July 6-July 19, 2013 Team Tampa XIV ACORN Remember to pray for our Czech team Oakwood Community Church 11209 Casey Rd Tampa FL 33618-5306 813.969.2303 www.oakwoodfl.org The mission of Oakwood is to... Transform ordinary people into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Oakwood is a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America. Tampa Team XIV Prayer Requests 1. We now have lists of each Czech person in our class, including whether they know Christ or not. Please pray for favor that we may be winsome ambassadors for Christ toward the lost. 2. Please pray especially for the teen campers, who statistically are more receptive to spiritual things than are older adults. Whitney will be used by the LORD in a mighty way!! 3. Please pray that we may be creative in representing Christ during "American night" early on during the camp as we introduce ourselves. 4. Please pray that God would be directing the details of our schedule as below: July 2nd Flight to Prague 3rd- meeting with leaders and helpers 4th A party will be held to give us opportunities to build relationships. Also, we have a monastery field trip and we may be bringing lost Czechs to hang out with us 5th More neighborhood parties to build relationships and get to know our language helpers/translators. 6th- We travel to Camp July 8th-12th the week of camp 13th- pray that we could rest and recover as we travel back to Brno 14th- WORSHIP service at Brno Evangelical fellowship 15th- Debriefing with Czech leadership 17th- we return to the USA on a 6AM flight (Please pray that God would give us grace and punctuality :) Inside this issue: Missions Trip update 2 Child Dedication 2 Prayer 3 Nursery/TH needs 3 PowerHouse News 4 Marriage Matters 5 Kids Corner 6 Calendar at a Glance 7 Many thanks for your partnership!!
Page 2 July 4th The Church Office will be closed for Independence Day, Thursday, July 4. Mission trip update and pizza!! Come hear Jill Cariaga share her heart, her stories and ask her questions about her 7 weeks in Cameroon, Africa helping several Wycliffe Bible translators and their families. She s excited to share with her Oakwood family about how God s working through Bible translation and how God can use ordinary people in that process. Join us on Sunday, July 7 th immediately after the church service in the Children s Ministry building. Pizza and salad for lunch; please RSVP to the church office by Friday, July 5 th by emailing melanie@oakwoodfl.org or calling 813-969-2303. Blood Pressure checks Blood pressure checks Sunday, July 7, 2013 in the kitchen following the Worship Service. Don t miss this important health screening. Child Dedication On Sunday, August 4 we will be having a Child Dedication Service during our Worship Service. Anyone interested in participating in this service is asked to contact the church office. Information on Child Dedication is available on our website. Scroll to the bottom of the home page and click Reference Documents under Resources. Scroll down to Child Dedication Information. Family Fun Night Join us Friday, July 26 at 7:00 PM in The TreeHouse for a Family Fun Night. We will be showing a premier of the newest Veggie Tales movie, MacLarry and the Stinky Cheese Battle. There will be food available for purchase for a nominal fee, and, as always, lots of fun for all. This is always an easy way to invite family and friends to church with you. Information fliers will be available at the Welcome Center in TreeHouse.
Page 3 Prayer Guide Oakwood Community Church is fueling the love ~ grow ~ serve vision with prayer in 2013. Our continued focus on prayer is leading us to include two memory verses along with the prayer guide. The first memory verse is designed to pair with the prayer focus of the month. The second memory verse is the same verse the TreeHouse children are learning in their curriculum. Our hope is to continue to grow in the context of the vision as family members as well as Oakwood family in the body of Christ, further seeking His will. Your July Prayer Guide has specific requests for our Team Tampa XIV going to the Czech Republic to lead an English Camp and for our youth as they go to New York to minister in inner city churches leading VBS. The prayer guide is available at the Information Center and on our website. Nursery help needed We are looking for folks who love the youngest attendees of Oakwood. If you are interested in helping with this ministry on Sunday mornings, please contact Lilliam Vera or call the Church Office. TreeHouse Volunteers needed We have a number of TreeHouse volunteers who give of their time every week to minister to our wonderful children. We like to give this team of workers a break for the summer. Will you give us a hand and teach for a week, a month, or the summer? Please contact Dave Dorsey at 813-969-2303 or dave@oakwoodfl.org if you are interested in volunteering your time. Opportunities to Serve The Church & World Naomi s Daughters is a ministry for single moms that provides clothing to the moms as well as the children. The Oakwood family, along with others in the community, provides donations of clothing, food and money to keep this ministry moving forward. Your continued donations of new or gently worn clothes and non-perishable foods are greatly appreciated. Donations can be left on the screened area in the back of the gray house on our property. There are bins provided for your donations along with tax deductible forms. Pantry needs: cereal, canned goods, rice, pasta, paper goods. They are also in need of personal care items. Please pray that we can continue to reach people in this ministry and show the hands and feet of the Lord to those who come through our doors.
