Well, if April showers bring May flowers I guess we are about to have a LOT of flowers around! The school year is winding down and summer is coming up fast!

Children's Department Promotions for Sunday School will happen on May 31st this year. We have several students moving up into new classes, and only one student promoting into the youth group. There is a list in each classroom as well as on the check in table of who is promoting into which class. If your student should be promoting and is not on the list please let me know ASAP!

Classes will be as follows:
Tiny Acorns: Birth-about 2 years old
Sparkling Sprouts: 2-3 years old
Super Saplings: PreK-K
Mighty Oaks: 1st-2nd grade
Firm Foundations: 3rd-5th grade

VBS is a major outreach event, and it's time for YOU to start reaching out to your community to invite them! I have printed small business cards as well as larger post cards with VBS info on them. Please grab some of these cards from the VBS table to begin passing them out. You can hand them out to friends and neighbors, you can leave them posted at businesses and restaurants around town, or go to the park and pass them out to everyone you see! 

It's also time to start decorating! We need teams to hang plain paper backgrounds throughout the Youth Wing during the week of May 18-22. Gina will be working her magic the following week of May 25-29, and she needs a lot of help!! You don't have to be crafty and creative, you just need to be able to follow directions! Thanks to some wonderful volunteers we have tons of vines and lots of sheep ready to go up quickly on the walls. Coming soon - flower craft kits! We will need lots of flowers put together to create a beautiful meadow, so look for those new craft kits on the VBS table soon! Please let me know when you are available to help!!

We do still need a few volunteers to make our VBS run smoothly, it's not too late to sign up! We need assistants in every area!
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I am praying the Lord sustains us all through the end of this school year and into the summer months!

April already? This year is zooming by! I pray you all had a blessed and wonderful Resurrection Celebration.

Our Sunday School classes are continuing their Trekking Through The Testaments. The older students are following the conquest of the Promised Land with the Battle of Jericho, the Sin of Achan, and the Blessings and Curses. The youngest class will be learning about the 10 plagues in Egypt. 
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Sunday School Promotion will take place May 31st this year. We have one student promoting into the youth group and then several students will move up to a new class in the children's wing. 

VBS is coming up fast! As I type this we have a little less than half of the volunteers we need. VBS is a major outreach event, so we need many helpers to welcome children from our community so we can share the Good News about the Good Shepherd with them!! Sign up today!!

We are also busy planning Summer Day Camp! This will be a fun week of discipleship for Oak Crest Families. We will study God's Wonders of Creation through Bible Study plus STEM experiments and activities. Sign up today!

Does anyone else feel like January lasted 432 years and then February rushed by in 57 seconds?? Wow, March is here!

In Sunday School our littlest learners are beginning a study of Exodus while the older students are heading into the Promised Land with Joshua!

Summer planning is kicking into high gear!

Our VBS this year will be June 1-4, right at the beginning of the summer! We are heading to Ireland for an Irish adventure through the 23rd Psalm, and I am really excited about this theme! (My family has a good bit of Irish heritage so I may be a little biased.) We have many volunteers signed up already, but we still need more help. You can sign up at the VBS Info Table set up in the foyer or using the button on our Connect App or the button below. 

VBS is an outreach event, and we want to invite our friends and our community! You can pick up flyers and invitation cards from the VBS Table to share with your friends, or head to the local park and pass them out to anyone you meet. VBS is open to students who have completed Kindergarten through 5th grade.

We are also planning another Kid's Summer Staycation Camp!

This year we are hoping to collaborate with some of our RBNet Sister Churches! We will spend four mornings studying the wonders of Creation through Bible study plus scientific experiments and activities, and there will be time each day for family fellowship also.

Camp is for students PreK - completed 5th Grade, plus a nursery for volunteer families only. 

Each morning will begin with an exciting Opening Assembly, followed by Class Lesson Time, a STEM Lab, and a Family Fellowship Picnic Lunch. Students may be dropped off for the morning activities, but parents will need to be present for and bring their own Picnic Lunch beginning at 11:30 am.

​Register to volunteer using the button below or on our Connect App.

You can also register your students using the button below or on our Connect App.

​Well January sure went out with a bang! I hope you all stayed warm and safe through all that ice and bitter cold!

We are moving right along in Sunday School as we Trek Through The Testaments. The older children are working on memorizing an Matthew 28:1-8 to recite on Easter Sunday, and continuing their study through Exodus. The youngest students are learning through Genesis following the life of Joseph.

It's already time to start planning VBS, and I am really excited about the theme for this year! You can preview the music for your kids using the QR code above. Please be praying about where you can serve this year during VBS. There are slides on the announcement TVs and in the newsletter with specific positions we need filled, please let me know where you are interested in serving.

I am also working on Summer Staycation Camp, and I am really excited to be collaborating with some other RBNet churches in the area for some combined lessons and fellowship. Be watching for details and ways you can help soon!

I pray you all have a wonderful month. I know as a homeschooler February is the WORST, but be encouraged! Summer is coming!

Happy New Year!!

I love new beginnings! New Years, new months, new weeks, even just new days, after all, His mercies are new every morning! I love a beautiful new planner all ready to be filled. We have a lot of fun activities to start looking forward to in this new year.

I'm already planning for this year's VBS and I am so excited about our theme, Emerald Crossing: An Irish Adventure through Psalm 23! I know June seems a long way away, but it will be here before we know it! Mark your calendar for June 1-4 and sign up to volunteer today!

I am also working on our special Children's Staycation Camp. We will explore the creation account in Genesis through STEM activities! The dates are tentatively set for June 22-25.

And we will have some new and exciting ways to celebrate Reformation Day this year as well! Keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to celebrate and serve!

May your year be blessed with new mercies every morning!

Oh my, Christmas is coming! Where has this year gone??

