"IT" Book Review... SO FAR

Man, I am really enjoying this book.  I am being challenged and pushed and I feel like my passion for excellence has become even greater, if that's possible, since starting this book.  I am not finished yet, but even in the beginning of the book I was happy to read that "having IT" has nothing to do with style of music or preaching, or modern or traditional churches or denominational affiliation.  That "IT" can't be bought or taught, it can only be caught.  And you and everyone who attends or visits your church knows whether you have "IT" or you don't have "IT".  You can just tell.  I want to be the kind of Leader that has the "IT" factor and I want our church to be the kind of church where when people walk in whether they know Christ or do not, they automatically think, "this church has "IT"...

Great Read... You should pick it up!

It's Been A While!

Well, it has most definitely been a while since I last posted.  A lot has happened since then.  Jessica and I have had a baby... Just Kidding, it hasn't been that long.

Oasis Church is growing and we are seeing more and more people get plugged into a ministry or serving team.  Being downtown in our new facility has really opened the door for us to be able to minister to people who come in off the street.  We are also able to do events that we have not been able to do in the past.  In May we hosted our very first Dream Team Meeting.  This past First Friday we hosted our first Family Movie Night, which went well.  So it's great to be here and it's great to see people getting plugged into what we are doing here at Oasis.

I am sitting here on Sunday morning looking over my notes for the message today and I am listening to our band warm up and get ready for service and I find myself so thankful for them and all those who serve.  God has brought us so far in such a short time and it's all through HIM and for HIM.  He has been so good to us...

Proud To See Our Denomination Doing This...

Glad to see this happening...

Enage Conference Promo from Jason Isaacs on Vimeo.

A SAD DAY!!

Funerals are absolutely no fun.  They are hard for everyone involved.  The family is devastated, the friends are sad.  And the Pastor is trying everything he can do to make sure this person's life is honored while also trying to bring comfort to the family while also trying to challenge people to think on eternity and give them the opportunity to make a change in their life.

Today I have the sad honor of conducting the funeral for a guy that was one of my students in our student ministry when we were in LaGrange, he also eventually joined my staff, and he was my friend.  There are no words that can really say how sad I am.  The whole thing is so very unbelievable.  But I trust God and I trust that God has his arms wrapped around my friend right now.

Going into today, I have a few goals which are really the same goals I have at any funeral, but this one is a good bit more personal...

1.) Honor the deceased as best as I can...

2.) Make it personal... scriptural but personal...

3.) Comfort the family...

4.) Encourage the friends...

5.) I believe a person's personality should come out in their funeral service...

6.) Give the opportunity for life change...

Hope I can do those things today for my friend, Josh...

Oasis Church - Grand Opening 2010

This past Sunday we had the Grand Opening of Oasis Church @ 716 Broad St. our very first permanent facility, or at least temporarily permanent. It's been a crazy 5 weeks...

5 weeks ago, 2 days before our lease ended with the Richmond County Board of Education, I received an email that had our new lease renewal attached to it. I opened the attachment and was floored to find out that the BOE was more than doubling our rent. So, immediately I was faced with the decison, where do we go from here. What's so crazy is that I have been praying for months that I would know when the right time was to move from the school to our own building. Well, God made it very clear when the right time was. So at this point I just started calling realtors, and looking at buildings, large and small, free-standing and store fronts, warehouses and retail space, anything that was available. Probably in a weeks time I looked at 20-25 buildings. I was made aware of the fact that the Broad St. building was coming available by a fellow Pastor in the area. So I made some calls and we went and looked at the building, and from this point on, everything started to really fall into place. Every option was taken off the table, every door was shut, this is the only door that opened to us. So in obedience we walked through it. Then crunch time started. We had to get this building ready by February 21st for our Grand Opening. With the help of a bunch of very faithful and sacrificial Oasis peeps we finished the day before the Grand Opening. Everything looked great!!

Sunday was the big day, and I was so proud of our people and our leadership team. They worked so hard, and this was their day to enjoy. And I feel like they really did. I had several people make comments about the buzz and excitement in the air. I think it was nice for our people to have a place they can call home.

We had 108 people in attendance for the Grand opening with several guests and also some folks that we have been missing. Overall I was so pleased and so very thankful, first to God for making that day possible and having favor on us and also to a great team of people who worked their behinds off to make it a great place. We are so blessed!!

Update On Josh...

Josh Update:

I have been getting loads of calls and text messages and FB comments asking about Josh.  SO, I am going to update my bloge when I get new news on him.

Currently:
Monday they were going to take Josh off the ventilator and let him go, but the Doctors came back and said that he was keeping his Blood Pressure up on his own with no medication.  His white blood count was better and the infection seemed to be improving, the fever he was running was low grade, but the ventilator was breathing 100% for him, but the Dr. wanted to give him more time so they decided to do dialysis to try and remove some fluid off of him because his kidney's have shut down...

Now, he is still keeping his BP up, he is down from 70% to 40% on the ventilator, the Dr's actually have said he is taking up to 15 breaths a minute on his own.  They are still doing dialysis, which seems to be going good.  His heart rate is good.  His fever is back up a little bit.  They are taking him back into surgery tomorrow evening to repair the Colostomy bag sutures, they are hoping that will help with the infection and get his fever down.  His kidney's have improved a little bit and are working just a tad.  He is looking better.  The doctors feel that he is stable enough for surgery to go in and fix the bag where they think it is leaking...  He is not on any sedation medication.  Overall they feel like he is doing a lot better.  He still has a long road, and still is critical but he is stable.

