GuyMelton.com: What Were You Thinking?

Deliberate Simplicity

(The Post below is a portion of my weekly Prayer Letter to our Prayer Partners and Inner Circle Prayer Partners at Oasis Church. )

Last week I began reading a book titled, "Deliberate Simplicity".  It had lain around my house for several months, and the title just didn't intrigue me enough for several reasons which aren't really important or germaine. Finally I began to read. As always, it's a journey for me to read a book. Actually I'm reading 5-8 all the time. So I've skipped around, and gone back to the beginning, but honestly, it has caught my attention.

Why do we make life so complicated? Why do we take the "Simple" and complicate it? Why do I know this, yet constantly I move in the more complicated, complex path? I feel like such a failure so often when I know what to do and how to do it, yet at my age, I still take the opposite path!! Does anyone else ever feel like that?

 

Jesus was such a great example to us about living a "Deliberate, yet Simple" life. Listen to how He summed up the whole goal we should have in Matthew 22:37-39 - " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'."

 

Two things!! Is that "Simple Enough"? He was speaking to the Spiritual elites, the Arrogant "Religionists" who were empty and void of Spiritual Relationship. They were all about making the simple things complicated, rigid and hard.  How many times does this creep into our lives?

 

Today as I challenge us to Prayer, I guess my only message is, let's not get so complicated that we can't "love the lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. And to love my neighbor as myself". I think Prayer is the one simple, uncomplicated way to begin to develop this type of living out Christ's two simple Commands. How to we learn  to love Him? It's to know Him. How do we know Him? Spend time with Him. How? Prayer!!!  How do I love my neighbor? Well, I don't know about you, but it takes prayer on my part and God's working in me on His part, for me to love lots of people I know. I really don't love, without His love being in me.

 

As we go about very complicated lives today, can we pause to ask God to help us to "Simplify Deliberately", in order to be more obedient to His two Commands?

"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?"

Stinging Note left in my Mailbox today..............

This afternoon I found a sealed  envelope in my staff mailbox. Normally when I find one that looks like this with a hand written Note saying Pastor Guy on it , I know Im not going to like what Im about to read. Normally it means its a stinging criticism, or the I love you but, Im leaving this church because........   So you kind of see it coming!!!! Since I had brought a pretty tough message on Sunday to our church about the finances and future cuts etc I figured I would be getting some of these types of notes whether in the "Traditional " White envelope or email, face-book or connection card.

To my surprise this one did sting, but was  one of the nicest notes I have received in a long time. One of those sweet Stings. It brought tears to my eyes.. It was such a blessing. It was from one of our Members who had heard my "heart to heart " talk with our church this weekend about our budget short fall and the deep cuts about to happen soon . But I also challenged our church to not let the lack of funds, or even the high unemployment rate and local deep recession keep us from giving generously to those who are in need. I challenged those who could give extra to do so in order for us to be able to help those among us who need it most. This is not normal to actually ask for more, when there is less. But in Gods kingdom it is what He expects.

Back to the envelope and note. Well other than the sweet note, the person had attached a $1,000 check to the note, saying please use it for those who are hurting. We will be doing that in the next few weeks with all the offerings given over and above our tithes and offerings. Im so excited. This was a great seed to what I believe will be thousands given by our Oasis Family in the weeks ahead. Thanks to not only the sweet person from our Monday Night 7NOW service  who sent the note, and the check but to all those of you who are giving the $5. ,$10, or whatever amount to bless others in need.

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 Church Conf............. 7 Nights of Worship Part 3

This week I have been sharing some of the ideas I shared at a conference in Jacksonville on Multi-Site churches. I was amazed that only one church raised their hand that they had a second campus site, out of probably 75 different churches represented. But when I asked how many were considering it, about 70% of the hands went up. After I spoke frankly and passionately about how you better be Called to do Mulit site or 7 Nights of Worship I imagine there were significantly less churches considering it.

I believe if by telling the truth about ministry and how hard it can be that if you can talk someone out of it, then they shouldn't be doing it. If they are called to do it, no matter what you say they will do it, because God called them to do it.  Below Ill share the Lessons we've learned from the first two years of doing Church/Worship 7 Nights a Week, 365 days a year. Once again,the list of 10 came from our Ministry Leaders . There were almost 100 given on 7 NOW, and I will give 10 Lessons Learned today. Ill share the 10 Wins we've had in a day or two.