We have entered our Advent season, so our Sunday School lessons are all about the coming of our Savior. We are learning briefly about the candles of our Advent Wreath each week, and the children are working on their own Advent wreath they will bring home the Sunday before Christmas. Our Firm Foundations class is exploring how God has dwelt with His people throughout history, culminating with Emmanuel, God With Us. The younger students are learning about Jesus' first coming through the Gospels. 

December schedules are always packed full, and the church calendar is no exception. There will be many opportunities to celebrate the season with our church family! There is a Crafts and Cookies Fellowship for women and girls of all ages on Saturday, December 13th at 1 pm, and the Youth Christmas Party is at 6 pm that same evening. Sunday, December 14th will be our 10th Annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service. If you have never attended one of these services you are in for a treat! Pastor Israel and the choir have been working hard to prepare music to sing WITH the congregation, and the elders present the Gospel in passages from Genesis to Revelation. That same evening will be our Cookies, Cocoa, and Caroling night. We gather at the church and split into 2 groups to travel to two local nursing homes where we walk the halls singing Christmas carols for (and sometimes with!) the residents, then return to the church for cookies and hot cocoa. Be sure to wish Pastor Israel a happy birthday before you leave! (His birthday is the 15th) And finally, our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service is on December 24th at 5 pm. 

I pray you are all able to make time for the most important things during this season. You could read one chapter of Luke as a family each night of December, or decorate a "Jesse Tree," or any number of Advent calendars and studies. Whatever you are doing, don't forget to instill the truths of this season in your children. And don't be afraid to dive deep with them, they are capable of storing up so much wisdom!

May you be blessed as you anticipate the coming of our Savior!

Thank you to everyone who was able to help with our Family Fun Fest event. I have some really exciting new ideas for next year to make this time even better. But now, it's my favorite time of year! I love the holiday season! I pray we are all able to slow down and enjoy making memories with our families.

Children's Sunday School is continuing to study the Old Testament. The youngest learners are in Genesis learning about the life of Jacob, while the older learners are in Exodus learning about the wilderness wanderings.

We finally received our beautiful new children's hymnals for our Sunday night and Wednesday night Kid's Worship nights. I hope you are able to come check them out. I may put one or two in the church library also for families to see them. They are so beautiful!

We have many holiday activities with our church family coming up soon! Our churchwide Thanksgiving Fellowship will be November 16th at 6pm. We will decorate the sanctuary for Christmas after the morning service on November 23rd. Advent season begins November 30 with special Sunday School lessons each week for the children and the advent candles will be lit each week. Our very special Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols service will be on December 14th, I hope you can join us for this beautiful service! That same evening will be our Cookies, Cocoa, and Caroling. We will meet at the church at 5:30 pm and travel in 2 groups to 2 local nursing home facilities to sing Christmas carols for the residents, and then return to the church for cookies and hot cocoa. And finally, our Christmas Eve Candlelight Service will be December 24th at 5 pm.

May your holiday season be blessed!

It's October already and we have some Fall fun coming up in the Children's Department!

Sunday School is continuing along well. Our youngest learners are learning about Jacob and Esau this month, while the older students are entering the wilderness wanderings with the Israelites. 

We have Kid's Worship Nights on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights where we review memory verses and catechism questions, sing hymns, and preview/review Sunday's sermons. Our aim is to encourage students to learn to listen and engage with the service on Sunday mornings. On Sunday nights we review that morning's hymns and sermon, and on Wednesday nights we preview the hymns and text for the coming Sunday. If students bring any notes they take during the Sunday morning sermon to either Worship Night they can choose a prize from the prize box! There are note taking outlines on the foyer table every Sunday morning, or any paper they want to write on is fine.

October 31st is our annual Family Fun Fest! We need lots of volunteers to help us welcome the community and provide a safe and fun environment for kids to play. We will have a hay ride, lot's of carnival style games, bounce houses, face painting, and a snack/coffee bar! Volunteer today and invite your friends!!

Welcome to Fall y'all! I love it when the summer busyness settles down into routines again.

I am so excited that Pastor Garrick and his wife Randie are coming to Oak Crest! Randie Garrick wrote the Trekking Through the Testaments curriculum that we are using for Sunday School! Our littlest learners, the Sparkling Sprouts, are studying Genesis and will begin learning about Abraham this month. The older classes are studying through Exodus. We are finishing the 10 plagues this month.

Kid's Worship Nights are back and there will be two opportunities to worship with us! We will review Memory Verses and Catechism Questions, and sing hymns together each night. On Sunday nights we will review the sermon from that morning, and on Wednesday nights we will preview the text for the coming Sunday's sermon. On either night, if students bring any notes they took during the sermon they will get to visit our prize box! We have note taking pages available on the foyer table each Sunday morning, or any paper they want to take notes on is fine. It doesn't have to be neat or organized or detailed, just something to help them engage a little with the sermon each week. 

We also have our big church anniversary celebration on September 28th! Oak Crest Baptist Church has been preaching the Gospel for 40 years!!! I am so thankful and blessed to have been part of this family of believers for 31 of those years. We are planning a special day full of worship and remembering God's faithfulness to the generations of the Oak Crest Family, I hope you will join us!

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Oh my, the summer has gone by so fast! I can't believe it's time for school to start again!

Our Sunday School classes are beginning to diverge. Our Sparkling Sprouts class (2 & 3 year olds) are circling back through Genesis. The rest of the classes are beginning Exodus! We have introduced Moses and we will be learning about the 10 plagues over the next several weeks.

I am still working on plans for the Fall, so stay tuned for an announcement.

We will have a Fellowship on August 15th beginning at 6:00 pm for our families with children and youth to meet Pastor Steven Garrick, Sr. We will have pizza and time for fellowship and questions. Make plans to join us!