Eric Camp

Hello Everyone!!!

What a great weekend we had at Oasis Church this past weekend. At least 27 people surrendered their lives to Jesus!!! We had 3 Worship Experiences this past weekend with the 9 and 11 AM and ENCOUNTER night which was GREAT!!!! The video can be seen on the OasisOnline.tv Media page if you would like to watch.

Change is sure in the air! Change is a good thing. The only constant in our churches should be change. We should change for the sake of making greater impact and more difference in our city and region that The Lord has called us to. I have learned that for here in Pascagoula and on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

For some time we kept praying, serving, preaching, teaching and didnt see or experience a whole lot of change or difference. Then, all of a sudden, in 1 year we go from an average attendance to 100+ to over 500+ on Sunday mornings, we are in the Schools praying before the school day begins in Pascagoula, Gautier and Moss Point High Schools, we have witnessed over 800 people saved in that same time frame and we have added 3 full-time staff members, opened a full-service coffee shop that is open during the week and are evaluating a possible relocation! WOW! Talk about fast! Talk about.. WOW!

I have heard so many people say this, especially some of my ARC (association of related churches) mentors, when you grow larger, YOU MUST CONTINUE to grow SMALLER as well. That takes an understanding from everyone involved. I know things are a little different today than they were a couple of years ago, things are done a little different, but that is good because it is not all about one person or one group of people anyway, it is about EVERYONE finding their purpose and destiny in The Body of Christ and it takes all of us enlisted as the army of God to see that come to fruition with people. That is why Relationships are so important. More so than classroom time. Yes, I said it… we need more connection and less classroom instruction. Why? People leave a classroom or meeting and have a false sense of accomplishment when true Biblical accomplishment and success doesnt come until you allow your life to influence other lives for Jesus!

At Oasis we have small groups, “Savour” women’s meetings once a quarter, “MUG” (Man-Up Gathering) for men, Growth Track each Sunday night, “SoLo Singles Ministries that will be starting soon,  and many many other areas and opportunities for you to connect… so Get Connected!

I say all that to say that The Lord is moving in our churches today because He is taking His bride to the place of destiny and purpose that She exists for. The Reach people with The Life-Changing message of Christ! If you stay faithful, you stay true, He will open the flood gates and give you greater influence and greater anointing and greater blessing! Dont give up! Whoever you are… DONT GIVE UP! Greater days are coming and the resistance and dryness you may be feeling, that is because there is a flood gate about to open for you if you dont give up faith and hope! There is always a battle before a breakthrough!

In closing, I am so pumped for the rest of this year and even for the new year that is not too far away… I Believe The Church will become an even greater force of influence if it stays humble and faithful!

Let’s pull together as “The Church” to make a greater impact in our city and region!!!

I havent blogged in the past couple of weeks and felt the need to do so this morning as my wife is preparing for “Savour” the once a quarter Women’s Gathering at Oasis where ladies can connect, build relationships, and live out their destiny and purpose that God has called them to in their world. This is an amazing time for women to get together and connect on a smaller scale than the regular Activities that the church puts on. If you are a woman and you are looking to get connected or to build relationships or just want to come together and worship Jesus with other women, YOU NEED TO BE AT OASIS TONIGHT at 6:00! 🙂

Well, the last 2 weeks have been interesting in my life and in the church Intense finished up the crusade a couple of weeks ago and we witness at least 200 people total surrender their lives to Christ!!!!

The Baggage series has begun and the multiple AM service experiences have begun and is proven so far to be a huge success. We have seen around 150 in the 9:00 and about 300-400 in the 11:00 which has helped to ease the congestion in the Children’s Dept and parking. I am so excited about what The Lord is doing at Oasis!

This Women’s gathering has really inspired me to consider doing some men’s meetings that will geared totally to men. Stay tuned.

As our church grows larger, it is imperative that we grow smaller at the same time. To do this, we host these type of events so people can connect and build relationships. We will also be launching Life Groups in the coming weeks as well to enable people opportunities to connect in small group settings. I hope and pray that if you are a part of the Oasis family, you will highly consider participating in these events. We dont do alot, we just try to do what we do well! People are busy and we try not to have so much going on that people are obligated to be at every event, however, we encourage you to participate in what interests you and where you can grow as well. There are no excuses for not connecting and building relationships and getting connected in ministry at Oasis, we purposely do these things to accomplish that task, but it still requires you to come and be a part!!!

