​This is the season for giving thanks.  I am thankful to God for more blessings in life than I could possibly count.  I have a blessed family and church family.  I am reminded of the first line of the Doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”  What a wonderful truth, he is the source of all that we have.  He is the giver of all good things. 
            I am especially thankful this year because of the overwhelming blessings God has granted me and my family in continuing to allow us to serve Oak Crest.  God has always been faithful to provide for us abundantly according to his riches in heaven, but Oak Crest is a special blessing.  I love this church.  I truly and honestly think that our greatest days in the kingdom are ahead of us.  Jesus may come back today, but until he does or we leave this life, I pray that we will grow in the truth of the gospel everyday.  You have enriched the lives of my family beyond measure.  Your love and prayers are a constant support to the work God has called us to at Oak Crest.
            I am thankful to be a co-laborer in God’s harvest with you.  Every day I serve as pastor of Oak Crest, provides a new blessing.  I am blessed to see the lives of teenagers changed through our student ministry.  I am blessed to see new lives join our congregation.  I am blessed to continue to personally grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Above all these blessings I am personally thankful for, there is an even greater blessing.  I am most thankful that God has led me to pastor a church that has a heart for missions, a love for the lost, and most of all a passion for the supremacy and glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” Ephesians 3: 20-21
 
 
In Christ,
Blain Craig
 

​A contentious and long election is over.  Our God is still on his throne and worthy of praise and adoration.  A puritan prayer:
 
Glorious God,
It is the flame of my life to worship thee,
          the crown and glory of my soul to adore thee,
          heavenly pleasure to approach thee.
Give me power by thy Spirit to help me worship now,
          that I may forget the world,
                   be brought into fullness of life,
                   be refreshed, comforted, blessed.
Give me knowledge of thy goodness
          that I might not be over-awed by thy greatness;
Give me Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God,
          that I might not be terrified,
          but be drawn near with filial love,
                                      with holy boldness;
He is my mediator, brother, interpreter,
          branch, daysman, Lamb;
          him I glorify,
          in him I am set on high.
Crowns to give I have none,
          but what thou hast given I return,
          content to feel that everything is mine when it is thine,
          and the more fully mine when I have yielded it to thee.
Let me live wholly to my Saviour,
          free from distractions,
          from carking care,
          from hindrances to the pursuit of the narrow way.
I am pardoned through the blood of Jesus –
          give me a new sense of it,
          continue to pardon me by it,
          may I come every day to the fountain,
          and every day be washed anew,
          that I may worship thee always in spirit and truth.      
          -- The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions
 
 
In Christ,
Blain Craig