Download and listen to the accompanying audio to the following post by clicking here. You can also subscribe to our regular podcast by going to the Oasis Media Page.
It was Soren Kierkegaard who coined the phrase, “We live life forward but understand it backward.” The principle is that we often do not know exactly why things are happening the way they are happening in our lives, but when we look back and reflect on the different events and the way things went down over time, we can better understand it. By looking back it also helps us to live forward.
Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
James 4:13-15 says, “Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
In my youthful cockiness and blind arrogance I set out to plant Oasis Christian Fellowship with a pretty good idea in my mind about “tomorrow”. Like James warns us against, I said to my wife, “we shall go to (Athens) and plant a church and do this and do that, and it will look like this and that”—yet I did not know what “tomorrow” would bring. The following is a summary outline of what the coming days would eventually bring us, leading all the way up to where we are today. The latter portion of today’s notes will be more detailed since they are dealing with church structure and leadership, while the first portion of the talk will be a basic outline of my narrative.
Oasis Christian Fellowship by name is approximately four years old, but Oasis Christian Fellowship of Meigs County is officially less than a year old. I know some of you are thinking, “Wait a minute, I have been attending meetings with Oasis for at least a couple of years, what are you talking about Chris?” That’s exactly why I am doing this talk today, as it is important to look back and see the path God has provided for us, and to understand how we got to where we are today. I believe we are finally at a place in Meigs County where the church is primed to move forward with energy and momentum. So sit back and enjoy this talk. Those of you who have been with us since the beginning will be very familiar with the stories. And hopefully those of you who have recently joined the Oasis family will be interested to know where Oasis came from and why there is a new church in Meigs County.
December 22, 2000
Chris and April make their annual trip to southeastern Ohio to spend Christmas with family. On the four and half hour trip from Wauseon we were listening to church planting seminars on CDs while talking and praying about church planting.
As we drove through Athens we both got the sense that the Holy Spirit was speaking to our hearts and He was calling us to move and plant a church in Athens. The very words out of our mouths were, “If there is anyplace that could use an Oasis it’s down here,” as we were driving down route 33.
May 4, 2001
Chris and April put their house on the real estate market in Wauseon, OH and began gathering a team of people to move to Athens to join in the planting of Oasis Christian Fellowship of Athens.
During this same time Chris and April began contacting family and friends “back home” (in Meigs County) with the news that they were moving to Athens to start a new church. Already some of those people from Meigs County were getting excited about the possibility of a new church, and were even willing to drive to Athens to join it.
August 31, 2001
Chris and April finish packing up all of their belongings into a U-Haul and move from Wauseon to Middleport. Wait, Middleport? Why not Athens? Because between May 4 and August 31 we became convicted that we needed to vow to God that we would take the risk and move before September, even if our house had not sold by then. Until it sold we were obviously still paying the mortgage on it, and therefore could not afford rent in Athens, but we had made arrangements with my mother and father, Mike and Sharon Stewart, who graciously agreed to allow us to live in an extra bedroom in their house until our house in Wauseon was sold. We would then find a home to either rent or purchase in Athens and move there. We were anticipating that this would be a month or two, maybe three at the most.
In addition to April and I moving, fifteen people from Wauseon and one from St. Louis (Jared Stewart) moved to be part of the new church plant.
September 11, 2001
Eleven days after moving, Chris is leading worship at a retreat for Keith Wasserman and Good Works, when we hear the devastating news of terrorism in New York City. Two days later the real estate agent calls us to tell us that no one is sure what is going to happen to the market, but she will do the best she can and keep us posted. We heard nothing for 3 months. No one even came to look at the house for additional 3 months. Finally, in March of 2002, we had an offer on the house. It fell through. There would be no more activity on the house for another year and two months.
In the meantime we were trying to figure out what to do with our church plans. Looking back, here is a brief summary of the progression of Oasis:
- October of 2001 >> We began having gathered worship meetings at the Ohio University Inn and Conference Center in Athens, using nearly every dollar of our weekly offerings to pay the hotel conference room cost of $75 per week.
- June of 2002 >> We were not having enough people or money to justify continuing to meet in the OU Inn. It was at this time that Chris met with three different families to discuss having church meetings in their homes. Two of these were from Athens (neither still meeting), and one was in Middleport (Mike and Sharon Stewart’s house).
- Summer of 2002 >> On two or three different occasions we met in special larger gatherings on Sunday evening, in Mike and Sharon’s yard and at the old Meigs Middle School. In the Middleport house church we were having between 7 and 15 people on a regular basis.
