Thoughts from last night and HONOR…

First of all, Jody Pittman preached a message last night at Refresh titled “Who are They?” Great insight and challenge to those in attendance. At the conclusion of the talk when I went up to close things out, The Lord spoke to me these words, “Lost Sheep”. Immediately I knew what The Holy Spirit was prompting as apparently there were people that didnt know Jesus in the Experience. 5 Adults gave their heart to Christ Last night in the Adult “Refresh” and I heard from Will Seymour, our student pastor, that 12 teenagers surrendered their lives to Jesus!!! WOW!!! This was on a WEDNESDAY NIGHT! It never gets old seeing people come to Christ! That is what it is all about!!!!

I have been reflecting a little bit on the word HONOR. The Bible calls us to HONOR our Father and our Mother. Calls us to HONOR those in Authority, which also means civil authority by the way. We are to HONOR each other. How do we honor? Does that mean we have to surrender and agree with everything? Absolutely not. A child may not agree with their assignments or punishment from parents, but they are to still honor or I would like to add, RESPECT their parents. This is apparently pretty important to God as the only Commandment with a promise was HONOR your father and mother and you will live a long time on the earth! So, there is a reward for Honor.

When you look at the landscape of society today, Honor is slowly eroding away. It is sad because the church is no exception to that. A couple of years ago, we did a DVD series by John Bevere called “Honor’s Reward”. We may revisit that as I believe The Lord wants us to live a life of Honoring each other and He will honor us with favor and blessing and empowerment when we are obedient to do so.

I will make some bold statements now. Parents, your children dont Honor you, they must be corrected and taught to honor and respect. If you dont do it, it wont happen and this cycle or negative trend will continue. Employers, if your employees dont honor you or each other, you better be careful because division will be sown very quickly and you will have a larger problem than you are going to want to deal with. CHURCH LEADERS, You must be an EXAMPLE and SET THE STANDARD! The church SHOULD look different than Corporate America or the job site. Why? Integrity and Values should be much higher than in the average work place. Why? The church should be leading the way for establishing Biblical Standards of living in the Earth.

Anyway, there is more I could chat about on this subject, but maybe you get the point. I am also thinking that we should not just honor those above us or in authority, but our peers as well. The reason I say that is this… If you really love… Honor will be a symptom of that love. Have a great day folks! Thanks for reading…

Thoughts from weekend…

WHAT A WEEKEND! Last week we witnessed 30 people give their heart to Jesus and just Yesterday alone, we witnessed 12! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! That excites me!! It is truly amazing how The Lord is leading people into places of worship that is preaching the Life Changing Message of Jesus Christ! The CHURCH MUST BE A LIFE-GIVING PLACE! Jesus said He came to give LIFE and to give it MORE ABUNDANTLY!

Personally, I am more pumped than ever before about what He is doing at Oasis and in The Kingdom as a whole! My staff and team members at Oasis… YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING! I appreciate you sooooooo much! Your desire to love Him and Love others blesses me! Thank you to all of you guys for your sacrifice and dedication!

I have been accused in the past of having the desire to just build a Mega-Church. Well, it’s true… My desire is to not focus however on HOW MANY, but about EVERYBODY! If The Lord blesses Oasis to become larger, that means we are reaching people for Him.  I love the skeptics and the critics who lash out because people are getting saved, lives are being changed and the worst thing they can say about you is that you just have the desire to reach more people!! WOW! It’s True… I love reaching people for Jesus! I admit… I confess my desire to you! I am being mean now… I have learned to not respond to the negative and attempt to not get sucked into the positive feedback. I have bought into the revelation that if I will live my life with the desire and intent to Please THE ONE who Saved me as much as I used to focus on pleasing people, then I can truly make a difference for Him! Be Careful though,  That will mess you up! It will change you.

We are gearing up for Easter and I hope and pray that more people will get saved this year than ever before. I pray that Jesus will be exalted, Jesus will be made Famous and The Church will be THE CHURCH! Things happen when that happens. Let’s focus on the good and the positive of each other. Let’s focus on the things that are right in life and less on the small things that are wrong. You can change as The Lord changes you each and every day if that be your desire.

