Oasis Church North Florida

The Proposal to Plant Oasis Church NFL - Part 3

I wanted to share a little of the dream that God has given us and what we are praying and seeking to live as a church...the next few posts are from our proposal packet and are what we are committing our lives to...

We dream of becoming a church where these statements are true…

-     “No perfect people are allowed…” Everyone is welcome and accepted regardless of past, reputation, beliefs, etc…

-     “It’s ok to not be ok…it’s not ok to stay that way…” Our teaching will include both grace and growth, love and healing, acceptance and renewal.

-     “No one stands alone…” Simply, we need each other…we live life better as a team of friends than a bunch of individuals.

-     “Everyone needs to play…” There is no place for warming the bench or standing on the sidelines…everyone needs to be part of the action and get in the game!

-     “Who is watching me?” Everyone is older and/or further along then someone else…we all have influence and need to lead others to follow Jesus closer.

-     “Whatever it takes…” To be willing to change methods, teaching style, music, etc…(everything is up for discussion except the Bible and what it teaches us, which will never change)  to be relevant to those we are trying to reach.

Oasis Church North Florida dreams of…

-     being a church-planting church, partnering with like-minded pastors to plant new churches to effectively reach as many different people and cultures in North Florida with the gospel of Jesus

-     being a multi-site church meeting throughout North Florida as one church

-     partnering with/ building Oasis Centers to provide Christ-honoring solutions to real world problems

-     partnering with existing churches/ ministries to make the name of Jesus great in our generation

-     pray, partner, send resources and people to effectively impact one or two countries in our world

We will do this for the glory of God and the advancement of His Kingdom.

The Proposal to Plant Oasis Church NFL- Part 2

I wanted to share a little of the dream that God has given us and what we are praying and seeking to live as a church...the next few posts are from our proposal packet and are what we are committing our lives to...

Oasis Church Core Values

Matthew 22: 36 Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? 37 And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.

1.      Worship

2.      Community

Matt 28:18 And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

3.      Mission

We want to see people come to follow Jesus Christ in a full commitment that results in them becoming disciple makers, for Christ, in the world.

Oasis Church process… what we will do as disciple makers of Jesus?

-Focus – weekend worship services – worship through music and Bible teaching

-Huddle – connect with our team for study, prayer, life – be real

-Play – get in the game by getting off the bench and taking action…do something in church and in community – everyone has a part in serving somewhere

-Lead – who are you influencing to follow God? - People matter to God and to us.

A Good Soldier - Part 3

In 2 Timothy 2, we read that Paul is writing to Timothy, a young man he has mentored, discipled and sent out to lead in ministry, and challenges him live life as a good soldier (he also uses word pictures like athlete and farmer). I recently heard Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, talk for a few moments of this passage and the importance of what it means to the pastor/ church planter.

This post has to do with The Message...

What we talk about begins and ends with Jesus. He (THE man) left heaven to give His life and He fought for us (The Mission) and most importantly, He finished the work...it is done! For a church planter/ pastor to succeed, we teach Jesus as Warrior, King, and Hero. By teaching this, the planter stays on task, other men come on board with the mission, and our mission can have forward progress as we keep fighting Satan, sin, and death. We can do this because the victory of Jesus completed mission is applied to us! Jesus is our Message!

Vision of Church Planter - Part 2

I listen to Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church, on my ipod. He taught a little bit about the way a church planter is to live and really, the reasons to plant a new church. I have broken up my notes over a couple of posts. God is also using itunes as a tool to continue to shape me as we move forward!

- I am to live my life on mission and build a church on mission...what are characteristics of church on mission?

5. Dependent on Holy Spirit to use us. David and other in Scripture longed for God...why don't we? Where is this longing in us? Spend too much time on strategy and too little time fasting and praying. I can't control the power of God, I submit to it. I must pursue HIM!

6. Develops relationships with the lost for the purpose of incarnating Christ to them...need to die to myself and serve my people (and my Lord) daily. I need to be around those who need life.

7. Humbly helps others find Jesus on their own timing, without forcing superficial decisions

Check back to see the last three...our desire is to plant a church on mission!

Vision of Church Planter - Part 1

I listen to Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church, on my ipod. He taught a little bit about the way a church planter is to live and really, the reasons to plant a new church. I have broken up my notes over a couple of posts. God is also using itunes as a tool to continue to shape me as we move forward!

- As people come to the Lord, they need a body, a church to connect with....

- I am to live my life on mission and build a church on mission...what are characteristics of church on mission?

1. Understands the centrality of the gospel...Eccl. 3:11. Everyone needs this ache, this desire, to be met by Christ. The fracture of The Fall can be healed and is made right by the work of Jesus on the cross. The Gospel shapes ALL that we do...and we can't leave it behind.

2. Committed to inspired, authoritative, all-sufficient Scriptures...everything in them needs to be taught. It is God's Word to us...He thinks it is important and so should we!

3. Embrace the calling of God as sent missionaries to the culture around us. Everyone is where they are and doing what they do and living where they live as part of purposed plan of God...this is no accident! Sanctification occurs when you engage a lost and dying world...not by "Protecting yourself". (I need to preach and teach this and live it myself!).

4. Actively train people to engage the culture. Older men/women train and mentor younger men and women-- better than a 4 week program!

More to come soon....

Church Plant Thoughts

From time to time, I will share a little bit of my journey to this point of wanting to launch a church in Jacksonville....

I was at a church planting conference in Orlando a few months ago. I was still praying through what God was saying to me and wrestling with what He was calling our family to do. The conference opened with a panel discussion. Some things I wrote down in my journal (in italics) were...

- the reason to plant a church is to plant churches....if not, it will be a dead-end to the Great Commission... wow, this is quite a loaded statement!

-planting churches needs to be in our values/ vision statements

-give a percentage of our budgets to planting more churches...we are in the process of partnering with Oasis Church of South Florida which is giving to us as well as Acts 29, a network of churches who do this with their budgets.

- Ron Sylvia, of purpose driven planting, stated a goal of 1,000 new churches being launched in the next 5 years...we are going to a conference of theirs at Liberty University in November.

-to reproduce a church requires every part of ministry to be reproducible

- Don't do this alone...link arms with others! That is the whole purpose behind this site and asking people to join the 600!

-Be patient!!! This takes time!

The location we are praying for...

This is where we are trying to plant, target, rent, and have services for Oasis Church North Florida...

We are really excited at the potential of being in or near River City Marketplace. We believe that this project (the biggest ever in the Northside of Jacksonville) in a strong indicator that not only are the thousands of people in the area, but thousands more will be moving in over the next ten years. In fact, the city of Jacksonville is actively planning and working to change some key factors in the Northside to better facilitate growth and to be ready for the people who will be moving in. We are actively praying and pursuing renting the Rivercity Marketplace 14, which is part of the Hollywood Theaters.

The people are coming to River City Marketplace. It is a destination. We want to position our new church to be as close as possible for being easy to find and give directions to (which takes away an excuse of not going to church), location (which is important in every aspect, not just real estate), and convenience (right off I-95, just north of 295, which is the loop around the city). 

When Jeanine and I first went up the Northside, we saw this mall and the people who were all around this place. We prayed that day in the parking lot, that God would grow His church and that we would be faithful to follow Him in doing our part. We are asking you to partner with us in prayer as we seek to launch a church that cares for people...a church in the Marketplace!