Mt. Oak s Electronic News July 27, 2007 Edition #4 Worship - Celebrate... 1 Fellowship Connect... 2 Discipleship Develop... 2 Ministry Serve... 3 Mt. Oak s Web Page - http://www.mtoak.org Rev. Ray s E-Mail - ray@mtoak.org Evangelism Share... 3 Administrative News... 3 From the Pastors... 3 Up Coming Events... 5 Worship - Celebrate Conforming to Christ Sunday, July 29 th, the message is titled Meet the King and we will use Hebrews 10:25 as the base Scripture. Last week we talked about conforming to Christ. This message came out as a strong challenge to many of us. This Sunday is all about encouragement. Hebrews 10:25 reads; Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the Day approaching. The three things I wanted to do when I started July 1 st, to preach the Word, love the people and build relationships. Encouragement is a big part of all three. Coming to worship each week is all about coming to meet the King, to meet God. Worship is all about coming into God s presence. As you prepare to attend worship this Sunday, come prayed up and ready to present yourself to the King. Come with the attitude that you want to meet the King! See you Sunday! Help Needed Help is always needed in ministry. The worship teams need your help. Starting September 2 nd we will have two worship teams and each team will need persons to work the Power Point/Easy Worship, help with Sound, Lights, and we will need talented persons to sing, play instruments and more. Jason Craig, our Worship Director, Nichelle Fullen and Jamie King, our Worship Leaders, Rev. Ray and Pastor Charlie, our pastors are prayerfully seeking to God s leading as we develop these two teams. Worship is essential in bringing us into the presence of God. We are specifically looking for someone who loves to work Power Point. When the pastors finish their sermon preparation they need someone(s) who can pull out important points and develop an interesting Power Point presentation. This is a ministry that can reach many because eye catching, attractive, inspirational Power Point presentations can help folks learn and grow. Are you interested? If so see Jason Craig or one of the pastors. Others interested in helping with the worship teams see Nichelle Fullen or Jamie King. Future Sermons July 29 Meet the King Hebrews 10:25 August 5 The Blessings of God Malachi 3:6-12 August 12 The Northern Ireland Mission Team Reports August 19 Morning Prayer Psalm 5:1-3 Check out the audio from sermons you missed, ones really appreciated or ones you would like to share with others on the Web Page www.mtoak.org. Sermons and Daily Messages can be found on the web page and are available on itunes as well as a podcast.
Fellowship Connect 2 Church-Wide Picnic Praise God! According to reports from several members this was one of the best Church Picnics we have had in years. To all who had a hand in it (and the report was 60 people helped) thank you! To all who attended blessings to you! Women s Ministry Plan now for the Women s Ministry s fall kickoff dinner at church on September 10 th from 6:30-9pm. Men s Ministry Men s ministry will be attending the August 11 th BaySox game. This fall there are several events planned including our Fall Advance (real men don t retreat), Stand in the Gap and more. This ministry is open to all men from Mt. Oak and their friends. There is just something special about a men s ministry! Join us for our next activity/meeting. Wednesday Night Family Night Have you heard about Wednesday night Family Night yet? Currently we plan to have fellowship and discipleship events after our family meal each week. Please contact Rev. Ray or Steve & Ellen Youtsey with your thoughts and ideas about this ministry night. See their article in the August edition of the Messenger. We are planning to have something for the whole family. Where can you help? Having a night when the whole family can gather and be fed physically and spiritually will be such a blessing. One night out and the whole family is together! Championship Softball Game Mt. Oak will play for the championship Tuesday night, July 31 st at 7 pm at Allen s Pond Park (a rescheduled game). Please make every effort to attend and support our team. Wednesday Night Men s Hoops Men s Hoop Night is back. Invite your friends. Come to sweat a lot and share a short devotion each night. We will begin Wednesday Night Men s Hoop night on August 8 th at 8:30 pm and play till 10:30 or when we run out of energy lol. For information see Jim Tallon or Rev. Ray. Discipleship Develop VBS or Galilee-by-the-Sea What a fantastic week we have had with Galilee-by-the-Sea, our Vacation Bible School program. Thanks to all who helped make this week great. Come out Friday night for the closing! Don t miss it, 6:30 pm. Wanted Sunday School Teachers with a Passion Well, in just over one month, we will be starting our fall Sunday School classes. For those of you that have already made a commitment to teach our children, thank you. If you think that you are being called to teach or would like to be a teacher s helper, please let Tricia Patterson know or just call me, Charlie Brown. Wednesday Nights in September Starting in September we will have family night on Wednesday nights. See the August Newsletter.
