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December Pastor's Points

Dear Church Family,

Merry Christmas!  It is hard to believe that I started my article to you with that phrase.  It seems like there is no way that Christmas should already be here once again.  2015 has flown by and 2016 is right around the corner.  So, I wanted to take just a few moments to reflect back on this past year and consider a few important dates still to come in 2015.

• First, I want to praise God for allowing us to baptize 34 people this past year! He gets all the glory for each and every one of these lives that have been changed for all of eternity.  It is great to see children and adults publically declare their faith in Jesus and their desire to live for Him and Him alone!
• Second, I want to praise God for your faithfulness in ministry. We continue to have people step up willing to serve in so many capacities.  Just one example of this is in our music ministry.  During a time of transition as we are looking for a new worship pastor, we have had Jeff Thornton and Troy Rhinefort step up to give leadership in our worship services, organize a Christmas Worship Experience through  our adult choir, and many volunteers stepped up to help our children’s choir present a wonderful Thanksgiving program to our church.  All I can say is thank you for the way you have served in 2015!!
• Finally, I want to praise God for His faithfulness to us through your faithful giving. In 2015 our giving has consistently exceeded budget.   As of October 2015 our giving is exceeding budget by 11.2%.  With that we have decreased our debt by $125,000 since December 2014.  By the end of 2015 we will have given over $100,000.00 to missions.  We also set a target for 2015 to have 30 days of operating cash reserves; we currently have approximately 53 days of cash reserves which is $189,000.  We have renovated our kitchen and made other necessary improvements to our property as well.  And after all of that, our church and daycare have a net surplus of $111,500.00!! Thank you God for providing for us as you move on the hearts of your people!

Before I conclude I want to remind you to mark your calendars for two awesome Christmas events that are right around the corner.

• Make sure to be here December 13^th at 6:00pm for our Christmas Worship Experience. Our choir has been working diligently to present this gift to our church family and it is going to be amazing!  I have heard them practicing and all I can say is that you do not want to miss it!  You will want your family and friends to come and experience Christmas on this night! 
• Also, do not forget our Candles, Carols, and Communion services on Christmas Eve. We will come to together at 8pm and 10 pm for an intimate time of worship together as we remember the real meaning of Christmas.  This is one of my favorite services every year.  Please plan to attend!!!

I love you and I love being your pastor,

                                                   Alan Scott

November Pastor's Points

Dear Church Family,

I first want to thank those who expressed words of encouragement and gifts of generosity during the month of October for Pastor Appreciation Month.  It is almost hard to believe that this coming May I will have been pastor at Oakhill for ten years!  I can honestly say that even in the middle of the ups and downs of ministry, these have been the best years of the ministry that God has blessed me with!  And for that, I thank God and you all as well.  It is a joy to serve together for His glory!!

It is also hard to believe that Thanksgiving is almost here as well.  What a great time to reflect on God’s faithfulness.  This past year we baptized more than we have in the last 3 to 4 years!  God also blessed us financially which has allowed us to exceed our operating budget and to give more to missions than we had planned!  God truly is so good to us!  I am very excited to look into 2016 to see all that God is going to do for His glory!!  Thank you God for who you are and for all you have done!

Along this same theme I want to encourage you to make plans to be at our Thanksgiving Banquet this year.  We are going to have a blessed night of fellowship.  The food will be outstanding, the fellowship will be sweet, and our children are going to bless us this year with a special musical performance!  Please bring your family, friends, and neighbors for a great evening together!!

Finally, I want to ask you to continue to pray for our Worship Pastor search.  I know God is going to bring to us the man that he has prepared for this position at this time. Believe me I am as anxious as anyone to find the man that God has for us, but I also want to do all of this in God’s timing and not my own.  God is leading, we are searching, and soon we will all be worshiping with the one that He has prepared to lead us in corporate worship!

I am excited about the days ahead and I know that God desires to use us in greater measure for the sake of the Gospel!  2016 holds awesome possibilities for us as we look to be on mission for the one true and living God!!  He is going to speak to us personally, strengthen us corporately, and send us out intentionally like never before in 2016!   I cannot wait!!!!

 I love you and I love being your pastor!