturday afternoon further training classes. Working on the last short movie for Reel Life Series. Awesome time at Granger Creative Worship Conference last week.” Pat Roberts/Community Groups/Teaching Pastor: Most all know Pat, but what you probably don’t know is he is a big part of all the creative things you see and hear each week as part of our Worship services, from stage decor, to the elements of Worship that go along with our Sermon Series: "Our sermon series have been laid out for the next 8 months.  The creative team will begin to develop these topics over the next few weeks.  The Dave Ramsey financial series will be used the first three weeks of November.  This is at all campuses.  Starting Point got off to a great Starting Point last week as we discussed the basics of the Christian Walk.  We continue tonight with the importance of studying and applying God's Word into our life.  Hopefully people will learn to Come Thirsty for Bible truths."   If you have not tried out the new Monday night Study in Acts, or the Tuesday night "Come Thirsty" Biblical foundations and growth themes, then you really need to do it.  It’s 7 p.m. each Monday and Tuesday as part of 7 Nights of Worship. These are just a sampling of some of the weekly updates I receive each week from our Leadership Team. Isn't it great? Now you note some are missing that are major ministries, but they just might not have had a lot of update that was able to be shared  publicly this week. God is doing so much with so many of you who are part of Oasis Church. I'm blessed you have chosen to be part of the Oasis Family. Guy Melton Pastor Oasis Church http://www.guymelton.com http://www.visitoasis.org   P.S.  Don't forget that our New Monday  & Tuesday night 7 Nights of Worship continues each week and you can jump in any time and make that your night of Worship. In just another week, Tuesday Night will begin the most Popular Sermon Series ever at Oasis Church. "The Purpose Driven Life". This sermon series will be taught live and it goes along with the book Rick Warren wrote on the Purpose Driven Life that has sold almost 40 million copies. You can pick one up in our Kona Book Corner.  Hope many of you will take advantage of this New Refreshed Night of Worship. Or come to the Monday night service with live messages being taught on the Book of Acts with Pastor Jack Hakimian.