Thanks again to our staff who have done such an incredible job of doing whatever it takes to continue to fulfill the Mission and Vision God has given us at Oasis Church. What a great team.!!

7 Nights Of  Worship  (7NOW)

 

Acts 2:42-47

⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the

fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. ⁴³Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴All the believers were together and had everything in common. ⁴⁵Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. ⁴⁶Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their

number daily those who were being saved.

 

Lessons Learned

 

 

 

1. Success has to be re-defined (mainly among the staff). We like it all BIG, people just want to experience Worship and God when they come.
2. There is a lot of Education about what 7NOW is…not only to your church family, but to the community.  “Worship Nightly at 7 p.m.” -- Simple and to the point in promotions.
3. The backbone of the 7NOW has to be Lay Leaders and servers and not staff and full-time Pastors. Leaders must support and have total buy in of the Vision and DNA of Oasis Church. (Children’s Ministry will need some paid workers, hard to keep enough lay workers in this area). No Pastor is out more than 2 nights a week.
4. Equipment gets a beating, and the budget needs to be adjusted to buy equipment on a regular basis…especially in the tech area.
5. Host Pastors are the key each night. They need to have charisma and strong leadership skills. (Or be able to develop them on a fast track.)
6. It takes months of planning, recruiting and training before launch.
7. DON’T DO IT IF YOU DON’T FEEL GOD IS CALLING YOU!
8. It takes at least a year to evaluate and then to begin to tweak and make needed changes -- (Themes, leaders, etc.)
9. Good, live Worship is important, but it doesn’t take a full band and worship team as it would on a Sunday morning with several hundred people in a large auditorium. Good quality of venue, music and childcare is still important.  
10. Before starting a new campus, experiment with another night or two. At least start a second service at some time before starting a new campus. There are lots of lessons to be learned from multiple services before you do an off-site campus.

 

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.

50% Off Sale - Oasis Church Membership this Sunday

For our Extended Oasis Family, once again I'm sharing the weekly email that was sent out to our local Oasis Family. The links might not work, but most are found on our visitoasis.org website. If a couple words are cut off at the end of a line, it is because the Email was not formatted for my blog. I'm sorry about that, but felt it more important to keep you up to date on what's happening around Oasis Church. Not only would I ask you to rejoice with us in all that God is doing but also to pray for the many ministries that God is using to touch so many lives. God bless you and have a wonderful weekend.

Dear Oasis Extended family;

Yes, you read it right!!! I did say that our Membership Fees to join Oasis Church are 50% off regular cost this Sunday only!!! As you know we are having our Discover Oasis Class this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. following our noon service on the Pines Campus. This class is one where we give the history of Oasis Church, our vision and a picture of who we are. I present this time with other pastors from our team. It’s a fast-paced ONE HOUR and we even give you a FREE Lunch with it. You are given the opportunity to join our church or just to find out about our church. We do not strong arm or push. We believe the Holy Spirit is the one Who should lead a person to join the church where He wants them. We only want you to know who we are. 

 Now as to the Cost to Join!! You might ask, I didn't know membership cost at Oasis Church?  Actually, I saw a sign last week while driving by a synagogue in our area that said "50% off Membership Dues".  I had to laugh and at that moment, I said, “Hmmmmmm”!!!!! No, you don't pay to join Oasis Church! Never have, and never will. Now to be a disciple of Christ there is a cost…make no mistake about that. Jesus said be willing to give up all to follow ME, meaning Jesus. But NO you don't have to pay to join. You do have to attend Discover Oasis. So, if you’re not signed up yet, do so online by the deadline at 4 p.m. this Friday. I hope to see you there if you have not yet joined.

BTW, if you’re a parent who plans on dedicating your baby in October, one of the child’s parents must be an active member of Oasis Church, so if you have not yet joined you need to come to this class on Sunday at 1:30 at our Pines Campus. Our other campuses have periodic Discover Oasis classes and those will be announced at the campus you attend.