Our Youth ministry has been blowing my mind with at least 130 teens meeting on Wednesday nights in Higher Grounds cafe to worship The Lord and learn His Word. To say that the Spirit of God is moving is an understatement, HE IS working on all of us and through us all these days to accomplish HIS PURPOSE and plan in building HIS Kingdom on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

We have been asked by the City of Pascagoula to perform with our creative arts team at the Trunk or Treat on October 29th and also to host the annual lighting of the Christmas Tree at Beach Park this year! Combined with being asked to go into our schools and pray before school begins in the mornings, I am amazed at the doors of opportunity that He is giving our church in our city and region!

Encounter night is Sunday night, September 26 at 6:01 and we will be doing water baptisms and experiencing God’s presence together in praise and worship and a message for the church! Make plans now!

With all that being said, I know this is long, I just wanted to lay out there all that was happening and going on so everyone would know… It is difficult on Sundays to relate all the happenings and events that is going on at Oasis!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and week and I look forward to Sunday as we continue in this series on “Baggage”. You really dont want to miss this week!!! Choose your service experience, 9 or 11 am!

This past week and month has been such a fast-paced full throttle speed ahead! At Oasis, we finished the “At the Movies” series averaging the largest crowds we have seen on a regular Sunday than anytime in the short history of our church with numbers around 500! The number of people giving their heart to Jesus has blown me away!!! Just this past Sunday, we witnessed 65 people getting saved! Intense Ministries is here doing School assemblies and meetings each night with the finale being tonight at 6:30. Really expecting hundreds of people in overflow tonight!

It is September 1, new day, new season, new series! We start “baggage” this weekend at Oasis in the first Sunday of our Multiple Service Experience format. We will have 9:00am and 11:00am Identical services starting September 5th. This is exciting because our parking lot and children’s ministries have been overcrowded at the one morning experience, so we are praying that this will help accommodate even more people as take the pressure off the one service time.

I have been in the schools here in Pascagoula this week with Intense and we just left Pascagoula High from an assembly and let me tell you, we are blessed in Pascagoula to have such a high excellence driven High School led by principal Cindy Jackson! The doors are opening wide for our church in the schools as we are praying in the hallways every Monday at PHS and Tuesdays starting next week at Gautier High.

All this being said, the new season of influence and harvest is amongst us. This is the greatest time to be the church! This year along at Oasis we have witnessed 500 people or more come to Christ and I am hearing reports of God moving in many many areas! Stand firm, be bold, be active in what The Lord is doing in His Church in these days! Very Exciting Times!

Have a great week!

At least 15 people gave their lives to Christ Yesterday in the Morning Experience at Oasis Church! Seeing and Experiencing that makes everything so worth while and rewarding!

We were in Part 2 of the “At The Movies” series with the movie “Blind Side” and we once again broke the attendance record for any regular Sunday!! (Easter still takes the cake, but WOW!!) Packed House, Parking lot maxed out, Children’s Ministries Rockin, Great Online Audience, Truly Amazing!!! I am so blessed to be a part of such an amazing Church!

We had a baby dedication yesterday of the son of our Media Director and his wife, Jon and Brandy Dotson. I always enjoy doing those! Intense Ministries gave a promo for the Crusade August 29th – September 1 here at Oasis. Visit their website at www.intenseministries.com .

We are looking at 2 Worship Experiences in September at 8:30 and 10:45. This is to assist in the overcrowding in parking, children and even in the auditorium seating. If you are a part of Oasis Church, please sign up to be in the SERVE 1 WORSHIP 1 as we need volunteers to make things happen!!! That includes Children’s Ministries, Parking lot, event team, media, First Impressions, Higher Grounds… you name it!!!! WE NEED YOU!

Some awesome things happening at Oasis Church. I am so excited about what The Lord is doing here and for the Team of staff and volunteers who step up to the plate each week and sacrifice to make it happen. Thank you all sooooo much! Without you, it wouldnt be possible!

We are working on some exciting things for the future of Oasis. I encourage you to get plugged in and get involved to be a part of this amazing movement that is taking place on the Mississippi Gulf Coast!

