Eric Camp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7ll_jxrYms

What a great weekend and overall summer we have had at Oasis! Next weekend, the time changes and we FALL BACK 1 hour on Saturday night. DON’T FORGET TO SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK ON SATURDAY NIGHT! Fall back time change for me is the actual beginning of Fall. As I reflect back on this summer and all that has happened at Oasis, I can only say WOW!

We grew in attendance this summer by about 20% and witnessed Hundreds of people come to know Jesus in our weekly Experiences! Since July, 265 people have given their lives to Christ! Since January 1st of 2014, over 565 people have made Jesus The Lord of their lives! WOW!

Over 120 people have went through the waters of baptism!
Over 300 have completed the Next Step class!
Over 250 serve on Serve Teams on the weekends!

The stories of healed marriages and life-change are beyond the room I have to type! In a nutshell, it is amazing what The Lord is doing at Oasis Church!

On a tangible note, we completed our parking lot renovations (with exception of landscaping) and improvements to increase our parking capacity. We had concluded all the building projects we began this year for renovations and improvements on facilities along with new exterior signs.

We completed our staff vacancies this year by hiring the absolutely best leaders for the team! This includes Matt Thompson as Worship Leader and director of Oasis Creative, Chris Stafford as Student Pastor of The Mix, Magon Litton as Children’s Pastor of Oasis Kids, and Jessica Versiga in Administration as Office Manager and pastoral assistant.

I am saying all of this to say this… THANK YOU OASIS! You are making life change possible every single weekend and it shows!

Thank you for blessing me and my family this month with Pastor Appreciation and the gifts and the financial contributions you made! This is a huge blessing for me and my family beyond what you realize!

Thank you for being a part of this amazing family and investing your resources and gifts into THE HOUSE that makes all of this life-change possible!

This winter and 2015 will be much GREATER!!!

Have a great week and I look forward to seeing you all next weekend as we begin a new series titled “In The Zone”!

-Eric

Thanks to John Weirick of Newspring Church in Anderson, SC for the following post:

Is Halloween the devil’s holiday? Are Christians sinning if they dress in costumes for a party or trick-or-treating?

The History of Halloween

What began as a holiday to mark the harvest time and the changing of seasons, ancient Celtic traditions used to emphasize the spiritual. The night between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 was seen as a window of chaos when the spiritual world was especially accessible to the physical world. Masks, costumes, and bonfires were adopted to keep away evil powers and spirits of the dead.

Catholic influence led to the creation of All Saints’ Day around AD 600 to honor dead Christians and church leaders from the past. All Saints’ Day was Nov. 1, making the night of Oct. 31 All Hallows Eve, which is where we get the name for Halloween.

What God Calls Evil

Evil spirits, mythical creatures, and demonic activity get a lot of attention around Halloween. It’s essential to use God’s perspective in the Bible to draw distinction between what’s merely a cultural tradition and what’s destructive.

Witchcraft, sorcery, and other practices are wrong because they’re harmful for people and elevate connection with spiritual forces instead of connection with God (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

Getting involved in and obsessed with the spiritual world apart from Jesus often leads to a dangerous place of openness with demonic powers. God warns against trying to speak with spirits and the dead because He’s got a better life in store for us (Leviticus 20:6-7).

Trick or Treat or Not?

What about candy, costumes, parties, and trick-or-treating?

The Bible doesn’t directly say not to participate in Halloween. What the Bible doesn’t explicitly prohibit, we have the freedom to make decisions about using wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit to lead us. If we listen to Jesus and do what He says, He will never lead us away from Himself.

If dressing in costumes and going door to door offends your conscience, don’t do it.

If it doesn’t bother you, celebrate Halloween.

But we must not impose our personal conscience issues on others. We have freedom to navigate these decisions because God gave us this freedom (1 Corinthians 10:23-30).

How Christians Can Celebrate Holidays

Holidays aren’t inherently good or bad. They’re simply specific days different people celebrate for different reasons, and that’s OK (Romans 14:5-6). A person is not more or less godly for celebrating (or not celebrating) a certain day of the year.

The most important question is not whether you will observe Halloween, but how and why you celebrate it.