I am extremely humbled at what The Lord is doing at Oasis Church. I really am. I stand before Him each week and before several hundred people just thanking Him for the opportunity to speak into people’s lives with the life-changing message of hope, healing and LIFE that comes from relationship with Jesus! Greater days are ahead and I am expecting and excited about what He is going to do next! Have a great week everyone!

Thoughts from the weekend…

One Word… WOW!!!! What a GREAT day yesterday @Oasis Church! Sunday morning the house was packed and at least 14 people gave their heart to Jesus! The interesting thing was, I was speaking on ADULTERY! We began the “5 Easy Steps to Wreck Your Life” Series yesterday morning. Last night, about 200 people showed up for Encounter and there were at least 8 more people who surrendered their heart to Christ!!! THAT NEVER GETS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, 22 people were saved. Year to date we have witnessed 120 people give their heart to Jesus!!! That just excites me! Last night I talked about the Priesthood of the believer and challenged the church to begin walking in that Anointing that The Lord places on each of our lives. The Challenge was to become a priest of our homes, workplaces, CHURCH, city, nation!!!

Just in reflecting on all that has been going on at Oasis, it was so refreshing yesterday to actually experience The Presence of The Lord in the way that we did yesterday. I am amazed more and more of HIS faithfulness and MERCY!

Saturday, I attended the funeral of Donald “fruity” Abrams at St. Paul United Methodist Church in Moss Point. I was so blessed by the people there as they celebrated a life and the homegoing of a faithful man of God. He will be surely missed as he always lit up the room whenever he walked in. Don inspired me more and more the last several years. One of the first times he started coming to Oasis, I preached a message titled “4 more yards” about Herschel Walker and his NFL record yards rushing and how his average was only 4 yards per carry… He accomplished a feat 4 yards at a time… Everytime I saw Don and asked how he was doing, his response was always “4 yards at a time!” One of the most optimistic and positive people I have ever known.

This week I will be traveling to Word Alive in Oxford to take a couple of my staff members to meet some of the lead staff there and gleen from them a few hours. Going to be a busy week!

To my team at Oasis Church… YOU GUYS ROCK! You made it all happen Yesterday and The Holy Spirit anointed all your efforts and excellence! I am blessed to serve with you guys! Love you lots! Oasis Church peeps… You guys are the best bunch of people that anyone could ever ask to Pastor! Toni and I love you all dearly and are extremely excited about the future of Oasis and the impact on the Mississippi Gulf Coast!

Have a wonderful week!!!

Change is coming… Weekend Update

What a Great Experience Sunday morning at Oasis Church! At least 5 people gave their heart to Jesus and many lives were visually touched and changed by The Presence of The Holy Spirit! Seeing People surrender their lives to Jesus never gets old! It is what keeps me doing what I do!

We concluded the Power of a God Encounter series talking about Peter. I love Peter. I can relate too well at times! You can watch this talk on the OasisOnline.tv website if you like. Click on the MEDIA menu button at the top and then WATCH SERVICES.

Many great things in the works at Oasis. Wednesday nights in March will be worship experiences with one of our staff speaking each night and our worship team leading worship. The First Wednesday on March 3, Will Seymour our student pastor will be speaking and the FORWARD STUDENT MINISTRIES Worship team will be leading worship in the main auditorium for a joint FIRST WEDNESDAY Experience! I am excited about that as we have witnessed each week around 60-80 teenagers in the Student Experience in Higher Grounds each week.

I start a new series next week titled “5 Easy Steps to Wreck Your Life”. This is going to be fun! This series will lead us into the Sunday before Easter as we will be preparing for the largest Experience of the year on Easter Sunday. Last year close to 500 people crammed into the main auditorium and at least 55 people gave their hearts to Jesus! We are expecting maybe twice that this year as we are looking at 2 different Worship Experiences on Easter Sunday morning. More on that later.

