Our Blog

Spare Change - December 2022

For the Love of the (Game) Savior

Upward season is in full swing!  We are starting the 14th season of the Upward basketball and cheer program at Oakhill.  Every year, boys and girls from kindergarten to 8th grade sign up to play in our league.  This year we have our highest league enrollment with 222 basketball and cheer participants!  We also have 50 coaches signed up to help.  We will have many other volunteers that will help us when games start.  We are thankful to the Lord for the many children in our program and the volunteers that serve. The Upward Sports Ministry is a unique and wonderful ministry.  There are several reasons for this:

1. Emphasis on Spiritual Things
Upward is not just a basketball and cheer league.  We strongly emphasize the spiritual. During each practice, coaches lead the players through a devotional.  This year they are looking at snapshots from characters listed in Hebrews 11.  The devotions build throughout the season emphasizing truth from God’s word and the gospel.  We also have an intentional gospel presentation at one point in the season.  Players can respond and we follow up with them if they want to know how to become a follower of Jesus.  Finally, we do half-time devotions to bring a spiritual element to the games as well.  Upward only works if we emphasize the spiritual along with the physical.

2. Emphasis on Relationships
Another goal of our Upward league is to build relationships with our players and families.  We want the Upward experience to be a positive one.  We have found that if our staff, Upward leaders, coaches, and other volunteers focus on building relationships then we have a stronger league.  We have connected with many great families that have played every year until their child ages out of the program.  Relationships are key to making Upward great.

3. Emphasis on Skills
Upward is a competitive league, however we emphasize the players' growth over competition.  We want this to be a league where kids of all skill levels will feel welcome.  We also want to see them grow in their skills as the season progresses.  It is always so amazing to see how players improve.  When we emphasize skills, all players feel valued and encouraged.

4. Emphasis on Affirmation
Finally, Upward emphasizes an affirming attitude during games.  You might see parents getting hot or coaches yelling at referees in other leagues.  At the Oakhill Upward league, we see almost none of this.  We work hard to create a positive environment where everyone from the players, to the coaches, to the referees, to the parents are affirmed.  We know that people make mistakes, refs will miss calls, players will miss shots; but even through all of that, we want to be encouraging.  Our Upward league has a great reputation, and we hope to continue this tradition each season.

I hope you understand why we think the Upward Sports Ministry is so special.  If you want to volunteer to help during the season, please contact me at   The biggest way you can help is to pray!  Pray for our players to respond to the truth of the gospel.  Pray for our coaches as they work with the players.  Pray for a safe, fun, and positive environment in practices and games.  We can never have enough people praying for us!  Thank you for your support and prayers!

Student Ministry - December 2022

Dear Church Family,

This will be my last newsletter article as one of your pastors. To say that this time of life and ministry with you has been a blessing is a vast understatement. It is with sadness and excitement that we step out in faith to what God is calling us to. If you have not heard yet, I have accepted a call to go be the Senior Pastor at Second Baptist Church in Angleton, Texas. This is a calling that God has put on my life, and being a senior pastor is the direction I have felt God pulling me for many years. But it is now that He is saying, “it’s time.” So, Kayla and I would be doing a disservice to Second Baptist, to Oakhill Baptist, to ourselves, and to God if we did not obey His call. Thank you for supporting us as we seek to follow the Lord.

With that said, it will not be easy leaving Oakhill. You have been our church home for a long time, and our family has grown exponentially since coming here. Our children have been so blessed by you, and so has my wife. For that I simply want to thank you very much. I could not
ask for more than for a church to love the Lord and love my family.

I would be remis to try to list everyone whom I need to thank for loving my family. But I do want to call attention to just a few; first, I want to thank Mike Schloss and Nick Kessler. These two men are our lay-Elders, and they love the Lord and this church. They and their families have blessed my family and me more than they know. We love them and are very thankful for them. Next, I want to thank Matt Virgin, Paul Willett, and Todd Linn. These men are my friends whom I trust. These are men who push me to pursue God’s will for my life. They are men who love me and care about how I live. They are iron sharpening iron. There are many people who have played this exact same role in my life, but I want to thank these men publicly for their love and support as I have been seeking God’s will. Everyone needs people like these men in their life to help disciple and encourage toward God’s will.

Third, I want to thank Bryan Gotcher. He is my friend and co-laborer in the gospel ministry. He is my workout partner, sounding board, and counselor in the ministry. I have learned so many things from just working side-by-side with Pastor Bryan. He is a man who loves God, loves the church, loves his family, and works hard to love God and serve His people. I am forever his friend and partner in the gospel ministry.

Finally, I want to thank Pastor Alan. He is very much a father in the faith… He is literally old enough to be my father! But seriously, he is one of the major reasons I came to Oakhill in the first place. I knew he would be a man I could look up to and learn from about how to be a good and faithful pastor. That proved to be true. I have been so blessed to know him, work with him, and learn from him. He loves deeply and cares passionately. He desperately loves the church, but he more desperately loves the Lord. I know that God will bless him in whatever he does, because he will do everything for the glory of God.

I pray you will listen to these men. I pray you will have people like them in your life. I pray God’s blessings on this church and on your life. I pray we all meet again in the near future.

Trust the Lord. Read His Word. Love Him. Love others. And make Christ primary in your life.