For some, Halloween is an opportunity to make memories doing something fun with their children. For others, it’s a great chance to meet their neighbors, grow a relationship with them, and eventually invite them to church and to meet Jesus.

Faith in Jesus doesn’t restrict our options; it allows us to use God’s wisdom in choosing the best option in every situation (1 Corinthians 10:31-33).

Several months ago, I took a look in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw looking back at me. I had gotten more out of shape than I have ever been in my life, I weighed more than I had ever weighed in my life, and I was also not exactly the happiest person on the earth at the time.

I had volunteered to coach a youth football team along with my responsibilities of being a husband, father and The Lead Pastor for Oasis Church. I knew this would take some time away from the family, although it would be Ethan’s team I was coaching. I just couldn’t fathom the idea of pushing 11-13 year old young men to get in shape and do physical drills that I might not be able to do myself. Something changed in me.

My wife and son bought me a Jawbone UP24 fitness bracelet for Father’s Day and I was determined at that time to utilize all my efforts to change what I saw in the mirror that morning so I wouldn’t be living hypocritical as a coach and as someone who speaks dedication and devotion with us being a good steward with all That God has given us.

Since then, I can say that I have lost almost 35 pounds, which puts me close to high school weight and I feel better than I have in years! It hasn’t come easy. It has been a sacrifice at times. (No Hershey’s chocolate bars!) Although a sacrifice at one time, now I earnestly desire to eat healthy all of the time while watching calories and staying active. What once was a sacrifice to make myself do, is now a formidable lifestyle and dedication to continue.

As so goes our physical life, so does our spiritual life. We have to exercise spiritual disciplines in order to grow and mature and get in shape. Just going to church once a week, or twice a month, or as a CEO (Christmas and Easter Only) will do nothing for you. We have to not only hear The Word, Read The Word, but we must APPLY The Word. When we do that, we get in healthier spiritual shape.

Part of the problem with the American Church is that we are religiously obese. We sit at the table (in church experiences), we eat and we eat and we eat and we never exercise what we learn and therefore we become religiously overweight and stagnant.

I want to grow. I want to be healthy and mature. The Only way for that to happen is to be dedicated and determined and INTENTIONAL. It won’t just happen. Just like losing my almost 35 pounds didnt just happen. It was an intentional effort, determined discipline and dedication that got to me where I am.

Spiritually, I want to live my live that way too. I want to be intentional in my growth and take ownership of my healthy relationship with God and live a determined life of discipline dedicated to Christ so I can become all that He desires me to be and my influence would be more outstretched for Him.

We become what we set our mind and hearts to become. We can do whatever we are determined to do. What is your determination about the place you are in? What do you see when you look into the mirror? What about in the mirror of God’s Word?

Make a decision today to go ALL IN! No holding back! Give Jesus your all! Watch Him Shape your life in an amazing way!

October is pastors appreciation month for Sr. Pastors and I wanted to take this opportunity today to say “THANK YOU” to every pastor. I don’t care what denomination you belong to, what the size of your church is or what your preferences are in regards to a worship style. I hope and pray that the church you lead will honor you and show their appreciation for you not just during the month of October, but everyday.

I have learned at Oasis to not have high expectations as to not be disappointed if people don’t show their appreciation for me and my wife. We have zero expectations and therefore leave little room for disappointment.

Toni and I always honor our staff and our staff pastors privately by honoring them and blessing them financially and even taking them out to eat on occasion. We try to always mention them and honor them publicly in front of the entire Oasis Family as well on Sundays throughout the year.

Let me take this time to just tell you thank you Pastor…

THANK YOU…
For the times you have woke up at night and could not go back to sleep because you were so burdened for the people in your church and you prayed for those whom God has entrusted to your, even when they weren’t aware that you were doing so.

Thank you for the times of intense spiritual warfare that you have endured. You have experienced things that you don’t talk about a lot, but I know about the attacks on you and your family, the nightmares, the intense feelings of inadequacy and yet you have persevered through them because you know that the ONE who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world!

Thank you for the conversations that you have had with people that no one will know about, the ones that took place behind the scenes, out of the eye of the public. You took the time to talk to that one person and did it because you care and not because you felt like you would be rewarded for it. It made a difference.

