A drink from the Oasis…week of 10 Dec 08
Saints!
Below you will find this week’s Inspirational E-mail. I pray you will enjoy it and forward this thought on to your friends as well as offer them an invitation to a ‘church’ this weekend.
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1. A drink from the Oasis ———————— “Ounce of Prevention” ———————-
One of the most fascinating biographies I ever read was that of Irene Webster Smith by Russell Hitt. The title of the book is Sensei which means “teacher” in Japanese. Irene Smith was a Quaker and a missionary to Japan for some fifty years. Sensei became her name to the Japanese. She first went to Japan about 1915 under the Japan Evangelistic Band from her native Ireland. Her first assignment was to serve in the Tokyo Rescue Home, which sought to save prostitutes from their entrapment in the government-licensed brothels. In this early experience, Sensei learned how these young girls, who were unwanted by their parents, were sold into a life of prostitution and trained from their earliest years to know no other experience. These days in the Tokyo Rescue Home were very discouraging to Sensei, because these girls, no matter how they seemed to repent of their past, would so often revert to their life of immorality as soon as they regained their health.
In the midst of this frustrating job a thought came to Sensei. It would be better to put a fence at the top of the precipice than an ambulance at the foot. And with that thought a vision was born–a vision of a home for unwanted girls–a home warmed by love and bright with God’s grace, a home where little girls, once destined for brothels and disease, could be brought up in happiness to lead full and useful Christian lives. And so for many years Sensei turned to the work of endeavoring to keep young girls from falling over this particular precipice. –James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 112.
‘Messy’ Questions:
a) Which is most important? Picking up the pieces in people’s lives after calamity has struck (running an ambulance service), or catching a few, as it were, midair in a net, or building fences to keep people from trouble in the first place?
b) What does it look like to no longer see the church service as the primary connecting point with those outside the community?
c) How are you connecting with those outside which happens within the culture, by insiders to that culture who express the gospel through how they live?
An Oasis testimony (permission granted) regarding being ‘missional’:
“Derek,
It hit me tonight while I was out, so I grabbed my million $ Santa bill and an Oasis business card and gave it to a “dude” that works at our local Blockbuster. I’ll tell you more in person but it turns out he goes to CSU, is from Florida where his family went to a church that was far away so they became part of a group that started their own.
He asked the name of our church so I pointed it out on the business card, and during our conversation he said he was interested and would give us a try or something similar. I could barely talk straight, but I knew I had to start doing something besides cowering so predictably in the face of the fear of man. – George
2. Admin Stuff:
a) Saturday Night we continue at care group with our Josh Hunt study session #10 (Last Session!!!). Josh has asked us for a video clip (samples here) on how we have doubled. Does someone have the capability to take some video for us to send to Josh? How exciting!!! We should be finished with our reading by now too.
b) Please continue to review, research, and pray about our “Relational Commitments” which we are evaluating as Core/Launch/New Member material. This week we will be covering the topic of Our Commitment to Biblical Counseling. Remember, that as we EDITING this document/class and at the end of the process we will be covenanting together regarding these relational commitments and it will be the orientation for all visitors who are interested in becoming members of Oasis. Please come prepared (meaning reading the section we are covering beforehand) to include looking up the scriptures (or even adding some of your own…).
c) No Men’s Tribe this week.
d) Our scripture reading for this week is Isaiah 9:2-6; Matthew 1:18-25.
e) Advent started on the 30th of November. What is Advent?
f) We will be singing from the newest Casting Crowns Album.
g) We are purchasing 11 (eleven) Angel Food Boxes!!! That is fantastic!
h) We are headed to the Festival of Lights on Sunday night.
3. Prayer Requests (PR) & Community Needs (CN):
a) Updated prayer requests can be found at: http://oasisgc.wordpress.com/prayer-board-facts/ A humbling gift to intercede for so many… many visitors in the digital world leave requests here. If you have a prayer request make sure to get it to Kia or Christine (thank you so much for praying for us!!!). If you are looking for some handy guides for prayer, check out these Prayer Cards. You can click on the “Prayer Cards” link and select which ever prayer card your interested in, and a sample of it can be seen with adobe reader (www.adobe.com).
b) My ‘get to’ pray person became my friend on Facebook this week. Very cool.
See you at care group on Saturday and remember to always be…
stunned by the gospel of Jesus Christ,
Derek R. Iannelli-Smith
Oasis Website – Oasis Facebook Group
Oasis…where relationships are a mess worth making
