Student Ministry November 2017
Dear Church Family,
This time last year I wrote my first Oakleaves newsletter article. The past year has been a wonderful and challenging year. Kayla and I love living in Evansville and serving here at Oakhill Baptist Church. We have fallen in love with the students and families here and we plan on getting to know the families of our church even better over the next year. We hope that we have been a blessing to you and your family in some way, because you have certainly been a blessing to us.
This month is Thanksgiving month. It is incredibly easy to think of things to complain and gripe about, but what is less natural, and infinitely more beneficial, is for us to consider what things the Lord has blessed us with. I’ve been thinking about this regarding the lives of students in today’s world. I look around and see all the worldly influences they are being inculcated with and I am tempted to complain. But that doesn’t really get us anywhere. So recently I have been trying to focus on how thankful I am that there is at least one place they can go to be nursed back to health with the truth; and that is the Church. The more I think about this, the more I am thankful that there is a place that I can go to be comforted, encouraged, grown, challenged, and rescued by the truth that our society is quickly jettisoning. I see the problems in the world and I cannot think of anything that will sufficiently remedy the issue except for the gospel of Christ. And we, His Church, are the ones who are to be equipped with that truth so we can be a lighthouse to a dark world. I am thankful for our church and its commitment to equipping disciples to be lights in the darkness. I am thankful for the students, their families and the joy we bring each other in Christian fellowship. And I am thankful for the blessing that we can find our joy in Christ rather than in the world where it cannot be found.
I would like to stir you to think about these things as well. Be careful, this is a busy time of year (what time of year isn’t busy?) and that means that we can easily be distracted from what’s most important. The enemy does not want you to think about how wonderful it is to belong to a family of believers that meets regularly to speak truth and encourage one another to go out and keep living for Christ. He wants you to be focused on other things, good things, but not eternal things. If you are a parent or grandparent reading this, think about how wonderful it is that this family of believers here at Oakhill Baptist Church is committed to teaching the younger generations the truth and equipping them to live it. There is nowhere else in this world that will teach them eternal, life changing truth like the Church. I am abundantly grateful to be able to teach students several times a week truth that gives life and joy and peace. They need that desperately!! So do you and me. Could you imagine living in the world not knowing where to find life, joy, and peace? Our culture tempts students to think they can find those things in relationships, social media, entertainment, sex, money, social status, and even suicide. We, the Church, know better. A gospel centered home and the Church are the only places where the younger generation can go to learn where they can find their true joy. Apart from God and my family, there is nothing I am more thankful for than the Church. My prayer is that, when you really think about it, you would feel the same.
Sincerely,
Brian