Have an amazing week and I will be back again later in the week for another announcement and update……. stay tuned…..

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!! We started the “At the Movies” Series today at Oasis Church with the movie “Walk the Line” and really all I can say is WOW! There was a packed house, parking overflow, and best of all, 27 PEOPLE MADE DECISIONS TO RECEIVE CHRIST!!!! Amazing!

Seeing people surrender their lives to Jesus never gets old and to be honest with you, fires me up probably more than anything!! There were at least 19 people in the Auditorium and at least 8 children in the Children’s Dept. who prayed to accept Jesus today!

This series is one I have been SOOOOO Excited about because I know it is going to reach so many people! I am hoping and praying that we continue to invite people to this series as we continue through the month of August! We served popcorn and drinks in the lobby and our Creative Arts team and others completely transformed the facilities to a movie theater!!! Love you guys so much! Thank you! More for you guys coming soon…

The series wont be online as it was live because of copyright laws, but we will have a “talk about it” section on the media player tomorrow with highlights of the Experience, praise and worship, and a discussion of the key points today…

Next week… wear your favorite sports team apparel as we will be in part 2 of  “At the movies” with another great movie!

This upcoming Wednesday night, I will be speaking in the main auditorium about prayer… this will be a 3 part Wednesday night series, consider yourself invited to join us for the midweek Refresh Experience!

Everyone have an awesome day and Great week! I look forward to seeing you next weekend if not Wednesday night!

BTW – we are trying to get a new projector installed this week… our media dept is pricing them and we will hopefully have a new one(s) to replace the ones that are burning out within the next couple of weeks…

It has been a little while since I last blogged… Today is Monday the 12th and yesterday at Oasis Church was an amazing day! We witnessed at least 13 people giving their heart to Jesus!!! COME ON SOMEBODY!!! Amazing! That is what it is all about!

We began a new series titled “Margin” and will continue in this series through July leading up to the August series titled “At The Movies!” This will be our biggest outreach series of the year as we planned to do this series parallel when school starts back. We are also contemplating going to multiple service experience times in August or September as we are at the place to where we are going to have to! Parking lot is full, Children’s Ministries is full, IT IS A GREAT PROBLEM TO HAVE! Stay tuned for updates on this at this blog page and on the Oasis Church page and the Oasis Church Facebook page. Http:www.OasisOnline.tv and facebook.com/OasisChurchGulfCoast !

This has been one amazing year already for our church and for our city and region and I am so excited about the future of Oasis Church! We are witnessing lives being transformed and changed at every worship Experience AND OUTSIDE the church walls!

If you dont have a home church, check out Oasis and if you want to see what it is all about before actually walking in the building, watch some of the past experiences on the OasisOnline.tv website under the MEDIA tab.

Have a wonderful day and great week… I’ll be back!

Father’s Day was Sunday and the Experience at Oasis was amazing! I was greatly blessed to be able to baptize my 7 year old son and witness at least 6 folks give their hearts to Jesus!! That service is online at http://www.OasisOnline.tv if you care to watch. I talked again on Manners as we discussed the power words in our lives. This week we conclude that series talking about the “currency of courtesy!”

Freedom Day, or 4th of July, is in a week and Oasis is doing a “Flip Flop and Freedom” Sunday Experience! Wear your shorts and flip-flops to Sunday morning Worship Experience. Yea, Yea, we like being different and breaking traditions!

This weekend we have 2 Worship Experiences as this is ENCOUNTER week and I am pumped and ready for the weekend! Both Experience Messages is very on time and relevant to us! I love it when The Lord just downloads it on you what to talk about and how on-time He always is!

Well, Transition is surely the season we are in as a church… the whole Body of Christ that is… Things are changing and Jesus is sculpting His bride more and more and I am so excited at what I am seeing and Experiencing personally and witnessing in the lives of the people at Oasis Church! Miracles are happening everyday, lives are being changed, The Holy Spirit is moving in such a real, relevant and practical way… Just makes me happy!!! lol!