I guess you could say the 50% off Membership this week is in honor of our 18th Anniversay as a Church.  September 15, 1991 we had our very first service as a church.  I blogged about why I love Oasis Church on our 18th Anniversary this week, and put the 18 Reasons I love Oasis for you to read. So check it out at guymelton.com.

Reel Life continues this Weekend, and all next week at 7NOW, our evening worship service each night of the week…This week we will be looking at the familiar story of the Good Samaritan, but looking at it in an entirely different way than you might have ever heard it. It fits so much with what Rick Caldwell talked about in his message on Mission and diversity last month, during our Values Series. BTW, Rick’s message is up on our Podcast at visitoasis.org if you missed it or want to send a friend there. It’s awesome.  In the day we live, Jesus has some very important things to say to us as a country and culture. We better listen or else it will be at our own peril. Make sure you don't miss this week’s message. Just in case you are not aware, ALL our messages are up on either video or audioor both on our website each week. Interesting enough, this week on our visitoasis.org Youth page/Surge, Rick Caldwell's daughter, Celeste was highlighted because of an unusual mission she is on.  Check it out.   

 

7 Nights of worship Gets Refreshed!!!! You don't want to miss…this begins Monday and Tuesday night

This is the week we as a staff have been planning for many months. Two very special emphases will be added to our 7 Nights of Worship (7NOW).  Monday and Tuesday night will begin 2 very distinct themes:

• Monday nightwill have live teaching with Pastor Jack Hakimian of our NoMi Campus. His first study will be in the Book of Acts. This is one of my fav books. For more info on Going Deeper, check out the 7NOW webpage with more explanation of Monday night.
  
  
• Tuesday night were are calling "Come Thirsty". Those who are thirsty to grow in their spiritual walk need to come “Thirsty” this Tuesday night as Pastor Pat Roberts kicks off the first study in the foundational growth Night, with a short study called the "Starting Point". For more info, go to our 7NOW webpage and check it out.  

 Why are we making these seemingly big changes in two of our nights?  Simply because in order to fulfill our mission and values of Oasis Church  --  Worship / Community / Mission, we need to be taking our faith deeper.  We can’t do all that is needed in one hour on Sunday morning.  This is your chance. You may attend Sunday and one of these nights, or just attend one of the nights as your weekly time to Worship. We will still have LIVE WORSHIP at all our nights.  The other 5 nights will continue to have the same Sermon Series as the weekend. Folks from all 3 campuses may attend. NoMiwill have the same study as our 7NOW Monday night study with Pastor Jack on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the NoMi Campus.

 7 Nights of Worship is also expanding with our KidsWorld -- Lest our kids are left out on going deeper and being refreshed in their young and budding faith, KidsWorld is also offering special classes both nights on the subject of being "Rooted".These are discipleship classes for kids. How cool is that? Suzie McCord and her staff are to be applauded for the great job they’re doing in grounding our kids early in their faith. Check out the KidsWorld page for info on what classes are offered at what service. We will have Nursery-Elementary classes offered at both our new Refreshed nights -- Monday and Tuesday.  

 New Starter Community Groupsare also forming at our Pines Campus during our 7NOW Monday and Tuesday nights, as listed in the bulletin the past 2 weeks – a Men’s Group on Monday nights at 7 p.m., and a Women’s Group on Tuesday nights.

As you might note, we are serous this fall about taking our faith at Oasis Church to another level. If you’re ready to go deeper, and thirsty to grow in your faith in a way that is measurable and can be tracked, then you will want to try out one of the new nights or one of the new Community Groups. Don't intend to do it. JUST DO IT!!!!!

 

Women’s Ministry kicks off for the Fall Saturday, Sep 26th. Ladies…don't miss this !! Welcome our new Women's Director, Debby Brown by attending this great breakfast for women next Saturday. Check out all the info and how to register on our Adult's Pageat visitoasis.org.

 See you Sunday as we continue our "REEL LIFE" Series, or at 7 NOW this week. BTW Joel, our Tech Director, will have another Original Oasis Production in our Short film series this weekend and all next week at our 7 Nights of Worship. (except Monday and Tuesday nights)

 God bless you, and have a great weekend.

 

Guy Melton
Pastor
Oasis Church