Hello everyone!!! Thank you for taking a minute to read this blog post today. I want to inform you of a couple of things that may be of interest and some changes that I am currently making that may inspire you to do the same.
First of all, the launch of “At The Movies” at Oasis yesterday was AMAZING! Record crowds and decisions for Jesus along with a great start to this series that will last the next several weeks! We will be adding seating in the auditorium this week along with arranging some additional parking. Stay Tuned. We ran out of seating and parking at both Experiences and will looking to remedy that the best we can this week so you can continue to invite people to The House!!!
We launched Oasis.Church website along with that being our official name now. I decided a long time ago that we shouldn’t say that we “go to Oasis Church”, instead we need to understand that we ARE THE CHURCH and we may go to Oasis, but The Church is not the buildings that we meet in. So a small tweak in our image. We are simply Oasis. This new web domain helps us to promote the ministry easily and also enables us to simplify a uniformed name recognition physically and online.
The “grow” classes this month have been GREAT with over 100 people participating in this monthly class. If you haven’t yet, I encourage you to plan on attending the classes in September. You can check out the website at Oasis.Church for more information.
Personally… I am having to make some changes in my life to be the leader that God has called me to be. I have to make some difficult decisions that I am not super happy about, but I know in the long run that it is necessary in order for me to be faithful with my role and responsibility in leading Oasis. Most I think will understand, many may not. For those who don’t, I apologize in advance as to hopefully help you understand the reasoning behind it. So here it goes…
Social Media. I love Social Media. It is the best tool for connecting and staying connected that we have. However, it can sometimes be a burden as well as a problem in itself. I personally get more messages on Facebook than I care to tell and when I do, I feel the responsibility to respond to each one because that is the type person that I am. However, what has been discovered through myself and my overseers is that I am still too connected and too easily assessable personally. So therefore, the only social media pages I will maintain are those that are limited in exposure personally. Only public connections and comments and messaging can be made in going forward as there will no longer be private messaging capabilities on my facebook. What about contacts about Oasis? We have an office receptionist and I have an assistant at 228-762-5639 and there is an Oasis Facebook, twitter and Instagram page for all things Oasis. There is also a great website at Oasis.Church.
My emails will also be monitored by an assistant. I get an average of 50-100 emails a day with at least 50% requesting response on a personal level. I have to adjust this so I can spend my time wisely. This doesn’t mean that I may never respond to an email, it just means that an assistant will be monitoring and responding as well. Those messages that need my attention, she will direct to me for response.
If you know me, you know this is difficult. I love people. I love connecting with people. I love what I get to do with my life, however, I have to make some changes so that I can keep leading effectively as well as stay emotionally healthy for those who I get the great privilege of leading. I will post a video on this as well.
I tend to find myself looking at posts that other people make too and getting frustrated or irritated because I KNOW THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT ME, MY FAMILY OR OASIS! 🙂 So… I will no longer be looking at timeline feeds on Facebook. In fact, I will not be able to do that in the coming future with my facebook as I am going to disable the personal profile and just use the page that I have. Right now I have 2 places of presence on Facebook. A profile and a public figure page. The profile will be disabled. If you haven’t “liked” my public page, please do so now by clicking here: Facebook Page
I will still have a page and a profile on facebook along with instagram and twitter. Just know that I will not be monitoring all activity personally.
Thank you again Oasis family and Gulf Coast for the amazing opportunity to make a difference for Jesus! We are witnessing an amazing move of God and I am super excited about the future!
-Eric
Eric Camp for MS House District 111 