the oasis blog

Greetings from Oasis! We hope that you and your family have had a good start to 2010. As you hopefully know, we are in an exciting time in the history of Peoples Church as we will be welcoming our new Senior Pastor, Dale Oquist, in the next few weeks. Michelle and I had a great time connecting with him and his family, and we look forward to their arrival as they will bring new vision and excitement to our church.

Oasis, kicked off the year with United Winter Camp. Over 16 churches and 400 students and leaders bonded together for this powerful weekend. The theme text for the camp was the book of Jonah- little did we know that we were going to live it! As you probably heard, due to weather conditions, two of the charter buses got stuck in the snow, which led to more than half of the students arriving 17 hours after departure from Peoples Church! In what could have been a very negative experience, our pastors, leaders, and students showed incredible poise and teamwork by working together to help in any way possible. After everyone arrived safely, the rest of the weekend went off without a hitch as students gathered for inspiring worship and powerful messages, culminating with a United communion service on Sunday morning. We all came home physically tired but spiritually recharged!

Since camp, we have been focusing on building relationships through our Tuesday night small groups and our Sunday morning Deep End classes. We are now gearing up for a Spring Break mission trip that will serve in two needy communities in the valley. Each year, we have seen tremendous fruit and growth through our Spring Break outreaches, and we are confident that this year will be no different. Please read the back of this sheet for more information, and encourage your student to attend!

To close, I wanted to encourage you in the role the Lord has given you. This last Sunday during my Deep End class on “Relationships”, I spoke about the parent-child relationship. I first talked about the role of children to ‘honor their father and mother’, and then I spoke on the role of parents. In the Bible, you see that parents have been given the role to train, to encourage, and especially to bless their children. In Genesis 49, before Jacob died he individually blessed his 12 sons. As you continue to read the story, you can see that these blessings (positive or negative) lasted throughout the lineage of Jacob’s sons. In Gen 49:26 Jacob says, “Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills.” I pray that the Lord will give you wisdom in how to bless your children through your words and actions.

If you missed this past Sunday at Oasis, you didn’t get a chance to hear first hand the changes that are taking place on Sundays. But fear not! We’ll brake down all the chewy goodness that is Deep End.

Deep End is our new format on Sunday morning; Where you the student have a chance to choose what you want to learn. Our first set of classes will last for six weeks, the classes offered are Dive In (an introductory class), The Word (a class teaching on how to study the Bible), Worship (looking at worship outside of Sunday mornings) and Prayer.

If you know where you’d like to be already, you can sign up using our handy online form

For more info on the classes check out the class descriptions and video below.

Dive In – Taught by Pastor Chad Johnson
Dive In will give you practical tools to feed your spiritual life and will help you develop and implement a consistent and fruitful quiet time. Topics include how to enjoy reading the Word of God and steps to develop a powerful prayer time. This class will also help you identify and overcome the biggest roadblocks in growing with Christ. This is an open class, meaning there is no specific commitment other than showing up and bringing your bible.

The WORD – Taught By Pastor Miles Newton
The Word will equip you to make sense of the confusing parts of God’s word in your own study. The class will help you understand the Bible better and help God’s Word to soak into you more effectively? It will be a fun, interactive class where we will learn some simple but effective techniques for understanding the Word better. And we’ll talk about how to spend time in the Word profitably so that you grow in your relationship with the Living Word—Jesus.

Worship – Taught By Becca Boyt

Many people define worship as the part of a church service where everyone sings. People participate without asking why they worship or what the purpose is. When we begin to really look at whom our God is and who we are in light of Him, our worship changes. This class will look into the idea of worship and what it means to the believer. It will challenge the way you think and the lifestyle you live as a worshipper of God. Class time will be spent in lecture and discussion groups and there will be some light journaling throughout the week.

Prayer – Taught by Ms. Escarcega
The Prayer class will equip you to transform your school, city through prayer. The class shift your view of prayer from a boring duty, to an exciting part of Christian life. The class will focus on different types of intercession and prayer in various settings including personal prayer, small group, corporate, etc. Protocol and outcome of prayer will also be addressed.

Its important that you realize while Sunday’s may look a little different, we think it’s for the better. You get to learn more about areas that you’re interested in that can be directly applied to your life from some great teachers. So sign up online (if you didn’t in person) and come check out the Deep End this Sunday at Oasis!

Sign Up Now

I hope that yesterday’s message gave you the evidence that the signature of God is all over His creation: from the expanse and beauty of the heavens to the amazing complexity of the human body to even the unique specifics of how our Lord has created such a world that sustains life.

