GuyMelton.com: What Were You Thinking?

Random thoughts from Paradise , Super Bowl Week in South Florida

So many things happening this week, just want to put some down. I love Facebook, but once its down its gone in a day or two and lost. That is what I love about a Blog, it has a shelf life. Sooooooo some of my Random Thoughts this week.

• Super Bowl week is always exciting in South Florida even though us natives really arent involvedin all the events. Its still exciting. Ill have several thoughts on this week. The first one is more about the stadium but its a microcosm of Professional Sports and Football especially.
•  Where is the Super Bowl really being played? Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player, Dolphin, Landshark, or SunLife? Next it will B "Pepsi Manning" "Twinkies Marino"?  Just sayin......
•  
  Today almost 50 years later Martin Luther Kings Words are as true as ever: "The church must be reminded that it is not the master or the servant of the state, but rather the conscience of the state. It must be the guide and the critic of the state, and never its tool. If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.
• 2 Days of Rain, second day of doing the Treadmill inside! Is it to late to be on a treadmill working out at 930 pm?
• One of our members just posted this. I love it. Pass it on!! "If you are a part of a wonderful church and you are proud to say it copy this to your status, add your church so we can all see..... Oasis Church, Pembroke Pines FL - It rocks! So do the other three campuses, Hollywood, North Miami and North Florida." Cindy Truman
• Bud McCord was the Sr. Pastor of First Baptist Church of Westhollywood for 18 years. He led the church to start our church and was our sponsor in September of 1991. Now he is our Missionary to Brazil and spoke yesterday to our staff. As always Bud was Great, but this one line really stuck with me. "Love people without Interuption" Bud McCord @ Oasis staff lunch Good Stuff. Isn't that an Oasis!!!!
• Our Jobs situation in South Florida is the worst in my lifetime and so many are hurting in our church. I finally decided we might be able to help a few connect on FaceBook, so I began sharing on our Oasis of South Florida Fan Page on FB. " Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! Need one or U need to hire someone. We R hooking FB Friends up @ Oasis S.Fl fan page. Check it out @ http://bit.ly/cF1ku7   "
• Well TN/NC, we finally got your Snow Storm. 7 inches of liquid Snow today in places . ahhh, living in Paradise!!! Need a Snow Plow down here
• There has been plenty of bad news out there in the last couple years. This weekend I read in our local Sun-Sentinel that there is actually a little good news. So wanted to share the article.
  

  Economy soars 5.7 percent, fastest in 6 years | Reuters

  www.reuters.com

  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The economy grew at its fastest pace in more than six years in the fourth quarter, surprising economists, as businesses curbed their aggressive cut
• 
  This comes from my wonderful Daughter in Law Sabrina who teaches little ones in Dance. I love it.what you have forward to! some video from last week of teaching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orx1kq6agWk

  

  Sabrinadanceclasses.mov

  www.youtube.com

  Sabrinadanceclasses
•  
  The Biggest Media Survey weve done in Years. Some of the hundreds of Oasis Surveys returned today! Lots of compiling to do. Did you fill yours out and turn it in today? If not next week is ok. 7NOW attenders dont forget to fill your Survey out. It will help us plan for the future.
• Yeah Im speaking from a Rocking chair! If U missed Oasis this am, come tonight or anynight this week 7pm Ill B in my Rocker! 
•  Weather Alert: Oasis happening all Campuses all services! No Snow, No Ice, No Rain!! Yet!
• ATTENTION OASIS CHURCH: Weather Alert!!! Church is not Cancelled because of Snow tomorrow. Pass the word..........
• Pres. Obama lost big time in a Poll this week after all his talk on Jobs!! I dont do alot of Political Post since Im call to see lives changed and Politics divide. (Ill comment when the Political is Moral or Spiritual in nature. Then Im called to comment) But anyway, you gotta see this Poll, its a good one!! MOST of you will like...... its at www.guymelton.com

  

  GuyMelton.com
• It was awesome to get to see, the Tooth Fairy tonight and go to dinner with the grandsons in Melbourne. Long day, but it was worth it.
• To Be continued.....................