Page 4 PowerHouse Schedule July 7 Regular Evening Meeting July 14 Food Bags & BUMP Training Extended Summer Meeting 5:00 8:30 PM July 21 BUMP No Youth Group Meeting July 28 BUMP No Youth Group Meeting Aug 4 Regular Evening Meeting BUMP trip Please remember our BUMP team in prayer as we continue to prepare to minister in inner city New York leading VBS. We will leave July 19 and return on July 28. Team members are: Students: Hannah Angelo, Nathanael Bustamante, Emma Castleman, Anissa Clendinen, Mary Conner, Isaac Cress, Mark Giannone, Erika Huber, Nick Jenkins, Abbie Kluck, Hunter OBrien, Taylor Sas, Whitney Whipple and Wyatt Whipple. Adults: Valerie Brand, Doug Cress, Katie Frost and Cam Whipple. Food Bag Delivery Drivers Needed Our PowerHouse students have a monthly ministry assembling food bags that are distributed to medical clinics in Tampa, Lakeland, Haines City and Winter Haven. We are in need of people who can help with delivery of these food bags, especially to Lakeland, Haines City, and Winter Haven. The food bags are usually assembled on the second Sunday of each month, and need to be delivered on the Monday or Tuesday following assembly. If you can help with delivery or would like more information, please contact Cindy Giannone at (813) 969-4136. Food Bag Ministry Our PowerHouse students have a monthly fundraiser assembling food bags that are distributed to medical clinics in Tampa, Lakeland, Haines City and Winter Haven? These bags are distributed to indigent patients at the clinic to provide some basic food needs of the patients and their family. PowerHouse teens can raise money for summer mission/conference trips by participating in our monthly Food Bag Ministry, typically on the second Sunday of each month. Our next Food Bag Prep day is Sunday, July 14 right after the Worship Service. Teens can raise extra funds by helping shop for the food and/or helping with delivery of the food bags to the medical clinics. Shopping for the next fundraiser will be Friday, July 12. Meet at Aldi at Bearss & Florida Ave. at 5:00 PM (or contact Cam Whipple) if you want to help. For more details contact Cindy Giannone at (813) 969-4136.
