October, 2016 Western Hills Church In This Issue: Pastor Jerry - Office Changes, Faithful Servants Paul McKeithan Deacons Diary Brandon Werner Development Courses Jack Clay - Make His Praise Glorious Britt Clay - FISH Club Updates
Pastor Jerry - Office Changes I want you to be aware of some changes that are occurring in our front office. Brenda Vasquez recently informed us that in October she would like to reduce her hours to two days a week. She will now be working Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sarah Redman has agreed to accept the position of office manager. She will be working Monday- Thursday during our normal front office hours (9am-noon, 1pm-4pm). Brenda has faithfully served as our church receptionist on Monday- Thursday since January, 2008. She has done an outstanding job serving as our church receptionist and our church secretary. Some of her specific duties have included answering the phones, receiving people visiting our office, assisting with finances, preparing our Sunday bulletin, making reminder calls, preparing church mail outs, helping update our data bank, keeping the church calendar, keeping our Sunday attendance, accounting for meals on Wednesday nights, and typing countless letters. She will continue to fulfill many of these same responsibilities for us on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Sarah has faithfully served our church since October, 2002. She has assisted and served in children s ministry, our youth ministry, our small group ministry, and our music ministry. She works with our financial administrator to oversee accounting and the preparation of our weekly finance reports. She has been available at odd hours to work behind the scenes to prepare for countless events in all of our ministries. Her fingerprints are on almost every current ministry in the church that is a blessing to our congregation. Brenda and Sarah are servants of servants. It is because of servants like Brenda and Sarah that our church is able to reach so many souls with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are so blessed to have them and we look forward to serving with them in their new roles. Please pray for all of our staff as we continue to seek the Kingdom of God together. It is a joy to serve with you! Pastor Jerry Upcoming Events: 1. Oct. 2 - Fire Up the Boiler Sunday 2. Oct. 9-102: Membership Class (immediately following the service) 3. Oct. 16 - Group Leader Appreciation Sunday (in service) 4. Oct. 23 - Welcome New Members 5. Nov. 5 - Choir Christmas Rehearsal 6. Nov. 6 - Daylight Savings 7. Nov. 13 101: Newcomers Class (immediately following the service)
Failure to Launch While not a true diagnostic category, the popular phrase Failure to Launch Syndrome describes a young adult who seems to be stuck, not moving forward or maturing in a way that seems appropriate for his/her age and expectations, as well as the expectations of parents and loved ones. According to Hebrews 5:12-14, there was a similar problem occurring with believers in the early church who were not maturing in their faith. Please join us on Sunday mornings and in small group for our current series Failure To Launch. We will be learning from God s Word what causes this problem and how we overcome it. Sermon audio and notes are available online at: www.westernhillschurch.com. From Hugh Sauer... The Board of Trustees meets monthly to discuss the business of the church. All members of the church are welcome to attend these meetings. The dates for the remainder of 2016 are below. Each meeting is currently scheduled to begin Paul Mac - Deacon s Diary The A/C Unit that was freezing up last month needs to be replaced. It was completely worn out. The unit was no longer under warranty. I wonder why. It was just installed in 1998. A new unit installed will cost $7,000. We are waiting for a decision from our insurance company as to what they will cover on our roof damage. Some of the roofs have not had a major repair since 1997 except for some patching. Continue to pray that we might find favor with the insurance company. We should be hearing from them very soon. at 5:15pm in Pastor Jerry's office. To verify the time and date of our next meeting, please contact myself or our church office. Oct. 12 (budget planning) Nov. 9 Dec. 14 We have had no success with the City to condemn the old laundry next door. They have some strict guidelines that must be followed before they can condemn a building. We have contacted the City/County Health Department to see if they could assist in this effort. We are in the process of reviewing our budget for 2017. Be praying for your staff and trustees as we review our needs next year. Our maintenance department is in need of some tools. Call Paul McKeithan if you have some extra hand tools or would invest in a cordless drill for WHC. (We have had some response to the above needs however; we still need a few items.) Last month we were saddened by the loss of a WHC servant, Jerry Martin. This month we rejoice in the recognition of Justin Walters and Nathan Redman as the church laid hands on them and prayed as they assume a new position as a deacon and elder. Continue to hold them up in prayer as they serve our body. Our deacons are here to serve our body; this includes the needs at WHC and personal needs for our widows and single mothers. If you have a need, contact your group leader and they will let us know how we can help.
