Oakdale Newsletter
Minister of Students
Dear Students and Parents,
We have a lot of exciting things coming up and in the works for our Students of all ages here at Oakdale.
Youth
Disciple Now Weekend: (March 26-28) We will be joining in with about 10 other churches from the east side of Rankin county for our Disciple Now Weekend. The theme this year is “The Awakening.” This is based out of Romans 13:11-14. Our students will enjoy live worship from the Crossgates Baptist Church College Praise Band, challenging messages from D-now Weekend Pastor Josh Coles (student minister FBC Richland), In-depth and challenging Bible Study led by college students, ministry projects, games, food, and lots of fun along with about 300 other students from area churches. Students you do not want to miss out on this experience. Parents you do not want your students to miss out on this experience. Students will have an exciting time enhancing their relationship with Jesus Christ, and building meaningful relationships with other students. The cost for this event is only $20 per student. This will cover costs for t-shirt, Bible Study material, food, ministry supplies, and recreation for the entire weekend. The deadline to signup and pay is March 3rd if you want to be guaranteed a t-shirt. The extended deadline is March 14th. For more information or to signup and pay see, call, text, or email me.
The Awake Tonight Tour: (April 3) This rockin' concert will feature 2 of the hottest artist in Christian Music: Skillet and TobyMac. We will taking a group to this concert. I have secured 30 tickets to this event and am basically selling them to students, adults, and/or 5th & 6th graders (if accompanied by a parent) for $18. These tickets are bound to go fast at that price so don't dawdle if you want to claim yours. Come with us and have the rockinest and jamminest Easter Eve you've ever had. For more information or to claim your tickets see, call, text, or email me.
ALIVE: This will be our Youth Worship service that will begin in April. Each week our students will have the opportunity to worship God in a setting and style that will appeal to them. More information coming soon regarding this weekly event.
Sunday School
The Youth Council and I have been praying about making some adaptations to our Sunday School program for the youth. With the help, prayer, and support of our Sunday School leadership and you we will begin making these adaptations in March. Our adaptations will give our youth more variety in their classes and will include some different curriculum that will teach each student on their level. Right now is also an excellent time for any that have not been very active in Sunday School to join us again, since we will be preparing to begin a study on Spiritual Gifts. For more information see, call, text, or email me.
Coming in March
X-men: Xtreme, Xtraordinary, Xristos (Christ). Move over Girls of Grace, and make way for the X-men. Our new guys Bible Study and accountability group beginning in March. Beginning on Wednesday nights in March our youth guys will embark on a journey to help them become true men the way God intended them to be men. Youth guys come and join us, but be careful; this could get messy.
Children
AWANA
Everyone please keep praying for the Children Council and myself as we pray over, research, and discuss the possibility of bringing the AWANA program to Oakdale. We had a good visit to Truitt Memorial Baptist Church in Pearl this past Sunday and we were encouraged about AWANA with what we saw there. Please continue to pray for us as we seek the Lord's leadership in this.
Jr. Disciple Now Weekend
I just wanted to put a bug in the ear of parents. We are hoping to put on big event similar to the Disciple Now Weekend for the youth, but for our children. We are hoping to have this event sometime in May. More information on this possible event coming soon.
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A Word From The Pastor
Dear Church Family,
We welcome Pam Anglin, her step son, Shawn Anglin , and Craig Ivy, Jr. who joined our membership recently. Pam came from another denomination and will be baptized. Shawn and Craig both came on Profession of Faith in Christ. We welcome you three to the Oakdale Family and pray the Lord's blessings on you as we serve Him together.
In a few weeks on March 14 Rev. Gary Bowlin will be with us for a Sunday morning harvest day. God has His hand on Gary and when he preaches, lost people are saved. Please invite your friends, neighbors, family members, and co-workers to hear Gary speak to us from God's word. Gary will share that Sunday night about the upcoming mission trips to Romania. God has used Gary and his wife Norma greatly in Romania. Tens of thousands have come to faith in Christ there as a result of their labor. Maybe the Lord will lead you to join us as we work their this summer or this October.
As we prepare for iDeclare Easter Sunday, consider what your role may be. We will need three teams of volunteers to wear orange vests and help park cars and greet our guests in the parking areas. We will also need three teams of greeters and ushers inside for the three services. We will need volunteers to keep the refreshments fresh and to greet our guests, answering questions about our Sunday School, upcoming events, 3:16 ministry, and about Oakdale in general. I will need some counselors to help with decisions in each service.
We also need volunteers to help put us signs in specific places on Hwy 471 and Holly Bush Road. If you are willing to do any of these, please call the church office at 601-829-1360 to volunteer. We need about 40 people to sing in the choir for all three services. If you sing in the choir, please plan on being there for the entire morning, if possible. We are mailing out 10,000 pieces of literature to every home in our area. We expect over 600 people that morning, most of whom do not have a church home. Please pray that God will use this event to reach many with the good news of the Gospel: Jesus died and rose again to pay for our sins.
iDeclare is a church-wide event and needs your prayer support and your attendance. We will ask as many of our members as possible to park behind the Fellowship hall building, or to park at Frierson-Bailey and ride a shuttle to our site. We will also need volunteers to drive folks to and from the church. We have a place for you and work to be done to the glory of God. I am excited about what God will do that Resurrection Sunday.
"Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man what God has for those who love Him," 1 Corinthians 2:9. Pray for God to work mightily that Sunday.
Sunday I will preach from 1 Corinthians 6 and the Lord's justice and judgment. Read 1 Corinthians 6:1-8 in preparation. Sunday night we will share about our recent journey to Israel and Egypt. See you Sunday in the Lord's house.
In Love, On Fire, Not Ashamed,
Brother Rick
Notes from the Music Minister
Choir News…41 in choir at the 10:45 AM service last Sunday!!! God is doing great things among us. He is using us to bring glory to Him! Praise His name. And thank you, choir members, for your faithfulness.
Our upcoming iDeclare Easter worship is going to be exciting. Choir, we’re going to sing four exciting songs, and lead worship throughout the service. Don’t worry – we’ll reconfigure the seating in the choir loft to provide everyone a chair. Just plan on coming to see God work! We need 3 super-choirs that day!
HeartSong 2010…Youth Choir, it’s now time to see if you can go to HeartSong this summer. The camp will be held at William Carey University June 8-12 (Tues-Sat). The cost for the first youth choir members who sign up will be a total of $80. We need a $20 deposit ASAP to get the reservations started. This represents a 50% savings for being part of the Oakdale Youth Choir! So, sign up this week. The camp is for teenagers who are currently in Grades 7-12.
Young Musicians Festival…For our Grade 4-6 singers, Young Musicians Festival is April 9-10 at FBC Clinton and at Swor Auditorium on the campus of Mississippi College. Cost is $15. We need to get our reservations in. Please commit to sending your child this week. For more information, please see me.
Discover 4 Yourself Workshop…A workshop for the Precept Ministries’ children’s studies, the “Discover 4 Yourself” (D4Y) series, is being hosted by Oakdale on Saturday March 6. The cost is $75 and includes lunch. However, for teachers of children at Oakdale, I have a special offer: sign up and pay $20. We’ll cover the rest. Please see me for more details.
Mexico Mission Trip 2010…Sign up is now open for the 2010 edition of our work in Mexico. We’ll once again be traveling to the state of Nuevo Leon to assist with VBS in two churches. We go July 9-16. To sign up, please see Bro. Mike.
Mike
