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Pastor's Points July 2018

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Dear Church Family,
I pray you are enjoying your summer with your family and friends!  Summer time is an awesome time when we get to vacation, relax, and recharge ourselves.  Many of us have been on vacation and there are more going on vacation soon.  I encourage you to go and take advantage of that time to invest in yourselves and your families.  Whether you take a staycation, or you travel to some destination, make time to slow down long enough to    recharge your battery and invest in your family.

Often when summer comes churches find themselves in what is called a summer slump.  But that is not the case for our church and I am so thankful for that fact.  Even though many of us have been traveling on vacation, our year to date weekly worship average is at 529 which is right at a 10% increase over last year!  Also, our year to date  giving weekly average is $17,511.11 which is running right at 11% ahead of what our weekly need is for our church budget!  I am so thankful for God blessing us in these ways!  I am thankful that we have a church family that remains faithful even during a very busy summer!  Thank you for loving God and expressing it through your worship of Him and your giving to Him!  Please continue to be faithful because there is so much ministry to be done in and through our church family.

Also, just want to remind you that our three summer discipleship classes start on July 8th.  There will be info in this newsletter to help you understand what classes are being offered.  Also, please know that if you have kids, they will participate in a fun and informative time designed just for them.  Get signed up and come as much as you can and continue to grow in the Lord!!

I am so optimistic about the future of Oakhill!  God has blessed us, is blessing us, and is going to continue to bless us!!  Like I have said many times in the past, “as God moves we need to move with Him.”  It is apparent that God is moving so I would ask you to join me in prayer to ask God to show us how it is that we need to move with Him.  We must pray and believe with our whole heart that God is going to use us to continue to share the Gospel with those around us.  And I am also convinced that we need to be a church that is marked by the clear and understandable   preaching of the Word of God.  The world does not need our opinions, they need the truth of God’s Word!!  Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and desire with our whole hearts to be used for His glory here in Evansville and around the world!!

 I love you and I love being your pastor!

 

Posted by Alan Scott with
in Newsletter, Missions

Spare Change July 2018

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                                                          Texas Mission Trip Report

 Our mission trip to Texas took us to what is known as the Golden Triangle, which encompasses several cities in the Beaumont and Port Arthur area.  This region was hit hard by Hurricane Harvey last year. It was amazing to see all the work that still needs to be done, so many people are still not back in their homes almost 9 months later.  Many people didn’t have flood insurance, since they were in areas that were previously not in flood plains.

We partnered with First Baptist Fannett and their Pastor, Scooter Wenner.  They have just recently completed their flood renovation on their sanctuary and began worshipping in it in early May.  They are still working on completing other areas, like a fellowship hall and   Sunday school classrooms. Pastor Scooter was able to get our teams plenty of work  projects.  We have five teams that went out for the week. Team 1 helped a small church in  Stowell, TX with their VBS. Their church was full of sweet people that loved on our volunteers.  That team was overjoyed to be able to connect with local kids and help this church. Team 2 helped a lady named Creedean whose house had been flooded last year. She needed help installing doors and trim.  Our team knocked it out in three days. Team 3 went to a lady named Vicki’s house where they hung drywall all week. Team 4 went over to Trinity Baptist Church in Vidor and helped them with painting, hanging shelves, and caulking.  They were a huge blessing to this mostly elderly congregation. The church showed their appreciation with lots and lots of good food. Team 5 was led by me and helped Pastor Scooter’s church by hanging trim, cleaning, organizing, and painting.

Our teams stayed busy all week and worked very hard.  I was so proud of all the students, they didn’t complain; they just jumped in and did whatever they needed to do.  They were willing to listen and learn from the adults, so they could learn some new skills to complete the projects.  I was also struck by how faithful and joyous all the Texans were. The joy of the Lord was present in all the people we interacted with.  Even though they had been through such a devastating tragedy they were encouraged by the Lord and by people like us helping them out. Personally, I was encouraged to see faithful churches that were reaching out to others for the sake of the gospel.  Pastor Scooter has been at his church for 18 years, faithfully preaching the word. He saw this tragedy as an opportunity for the Lord to do a great work. Not only did their entire church get updated and renovated, he has been able to send groups like us to represent them into the community.
 
I was also encouraged by the sweet spirit our group shared during the week.  Any time you get a group of people together in close quarters for a week you will have people getting tired and grumpy; however, for the most part everyone was so nice and kind to each other.  Everyone had a great attitude and was focused on helping others; I was so proud of all the students and adults that went. We were well taken care of by Rick and Cheryl Rollow, who supported our teams with lots of good food.  We also had a very gracious host at the Shepherd’s Inn. This former nursing home is a ministry that temporarily houses people that come from all over the nation to visit loved ones in one of the seven prisons in the Golden Triangle area.  They allow mission teams to stay there during the week in the summer. They were a huge blessing to us.

We loved getting to see that part of Texas and serve the local churches and people there.  As usual, they were a blessing to us as much as we were to them. Please pray for continue helped for the people in this area, there is still much to be done.  Also, pray for the churches as they reach out with the hope of the gospel.

 

Posted by Bryan Gotcher with

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