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Student Life - December 2023

In case we haven’t met yet, then I’ll say the rumors are true. Everyone does call me Alex, but this isn’t my first name. It shocks most people, and you can thank my mother, but my first name is actually Larry. So, I just wanted to let you know that now first, in case anyone else was trying to fool you.

But, more importantly, I’m also your new Student Ministry Director! As I write this article, it has already been three weeks since my first day on the job here at Oakhill.
And, I will say, it has been amazing. The family here at Oakhill has been so welcoming and warm to me and also open to this new position in the Student Ministry, and I can’t thank you all enough. I know that interim time here with the Student Ministry has been too long and a big void was left from the faithfulness of BVD and his ministry here. But
I am and have been so excited to step into this role and continue to serve the students here at Oakhill!

To tell you all a little bit about me, I’ll quickly summarize for ya. I was born and raised here in Evansville. I was also a part of this congregation ever since I can remember and started coming to youth group myself in 8th grade. I’ve been involved in the Upward basketball ministry for around 10 years – this ranged from being a player, to a ref, to a coach, and serving wherever else was needed at the time. I became a believer around the age of 13 and started walking very seriously in my faith towards the end of my junior year of high school. After serving Oakhill at any chance I could get, I began to find a heart and passion for ministry and serving the bride of Christ. Once I graduated high school, I chose to take a year off and pray/meditate/ask the Lord for direction in my life and seek whether or not He was calling me to full time vocational ministry. After spending about seven months seeking, while also meeting with Pastor Bryan, I felt the internal calling from the Lord to pursue vocational ministry. And so, after that, I spent five years at Boyce College studying a degree in Youth and Family Ministry.

During my college career, the Lord graciously gave me opportunities to serve in ministry during every summer break. I have served Oakhill with two internship positions and one summer ministry associate position. I also served at Crossings Camp as a summer missionary staffer. I have been incredibly thankful for these opportunities I’ve had and grew tremendously from each one. And now, I believe the Lord has called me to serve on staff here at Oakhill and to serve our Student Ministry. So that is a little about me. If we haven’t met yet, seek me out! I’m looking forward to meeting more and more of Oakhill’s family and working with you all. Thank you for all that you have done for me in
my transition so far, and I pray that we can all grow closer together as we serve our Father.

Alex Kilgore

Women On Mission - December 2023

Who is this Lottie Moon, anyway?                                                                      

Charlotte Diggs Moon, 1840-1910, better known as Lottie Moon, became a legend in her own time.  A daughter of old Virginia and one of the best educated women in the South, Miss Moon was a petite 4 feet 3 inches.  Her voice is described as deep, rich, gentle, and musical which she used skillfully as a teacher/missionary.  But no photographer ever captured on film the animated, attractive, charming, delightful, energetic, fearless Lottie Moon, although a few photos do exist.

For 40 years she represented Southern Baptists in China.  Again and again she wrote back to America, “Send on the missionaries.”  Once she wrote, “It is odd that the million Baptists of the South can furnish only three men for all China.  I wonder how this looks in Heaven.  It certainty looks queer in China.”

After the Japanese-Russian war, economic conditions in China produced much poverty, but there were some new missionaries.  Miss Moon welcomed them, advised them, mothered them, and loved their children, who adored her in  return.  The Chinese women and children came and went in her home as if it were their own.  If the Pingtu Christians were starving, Miss Moon would not eat.  By December of her seventieth year, she was so frail the doctors sent her back to the States.  But enroute on Christmas Eve, while the ship rode at anchor in Kobe, Japan, Miss Moon died.  The memory of such a life never ends.

In 1918, Annie Armstrong, the woman who refused marriage to a China missionary so she could fulfill her calling as the leader of mission support among Southern Baptist women in the homeland, wrote: “Miss Moon is the one who suggested the Christmas offering for foreign missions.  She showed us the way in so many things.  Wouldn’t it be
appropriate to name the offering in her memory?” And so it was.

Our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal is $12,000. Offering envelopes will be provided for each family.

Hallelujah! We received approximately 1139 boxes of mac and cheese for the Evansville Rescue Mission. Thank you Oakhill!

Women on Mission will meet on December 7th at 1:00 pm in the Grace classroom.