From the desk of Pastor David

On Thursday, we’ll pause to celebrate Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays. Thanksgiving will be an opportunity for us to slow down, take a deep breath, and enjoy the people around us. We need the break. But we also benefit from pausing to acknowledge God’s beautiful gifts to us. God delights in our gratitude, and it changes us, too. Gratitude displaces our anxiety, jealousy, and discontent. Gratitude reminds us God is good and gives us his perspective. So, I challenge you this week to publicly share with others what you’re thankful for this week. And thank God, too.
 
Last week, Oasis directors approved Karen Hall as our children’s director to oversee Oasis Kids. Welcome aboard, Karen! We have some of the best Jr. Church volunteers we’ve had in 24 years, which encourages me for the future of our ministry to children. We’re still looking for a part-time worship leader before the end of the year, so please pray for God’s direction.

I was recently interviewed for a local podcast, Relate. Refresh. Restore., produced by Romans 12 Ministries. If you'd like to hear it, you can go here for the website link, here for the Google podcast, or here for the Spotify podcast. You can also search for it on Apple.
 
As I mentioned last week, we’ll host a Texas Hold’em tournament on Saturday, December 4 at 7:00pm at the Oasis office (9571 E Paseo San Bernardo). The cost to enter is $20, with an opportunity to buy back in at $10. The winner gets to keep the trophy for a quarter and all proceeds help send youth to summer camp.
 
Mark your calendars for our annual Christmas party on Friday, December 10, at 6:00pm in Empire High School. This year, Oasis will provide honey-baked ham and turkey so you can bring sides and desserts. We’ll also raffle off Christmas baskets donated by our home churches and play games for prizes. After dinner, we’ll host a brief business meeting to approve a budget and directors for 2022. To register and for more information on what to bring, go here.
 
On Sunday, we continued our series, Job: How to Suffer Well, with a message from chapter 28 on Our Suffering and God’s Wisdom. We’ll continue this Sunday with a message from Job 29-31. If you missed a message, you’ll find it here.
 
I hope you have a wonderful week. I love serving as your pastor!