There is alot of change in the air! Change is good! I am truly excited about all that is happening and all that is coming this year. This upcoming Sunday night is Encounter Night at Oasis Church as we gather for the once a month PM Experience. This is always a very powerful Experience as passionate people for The Presence of God Gather to Praise Him!

Some new Life Groups are in full swing and more are coming. Stay tuned to the Oasis Facebook page at facebook.com/OasisChurchGulfCoast for more information on that.

I will be posting more in the coming days to this blog… stay tuned and thanks for stopping by…

Just Pondering…

This morning our staff is doing the finishing touches on the AM Experience Sunday morning, I am doing the finishing touches on my talk for Sunday morning, my family and I are headed out of town for a couple of days on a small mini-vacation, The Saints are still World Champions, Auburn beat Bama in Recruiting, oh wait a minute… wrong blog… But really, What Matters? All that we do in life, all the hussle and bussle, WHAT REALLY MATTERS? Does another 25-30 hours a week in Sermon preparation for 75% of the people to forget about it and/or not apply it to their life after they leave REALLY MATTER? Does another 40 hour week in preparing by our staff for another Worship Experience REALLY MATTER? Does it REALLY MAKE a DIFFERENCE?

First of all, YES and NO. Yes it makes a difference because almost all that we do is geared to reaching those who are far from God. Those who dont know Jesus. We are called to do whatever it takes to reach them. And that is why we do what we do and LOVE what we do. HOWEVER, the answer is also an apparent NO. Why? There are too many people sitting in churches today, Oasis included, who are under the influence of the spiritual gift of CRITICISM. With this, they never see anything positive, it is always negative, it is always too cold, too hot, wish it wasnt raining, wish it would rain, wish the pastor would do this, wish they would sing this and that and those type people have a hard time ever enjoying life.

What can we do about the criticism? I learned a long time ago that what I can do about critical people is NOTHING. Not my problem. It is theirs to deal, not mine. But I have to say this, too many people that live a critical, negative lifestyle and have that attitude, will never make the difference that they have been called to make. Jesus saved you not just for you to raise your HEAVEN BOUND banner, but to do something for HIM. Scripture says He saved you AND Called you! What difference are you making? What impact are you having? Positive or Negative?

Back to my story, what difference is being made or does what I do really matter? To some people, maybe not. But I have learned that my audience is not the people who come to hear my sermons, but my audience is THE ONE who called me. If I live my life more concerned about what Jesus thinks and not care what others think, I find a Freedom that too many people dont have. I am discovering that. I am valuing the things that He puts in my life and the Call He has placed in my life more and more each day knowing He is entrusting me with responsibilities for Him and the rewards for that obedience is amazing. I want to be a History Maker! I want to see lives changed! Most importantly, I want Jesus to be proud and thankful that He called me to do His Work on the Gulf Coast, regardless of popular opinion. I am also learning that simple is better. We are not going to do a bunch of things for the sake of doing them, we are going to do a few things and we are going to strive to do them well to make the biggest difference. That is why we put so much energy and effort into a Sunday morning Experience. More people are there, more the opportunity to reach the unchurched, more people are there who dont have relationship with Jesus than any other time of the week and that is why we do all we do in preparation for Sunday. Why? The greater the opportunity to make the biggest impact for God.

Now, in closing, Oasis Church peeps, you guys are amazing! I am so proud to pastor some of the greatest people on the planet and I am also thrilled to know that our church family is expanding and more and more people are becoming a part of this movement on the Gulf Coast. Thank you. I hope you all have a great weekend and I will see you Sunday morning!

Sorry to rant this morning, just feeling it! I feel better now! Thanks for tolerating!!!!

Thursday Thoughts…

SNOW IS COMING TO THE GULF COAST!!!!!!! That is all…..

Just kidding.. My son is ecstatic! He has never seen snow in his 7 years! 5 of those we have lived on the Gulf Coast and you know it is a rare occasion for snow on the coast, kinda like the Saints winning the Super Bowl… Wait…. I told you it was going to be a year of CHANGE!!! I love it!