Alot of staff transitions are occurring at Oasis Church. It is all good… Transitioning for Positioning. This season we are in right now will usher in the FRESH BOLD season of THE HARVEST for the BODY OF CHRIST I believe! Look at Church History, every time the world has gotten dark and uncertain times were in existence, THE CHURCH was the brightest and Shined the brightest in all the earth! This is a great time to be connected to THE HOUSE! The Lord is preparing for something pretty amazing and the harvest and growth of His Church is the destination in this time and season we are in.

I heard a friend say, or read his tweet anyway, that “when you are closer to the goal line, the defense is tougher to penetrate. That is because if you execute properly, you are a only a small step to scoring the Goal!” Isn’t that true?

The hardest battle is always right before the greatest breakthrough! Keep pressing… Keep fighting… Stay in the game because the Goal line is in sight!!!!

Have a great week and thanks again for taking the time to read my thoughts today!!!

It is Monday again… That means meetings, administrative work, planning and FOCUSING!

The Meetings are with Staff and leaders, the administrative is the business affairs of the church and the planning is for the coming weeks and months at Oasis and the FOCUSING… that is for SUNDAY!

We get focuses on Sunday on Monday… why? Sunday is the Show-room Floor to present Jesus to those who may be shopping for answers and looking for Hope.

Our Job as a ministry is not to hold services each week, but to reach our city and region for Jesus! How do we do that? We love people and we purposely do what we can practically to reach them where they are.

This past weekend I started a teaching series on something very practical… something we all have, some are good and some are bad… they are manners…

What are your manners? Are you waving a banner of good manners or are you rude with your ‘tude? Yes… very practical. But yet, I believe completely on time as The Lord is calling us to not only look like Him, but to sound like Him and to walk like He walked… in attitude and action! Very challenging believe it or not.

I have had SOOO many people today tell me something on the lines of this, “Eric, I have NEVER heard a pastor or preacher talk about manners , but I will say this, I am so excited because this is a teaching that is relevant to everyone!” – 45 year old female in yesterday’s Experience.

The Goal is relevance through Realness… There is a real lack of authenticity and practicality in God’s House and the Bible talks about these simple truths of life, and we will continue in that line of thought this week as it is Father’s Day and we are talking about the power of words!

The Biggest news for me is that ….. my 7 year old son wants to get baptized on Sunday morning! I am STOKED about that! He is genuine and He loves Jesus… yes, even at 7 because that is how he is raised!

Anyways… Yes, we are in transition season at Oasis. Staff vacancies and strategic alignments are occurring. Brittney Kinsey did a WONDERFUL job leading worship yesterday and you will see her again real soon! This week, Alex Holliman from Columbus, MS will be leading worship Sunday morning as we have several people lined up to minister on Sundays as this season of change will lead Oasis to the firm foundation that The Lord is preparing for this ministry…

I am excited about it and I am ready… How about you?

WOW! I start alot of blogs that way because each and every weekend The Lord is just blowing my mind!!! At least 12 people giving their lives to Christ this past weekend as we concluded the “Forgotten Virtues” series. You can watch the series online at http://www.OasisOnline.tv.

Alot of transition and alot of changes happening around Oasis. We are beginning a new series this week titled “Manners – The Details” and in July we are going to do a series titled “Margin”. The manners series is highlighting the RUDENESS of our MOOD as a society. This will flow directly from the series we just concluded and then in July we are planning on a series that will help us with our priorities of life and making room for the important things and what those important things is and should be… Very Practical teachings and season we are in right now as a church…

I am amazed at the continued growth of Oasis. There are over 500 people who call Oasis their home church and our weekly attendances have averaged between 300 – 400 with around 100 of those being children. Our Executive Officers met and we all are planning and discussing the direction of our church as far as facilities go. We are believing The Lord to open a door in the city for a particular commercial building and give us the opportunity to relocate. If that dont happen, we will begin process of expansion hopefully within the next year or so at the latest. PRAY CHURCH!

This upcoming Sunday night at 5:30 I will be conducting a leadership development seminar that will most likely turn into a multiple night teaching and equipping to train leaders and equip people to answer the call of God in their lives. Please register if you are planning on attending by calling the Admin office at 228-762-5639.

The Oil Spill… yea… alot of talk about this. My take is that we keep praying and keep believing for The Lord to bless this region as nothing is too big for Him!

I hope and pray you all have a great week and my wife Toni will be speaking this Wednesday night in Refresh! Dont miss it!!!