What Should Our Target Be?

What should the target of our ministry be? Should we have a target or should we do ministry with the shot gun approach?

If we were to focus on a target in our vision planning, which should it be?

If we target geography, that would mean we would target areas like Mitchellville, Bowie, Crofton as our primary target area(s).

If we were to target age groups that would mean we would focus on reaching children, youth, young adults, or older adults.

If we were to target a segment of our society we might reach out to young couples, divorced persons, families with children, seniors or others.

What do you think we should do?

How Can You Help?

So how can you help serve Jesus?

Can you think of ways to greet people on Sunday morning and would you be willing to help Suzy Clark with this ministry?

Alvin Butler, our Athletic Director, his family and few other volunteers are doing a great job with the sports programs at Mt. Oak. Who could come up with ideas and put them into practice on how we might minister around this program? This is one of our greatest outreach opportunities if someone would see a vision here and run with it!

Christmas Eve is coming and we have three services 5 pm, 8:30 pm, and 10:30 pm. Aside from offering a wonderful worship experience which the pastors, Worship Director and worship teams are working on, how could we minister to these folks and invite them to Jesus?

Think on paper with me folks and see what God can do!!

Help Me Understand

This will be the first in a series of posts. I will give you a Scripture and ask for you to help me understand it. Thanks for helping me ahead of time.

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Name Your Favorite Verse in the Bible

Name your favorite verse in the Bible.

You can cut and paste from http://www.biblegateway.com/.

One of my favorites is Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

What Are You Thankful For?

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? How about listing some items?

Making Worship Better

God has drawn a number of new people to Mt. Oak over the last few months. Many have attended other churches before Mt. Oak.

How about sharing some of the features of worship in your former church you thought were powerful and moving for you? We won't promise to try them all but this is a good place to share some ideas and see where God might lead our pastors, worship director and worship teams.

A Word from God to Mt. Oak

To the Believers called Mt. Oak,

Hear the Word that came to me this evening. God told Moses to tell Pharaoh to let His people go so that they might worship Him.

Exodus 8:1 - Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

I could tell Sunday that some were free to worship God and some seemed bound up. I am not talking about style of worship or whether you are demonstrative in your worship or not. There is a spirit of freedom in some and a spirit of still being bound up in others. It may be that you have never experienced freedom in worship. It may be that you are afraid of letting go and letting God in your worship. It may be that contemporary worship for you is all about the music and you are not ready to go to the next level of breaking out of the way we have always done it.

Today I have been praying for Mt. Oak to let go and let God in our worship. This isn’t a debate about the gifts of the Spirit. This isn’t a debate about worship style. It is letting go of control. As long as we are in control of our worship we will only go to a certain level and then stop. If we control worship, it will never be all that God wants it to be.

Do you think David, the King, was in control when he danced before the Lord?

2 Samuel 6:14-15 - 14 David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

God wants a people who are free to worship Him. Not a people who are bound by some tradition or culture or personal style or pride.

John 4:23-24 - 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

Come ready every Sunday and be ready every day to worship God in Spirit and in Truth! That is all God asks; for us to be open to what God wants.

Blessings to you and please know that I love you!

Rev. Ray

What Would It Look Like If?

I'm going to begin a new post string. This string will be called WWILL - What Would It Look Like. So here we go with the first post in this string.

What would it look like if...

We truly lived by a vision statement that said: Are the church we are called to love people, build relationships and share God's Word?

How would that impact our shared lives together? what would it look like? How would it impact us and how would we implement such a vision statement if it were so??

Can Anyone Dream with Me?

Can anyone dream with me?

Of a place where people are loved, no matter who they are, what their income, what color their skin, what gifts they bring to the table or what they cost the church.

Can you dream with me?

Of a place where people really care about each other. They don't simply say "hi, how are you" and then walk away. They stop and seek to know who you are inside and build relationships that last a life time not simply while you are an advantage to them or serve as their pastor.

Can you dream with me?

Of a place where the Word of God is essential and primary and basic and the foundation for all that happens? A place where the children are taught from birth to the grave that God's Word is absolute.

Dream with me of a place

Where people learn to put into practice what they have learned by - loving people, building relationships and teaching others the truths they know to be true from God's word.

Outreach Dreams

Dream with me about outreach opportunities at Mt. Oak.

For instance, a group we sponsor at Mt. Oak is the Boy Scouts. How can we develop ministries around this group of people coming onto our property? How can we show them love, build relationships and share the truth of God's Word with them? There must be more than allowing folks to use our facilities and properties.

