lost Paintball Waiver LostPaintball Registration 3.15
Walk MS: San Antonio, Sat March 7 @ 9am
Walk MS: San Antonio – National MS Society.
Laura was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis August of 2013, and I found that we had to make some drastic personal changes to battle the disease as a family. Our family was shocked to learn about Ebby Isbill and her diagnosis this past December 2014. Through this experience, we have seen God’s hand in different ways, met new people that need His love, and learned way more about auto-immune disease and nervous system details than we have ever imagined. The MS walk is a great place to unite with our friends, bring awareness to Multiple Sclerosis, and link arms with Laura, Ebby and Caroline as they tackle this disease in their daily lives.
If you are led to team up with us for the MS walk, click on the link below!
My Prayer for I ♥ Weekend – Believe 2015
As we gear up for the 2015 Believe Weekend, our thoughts are set on the theme, I ♥ Weekend. I have not been to this place, but I see lots of people that have, and they will find a way to come back 
with at T-Shirt that says I ♥ NY. This weekend I mowed the lawn with the i ♥ radio app, and enjoyed some tunes. If you want to go OLD SCHOOL with me, then you might remember a time where we wrote notes to each other on this stuff called notebook paper. As a guy, it was pretty awesome to get a note from a girl with, “I ♥ YOU” written on it. Needless to say, I ♥ ____ (fill in whatever) is something that has been trending in our lives in some form or fashion. 
Our hearts, emotions, wills, stomachs, and whatever else, lead us to places, events, apps, and things that we ♥ the most. I think that is why we can even look into God’s Word and find thoughts about what is in our heart and directing our lives.
Reading Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul talks about the heart and a love that has been trending for 2,000 years or so…
17 so that Christ may dwell in your ♥s through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (i added the heart and the bold for fun ☺)
My prayer for this weekend is that the love of Christ will be trending in the ♥s and minds of Middle School and High School Students. Paul talks about Christ dwelling in our ♥ through faith. My prayer is that students will be reminded about Christ and some might possibly receive Christ in their ♥s this weekend. I pray that we will continue to see generations “rooted and grounded in love,” that know the “love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.” Pray with me that I ♥ Jesus becomes the leading trend this year for our Middle School and High School students.
Listen to The Gladsome LIght
Tye Barrett is the new Worship Leader transitioning to New Braunfels this Spring. He is coming from Waco, TX with his amazing musical abilities to head up the worship portion of theBranch service taking place in the Student Worship Center during the 9:15am and 10:45am services. Tye began leading worship at University Baptist Church as interim in 2011, following the last guy named David Crowder (whoever that guy is… he had a band called the David Crowder Band and traveled with another ministry called Passion… yea!). Tye has been attending University Baptist Church since 2003 and is a Baylor grad. The Oakwood staff is excited to have him, and we know you will enjoy his leadership in 2015!
Click on this link to listen on the spotify web player
Click here for more info about Tye’s Band The Gladsome Light
Connect With GOD
CONNECT WITH GOD
Ever Wonder About God?
Have you ever wondered about God? You’re not alone. Most everyone comes to a point in their life where they wonder about God —whether He exists, what He’s like, and what He wants from them.
These are important questions. And if you just watched the Life in 6 Words: The GOSPEL video, you’ve gotten a glimpse of what the Bible has to say about these questions. Here’s a brief summary of what you just heard on the video:
You can find a more comprehensive explanation of these six truths here.
Just think, the God of the Universe longs for a personal relationship with you that’s available through Jesus’ work on the cross! How can you enter into this amazing new relationship with God?
You can start a new relationship with God NOW!
The Bible tells us that our heart and soul are transformed when we put our trust in Jesus. This decision to trust Christ launches you into a new relationship with God. So, while saying a prayer isn’t what opens the door to this life-transforming relationship with God, a prayer is one way for you to express your new-found faith in Jesus. You might say something like the prayer below.
READY TO TRUST IN JESUS?
“Dear God, I know that my sins have broken my relationship with you and that nothing I could do could ever change that. But right now, I believe that Jesus died in my place and rose again from the dead. I trust in Him to forgive me for my sins. Through faith in Him, I am entering an eternal relationship with you. Thank you for this free gift! Amen.”Did you just place your faith in God through His Son Jesus? (And clicking “yes” on the button below isn’t what saves you either…only faith in Jesus.)