   

1-10-10 @ 1:10 pm Video Announcement

 With some of you traveling over the holiday's you might have missed this BIG Announcement for 1-10-2010, at 1:10 PM. You need to watch this or you WILL be sorry . I promise.

Its only about 5 min and it is very important.

See you on January 10th, 2010, 1:10 PM

Watch it here!

Oasis Church Sermon Series Review of 2009

 
 

 This past week in our services Joel Collins did what he does so good. He put together clips of our different Sermon Series of 2009. We put so much into each message it is a shame you really put them in a file when they are done . So last year we tried reviewing the year. It worked great and decided to do it again this year. Joel did a great job. Its amazing how much we cover in a year. This year we spent time looking at about 5-6 of the books of the Bible. That is somewhat different. We spend more of our series doing Topical sermons but changed it up this year.

I hope you will check this video out!!!

Happy New Year, and may you have an awesome 2010.

Vote on what 60's Shirt/Garb I should wear this Sunday!!!!!!

I have loved studying, and bringing messages in I Corinthians. I have also enjoyed the theme of the series, "Summer of Love". I have especially enjoyed remembering some of the events, songs and clothing of the late "60's". In that vein I'm asking for you to vote on what T-Shirt I should wear this Sunday or if I should wear the wig and garb I wore last week . OK, tell me A, B,C or D?????

A

B

C

D

Sneak Peak at our Guest Speaker this weekend at Oasis Church....

 Click Guy Melton  for my Introduction for this weekend's Guest Speaker at Oasis Church. I've never put it up early before, but thought some of you might want to come hear him. This is the Intro. to the Message on I Corinthians 12. If you're an Oasis Family member, you will want to read Chapter 12 before coming to church this week. 

Friday Wrap up!!! 100,000 Blog Views, New Pastor, Welcome Interns, My Grandsons ..............

So much going on right now in my life, I have had a hard time even taking the time to blog about it. Face Book has really taken away from Blogging. Why? Well, it's so much easier to write a paragraph, show a picture, and get it instantly to over 800 of my Face Book Friends. I am not going to quit Blogging, I just need to catch up some and get my life a little more balanced and how to balance Face Book, Twitter, and Blogs. It's not that I don't have lots to blog about. I have tons of devos and sermon thoughts I want to blog about, and just a matter of time and I will.  But until then, I'll just share some things going on at Oasis Church and in the Fam this week.

• This week my blog went over 100,000 page views ,and didn't even notice for a few days. I've really been so busy I just hadn't been checking it as much.  My visits to the blog lately is down, because I'm not writing as much and so many of those who read my blog now just get most of the info on Face Book. But I still was amazed that in less than two years I have had 100,000 views on my blog pages. The biggest surprise has been the many that visit from a "Google" search and my blog comes up on the google page. No doubt a lot of the views came from checking out my pics I post. I'm a picture guy, it's like the book you had in 1st grade...you liked to have lots of pics, well I still do! LOL
•  My Wonderful Grandsons are coming to stay with Tonia and me this week. They will also be attending our church's Summer Spectacular for kids. A new and fresh take on the old VBS, our church does. Can't wait to pick them up Friday (today).
• Oasis Church welcomed our newest Campus Pastor. Jack Hakimian and his family will be the North Miami Campus Pastor. Jack spoke this past week at our Pines Campus. Great testimony! From gangs, drugs, jail in LA to finding Christ in jail and now passionate about saving other young people from the same life. He will be great as our NoMi Pastor and Missions Pastor. Check out this link , it will share his video message, testimony that the 700 Club aired about his life, and his passion for reaching Miami with the Gospel and good news of Jesus Christ. He has a beautiful family.

• We welcomed our 3 Summer interns to Oasis this week. Two were with us last weekend, and one arrived today. They are going to be great working with our youth and worship this summer. Welcome to Sarah - Drummer/Singer, Jordan - Guitarist/Bass, and Julie Ann - Vocalist. We are so excited to have you guys!

Suicide Video / "Oasis Live" Series

Recently one of our leaders at Oasis Church asked if we could address the issue of Suicide. His reasoning was because of the stress in our society right now and all the stories he had heard and even families he personally knew who had experienced this sad and tragic event. 