3 Calling All Men The pastor is planning a Men s Bible Study to start Tuesday, September 4 th. We will start in the Conference Room upstairs in the Office Building but will move if numbers suggest we should. This will be for men of all ages and will be start with a study of Ephesians. If you are interested in this study, let Rev. Ray know. Ministry Serve Where Can You Serve As we grow as disciples we mature as we serve. Have you found a place to be in ministry at Mt. Oak to serve? If not please contact Pastor Charlie or Rev. Ray or a ministry leader and we ll find a place for you. People with a heart to serve are people after the heart of Jesus who humbled Himself to serve others. Evangelism Share Mofest 07 MOfest 07 is fast approaching. Andy Barbera and Dione Bowlding have been hard at work putting this youth outreach together. They will need church-wide support. The Church Council voted unanimously to support this outreach event. MOfest 07 is scheduled for August 24 th and 25 th. This promises to be the concert event of the year! The youth will need loads of volunteers. Please contact Andy or Dione if you can help. Fall Revival/Renewal Service Is there any interest in a fall revival or renewal service? If so, let Rev. Ray know. Administrative News E-News Information If you have some thoughts or information that needs to go out to the fellowship in between the Newsletter printings, please send them to me at ray@mtoak.org. The E-News goes out weekly and is on the web too. Upper Room Offerings So far, after two Sundays, we have received $4,889.00 toward the Upper Room. Praise the Lord! From the Pastors Senior Pastor Ray McDonald Watching the growing number of children and families each night at Galilee-by-the-Sea touched my heart. Anyone who has seen our numbers decline the last few years had to be encouraged by the great turnout for this summer program. A few weeks ago we had the highest Sunday morning worship attendance in months, 327. We also had over 250 people stay for our annual picnic. We recently renovated our Sanctuary and did more than we thought possible because the funds came pouring in. The office move was another major reconstruction project. And now we are working on the Upper Room and in 2008 we will work on the Children s wing. We are currently making plans for the fellowship and discipleship programs on Wednesday nights this fall. We plan, on alternating Wednesdays, to offer events to breakdown walls and grow in fellowship with the church family. On the other Wednesdays we plan to hold discipleship events. The plan is to have classes that
4 will only last 3 months and will alternate teachers and material as we go through the year. We will also offer classes with different approaches; 1) classes for basic learning, 2) classes for those who will do some homework and come prepared for discussion and 3) classes for those who will prepare and take turns leading the class. You might ask what this is all about. I m not trying to stress numbers but rather I m trying to show you signs of a church family that has turned the corner. We are no longer in decline but rather a church looking to new visions and ideas and seeking God s will. We are not trying to survive but looking for ways to reach our community with Jesus. Philippians 2:1-5 - 1 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Executive Pastor Charlie Brown Galilee by the Sea What an incredible week so far! From learning new songs, to doing Jewish folk dances, wonderful drama, games, working with the shop keepers and even the synagogue services have been awesome. Each evening we start off with singing and dancing and the youth spend time in their different tribes listening to their tribal leaders teach them the stories of the people of Israel. Each tribe sends a member of their tribe to bake fresh bread and to bring water from the well out by the tents. Then we all get a chance to see the trades and crafts of the stores in Galilee. We have been making jewelry, fishing nets, boats, sandals, menorahs, rope and even fishing poles! So much to see and we are running out of week here outside of Capernaum. Then we go to synagogue each evening to learn about how Jewish families worshiped during the time Jesus was walking the shores of Galilee. Last night, we learn about the Seder meal which is the Passover meal that is celebrated even today. Tonight we will learn about Hanukkah and the rededication of the Temple in 165 BCE wow! And there is a buzz around Galilee about a man called Jesus! We keep hearing reports about him healing the sick and preaching what he calls the Good News of the Kingdom. On Tuesday night we got to hear from a Centurion and his servant and how Jesus healed him just based on the Centurion s faith..how can that be? Then last night one of the mothers of the fishermen who are following Jesus heard her sons tell about Jesus saving them from an awful storm on the lake. They told her that he just spoke to the wind and it was calm. Maybe before this week is over it is my hope that I will have the opportunity to meet this Jesus face to face. Could he be the Messiah? Rabbi Yelsew From the synagogue in Galilee Youth Pastor Dione Bowlding What a blessing it is to be at this church and working with all of you especially the youth and the youth volunteers. I really believe that I have one of the best jobs in the world and you all make it that way. I am so excited about the great things God has in store for you and us. The excitement is in the air and it is in each person. We can sense that God is moving and working in our church which is great. My prayer is that He will move and working in your life and the lives of your family. See I know God has called us to do great things as a church, but has also called each and every one of us to do great things for His name, fame and glory. I want to encourage you all to seek to do great things for Christ. Know that it is in all of us to impact the world for Christ. Ask and pray for boldness, dreams, ideas, time, ener-
5 gy, finances, and willingness to do all the God has for us to do. I am so blessed to be at Mount Oak Church. You should feel blessed to be a part of this church. Not because we are holier than thou but it should be because you are where God wants you to be. God has a great work for us here and we need every single person to see the great work we have to do come to a completion. The completion of this great work will take years. I know we can and will do great things for: Greater things are to come and greater things are yet to be done in this city - Blueetree (Christian Band) Up Coming Events (Special Events Not regular weekly events) July 23-27 6:30-8 pm Galilee-By-the-Sea (VBS) July 29 5 pm Meet the Pastor at Mensah's Home July 29 - Water Night for Youth Group July 31 7 pm Championship Softball Game Allen s Pond August 3 7 pm Meet the Pastor at Brown s Home August 5 3 pm Meet the Pastor at Nelson s Home August 5-10 Master s Inn for Youth August 6-7 pm - Ministries' Forum August 8 8:30-10:30 pm Men s Hoops at Mt. Oak