How about with the many sports teams we have and sponsor and their families? How can other ministries gather around this and show love, build relationships and spread God's Word?

How about the elections coming up? What about Christmas Eve or Easter? Will we just be happy to have tons of visitors on those days and not take the opportunity to outreach to them with love, getting to know them and living/expressing God's truth?

How about the other activities we have at Mt. Oak? MOfest was awesome but it was an event - if we did this again - how could we bring ministries around this event to make it a time of loving people, building relationships and sharing the Word of God?

Going beyond our facility and grounds - what events or activities could we really share to show Christ's love, get to know folks better and share the Word of God?

Dream with me folks! Please leave your name so we know the author of the comments!

Right Brain or Left Brain?

Are you right brained or left brained or what? My results are below and a link for you to take the quiz! List your results!

Left Brain		Right Brain
Logical Sequential Rational Analytical Objective Looks at parts		Random Intuitive Holistic Synthesizing Subjective Looks at wholes

You Are 40% Left Brained, 60% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

Dream Dreams

OK folks - Buddy called for it so here it is. Dream dreams and leave them here for others to see and read and respond to!

Bible Fight Club

Bible Fight (Debate) Club

Do you have questions about the Bible, about Christianity, about this whole Church thing you would like to ask? Are the standard answers just not enough? How about a place where all questions are on the table and open dialogue is a must? I heard this past week about such place that others have called a Bible Fight Club.

The rules are simple: 1) Respect and love people, not necessarily their opinion, 2) Say anything- no judging, no holding grudges, 3) Must fight- no sitting in silence, 4) Get to the point and 5) “God is a mystery” and not an argument.

We would start with a few questions to start the process and then ask for questions from the group for future meetings of the club.

If anyone is interested in this – please let me know.

Memory & Forgiveness

My memory is not the best. Before I hear a rousing chorus of amens from the peanut gallery let me explain. I’m not sure it is age, my tourettes, A.D.D., a male thing, early Alzheimer’s disease, or simply who I am. I can leave my office and walk to Pastor Charlie’s office and forget why I was going there. I can even at times get into my car forget where I was headed.

It’s my issue, among others, but today it reminded me of God’s grace. You might ask how I got from my short term memory loss to God’s grace? Well, I’m going to tell you.

One of the things my mom says I have always been able to do it is forget things real quickly when it comes to hurts. I could be very hurt and upset one moment and come downstairs as if nothing was bothering me the next. I forgive and I think forget quickly. That is our God! His grace covers all our sins and His forgiveness is not just short term but eternal. Psalm 103:11-12 – as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

Praise God that in my weakness I can still see the Almighty God who loves me enough to forgive me.

Witnessing

Sisters & Brothers in Christ,

Who do you know that does not attend worship on a regular basis? Maybe it is you? Maybe it is a child, sibling, parent, uncle, aunt, grandparent, neighbor, best friend, another soccer mom (dad), a co-worker, a person you work out with, a fellow farmer, and on and on we could go?

If you believe Scripture when it says; John 14:6 – Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” then you believe that knowing Jesus is essential for salvation and thus being allowed to come into the presence of God the Father; to go to heaven. If you believe Scripture when it says; Romans 10:14 - How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?”, then you realize how important coming to worship is for presenting the truth to people.

WHO DO YOU KNOW THAT DOES NOT KNOW JESUS AS THEIR LORD AND SAVIOR? Invite them to one of our special events or some Sunday. Each week encourage someone to come with you so that the Gospel might be presented to them, and that they might come to know Jesus. Be persistent. Invite them again and again, if necessary, until they come with you. IT IS ESSENTIAL that we have a heart for the lost and reach out to them NOW.

Pray about whom God would have you reach out to this week. God has called us to be in His service. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 says; 17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Will you, do you, represent God well to those around you? Are you ashamed of the Gospel? Paul writes; Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” Do you believe this? If you do, what are you doing to help others see and receive Jesus?

If you think you are not qualified to present Jesus to others – you are so wrong. Read what Paul wrote; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 – 1 “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2 For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4 My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.” He did not have all the answers, and even if he did, what he presented to the people of Corinth was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If you are saved, you know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You know what it means to you to be saved and can share what changes Christ has made in your life.

What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the person you know to die, without Jesus? Do you realize what that will mean for them? It means eternity without the presence of God; that is what hell is, the total absence of God! You have the “cure” for hell; it is Jesus Christ. Invite someone to worship with you this coming Sunday!