Page 5 Karen O'Connor is a retreat speaker, awardwinning author, and writing mentor from Watsonville, California. Used with permission from todayschristianwoman.com. Romance Doesn t Have To Be Expensive Pt 1 How to build intimacy in ways money can't buy Karen O Connor Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed! (Psalm 85:10). "I'd rather be with you than anyone," my husband said as we walked hand-in-hand down Ocean Avenue in Carmel, California, one sunny afternoon, visiting one art gallery after another. By the time we returned to our car, we had spent $20,000 in our imaginations. We'd enjoyed hours of fun and culture without once pulling out our credit cards. For 30 years, gallery hopping has been one of our favorite romantic pastimes. But we also find romance in unlikely places. I remember one late afternoon following many hours raking pine needles and pulling weeds in the yard of our cozy weekend cabin. I hobbled into the house exhausted. All I wanted was a warm tub and a bowl of hot soup! Charles stayed behind to put away the gardening tools. I settled into the soapy water, took a deep breath, and relaxed for the first time that day. But not for long. A hard rap on the bathroom window captured my attention. I ran my hand over the steamy windowpane and looked out. There stood Charles smiling at me, his face smudged, his eyes bright. He pulled off his cap and wiped the beads of perspiration that poured down his face. "What's up?" I called. "Not much," he answered. "I miss you, that's all. The sun's almost down," he added gently, pointing toward the mountains, "and I want you here beside me as the day ends." A little shiver ran down my spine. Here was a gesture so simple, a gift so lovely, it took my breath away and brought me down to where I ought to be. I suddenly had a fresh vision of Jesus in my husband's words and in his face. I realized I was being a Martha when it was clearly time to be a Mary. We had each other. We had the Lord. We had this day. We didn't need to go anywhere or spend any money to enjoy each other. I grabbed a towel, slipped into my bathrobe, and dashed out back just in time to enjoy the simple pleasure of watching, arm in arm with my husband, the golden sun slip behind the hills. There we stood, he in grubby overalls and I in a ratty bathrobe feeling more romantic than we had since our honeymoon! And it didn't cost a thing. No time since has meant as much to me. This experience got me thinking about other ways to add a touch of romance to my marriage without spending money. Eating a meal on our front porch together while watching the birds, enjoying our flowerbed, and spending a few minutes in prayer; making a date for a movie and popcorn at home in our bathrobes and slippers. It's easy to slip into bed when the movie ends especially if it's a romantic film! Then I wondered if other couples have their intimate ways of romancing each other on a budget. I decided to find out by asking some of my close friends to share what they do. Here are their unique responses. Reminiscing through the Years Kathi and Al were born and grew up in the same town in Southern California, just a few blocks from one another. "Even our siblings were friends during our childhood," said Kathi. "Because our 'sweetheart relationship' began when we were in our early teens, we have a lot of fond memories of those youthful days and quite a few pictures and souvenirs too." To spark the romance they've shared all these years, Kathi and Al set aside time to go through their albums together and reminisce. "Much of the time we find ourselves marveling that so many years have flown by. Some of our grandchildren are now the age we were then. Other times we relate to what my grandmother used to say in her eighties: 'Inside I'm still 16.' We've decided the best part about our long history together," added Kathi, "is that we will always be 16 to each other." See Part 2 of this article in the next issue of The ACORN.
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Oakwood Community Church 11209 Casey Rd Tampa FL 33618-5306 813.969.2303 www.oakwoodfl.org Our Staff Lead Pastor - Dr. Paul B. Phair Director of Ministries - Dave Dorsey Director of Worship Arts - Andrew Reilly Coordinator of Youth Ministry - Dr. Paul B. Phair Coordinator of Children s Ministry - Dave Dorsey Office Manager - Martha Dorsey Secretary Melanie Hoglievina Office hours: Tuesday - Friday, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM Worship: Sundays - 10:00 AM Our Elder Team Edson Bustamante Pete Kluck Paul Phair Eric Pratt John Schneider Our Deacon Team Nan Duncan Matt Fucarino Bob Mendenhall Ray Ross Ben Smith Dave Young Calendar at a Glance July 4 Independence Day Church Office closed July 7 Blood Pressure checks following Worship Jill Cariaga s Cameroon report July 14 Board meeting July 17 Czech Team returns to Tampa July 19 PowerHouse teens/adults leave for NY July 21 Compassion Offering July 26 Family Fun Night July 28 PowerHouse teens/adults return from NY The Oakwood ACORN is a bi-weekly E-newsletter from Oakwood Community Church, published to keep our church family and friends informed about events and people at Oakwood. Articles may be submitted via e-mail to Office@oakwoodfl.org. Article deadlines and publication schedule is: Deadline Publication date News for dates including July 12 July 17 July 20 Aug 2 July 26 July 31 Aug 3 Aug 16 Do you know someone at Oakwood with a noteworthy achievement? Send the information to Office@OakwoodFL.org and we ll include it in a future article. If you have received this email in error or want to be removed from our e-newsletter distribution list, please hit the reply button and put unsubscribe in the subject line and you will be removed immediately.