Our Blog

Pastor's Points June 2016

Dear Church Family,

• First, Paula and I want to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your very kind display of generosity! Serving Oakhill for 10 years has been our privilege and joy and we are excited to see what God is going to do in the next 10 years to come!!
• Second, I shared recently with our pastors and deacons that I felt God leading me to lead our church family into a new chapter of ministry focusing on making disciples like we never have before. In fact when we consider the word “disciple” we need to understand that it describes who we are, and what we are to do.  Pastor Robby Gallaty says that… “A disciple is a learner, one who is set on growing and developing.  In nearly every sphere of life, people learn specific skills from others who have previously developed such abilities.  An electrical certification is attained only after an extensive apprenticeship with a more experienced electrician.  When a prospective doctor finishes medical school, he or she invests several years in a residency, during which time he or she shadows an experienced physician.”  And in the same way I believe that we should be investing in one another for the purpose of becoming more like Christ.  We should desire to be known for more than being a Christian, we should desire to be known as His disciple.  And as we learn and grow in our faith, we should want to help others learn and grow in their faith as well.  Gallaty goes on to say… “As a Christian, we believe Christ is Lord.  As a disciple, we live in light of his lordship and are actively conformed to the image of Christ through our actions and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit.  Christ is our teacher, and by interacting with him through the written Word and prayer we identify ourselves as more than mere followers—Christians—but disciples like the Twelve.  Hence, to summarize in the most simplistic of manners: a Christian believes, whereas a disciple does.”  Over the coming months and years I know that God is going to do a deeper and greater work in us as we become more intentional in our discipleship making.  I am so excited to see what He is going to do!
• Also, please be aware that we are currently offering a Biblical Counseling Ministry to our church family, as well and to those outside of the church. This has been going for a little while now, but Mike Schloss, one of our lay elders, has
  recently completed a very intense certification process through the Association of Certified Biblical Counseling.  Thank you Mike for taking the time to prepare yourself and have the willingness to serve your church family in this way!  If you would like, you can see the ACBC website at www.biblicalcounseling.com.  This is just another way that we are going to help people to become more like Christ.  My prayer is that as we go forward we will blow up the stigma that sometimes comes with “getting counseling”.  Biblical counsel is simply another way in which we grow in our walk with the Lord.  

In closing, I want to encourage you and your family to be plugged in to all that is going on in the life of our church this summer!  Make sure you pick up one of the summer event cards from the welcome center and hang it on your refrigerator so you will not forget the upcoming events.  Invite your family, friends, and neighbors to come, especially if they do not have a church they attend.  I cannot wait to see what all God is going to do!!

Pastor's Points May 2016

Dear Church Family,

Recently I have been reading a little book called, Understanding the Great Commission and in this little book it list four practices of a Great Commission church.  Of course, we know that this is a reference to Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus gave his final command to his followers before ascending to heaven.  Here are the four practices of a great
commission church as enumerated in Mark Devers book.

1. Cultivate a Culture of Discipleship among its own members.
2. Cultivate a Culture of Evangelism.
3. Work to reach the unreached through missions.
4. Look for internationals in your own city.

• I found this take on the Great Commission interesting because of where God has us right now as a church family. As I shared with you last month we are in the process of evaluating how we as a church encourage our members to “grow”.  And to cultivate a culture of discipleship in our church we need to help every member own the responsibility for helping other believers grow in the faith.  Pastors are to equip the saints for the work of the ministry (Eph. 4:11-12), which means the work of the ministry belongs to all the saints. 
  
  
• Second, we need to make sure that we are encouraging a culture of evangelism as well. You need to be confident that when you invite your non-Christian friends to one of our worship services that they are going to hear the gospel clearly proclaimed.  But also we need to make sure that we are training our church family in evangelism so that you will be prepared and confident to share your faith when the opportunity comes your way.  And finally, the church can also provide resources that you can use to give to your non-believing friends to help encourage conversations about who Jesus is.
  
  
• Third, we need to continue to reach out to unreached people through our mission’s effort. We do this through giving monetarily to our mission offerings.  We need to continue to encourage this giving, but we also need to continue to encourage our church family to go on mission as well.  We have many opportunities to go on mission through our church mission trips in the U.S., but also with our ministry partner Culture Waves Global to reach the unreached
   peoples of the world.
  
  
• Finally, we can participate in looking for internationals in our own city as we work together to support our new Spanish church plant that is starting in June. We are looking to effectively reach out to those who may not speak
  English with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  You can participate by praying for our church planter and his wife Alfonso and Wendy Soto.  Also, if you speak Spanish we would love to talk to you about helping us as we look to communicate through all of the details of the start-up of the Spanish speaking church plant.

I am so thankful to be a part of a church that loves the Great Commission!!!  I cannot wait to see what God has in store right around the corner!!

I love you and I love being your pastor,

 Pastor Alan