I remembered that we actually addressed the issue Suicide during our recent series "Oasis Live''. This was the series where we answered many questions you had asked as a church. Maybe we will publish more of the questions and answers from that series in the future. This one is a video, since our Missions Pastor of Oasis Church North Florida,Jeremy Higdon gives an answer on not only Suicide and its implications but also Eternal Security.

It is definitely not meant to be comprehensive in nature. There are Christian ministries like Sheridan House Family Ministries and others where families and individuals are able to get counsel and help. I highly recommend anyone who is contemplating Suicide or hears a family or friend mentioning it, to get help.

Click Here to see the video on Suicide

Oasis Weekly Email News, May 7, 2007

Today I devoted most of my weekly Email newsletter to our Local Oasis Family to the National Day of Prayer. There are some other links below with happenings around Oasis Church. If you cant read a few words or get a link, it is because the format I use does not fit the typepad blog I use. 

 

Pastor's Email

Dear Guy, With so many things going on this week in our world and at Oasis Church, it is impossible to share it all with you. It frustrates me because I want to share so much with you, and yet, I know you will only read so much and I’m already too wordy!! Sorry and thanks for your patience.   Now, the Subject line mentions Stolen Ribs and Twin Fawns. One of them you know we've been discussing as part of our Song of Solomon series and the other, if you’re on FaceBook and you’re my friend, you know it’s been an on-going issue. I will try to link it to my blog today. And the Twin Fawn discussion is already on my blog at www.guymelton.com along with some other things. But I am not going to spend anymore time with this or with our Oasis Church ministries and all that is happening, other than to list a few Huge ones you need to check out at the end of this letter.   The most important thing I feel I can share with you today, is the importance of this day in the life of our Country, and in the life of all Believers. Even though I shared with you last week about our Prayer Partner Ministry, this morning not only was I reminded...but I was CONVICTED THAT I MUST SHARE WITH YOU THE SAME INFORMATION I SHARED WITH THEM EARLIER.  There is really no other thing that is more important than Prayer, and how it relates to our nation’s present, past and especially our future. Please read my letter below which was sent to our Prayer Partners, and join them and me in Prayer today, and every day. This is most appropriate that my regular Prayer email letter to you, the Pastor’s Prayer Partners and part of Oasis Inner Circle, is being sent this week on the 58th Annual National Day of Prayer. Each year now for 58 years our country has officially recognized our need for God to guide, protect and lead us. There is a Task Force that leads this effort each year and this is the explanation of what it is, and the link to many more articles and thoughts on prayer. For you as Inner Circle Prayer Team members, this is an excellent site to turn to 365 days a year to be inspired by prayer and how to pray. It’s not just about one day. Below is a link and also a paragraph explaining what the National Day of Prayer observance is all about:   "The National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. Our Task Force is a privately funded organization whose purpose is to encourage participation on the National Day of Prayer. It exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America's leaders and its families. The Task Force represents a Judeo Christian expression of the national observance, based on our understanding that this country was birthed in prayer and in reverence for the God of the Bible."   What a beautiful thing that our country still recognizes our roots and foundations on which we were born and grown into the greatest country in the history of mankind. I believe it is because our founding fathers, and many who came behind them, sought to Honor God and seek religious freedom for all. Unfortunately we have slowly drifted as a ship with no anchor from this foundation. You and I, as one person, can make a difference, as I share each and every week or time I write about our own responsibility in prayer.   As with anything our Politicians normally find a way to gum up processes and make things controversial. Since this was proclaimed by a president 58 yeas ago…President Harry Truman, I’m thankful that in all that time every President, regardless of their political agenda or religious affiliation, have proclaimed this day as the National Day of Prayer and have supported it in their own way. This year again, President Obama has proclaimed this day a National Day of Prayer. He has chosen not to have a public White House ceremony which is his right as President. CNN reports on this and other historical ways presidents have celebrated the National Day of Prayer Here, if you want to check out the story article.

