Pastor's Points - September 2019
Dear Church Family,
By now you should have received a letter from me communicating the exciting possibilities that God has placed before us. We are in a time of God’s blessing on our church family!
For the last two years or so, God has moved in a steady, consistent way as we have refocused ourselves on making disciples and doing whatever it takes to continue to reach out to those around us with the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Our focus on Life Groups on and off campus, Growth Initiatives, and summer discipleship classes have enabled us to see more people intentionally grow in their faith. Also, in this focus we created more space for people to come and worship together on Sunday. Before we began our off-campus Life Groups, we maxed out in worship at 500 because at the 9:30 am hour our parking was exhausted. But since the creation of these off-campus groups we are now able to reach out to over 600 people. In fact, the last three Sundays before Labor Day weekend we were over 600 all three Sundays! Also, in our last quarterly M3 meeting, where we share about our mission, ministry, and money, we reported that in just the last quarter of the year we added 32 people into membership of our church! We were also able to report that we were running 4% ahead of budget for the year as well! That is all God! He did all of that! He is moving among us and I am so thankful for that fact!!
We are now in a season where I believe with my whole heart that God is calling us to move with Him once again. After being here at Oakhill for two years God moved among us and led us to build the sanctuary that we currently worship in. It was a time when God moved, and we moved with Him in faith!! A little over 200 people believed that God would provide and came together in faith and followed God! And here we are 11 years later where we are asking 600 people to believe once again that God is moving among us and we need to move with Him!!
My prayer is that we can secure this property that is literally a half a mile away from our church campus for our future. It would be amazing to continue the legacy of our church here on Oakhill for many years to come! If we can purchase this property, we will then enter a time of praying and planning with experts as to how best use our properties for the continued legacy of ministry through Oakhill Baptist Church here on Oak Hill Road. I am so excited and encouraged about our future!
The greatest privilege of my life has been to be your pastor for over 13 years. I love you with my whole heart! I do not ask us to consider this step lightly. It will take us all being willing to step out in faith and be willing to follow God. But if we truly believe, as God moves, we move, we must take this step together and follow God into a future that only He knows. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do!
I love you and I love being your pastor!