Month: February 2015
Where’s Brady?
“As Christians, if we aren’t in over our heads we are swimming in the wrong ocean.”
-Brady Rose
Pastor Brady will be spending the next two months on an island several hours away from the large Philippine city, Tacloban.
He is there as a part of the Samaritan’s Purse efforts to provide relief to an island that has been struck with two hurricanes since the major storm surge, Yolanda. The team is bringing with them ten vans, one truck and different types of aid for distribution. The team will spend their initial time cleaning up the island, clearing paths and building relationships. Then they will try to restore the community physically and spiritually.
As Pastor Brady is on this journey, pray for strength and wisdom as he leads this team. Pray that the people of Samar’s hearts will be softened and that through everything Christ’s name is lifted high.
Update: Sunday night Pastor Brady made his team chili, Philippine style, and lead worship. This was the day before the team made the all-day trek to the island of Samar.
Desiring God – Pastor’s Conference 2015
Each year the Oasis Pastors take the time to travel to a Pastor’s Conference, this year they traveled to Minnesota to attend the Desiring God conference. Here an inside look at why the trip is an important one and what the Lord had for our Pastoral Team.
Pastor Bubba, why do Oasis Pastors take the venture out to Minnesota each year to attend the Desiring God conference?
Every year the Oasis pastors look forward to sharing together a time of fellowship, prayer, brain storming, vision casting and in/depth teaching from the Scriptures with other visionary pastors and church planters from across the across the country and around the world. It is always a time of much needed spiritual refreshment, encouragement and rest…..A Time for Refueling for our mission in Amherst County and Central Virginia!
Pastor Brady, what was the focus of this year’s Desiring God conference? And how did it impact your time there?
Where sin increased; the rebellion of man; & the abundance of grace. It addressed false teachings in churches in American today and encouraged us to realize we are more sinful that we could ever imagine and more loved than we could ever fathom.
Pastor Jonathan, what session impacted you the most? Who was the speaker and how can you apply his message?
Dr. John Piper’s session Make War: The Pastor and His People in the Battle Against Sin was the most impactful message of the conference for me. One quote in particular stuck out to me:
All human suffering, especially the suffering of the Son of God, is meant by God to portray, for dull souls like ours, the unimaginable ugliness and offensiveness of sin — That’s why God subjected the world to this horrible futility (Romans 8:20) — to make plain how ugly and offensive sin is.
I was reminded of how dim my view of sin is. Each day is given to allow us to see the wretchedness and insanity of sin specifically in our hearts. We cannot take sin seriously until we see it for what it is and we can only see it for what it is when we see it in light of God’s holiness. We cannot go into the violent war against sin without a proper view of God’s holiness. Without this view we are blind. In fact, without this view of the holiness of God we are not even fighting. I left with a renewed desperation for God to show me the ugliness and offensiveness of my sin. May the slightest bend of my heart towards self be repulsive to me as it is to God.
Pastor Steve, what was the most memorable moment of this trip?
The friendship we developed with the taxi drive who picked us up from the airport who we found out was a fellow brother in Christ. We called him later and invited him to dinner where he shared his testimony with us.
Jared, why would you consider conferences like these vital to church pastors?
Even Jesus needed times of silence and aloneness with God the Father away from the crowds and chaos. “And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone” Matthew 14:23. My natural rhythm as a man is to be constantly on the go, constantly doing. Pastors especially need to “be still and know that he is God”. We must acknowledge our desperate need for him in life and ministry. Conferences and retreats are vital for pastors to deliberately carve out multiple days throughout the year to seek the face of God for vision and clarity amongst the chaos that comes with ministry.
Kameish, while the Pastoral Team was out, what did you do to get renewed and revived??
We had some much needed time of fun (nails!), relaxation (movie night!), bonding (Barnes & Noble), AND digging into the Word! Nedra took us through an introspective study on the Book of James, especially viewing ministry life through the lens of Biblical truth. I most significantly recall the correlation made between James 1:11 and 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, a reminder that any works not done purely for Christ will be burned. It was certainly a time that allowed me to refocus my energies and the priorities of my heart.”
Meet our Intern: Kaylee Capps
Meet Kaylee. She’s a joyful and energetic student who is serving as an intern at Oasis with the Student Ministry and Mobilization Team. Here’s a chance to get to know her better:
What is the thing that sold you on deciding to intern at Oasis?
Definitely the community feel when you walk in… everyone’s family and they totally accept you.
What surprises most people about you?
They think I’m quiet and shy but then I come out of my shell and I’m outgoing and like to dance.
If you had to be alone on a deserted island with one person you’ve met at Oasis who would it be and why?
Kameish. I feel like she would conjure up a plan and we’d get off the island some how… she wouldn’t be able to stay there long… she looks like she could build a boat.
Do you own any Camo?
I don’t think so… I think it’s the only pattern I don’t own… I’m accepting donations.
Oasis: Behind the scenes
As you can imagine, there is a lot of work that goes into maintaining the church property that God has blessed us with. This week starts off with a little fresh paint and organization.
Shout out to Daniel for helping us get that fresh paint up!
Nedra stopped by to give us a helping hand
Amado, hard at work as usual
Even our littlest volunteer was getting in on the action
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