Brandon Werner Development Courses: What & Why Our church recently welcomed 15 new members to our fellowship! Each of these members completed our 101: Newcomers Class and our 102: Membership Class. I am so grateful for our team and the way they have served to make these courses a reality for our church. All these new development courses and their numbers may have you understandably confused. 101, 102, 201, 301, 401 wait, now I m confused. What are all these courses and why are they important? First, let me encourage you to visit www.westernhillschurch.com/development. On this page you will find the complete list of all these development courses and what they are about. Why are they important? Each of these development courses serves an important function in helping move people through the discipleship process (or around the discipleship wheel). Once someone is connected to 101 they will automatically be connected to get invitations to future courses (102, 201, 301, etc.). These courses follow a logical and strategic sequence that will help participants move from being new or unconnected towards getting connected as members and even as group leaders! This makes our development courses extremely valuable to our mission to develop disciples of Jesus as a church. After nearly a year of connecting people to these development courses, we have learned that most people who attend 101 end up moving through the rest of the courses! We are seeing an incredibly high rate of retention from class to class. So, basically, when you connect someone to 101, you are connecting them to a path that will likely lead to membership and possibly even future group leadership! It is encouraging to me that our church has a structure for development like this in place. We want to encourage you to take advantage of these courses by connecting people to 101! One of the most effective ways to connect someone to 101 is to attend with them. You can sign up for our next 101 class online at www.westernhillschurch.com/101. Our next 101 is scheduled for Sunday, November 13th. Contact me directly if you have any questions! Be on the lookout for announcements about upcoming classes. We host 101 and 102 every other month. 201 and 301 will happen early this spring. Stay tuned for more info! Jack Clay - Make His Praise Glorious Make His Praise Glorious Through the storms of life Psalm 121 has always been a comfort to me. May it encourage you also. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is the shade on your right hand. The sun shall not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore! Praising Our Savior for His Savior for His Providential Care Bro. Jack
Britt Clay FISH Club Updates FISH Clubs started this month and we have had a blast doing them. FISH Stands for: Focus, Inspire, Share and Hook. Each month we choose a topic and go through this acronym to teach students about that topic. I love going through this because it is simple and it gives the students something to look forward to each week. We really emphasize Hook week because anyone is welcome to join us so that they can hear the gospel. It has been really encouraging to talk to some of the students who have been coming to FISH Club for several years now. They have been eager to start back up because they know that their friends need to hear about Christ and they are convinced that this is the best way to bring their friends to Jesus. It s really exciting! Their excitement has been reflected in the number of students that have come this month as over 230 students have attended FISH Club on four different campuses! This is an incredible turnout! I believe God is doing an incredible work at these schools to make His name known to these students. As a result of God working in these student s lives we have seen seven students give their lives to Christ and many more make a decision to intentionally walk with Him and be a light on their campus. Praise God for what He is doing at Santa Fe South and Capitol Hill! Please continue to pray that God will work mightily in these students hearts. If we can help them follow Christ today, they will become godly leaders for tomorrow. Save the Date!! Upcoming Fall Events: Nov. 2: Pumpkin Smash (FLOOD event) Nov. 13: 101: Newcomers Class (after service) Nov. 23: Offices close at noon Nov. 24 : Thanksgiving Day, offices closed all day Nov. 27: Hanging of the greens for Christmas (after the service) Dec. 11: Choir Christmas Program Dec. 22: Offices close at noon Dec. 26: Offices closed all day for Christmas Dec. 29: Offices closed all day
Contact our church office for the latest calendar information (405-634-1454).
Contact Us Western Hills Church 401 SW 44th Street Oklahoma City, OK 73109 P: 405.634.1454 F: 405.634.1477 E: info@westernhillschurch.com Visit Us Online: www.westernhillschurch.com Go into the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) Western Hills Church 401 SW 44th St. Oklahoma City, OK 73109