Probably one of my favorite sayings is “It is what it is!” Sometimes there are no explanations and there is no reason to get unraveled because it just is what it is! So, for my blog post today, I am going to give you some “It is what it is” scenarios involving Oasis Church to help you better understand why we are having to do some of the things we are having to do and why we just want to do some of the things we are going to do…
1. Onsite Security with the Pascagoula Police Dept. and Oasis Security team.
The world we live in today is one that is massively different than the one even 10 years ago. You cant even go to a movie today without a small grade of fear that someone is going to open fire and shoot people in a movie theater. At Oasis, we reach out to our ENTIRE community and even bus in young people that otherwise wouldn’t have a ride and some of these kids are very un-chuched and uneducated on integrity and morality. We are combating the culture shift with intentionally going after them to reveal to them and educate them on what God’s Word says about them and to help them discover relationship with Jesus and destiny and purpose that He desires they live in. With that, for the security of all people and just in case of an event that someone doesn’t behave appropriately or just in case someone comes to campus with the mind of causing harm, we have uniformed officers on our campus to insure safety and security and to give you peace of mind that everyone will be safe. There hasn’t been any drastic situations or problems, but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t have been. We believe in insuring that people are safe and securing a safe and fun learning environment for our kids all the way up to senior adult. On Sunday mornings, you will notice more of a presence of police personnel to assist with traffic overflow and again, for just safety for everyone. We love God. We love people. And I take very seriously doing all that we can to insure the utmost safety and excellence in taking care of everyone who come on campus at Oasis Church. We even have plain clothes security personnel too and all these folks are there to help you and to assist you as well… “It is what it is!”
2. Higher Grounds Cafe Possible Closing
Until we can relocate Higher Grounds to the main lobby area, we may have to close day to day operations during the week due to the lack of customer support and revenues on a day to day basis. The accessibility of the facility is not great and we understand that. Once relocated, it will be at the main entrances of the main building and hopefully will have a drive through for ease of access during the week if we see the opportunity to open back up during the week. Being as I personally take the responsibility of being a good steward along with the trustees of Oasis Church, I cant justify investing thousands of dollars just to keep it open during the week when on the weekends it would generate a profit that could benefit our children’s ministries and student ministries. More information coming soon… Another one of those “It is what it is” situations!
3. VIP and Parking attendants on Sunday mornings
Fortunately, on Sunday mornings, especially at the 11:00 Experience, we are experiencing overflow crowds and parking congestion. AWESOME!!! With that, we are instituting a parking team to recognize VIP Guest, 1st timers, and also a definitive process of entry and exit onto campus to help fill the parking places from front to back and to insure all vehicles are parked in the same direction. We want to welcome our 1st Time Guests, VIPs, from the moment they pull onto campus and we want to also make it easier to park and flow during transition times and at the end of the Experiences. Thank you for understanding and for helping us to continue to operate in excellence in every area! There will be someone in the parking lot that will direct you and park you as you enter the parking lot. No one will park just wherever they want to, we are going to park you in the next available spot to insure we get as many cars onto campus and to keep the flow of traffic for ease of access and exit. There will be marked exits and entrances to assist you with this guideline… This is a GREAT problem to have and “it just is what it is!”
More to come…
Eric Camp for MS House District 111 