By placing your trust in Jesus alone to pay the price for your sin and open the doorway for you to receive the free gift of eternal life, a life in Christ that starts now and lasts forever.
Is there anything holding you back from putting your faith in Jesus right now to give you eternal life? If so, you can learn more here.
– See more at: http://www.lifein6words.com/connect-with-god/#sthash.qQVPPyWo.aGwmcjec.dpuf
A Couple of Easy Reads for Parents
Raising a son to become a God-honoring man is no easy task. It’s complex, it’s dynamic, and it requires a lifetime of investment. But authors Brock Morgan and Mark Oestreicher know it can be done—confidence that’s rooted in their individual journey of faith and in their experience as longtime youth workers.
A Parents’ Guide to Understanding Teenage Guys will help you see your son through the eyes of Jesus and will inspire you to seek God’s insight and wisdom as you accompany him on this journey filled with failure and triumph, defeat and victory, joy and sorrow. You’ll discover insights on shepherding your son, preparing him to take the reins of his life, and helping him confront the extreme struggles every guy faces—such as loneliness, anger, lust, apathy, and technology.
Change is an inevitable part of life. So why are most of us parents shocked and surprised when our daughters change in unexpected, dramatic, significant ways once they hit the teen years? Girls go through their most dramatic developmental changes during adolescence. And they need parents to be there, just as present and involved as when our little girls were, well, still little girls!
As you read through the pages of A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Teenage Girls, veteran youth workers Brooklyn Lindsey and Mark Oestreicher will help you re-examine some assumptions and misunderstandings about this season of life. Then, from a place of trust in God, you will gain a fresh perspective on who your daughter is and who she’s becoming.
The Tension in Serving
The Tension in Serving
So it’s confession time. I’ve followed the blog posts that Reggie and Kara have posted in the last few week, and I admit it stirs a tension in me.
I think it’s generally true that people change when the pain associated with the status quo is greater than the pain associated with change. Whether the issue is weight loss, music in your church, finances or friendship, most of us only change when our current situation becomes painful enough to motivate change – and sometimes the pain has to be quite significant to provoke deep change.
The tension I see is that the culture we live in moves us to greater and greater personal comfort. We don’t have to get up to change a channel, change the music, and can drive in without an appointment to change the oil on our cars. We don’t even have to wait for dinner. Everything moves us (and our kids) into greater and greater comfort. Which leads me to my confession: I actually like comfort. Chances are you might to. I think our kids don’t mind it either.
And that makes serving difficult. There will be very little pain associated with the status quo of not serving. Face it: serving others is rarely convenient. It’s often expensive. It takes energy, time, effort and often money that we could spend on ourselves.
Which is why if I’m going to serve Christ and serve others, I need to make myself do it. I wish I was a good enough person to wake up every morning and want to serve others. But I find it’s more of a discipline – like working out or eating well. If I wait for the moment of spiritual maturity where serving others is automatic, I be very old when it arrives. Or dead.
How about you? Do you have to fight the status quo? What have you found effective in helping you make serving a priority? What has helped your family engage the tension of learning to serve?
November Middle School Series – ALL IN
We’re Teaching This:
Have you ever taken a big risk? I’m not talking about eating your mom’s broccoli casserole after too many days in the fridge. I’m talking about something that could have only ended with a big win or a big disaster. Asking a girl to prom that has never talked to you. Pep-rally dance-off. Stealing second base in the last inning of the playoffs. If you’ve ever gone all in—taken a big risk— there’s only one reason you did it. The payoff. For every risk, there’s the promise of a reward. And if the reward is worth it, if it’s enticing enough, you just might be willing to do things you might otherwise never consider. Did you know that serving the people around you can be risky? Not only is there no guarantee of being successful, of actually helping someone, but serving also means putting our comfort, our convenience, and our reputation on the line. On the other hand, choosing not to serve others has risks as well. Not only could we miss out, but those around us may go without something that they really need. Either way, there’s a lot on the line. So the question you have to ask is: Am I going to play it safe or am I going to go all in?
Parent Resources 