 

Folks, prayer begins with you and me. We cannot expect government to lead the way. It's good that it still recognizes our country as a country based on the 10 Commandments and the Christian/Judeo ethics, but only as we Believers pray and act to protect this religious history and freedom will it continue to exist. Even as we celebrate this Day of Prayer there is a Judge who has been nominated and is in the process of being confirmed by our US Senate for the 7th Judicial Circuit in Indiana (one of the highest courts in the land, just below the supreme court) who is very anti-Christian and is very biased against our Christian faith. This is not made up but check it out in his own words:  Judge Hamilton wrote: "The injunction orders the Speaker...that the prayers should not use Christ's name or title or any other denominational appeal...If those offering prayers in the Indiana House of Representatives choose to use the Arabic 'Allah'...the court sees little risk that the choice of language would advance a particular religion or disparage others."

In other words in Indiana, as a Judge he said to pray in Jesus’ name is ILLEGAL but to pray in the name of ALLAH is OK!!! Folks, if Christians do not wake up and begin to pray and to stand up against this type of biased intolerance and prejudice against Christianity, the very foundation of our government and society, we are going to lose it and find ourselves in decades to come living in essentially a Godless society, much like many of our European countries. Even worse, I see persecution following that.  WE NEED TO PRAY TODAY, BUT EVERY DAY FOR OUR COUNTRY AND FOR OUR LEADERS. 

This is the reason I am forgoing my normal Prayer Letter format and ideas I wanted to share to just simply ask you to take this day to PRAY, and to specifically pray for our national leaders. Below is a list of them, which is supplied on the website of the National Day of Prayer 

 Prayer Guide

Through this prayer guide, you will have an opportunity to petition God on behalf of our leaders and those who are in authority over us, as we are instructed to do in 1 Timothy 2:1-2.  As you humbly come before the Lord and seek His face, please pray that these men and women will be granted divine wisdom, guidance and strength to fulfill their important roles:

Pray for Federal Leaders

President: Barack Obama
Vice President: Joe Biden
Secretary of State: Hillary Clinton
Secretary of Defense: Robert Gates
Secretary of the Treasury: Timothy Geithner
Attorney General: Eric Holder
National Security Advisor: Gen. James Jones
Director of National Intelligence: Dennis Blair 
Secretary of the Interior: Ken Salazar
Secretary of Agriculture: Tom Vilsack
Secretary of Commerce: Gary Locke
Secretary of Labor: Hilda L. Solis
Secretary of Transportation: Ray LaHood
Secretary of Energy: Steven Chu
Secretary of Education: Arne Duncan
Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Eric K. Shinseki
Secretary of Health & Human Services: Kathleen Sebelius
Secretary of Housing & Urban Development: Shaun Donovan
Secretary of Homeland Security: Janet Napolitano
All Branches of the Armed Forces
U.S. Supreme Court

 

In closing, please go check out these very important Oasis ministry happenings. I won’t comment just please go there and see them:

• Summer Spectacular in KidsWorld -- Sign up early or you’ll get left out!!!! Space is limited, I promise!!!!
• Deju Vu  Sermon Series in Philippians begins this week at Oasis Church  --  "Joy" even in tough times is the theme, very appropriate!!!
• Hollywood Campus and Expo Alfesco Video!!!!
• Friday Night at the Movies following 7 Nights of Worship, next week
• Give your Tithes and Offerings online!!!  
• So much more next week about our Surge and Youth Summer!!!
• "Ignite" your love life, and Song of Solomon is finished but on our website in video and podcast audio.

God bless you and I look forward to seeing you this weekend at any of the 3 campuses. I’ll be at them all this week!!! Can’t wait to start the new series!!!! 

Guy Melton
Pastor
Oasis Church
http://www.guymelton.com
http://www.visitoasis.org

 

Oasis Weekly Email News for Week of March 15th, 2009

Posted below is our new email newsletter for this week. If you are an extended Oasis Family member from around the US or world, since you arent recieving this as an email directly from me, this is pasted in the post below and you may not be able to get the links to work. This will at least keep you up on the latest happenings around Oasis Church. God is doing incredible things inspite of us!!! (Some times you will note a few words at the margins cut off, please forgive me but I felt it better to share the news than to worry about a few words . Youll get the idea!!!)) Have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are.  

