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Student Ministry November 2017

Dear Church Family,

         This time last year I wrote my first Oakleaves newsletter article. The past year has been a wonderful and challenging year. Kayla and I love living in Evansville and serving here at Oakhill Baptist Church. We have fallen in love with the students and families here and we plan on getting to know the families of our church even better over the next year. We hope that we have been a blessing to you and your family in some way, because you have certainly been a blessing to us.

This month is Thanksgiving month. It is incredibly easy to think of things to complain and gripe about, but what is less natural, and infinitely more beneficial, is for us to consider what things the Lord has blessed us with. I’ve been thinking about this regarding the lives of students in today’s world. I look around and see all the worldly influences they are being inculcated with and I am tempted to complain. But that doesn’t really get us anywhere. So recently I have been trying to focus on how thankful I am that there is at least one place they can go to be nursed back to health with the truth; and that is the Church. The more I think about this, the more I am thankful that there is a place that I can go to be comforted, encouraged, grown, challenged, and rescued by the truth that our society is quickly jettisoning. I see the problems in the world and I cannot think of  anything that will sufficiently remedy the issue except for the gospel of Christ. And we, His Church, are the ones who are to be equipped with that truth so we can be a lighthouse to a dark world. I am thankful for our church and its commitment to equipping disciples to be lights in the darkness. I am thankful for the students, their families and the joy we bring each other in Christian fellowship. And I am thankful for the blessing that we can find our joy in Christ rather than in the world where it cannot be found.

I would like to stir you to think about these things as well. Be careful, this is a busy time of year (what time of year isn’t busy?) and that means that we can easily be distracted from what’s most important. The enemy does not want you to think about how wonderful it is to belong to a family of believers that meets regularly to speak truth and encourage one another to go out and keep living for Christ. He wants you to be focused on other things, good things, but not eternal things. If you are a parent or grandparent reading this, think about how wonderful it is that this family of believers here at Oakhill Baptist Church is committed to teaching the younger generations the truth and equipping them to live it. There is nowhere else in this world that will teach them eternal, life changing truth like the Church. I am abundantly grateful to be able to teach   students several times a week truth that gives life and joy and peace. They need that desperately!! So do you and me. Could you imagine living in the world not knowing where to find life, joy, and peace? Our culture tempts students to think they can find those things in relationships, social media, entertainment, sex, money, social status, and even suicide. We, the Church, know better. A gospel centered home and the Church are the only places where the younger generation can go to learn where they can find their true joy. Apart from God and my family, there is nothing I am more thankful for than the Church. My prayer is that, when you really think about it, you would feel the same.

Sincerely,

Brian

Student Ministry October 2017

Dear Church Family,

My last article was intended to be an encouragement to us all to pursue unity and discipleship by being people who speak the Truth in Love. That is one of the main themes I would like to become a trademark of the Student Ministry here at Oakhill, as well as the parents of our Student Ministry. My hope is that the students will grow in their willingness to be loved with the truth of the gospel. That is why our DNow that is coming Nov. 10-12 has been given the theme: Speak Love. I am really looking forward to this weekend to have the  students discuss how to speak love in the midst of a culture that says it is loving, but has no idea what true love really is. I hope our students will be encouraged to go and love their friends by living out and speaking out the gospel. But what I think will actually ensure this outcome would be for the families of our church to be families who emulate this at home. What happens at home happens out of it as well. That is my motivation for writing this newsletter. I hope to encourage our families to pursue unified and godly homes. Note, I did not say perfect homes! But ones that pursue unity and godliness. That means that I hope to encourage you to be gospel centered homes.

You might hear that and immediately feel crippled by the weight of such a high expectation. But do not fear, being gospel centered at home is actually extremely liberating! It allows for failures and imperfection, and it brings about forgiveness and restoration! How can we have homes where imperfection and weakness can lead to abounding love and wholesome relationships? By loving God more than your family. What? How can loving something more than your family make you love your family more?? While the answer is simple, it does not usually mesh with our natural understanding. But, simply put, God is love. He is the source of it. All love (that is wholesome and good) comes from Him and His grace to His creatures. So the question ought to be, how can we really, truly love our families without having the love of God first?

Jesus put it this way: “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26) If I were a disciple at that time I might be tempted to think, “well, there it is; He’s lost it. All those miracles have worn Him out and He’s gone crazy!” But Jesus obviously didn’t want people to hate their families, because He told them to honor their father and mother in Matt. 19:19, Mark 7:10, Luke 18:20 and elsewhere. What He is saying is that to truly follow Christ, He must be first in your life. He must be before your spouse, your children, your siblings, your parents, and yourself. If you are like me, you love that list of people very much. And Jesus doesn’t want you to love them less; but simply love Him more! He died for you! I haven’t even died for my spouse… what kind of love is this, O my soul!! Because of this love, we now strive to die daily for Him, our spouses, our children, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is because of His love that we love so much more! So, let us ask ourselves, do I live like I love my family most, or God most? Do I have the order right? What would it look like to tangibly love God before my kids, my spouse, and myself? I think that would look like a gospel centered home. Not a perfect home, but a home full of the love of God.
Brian