I hope that it also made you realize that being scientific doesn’t mean that you have to throw out Faith, but in fact, true science (if viewed in an unbiased way) can support what we believe.

In the following days, I will be posting some ‘extras’ to the message. And if you didn’t hear it, check out the podcast page at 360oasis.com/podcast

But in the meantime, I want to hear your thoughts, and answer any questions you may have. So please type these in the comments section below.

This Sunday Pastor Chad presented the new format for Oasis Sundays, The Deep End.

For more details read the previous blog post or listen to Chad’s message here.

 Standard Podcast [33:12m]: Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

We sent this letter out to all of our students this week. If you have not received a letter please send an email to gjohnson@peopleschurch.org with your students name, and address so we can update our records. Thanks

Dear Parents,

Greetings to you and your family! I hope the start of school has gone well for you and your student. This has been a glad/ sad time for our family as our oldest son Rees started preschool in August; initially really SAD for Rees, but he’s loving it now. It did make us realize, as I’m sure you have, how quickly time flies and our children grow up. Next thing you know I’ll be receiving my own parent letters from Oasis!

I wanted to give you a quick update as to where we’ve been and what this fall holds for us at OASIS. We just finished an eventful summer with three big events: WOW week, which was five days of fun to welcome our new freshman, Summer Discipleship, where over 30 students learned what is means to be a disciple of Christ, and HERO summer camp, where we had a great time competing in ‘Hero training’ and growing spiritually both individually and as a group. This summer was huge in preparing our students for this upcoming school year.

Starting September 27, Oasis will be adopting a new format for our Sunday mornings called the DEEP END. The DEEP END is designed to progress all students into a deeper relationship with Christ. We will divide the year into four segments based on the Oasis four stages of spiritual growth (see-attached sheet). The first phase, THIRST, is a five-week series teaching on why we should believe and follow Jesus. I believe that this will be a time where our students will be challenged to think about their faith in new ways.

Please be aware that service will be concluding at 10:45, followed by a food and fellowship break. After this, we are encouraging everyone to stay for the 11:30 service, as Pastor Ron McManus will be sharing about the new vision of Peoples Church.

OASIS Tuesdays will continue to meet at 7pm for games, worship, and the sharing of the Word. Our small group format will continue, but they will be happening every other week.

Parents, please mark your calendars for NEXT WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23. That morning, at 7am, students are gathering for prayer at their school’s flagpole for See You at the Pole. Remind and encourage your student to attend! That night, at 7pm, youth across our city are gathering in the main sanctuary at Peoples Church for UNITED, an all-city night of prayer and worship. I would strongly encourage your student to attend and invite their friends, as we are expecting a good crowd.

Because of this, NOTE that next TUESDAY, September 22, we will not be having our regular Tuesday night service.

In Christ,
Chad Johnson

///Attached Sheet

An OASIS is a fertile area of refuge and refreshing in a desert, usually having a spring or well. Just as a natural OASIS is a place of refreshing, OASIS is meant to be a safe place in a dry and weary land where students can find spiritual nourishment and refreshing.

WATER.
What brings the fertility to an oasis is the water source. Water is the one substance that sustains life. In the bible, the Lord refers to himself as the the Spring of Living Water (Jer 2:13) and the one who possesses the water of life (John 4). The question we want each student to ask is: What are you going to do with this Living Water?

Thirst.
Students who do not know that Lord but are not content with their present condition. Our goal is to create environments where these students develop a spiritual thirst that will lead them into receiving Christ.

Drink.
Students who have received the living water, Jesus Christ, and are learning to develop their genuine walk with their Lord. Our goal is to teach and provide opportunities for students to grow in an intimate relationship with Christ.

Fill.
Students who are learning to live lifestyles of obedience and surrender to the Lord. As they do this, they are becoming a pure vessel containing the glory of Jesus Christ. Our goal is to train students how to be Spirit-filled disciples of Christ.

Pour.
Students who realize that their life is not their own but is for the Lord’s use to bring the living water of Jesus to others. Our goal is to empower and release students to pour the life of Jesus onto others in their campus and community.

I’ve (Garrett) have been reading through Corinthians, one of the passages that really struck me is 1 Corinthians 4:10-13 . So I made a wallpaper. Download it here

Enjoy

Well watch the video

Thank you David Crowder Band!
Go ahead and follow Oasis @360oasis

As Christians we’re always trying to find God’s will for our life. I’ve been told to seek after the Lord in prayer, be patient, wait for a door to open, etc. etc. Often times growing up I thought my relationship with God was somehow messed up because I didn’t know where God wanted to take me.