Pastor's Email

Dear Guy, This has been another wacky and weird week. A week our stock market actually moved up. I forgot that could happen. I thought it only moved downward!!! With that good news, came other grim news as we have watched a Pastor killed in cold blood while preaching from his Bible. This was inside the place that most come for security, comfort and a safe place to worship. We all have had to re-look at our security in our churches. We have measures in place, and have for years. I won’t go into them, for obvious reasons, but we also are re-looking at what we might need to ratchet up in such an unstable world in which we live. I hope to have a group of various law enforcement personnel form a team very soon to evaluate what we are doing and what we can do better.  Sometimes someone complains that we have a uniformed officer around our property and even roaming our buildings, but I don't apologize for doing whatever we can to keep our church family safe. Although our original priority with an officer was for traffic congestion at Flamingo Rd, it has shown to have a number of other benefits.  Pray for the First Baptist Church of Maryville, ILL. The funeral is today for their pastor…a husband, and father of two girls.   Just two days after the shooting of the pastor in Illinois, there was a mass murder in Alabama, a rural area we don't normally think of when we think of these things. We tend to think only urban areas like ours have these crazies. But Satan is alive and well all over our country. Pray for the families and towns touched by this tragedy.   There are a few things that I want to really highlight this week in my newsletter, then I’ll tie in the Subject Line and what I mean by Girlfriends, Interns and how they relate to Hollywood and Nashville.   Girlfriends:  Movie Matinee next Saturday, March 21st -- 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.   OK, ladies this is your chance to get away from the kids!  Leave them with hubby, or your next door neighbor and come to the Pines campus for a great time of fellowship and food. Go here to find out how to register and for more information. See the insert in your bulletin this week.    Margin and Meaning Event Saturday, April 4th – 8:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.  There has never been a more perfect time to attend this type of event. Folks, when we planned this months ago, we would not have known our economy would be on such a slippery slope. Many of us who have lost lots of our income, homes, jobs and other things in the last few months, really need this. Kevin Cross, who spoke for us a few weeks ago, will be the presenter. I am telling you, you have to make this a priority! Please be here. It could change your life.  Bring someone.  This week is the last chance to get your ticket for HALF PRICE…ONLY $5.00 PER PERSON. AFTER MARCH 15, SUNDAY, THEY WILL BE $10 EACH.  If you’re out of work, or financially stressed, if you'll mention that to a pastor or email us, we will give you a free ticket. We have some of our folks who have already paid for tickets for those who can’t afford them at this time.  YOU CAN SIGN UP ON LINE AT WWW.VISITOASIS.ORG.   Click on Event Registration in the right hand column...GO DO IT NOW!!!   Going Hollywood!!! There are two very good articles about our Hollywood Campus this week. One is here  The second Hollywood article you need to check out is the unique way that Ben, our Campus Pastor, and John, our Worship Leader at Hollywood, did this week’s announcements at Hollywood.  It’s different!! You guys are crazy!!  Click Here!!    Interns From Nashville!!!! Did you see them?  I love this story, you will too!! Check it out right here.   Did you know we have had more than 20 Baptisms this week?  What a weekend at Oasis Live! Check out this incredible report here!! God is doing some neat things.    There are a few more blog posts at www.guymelton.com you might want to check out.   Like Leadership 101, and the oldest speaker ever at our Teen service, Thursday night. click here   There is also a post, where I share how I am preparing 6 Sermons/Messages in 2 weeks. It’s called the Anatomy of a Sermon, to find out why I named it that, go HERE    As always, check out many articles that are new at our website – www.visitoasis.org.    There is so much going on around Oasis Church that there is no way to keep up with it without checking out our website on a weekly basis.   God bless you, and I’ll see you this week at "Oasis Live"  -- our second sermon in our new series.   Guy Melton, Pastor Oasis Church www.guymelton.com www.visitoasis.org

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Final Funeral Arrangements for Guy Alan Melton

The Funeral Arrangements for Guy Alan Melton are below. Guy was born April 29, 1956 in Tampa, Florida and was the third child of four. He is survived by his lovely wife, Tonia Felice Gilmore Melton of ___ years, 3 Wonderful Sons, 2 of the most incredible daughters-in-law, anyone could ever have. His two grandsons, Gavyn Elijah and Caleb Kai Melton are beyond description. He always wanted to know how two perfect kids could come from his imperfect son!!! 