Thank you for the sacrifices that you have made that no one will ever know about. You have sacrificed time, personal preferences, money, sleep and your own reputation and you have paid a price that most people will never see this side of eternity, and the Lord IS USING your faithfulness to make a difference.

Thank you for the times you wanted to quit but didn’t. We’ve all wanted to quit (usually on Monday’s!) Jesus has called you and appointed you for this time and season in your life. You realize that and couldn’t even fathom doing anything else and so you didn’t quit. Thank you.

Thank you for the times you have wept over the condition of people in your church and over people far from God. For allowing what breaks God’s heart to break yours.

Thank you for the days when you have dared to dream big and have refused to give up on the vision you know the Lord has placed inside of you.

Thank you for the times you have been criticized and slandered against by people who have never even met you and are clueless in regards to your heart for the Lord. They have misquoted you, taken you out of context and tried to destroy you with their word twisting and hate filled inaccuracies. And yet you have persevered, you have resisted the urge to fight with them, keeping your eyes on Jesus and refusing to come down off of the wall.

Thank you for your being led by The Holy Spirit and not responding to that email, facebook post or negative tweet about you or your church from someone who doesn’t have a clue. You don’t have to respond and sometimes it is better for you not to. Thank you.

Thank you for living your life with integrity so that your life privately represents the words you speak publicly.

Thank you for answering the call of God on your life and being used by Him to make a difference in your city or region of influence.

Thank you for ALL that you do! Seriously, you matter! YOU MATTER so much to God that He not only saved you but called you into ministry, He entrusted you with a gift, a calling and a message and He is with you and He will NEVER leave you or forsake you. You can trust Him and He didn’t call you to flame out or burn out but rather to IMPACT this world through the preaching of His Son Jesus Christ.

Don’t allow yourself to be validated or think that your worth is determined by what your church does or doesn’t do for you in this month of Pastor Appreciation. Know that you are valuable and you are the one He has chosen to lead the church you are in.

You may feel overworked, overwhelmed and under appreciated, but I am here to say as a fellow pastor, THANK YOU! I don’t care if you have 15 people in your church or 150,000, what you do MATTERS! THANK YOU I consider it an honor to be on the same team with you and it is my prayer that all of us will keep our eyes on Jesus and press forward as we have been given a job to do!

Now let’s get out there and CHANGE THE WORLD!

Let me give you the bottom line first and then I will unpack the meaning for this post.

The bottom line is that if a church wants to impact a community—IT TAKES WORK.

For far too long the church has been lazy, that’s right,  LAZY.  We have sat back on our butt and done nothing, asking God to “do it all” and claiming to be “led by the Spirit.”  And then people walk into our boring, lifeless and predictable services and we give “God all the glory” (or the blame!)

One of the things I have realized in reading Scripture though is that Jesus was far from boring—He created experiences for His followers—experiences that they NEVER forgot…do you remember…

• Jesus walking on water…don’t think for a minute that Peter didn’t think about that moment every time he walked by a lake.
• The mount of transfiguration.  Peter & John were both so blown away by this that they both wrote about it in Scripture.
• The feeding of the 5,000.
• The day of Pentecost in Acts 2
• Bringing back Lazarus from the dead.
• Turning water into wine (the Baptist hate that one!)

I could go on—the bottom line is that Jesus was constantly creating experiences that communicated to His followers who He was in a way that they would never forget…

AND THE CHURCH SHOULD BE DOING THE SAME!!!

I have heard many people say that our process leaves no room for the Holy Spirit, and that we are not “open”, but let me say this everyone: take a moment to think….  Are you blaming your laziness and lack of preparation on the Holy Spirit??  One of the things that we have discovered here at Oasis is that the Holy Spirit is always at work and NOT just on Sundays—but during sessions where ideas are brainstormed and well thought out and in planning meetings and in staff meetings and in leadership equipping meetings such as “empower”.

If you attend Oasis—let me make you a promise:  We take church seriously.  Everything you see is done with a purpose.  We are serious about Jesus and serious about as many people as possible meeting Him.  And because of that fact, we are willing to do all that we can to reach those people!

It is our desire NOT to just have a church service—but to create an EXPERIENCE through song, video, messages and any other tools that the Holy Spirit might choose to place in front of us.