This is truly a miracle seeing that last weekend they were giving him essentially "no hope"... Monday they said the best ting for him would be to take him off the ventilator and let him go... But God has shown that he can do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can think or ask.  He is literally doing a miracle in Josh's body.  My faith has been lifted each day as good news comes in.  Continue to pray for Josh and his family.  I will add updates as I get them...

A Suitable Helper...

In Genesis 2:18 the bible says...

"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

We know the rest of the story.

You know what I love?  I love the fact that God knew.  He knew that man could not do it alone, he couldn't do life alone, he couldn't do anything alone.  One thing I know is, "God was so stinkin right!"  God knew I could not do life alone, and he most definitely knew I could not do ministry alone, so he made a HELPER for me.  And He made that helper in the form of a sassy little chick named Jessica Brantley, now Jessica Weatherford.

I am sitting in a hotel room alone in Atlanta, GA right now while my wife is at home in Augusta, and I find myself so thankful for her.  As I look back on our time together almost 9 years of marriage, I am so humbled by the blessings that my Father has entrusted me with.  Jessica and Tyler are the greatest blessing in my life.  Jess is a strong, bold, sassy, matter of fact, courageous, bossy, sexy, loving and forgiving woman and I am incredibly thankful that God said, "It is not good for man to be alone..."  Because he made her for me, and He knew before I knew, that I would most definitely need her.  I think I have realized that more over the last year.

Let me say this, it hasn't always been easy, and I have been a jerk and hard to live with, and she has been............. well, I have been a jerk and hard to live with!!  And we most definitely have hit some rough patches and then some more really, really rough patches, but she is still here, and I am still here.  And I am thankful and grateful for her and her leadership to the women of our church and her support of me as her husband and a father to Tyler and a Pastor to our church family.  She is always quick to help me figure out what is right, and is never shy to tell the truth and give her opinion.  I am truly blessed!!

"God said it is not good for man to be alone, I will make Jessica for Wesley and she will be suitable for Him!!"  Thank you God for knowing...

A Question We All Ask...

There is a question we all have asked and probably will ask many times throughout the rest of our time on this earth.  That question is "WHY"?  We all have asked God that question.  Whether it is because you have been blessed in some way that you didn't or don't deserve, or it is because something has happened to you or someone you love that you don't understand and don't like.  There have been many times in my life where I have asked God why...  Another one of those times came this week.

One of my former Students and Youth Staff members from when I was the student pastor at Callaway Park Church in LaGrange was diagnosed with Stage 4 Colon Cancer.  I must admit, my eyes immediately filled with tears and there were no words that I could comprehend to even speak.  Right away I felt angry and asked God, "How does a 24 year old young man have Stage 4 Colon Cancer?"  WHY GOD?  A person with so much potential and influence.  After speaking with my friend Josh or as some would refer to him as Phat-J, I was uplifted by his attitude toward this whole process.  And I remembered that we are not promised another minute on this earth and that ultimately God is in control of our life and it's His plan that is important not our own.  So I trust that the God of all healing will heal my friend and will cause His story and influence to increase so that he can bring Glory and Honor and Fame to the name of Christ.

Pray for my friend Josh Pressley.  Pray that his faith never waivers and that the work that God has begun in Him will be completed.

Oasis Church Moving To Downtown Augusta!!

Awesome News!!

Oasis Church is moving to downtown Augusta.  We are so pumped to be moving into our very first building that we can call home.  No more set-up and tear-down.  We will be moving to 716 Broad St.  Our building is right next to the old Miller Theatre between 7th street and 8th street.

For the last year we have met at Tobacco Road Elementary School and we have seen God do some great things.  Now we move into a new season of this journey that we are traveling together.  It's definitely an exciting time.

We will have our GRAND OPENING on February 21st @ 11:00am...

So come out and be a part of the first service in our brand new building.  Hope to see you there!!

Big Day Tomorrow!!

I am really excited about our service tomorrow...

We are closing out our series "2010", taking about servanthood.  I love talking about things that I am personally passionate about.

We are also having a business meeting following the service.  We have a lot of great stuff to talk about concerning the future of Oasis.  I'm excited!!

Pray For My Friend Josh...

One of my kids that's really a grown man is in the hospital...

I say one of my kids because he was in my youth group in LaGrange.  My friend Josh is in the hospital so if you pray, then pray for him that God will heal him and that the doctors and nurses will use wisdom and that God will guide their hands as they work on him.

Josh is a great guy and God has an amazing plan for his life.  I can't wait to see him completely give God all that he has.  That will be a great day...

Thanks for helping me pray...

He Must Become Greater, I Must Become Less...

Yesterday at Oasis we were talking about Worship and how so much about worship is about the way you live your life...

I believe that with all of my heart.  I believe that just as we worship by extending our outward expressions of adoration and love to God whether it be by lifting our hands or weeping or singing or kneeling, we also worship by the way we live.  The choices we make, the things we say and do...  That to me is what a life of worship is really about...

There is a scripture in John, John 3:30, that I absolutely love... John the Baptist understood this principle...

"He must be come greater; I must become less." - John 3:30 (NIV)

That to me is what worship is really about.  It's when your heart's desire is that you might become less so that he can become greater in the eyes of the world.  It's doing everything for HIS FAME and HIS RENOWN...

I want my life to be about bringing Christ Glory and Honor.  Me becoming less so that he can become greater.  That should be the ultimate desire of our heart.

Him Greater...

You less...