Now this might be how my obituary will read some day. When Tonia sees this post, it might be today!!!! But seriously I was thinking today for some reason about how I want my funeral to be conducted. It might be since I've been home with a sinus infection, and no voice for two days, and not been feeling good. OK, I'm not that bad. But I have lost my voice and had to cancel all my meetings the last two days and have to preach this Sunday. But hopefully this is no premonition. I haven't had a dream, but if I do die in the next few days, I bet you all will believe in premonitions won't you?  Anyway, let me get to the point. 

Since I have made no funeral preparations, as of yet here on earth and I know you should, I'm beginning now.   Here is how I want my service to go.  And yes, as they always tell me, as the Pastor, I want it to be a celebration of Life, not death. So here goes:

IT'S GOING TO BE ALL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, you heard me. Those who know me and Oasis Church family, you understand. I LOVE Christmas and always have, since a kid. I'm called sick and extreme, yes I am, so why not wrap things up. (no pun intended, we will leave the wrapped presents out of this) Now, if you're thinking, "How can you joke about this?"Well, I'm not afraid of dying!!! I'm going to be so much better off. Now I'm not necessarily begging for it today...but!! It's OK. God has blessed me with a life 10 times over more than I deserve. Plus it will be Christmas 365 days a year in Heaven, and no manger!! or Cross!! 

The auditorium needs to have lighted Christmas Trees.  Decorations in place. For Oasis, you will be lucky if I die here, in December, or January. It will save you guys lots of work. Just like "Christmas at the Oasis".

Anyone who attends I'll ask to dress in Green and Red, or your fav Christmas clothes.

The Service and  music will include :

Grandma Got Run over by a Reindeer

• Alabama's Christmas C.D. playing before and after
• Some of my favs from Alabama's Christmas, like Tennessee Christmas, Thistle-hair the Christmas Bear and Christmas in Dixie  (Now, for those who don't know me very well, you would think I'm a country fan. I hate country music for the record. But I love the Alabama Christmas C.D. It's the only country music I listen to all year, BTW, I do listen to it all year)
• My Fav Hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is our God" 
• My fav Bible verse since I was 13 years old . Philippians 4:13
• Several Christmas Carols, sung by all.  I'll leave that up to you, Chris Hughes (or whoever is the Worship Pastor at the time)  
• Obviously the candelabras for the Traditional Christmas Eve Candle lighting Ceremony (everyone gets a little candle to light, left over from last year since we never throw them away. Cost cutting, you know, going green, recycling.)  Wallie W. Get them ready to set up.
• Who does the service message? Don't care...just tie in Christmas, with Salvation!!
• All Flowers even though the family will have donations sent else where, Christmas of course.  (I want a few of Sally Rogers' fav manger scenes out)
• Casket does not have to be green and red, but  I do suggest any flowers ever left at the site be Christmas in nature. Poinsettias are fine.  (Me dressed in my fav Christmas sweater)
• The Wake, or family meal afterwards needs to be all Christmas from the Meat to the Desert!! Egg nog, (not spiked, you guys have to drive home) Tonia's traditional  Christmas Morning Breakfast Cassarole has to be there, even if someone makes it for her, I'm sure one of my boys can. (oh BTW, put a piece in the casket with me...just in case!!)  Oh, and dont forget the "Santa's White Christmas" coffee from Barnies. If not Dunkin Coffee will do.

Now, I will add to this, but just thought I would share my plans, and wishes. Just in case when Tonia gets home and sees I have decorated the whole house again today with Christmas , she loses it!!!

On a more serious note. We should all prepare for that day. Have you? Not only in the ways I've mentioned but eternally. Isn't that what Christmas was/is all about!!!!!!!

p.s. Oh, and instead of an eternal flame at the grave site, just a string of solar lights will be fine, red and green. Of course!!  I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!