Great things last night at Oasis! Close to 200 people again on campus for midweek Experiences. Adults in “Laugh your way to a better Marriage”, Students in Forward Student Ministries in Higher Grounds Cafe and children in “The Wave”. I am loving this family night format! We launched a 30 Day Focus campaign with all married couples last night as we are encouraging husbands and wives to focus on their spouse purposely for the next 30 days to increase intimacy and build that connection for the strengthening of the marriage and family as a whole. AND LET ME SAY THIS… OUR STUDENT PASTOR, WILL SEYMOUR and all the YOUTH LEADERS.. YOU GUYS ROCK!!!! You are doing an amazing job leading the young people! Keep it up!!

This weekend, I will continue preaching the message series titled “The Power of a God Encounter”. Part 2 is dealing with and discussing Paul on Damascus Road… talk about an Encounter! It is also Valentine’s Day so there will be a theme of Love with the creative arts and media… You dont want to miss Sunday at Oasis Church!!! Going to be a great time!

New Connection Group Formats will be rolled out in a couple of weeks along with a new ministry group we are calling “Kingdom Builders”. More to come later.

I have a staff meeting today and Rundown for the AM Experience SUnday morning and final planning meeting for the outreach we have on Saturday at the Mardi Gras Parade in Pascagoula. Oasis will be distributing can huggies to everyone drinking their favorite drink out of a can Saturday (you figure it out!) at the parade! If you want to help, jwarren@oasisonline.tv , Jason is our Outreach Coordinator and he can answer some questions for you if you have them or you can just show up at Higher Grounds Cafe at 10:30 Saturday morning for the meeting….

Have a great weekend!!! Hope to see you all Sunday morning at 10:30 for the AM Experience! Dont forget, invite someone as we are shooting for 400 in attendance over the next couple of weeks!!!!

Be Blessed!!!!

Weekend Thoughts…

SAINTS WIN!!! The highlight of the nation yesterday was that the Saints won the Super Bowl! Boy, that makes me proud! I am glad they finally won one and I love the integrity and Excellence of the leadership of this Saints Team. From Sean Peyton to Drew Brees to others, noone is more well deserving than these guys!

However, Yesterday morning another game was won. At least 6  people at Oasis Church gave their heart to Christ and began a relationship with Him! The Bible says ANGELS rejoice in Heaven over each one who is born again! That excites me and makes me extremely thankful for what The Lord allows me to do for Him. I began teaching on a series titled “The Power of a God Encounter”. This series is geared to “the body” or to BELIEVERS to hopefully inspire them to fully Follow Christ in their walk with Him.

I am somewhat perplexed about several things I see happening in the church arena as a whole, not just Oasis, but THE CHURCH… Lack of integrity, honor and excellence seems to be the norm from not just church people, but leadership within HIS CHURCH. This truly cant be happening! Jesus has called us to live and lead as examples to everyone who may be observing or following us. JESUS DESERVES OUR BEST… NOT LEFTOVERS! We have to give HIM TOP priority Church leaders… We have to give HIM top priority PASTORS… we have to give HIM top priority CHRISTIANS!

What does that mean? Am I perfect? Not by a long shot! Ask Toni! But I know this, our desire should be to do the absolute best we can on our jobs, ministries, in our families, in our schools, whatever, so we can be entrusted with more and be an example for HIM! Too many people today just want to “get by”… just want to cruise under the radar screen and do just enough…. that AINT BIBLICAL!

I know I am ranting this morning, but I believe a total SHIFT is occurring in THE BODY of CHRIST and HE is Calling us to HIGHER level of OBEDIENCE to HIM and HIS WORD! That in itself will COMPEL people to want to know what you got or how you do what you do! Jesus!

Step up to the plate Church! Step up to the plate and become a FOLLOWER Of Christ! Jesus was and is always moving… are you?

Thoughts from the weekend…

Sunday morning we concluded the “Unstoppable” series and witnessed at least 6 people giving their heart to Jesus!!! Sunday night Encounter, at least 5 more gave their heart to Christ! THAT NEVER GETS OLD!!!

