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Women on Mission - August 2021

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A Focus on Cooperative Program - Accomplishing More Together

English Baptist William Carey answered the call to carry the gospel to India in the late 1700s. He recognized that to be effective in his efforts, he needed partnership and cooperation. He challenged churches to “hold the ropes” by committing to pray for and give to mission efforts.

In 1845, the Southern Baptist Convention was formed and continued in the spirit of fulfilling the Great Commission. The initial approach was a societal method of giving. Missionaries had to raise their own financial support and devote significant time to cultivating churches and individuals for that support.  As missions efforts grew rapidly, so did the competition for funding. God led Southern Baptist in 1925 to launch a unified channel of giving called the Cooperative Program. It is a lifeline of support that begins with individual believers in each Southern Baptist congregation. As believers respond in obedience to give to the Lord in the local church, churches, in turn, allocate a percentage of undesignated gifts through the Cooperative Program for state, national, and
international missions.

The simple principle that more can be accomplished together than alone is the genius of the Cooperative Program. For almost 95 years, Southern Baptist have supported thousands of missionaries, planted multitudes of churches, and witnesses countless lives profess Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

Can one local church support more than 4,000 missionaries as well as six seminaries and engage more than 3,000 unreached people groups around the world? By giving through the Cooperative Program, yes, it can.

Here is a list of upcoming Women on Mission meetings.
Thursday, August 5th
Thursday, September 2nd
Thursday, October 7th
Thursday, November 4th
Thursday, December 2nd

Each meeting begins at 1:00 pm in the Grace classroom across from the Fellowship Hall.  All ladies are invited to attend.

Posted by Women On Mission with
in Kids, Newsletter, Missions

Spare Change - July 2021

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I am writing this article right in the middle of the VBS week.  This week is often full of long days and short nights.  There isn’t much rest to be had but there is other nourishment that we get along the way to keep us going.  Things like serving the Lord, discipling children, connecting with families, sharing the gospel, and fellowshipping with other volunteers are just a few of the spiritually nourishing things that help us endure.  While it is a crazy, busy week it is also a very special week.  Children get to hear the life changing truth of the gospel and that is what it is all about.

VBS is totally worth all the manpower and resources that we put into it.  Last year, even during the Covid year, we were able to pull off VBS and 16 children became followers of Jesus.  That just blows my mind! Our church was faithful to do VBS and God, out of His abundant mercy, saved 16 children.  Again, this is what it is all about.  This year we have many more children which means we have an even greater potential for gospel impact.  We are praying that God would do an amazing work through the gospel presentation and our Bible study leaders.  By now you know the results of VBS, and I hope that together we are praising and thanking God for the children He has saved!

The other aspect of VBS that encourages me so much is our volunteers that work tirelessly to make VBS happen.  We have 90 volunteers this year!  90 adults and teenagers that invest a week of their life in this kingdom work.  Many of them work all day, rush to the church and find the energy to lead and teach the children.  I am always amazed by their dedication.  People always ask me if I feel stressed and overwhelmed and honestly I can say, "No", because we have such great volunteers.  VBS at Oakhill is a fun and enjoyable experience because we all share the load.

If you are a volunteer, I want to say with all sincerity, THANK YOU!  There is nothing I could do or say that would be enough, but I know you don’t do it for the praise, you do it because you love the Lord and want to serve Him.   You have blessed your church and community with your service, and I pray the Lord will bless you as well.

I also want to say a thank you to the church at large.  There are many of you that are not able to help with VBS but you lift us up in prayer leading up to VBS and each night of VBS.  I know God hears your prayers and we are blessed because of them.  There are also many that give financially to the ministry of the church.  VBS costs money, that is the bottom line, but we never have to worry because our church gives to the budget and takes care of that need without even a thought.  It is a blessing to be a part of such a supportive church.  You do not balk when we take over the church for a week, put out decorations, take over your Life Group class.  You allow us to do all of this because you love the Lord and want to serve Him.  To all of you that silently support through prayer, giving financially, and giving us space, we say thank you!  You share in the blessing that God brings to our church!

We leave VBS physically tired but spiritually full!  We know God loves to work through His faithful people that want to serve Him with a pure heart.  That is the exact thing we have at Oakhill, faithful people!  Thank you for everything!  I am so blessed to be your Children’s Pastor!

 

Posted by Bryan Gotcher with

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