- Fall of 2002 >> We made arrangements with the American Legion Post 128 in Middleport to use their annex building for weekly Sunday gatherings. These took place in the evening until October 13, which was our first ever Sunday morning meeting. On that first Sunday morning we had over 40 people come, and on a weekly basis we were having between 15 to 25 people at the Sunday morning gathering.
During this time we were still determined to eventually move the gathering to Athens someday, as the church was still operating as Oasis Christian Fellowship of Athens, although it was meeting in Middleport on Sundays. There was no vision or plan for beginning a church in Meigs County at this time. - Between October 2002 and August 2003 >> During this time period every individual except two (Amy Hoffman and Jared Stewart) who moved to participate in the church plant decided that they no longer wanted to be part of the ministry of Oasis in southeastern Ohio.
- August of 2003 >> Chris called together a team of people to meet with him on a monthly basis for prayer and accountability in ministry. This advisory team became a catalyst for Chris to bounce off vision and ideas and help in minor decisions.
- Between August 2003 and TODAY >> We continued meeting in homes throughout the week and in the American Legion Building on Sunday mornings, and have begun to recognize the “official” work God is doing in Meigs County through Oasis.
December of 2005
“Oasis Christian Fellowship of Meigs” receives incorporation status from the state of Ohio.
We had a plan… and God had a BIGGER plan
Looking backward at how things have unfolded, it has become obvious that God wanted to do much more with us than simply plant a church in Athens. Yes, we still believe He wants to plant a church in Athens. But one possibility I was not ready for was that he wanted to plant an Oasis in Meigs County first.
So what are the next steps in this peculiar journey?
For three years we lived as a fellowship of people without a clear definition of who we are or where we are going. I don’t believe this has been all bad. In fact, it has been very good. It has taught us that Christianity is a life to be LIVED, and church is not a country club or a place you go once a week or a program you attend. It is a family, and it is something we ARE. We have learned how to be the church.
Learning how to BE the church is a vitally important foundational principle that we must never forget as we continue to grow and develop in maturity. And as we grow and develop in our maturity we will obviously become more defined and recognizable in our culture. At the same time it is becoming very important to focus on leadership development. The Scripture has some very specific instruction and qualifications for church leadership and organization. And it is essential that we do not overlook this important aspect of our church’s health.
Last week I took three posts to discuss the important aspects of healthy church leadership development. You can find those under the title: "Qualifications of Church Planter" Part I, Part II, and Part III. As we build for the future we must fix our eyes on our mission. God has a plan and a purpose for each person who finds fellowship with Oasis in Meigs County. Now that we have looked backward in hope of better understanding what God has been doing among us, let us look forward and LIVE life to the fullest.
May 14, 2006 to five years from now...
Oasis in Meigs County is a growing, healthy church of people who have fervor for the work of Jesus Christ and are faithfully living out the mission of God (missio dei) throughout the various neighborhoods, communities, and towns in Meigs County. The church gets to participate and celebrate in seeing hundreds of people put faith in Christ and join the mission. We get to see God raise up people from our own number to become pastors/elders, deacons, and missionaries in their schools, in their homes, and in their workplaces. We get to train and help raise up people from our fellowship whom God is calling to begin an Oasis in another town, and perhaps another state, or even another country. We get to see God develop the people and the plans for the Oasis church plant in Athens.
Visualize yourself in five years. In relationship to the mission of Oasis, where will you be? Where do you want to be? What do you want God to do with you by then?
What do you need to do NOW to begin working toward that goal?
I believe that Oasis Christian Fellowship of Meigs is in existence today by the providence of God. Looking backward, it is easy to see the ways He has put this fellowship together like pieces of a puzzle. We are the pieces of the puzzle. And He is moving us to where we are supposed to be. We are not finished yet. I believe He’s just now getting all the end pieces put together. Now comes the meat of the puzzle. The middle. Take comfort in the knowledge that God can see the picture. He knows where we are going. We are in His hands. Let’s keep living life forward so we can understand it backward.
Wow - very cool stuff man. Thanks for sharing your journey!
Posted by: Jonathan | May 15, 2006 at 09:51 AM
What a journey it has been thus far. As we look back, it is indeed evident that God had a plan all along. The awesome thing being that even though we do not always understand exactly what that plan is, or how to best accomplish it, God still brings it to pass, despite our weaknesses or limited perception. I remember when your parents first told me about your exciting plan to plant a church in Athens. I was really excited and happy for you all. I had no idea at the time that this church plant would be first established in Meigs Co. nor the fact that I would be serving God with you. It is so amazing to think back over the past few years and see what God has done. I have heard it explained like this. "We can't always see God coming, but after He has been there, You will surely know." Just like the quote from Kierkegaard about living life forward and understanding it backward. Praise God for His faithfulness.
Posted by: Des | May 15, 2006 at 10:50 AM