It was a great weekend as we talked on the Believer’s Authority or Unstoppable Authority Sunday night. The Lord is moving His Church into a place of operating and living in the authority that He has given us by His Spirit! We are called to live the UNSTOPPABLE faith!

Next week, we begin a new series that I have been working on for some time now titled “The Power of a God Encounter.” We will look at different places in the New Testament where people were changed when Encountering Jesus. I am looking forward to this upcoming weekend!

Wednesday night this week we are still in the “Laugh your way to a better Marriage” and of course, Forward Students are meeting in Higher Grounds.

On a more personal note, I really sense the Holy Spirit taking me deeper in my walk. I really feel and have a great expectation of things to come for the Gulf Coast Region and can hardly wait to see what He Does next. Sunday night Encounter this past week brought back memories when we first started seeing God Move in the church several years ago. It was exciting and it was Refreshing and proves again How Great our God is!

Hope you have a great week… stay tuned to the Oasis Facebook page at www.facebook.com/OasisChurchGulfCoast for upcoming events and happenings at Oasis and the OasisOnline.tv page for news and media updates as well!

Have a great week!

Weekend Reflections! OMG! WoW!

Ok, Yea… Where do I begin from this past weekend? What a weekend!!! Sunday morning, packed house with at least 14 people making decision to Receive Jesus in the Main Experience, 2 kids in “the wave” Children’s Ministries and last Wednesday @Forward Student Ministries at least 6 teenagers gave their heart to Christ!

Something is stirring folks! We will never be the same again! There is a harvest being had NOW~! It is not coming, IT IS HERE! As a pastor, nothing brings more excitement to me than seeing people surrender their heart to Christ for the first time. That NEVER gets old! The Experience this weekend was AMAZING! Oasis Staff and Leadership, YOU GUYS ROCK!

I love it when The Holy Spirit moves on people’s hearts and they walk out differently than the way they walked in! That is the way it supposed to be each and every time we come together! And…. And…. THE SAINTS WON! How does it get any better than that! lol!

Anyway, I am just pumped and super excited about this year and the things that is happening NOW in The Body of Christ. Churches and Church leaders are recognizing the need to lay down denominational and theological differences and allow JESUS to consume and position us to HIS desire! These are the greatest days!

Our Church Experiences, or services, should be a place where people receive LIFE! A REFUGE! A Place where they can meet JESUS and Encounter Him for Who He really is!

A young man got baptized this weekend because he had an encounter with The Lord Wednesday night at Forward Student Ministries and his heart has been set on fire by the Power of God! This youth generation is one that will not back down and is one that The Lord is raising up Strategically!

This week is Encounter night at Oasis Church as I will be speaking on the Believer’s Authority and we will begin a new series in February about Encountering God. I am really looking forward to all The Lord has for His Church and for all the people He will lead among our paths so we can BE THE CHURCH and show them who He really is and that He loves them so very much!!!

Have a wonderful week…

Thursday Discussion…

Well, the final planning day for our staff is today for the weekend Experience. I am so excited about the Sunday Experience this week! Our team has put together an awesome Experience this week and all and all we know LIves are going to be transformed and changed by the POWER of the Holy Spirit Sunday morning!

I am noticing in The Body of Christ that as we are in this “transitioning for positioning” stage, the attacks and the battles have intensified… that is common and should be expected. All believers need to understand that there is an enemy of your destiny and you need to rise above it in faith and authority and not get brought down by the enemy’s tactics and schemes. There is only a battle because there is a breakthrough on the horizon and this year The Lord is going to do some amazing things in The Church!

“Unstoppable” part 2 is Sunday morning as we talk about Unstoppable unity and Unstoppable partnership within The Body of Christ as a whole. Expecting many lives to be touched this weekend!

Last night our Student Pastor, Will Seymour, reported there were at least 6 teenagers who gave their heart to Jesus last night in Forward Student Ministries!!!!!!! There is an army forming amongst our young people!

We also started last night the “laugh your way to a better marriage” with the adults last night and will continue for the next 8 weeks in this great series on strengthening your marriage.

Have a great weekend and I hope to see you on Sunday at Oasis Church!