Sure—we’ve been accused of entertaining people, I would much rather entertain you than bore you!  Jesus didn’t mind creating experiences, and His church shouldn’t either.

We know GOD is in charge—that HE is ultimately responsible for all that is happening, but we also understand that God works THROUGH people and that He is honored when people plan, pray, work and then sit back and watch Him make up the difference.

We are serious about making His name famous and that just can’t happen when church is boring.  (I believe a boring church is a sin!!!)  SO, we are going to always do all we can to make sure that when you attend church on Sunday—that is  the BEST time of your week!!!

Seriously—I believe people should look more forward to church more than they do Duck Dynasty, a football game, or The Walking Dead!  There’s something…. Those shows actually put hard work and effort into their programming and it shows!  Hmmm, maybe if the church was as serious as Hollywood in reaching people we would be reaching people!

Hollywood has discovered something that the church runs from though, it takes work to create an experience that people will remember.

There are some things we will never apologize for, reaching people is by far at the top of the list!

I thank God for the influences in my life such as Ed Young, Chris Hodges, Perry Noble, Craig Groeschel and countless others of pastors who have blazed the trail and encouraged me not to prostitute the vision God has given by compromising this Kingdom vision!

Change will always be a constant at Oasis as we will always be constantly changing our methods to reach an every changing culture!

Thank you Oasis family for joining us on this movement as we continue to impact the Gulf Coast for Jesus!

Special thanks to Perry Noble for the inspiration of this for the week of Easter! COME ON OASIS CHURCH!!!!

#1 – Do not say “NO” for that someone that keeps popping into your head. You never know what is going on in their life and right now may be the BEST time to ask them.

#2 – Offer to buy them a meal either before or after the service. Who doesn’t love a good meal?

#3 – If they are single, tell them they might meet someone cute! (It has absolutely happened in the past).

#4 – Seriously spend time in prayer asking God who you need to specifically reach out to and invite to an Easter Experience! (Saturday at 6:00 and Sunday at 9:00 and 11:00)

#5 – Don’t feel like you have to be a theological expert and know all of the answers to all of the hypothetical questions you have imagined them asking you. You don’t have to know it all! You just have to know that Jesus saves and that’s what we’re going to talk about at church this weekend.

#6 – Don’t tell yourself you will just pray for them without pursuing them. YES…we should pray for people far from God, but we should also be willing to pursue them like Jesus pursued us. 

#7 – Read John 1:43-51 and see that “Found People Find People” really is true. 

#8 – Give yourself permission to be excited about church! If people can get excited about the Instagram picture of their microwave dinner then WE can get excited about people crossing over from death to life. 

#9 – Understand that everyone really does spend eternity somewhere. 

#10 – Realize that fear doesn’t come from the Lord (II Timothy 1:7)! If HE has placed someone on your heart to invite then He has gone before you and prepared them for the invite as well. 

Here is the website for the Experience Times for you to get your ticket!

Let’s do this OASIS!

This past weekend at Oasis Church, we held 3 identical Christmas Experiences and began our Saturday night Experiences that we will do through the first of the year at least. It was one of the most special and best Christmas Experiences in church that I can ever remember.

Our life everyday is an opportunity to create a memory. Every moment is valuable. I desire this upcoming year to make more memories by being aware of the moment. Life is already so fast paced and full of so much that doesn’t really matter that we have to be intentional in capturing those special moments. Facebook, twitter, computer, video games, tv, all good things, however, they rob alot of time and prevent valuable moments from happening in our lives if we let it consume us. 2014 will be a new year and a new opportunity. I am determined to make the best out of the entire new year, because the older I get, the more precious each year becomes.

We want to help you start off on the right foot at Oasis Church too. Next weekend we will have a special AT THE MOVIES holiday edition on Saturday night at 5:00 and Sunday at 9:00 and 11:00 with a message that can help you start your new year off right! Join us! Then in January, a new teaching series titled “Let Hope In” will run through January and the first of February.

I want to encourage you to be intentional to savor your special moments and to leave room for moments to occur. Memories are valuable. Life is precious. Let this season and the new year be your best yet!

Merry Christmas! (more…)