On my first missions trip to Mexico in 7th grade, I remember one night where God called two of my best friends into ministry. That night I remember crying, “God, Why can’t you tell me what my call is?” The seeming lack of a call on my life took a toll on my relationship with God. If he wasn’t going to tell me what he wanted me to do, even though I was reading my Bible, praying, and trying to be a good kid… I wasn’t interested.

The thing that I didn’t realize was; I had already been called.

In fact, we all have.

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” — Matthew 22:37-40

Christ charges his Church to love God, love people, and proclaim the Gospel.

That’s a call for all of us.

What I didn’t realize as a 7th grader was that God promised to guide my steps as I followed him; God didn’t promise to give me a map on where I was going. I think Christians use the lack of a call as an excuse to sit back and do nothing.

I was just sitting on my parents front porch watching the rain come down. What had started as a drizzle, quickly grew into a downpour. It was as if a colossal sponge was being wrung out over the neighborhood. A kid biked past on the street in front of me, umbrella in one hand and other on the handlebars, seemingly undisturbed by the showers. It seemed so funny to me. People continuing as normal, just getting wet in the process of whatever they needed to do. The strangest thing was how odd this was to me. Something as simple as rain, something I grew up in and around and even grew to despise was now so entertaining and comforting. It felt so peaceful: maybe it was my parents just inside or the fact I felt safe with my dog beside me, or the fact that I felt no pressing need to do or be anything in their presence.

Home. Many long for it and many search for it. People spend their life savings improving it and their lifetime investing in it. It’s where you find rest. It’s where you fit.

So what do you do when there is no location that meets those needs? When you don’t seem to “fit” anywhere?

David was a man in transit, spending years on the run from Saul. He made his dwellings in cities unfamiliar, in caves, with people who were drawn to him because of stories they heard. He had no front porch to sit on. Where was home for him.

Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
my King and my God.

Despite his transient lifestyle and lack of comfort, it wasn’t home he longed for: it was something altogether different. He continues in verse 4:

Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise! Selah

Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
in whose heart are the highways to Zion.

I’m finding more that my parents house feels less like home. It has been a funny transition and strange to think of the place I grew up so differently. I remember first moving away and missing it so much. I sat in my new room in Clovis, a thousand miles from everything I knew, but it might as well have been a million. I remember praying, “Lord, help this to feel like home, Help this to feel like that place of comfort” In His gentle love He told me something I didn’t expect to hear, “This isn’t home. Home is my presence.”

We were not made to be bound to objects, to locations, even to people. All are a part of the journey, partners for different seasons and lengths, intended to run besides us. However, these people and places, even when God given, were never meant to be the goal. The moment “the thing” becomes the finish line, we lose sight of why we are running: Him. He is the goal and the aim: the ultimate prize.

I have wrestled with the thought of home many times in the past 18 months. Why God would remove me from what was so familiar? Each time God brings me back to His gentle whisper: home is my presence. Would I have pursued Him, as He desired, if I had still felt so comfortable?

David learned the lesson that the Lord desires us to learn: we will never truly be comforted outside of His presence. Even the best of circumstances cannot compare with where He is.

David continues in verse 10:

For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.
O Lord of hosts,
blessed is the one who trusts in you!

I am still learning, but finding rest in Him is becoming less foreign and more of my focus. Near or far, rain or shine, home is not far. Its chasing after me with an everlasting love: in pursuit of my heart and my devotion, changing me with every mile.

Home is finding me.

In coffee shops and conference rooms.

And on occasion, even front porches.

Name Artist
Meteor Shower Owl City
Gimme That Funk (Album) Group 1 Crew
Majesty Planetshakers
Hero (Album Version) Skillet
Dance Newsboys
Can You Feel It? David Crowder Band
All Around The World Raze
Love Liberty Disco (All Mixed Up Mix) Newsboys
Late Great Planet Earth Plumb
We Won’t Be Quiet David Crowder Band
What Does It Sound Like Ian McIntosh
Heaven Jars Of Clay
Love Is Better Than Life (Go Remix Album Version) Newsboys
Let It Roll Group 1 Crew
Revolutionary Love David Crowder* Band
Joy (Let’s Be Frank Mix) Newsboys
Work Jars of Clay
You Are My Joy David Crowder* Band
More Than A Dream Raze
Something Beautiful Newsboys
Forgive Me Group 1 Crew
End of October David Crowder* Band