Our new service time is at 10:00 AM. Feel free to join us early for coffee and donuts every week. We are looking forward to celebrating this grand move on July 10, 2011 with a time of worship and then the Battle of the Grills! Bar-b-que goodness for all who attend. I hope you will join us for this exciting moment in the history of our church and what we feel will be an exciting moment for our ministry in Anna (and surrounding communities).

On those HOT summer days, there’s only one place to go—THE BEACH!

At the beach, where cool water meets a blue sky warm with sunshine, life seems easier. Children who have finished kindergarten through fifth grade will find it easy and natural to play—digging in the sand, floating in the waves, catching sand crabs and picking up shells.

As kids explore the wonders of the beach, they’ll also discover the Big Answers to their Big Questions about Jesus. Five essential Bible verses—including John 14:6—will help them understand who Jesus is and why they need Him. At SonSurf Beach Bash VBS, kids learn that there is only one truth: Jesus!

]]> http://pinoaks.org/2011/05/vbs-2011-sonsurf/feed/ 0 http://pinoaks.org/2011/05/pocf-licenses-clay-ginn/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=pocf-licenses-clay-ginn http://pinoaks.org/2011/05/pocf-licenses-clay-ginn/#comments Mon, 02 May 2011 20:21:37 +0000 phil http://pinoaks.org/?p=1279 We are thrilled to announce that this coming Sunday we will be licensing Clay Ginn to the Gospel ministry. Over the last several years Clay has clearly demonstrated a call to the Gospel Ministry and this licensing will recognize and highlight what we have already experienced… that Clay would make a wonderful addition to any staff, anywhere, anytime. We thank God for him and his family and this will be a wonderful moment as we continue to support his efforts for the Gospels sake. So, let’s affirm this call and announce to the world we see God doing great things through Clay and his ministry. Hope to see you at either service this weekend, 9:00 AM or 10:30 AM.

If you would like to contribute something to this celebration, we ask that you bring a card for Clay with encouraging words of how you’ve seen God use him while in service at Pin Oaks.

Also, make sure you subscribe to receive our Sermon Series Devotionals and have a quick start to the day emailed to you each day. You can subscribe by following THIS LINK.

Hunting with the Masses

We helped host an easter egg hunt at our local YMCA Adventure Camp (along with one other church… a note on partnerships will come later). We did some advertising, stuffed some eggs, and prayed the rain would hold off for just a couple hours (we needed the rain, that’s why it was only a request for a delay). The turn out was much more than we anticipated. Originally I thought it would be nice to have a couple hundred people enjoy the camp and the festivities. Well over 600 people joined us for this great day. Overall, we learned that 9000 eggs isn’t nearly enough. We dropped over 1200 eggs at one hunt and the field was picked over in 20 seconds! The coolest thing was to see kids sharing with other kids throughout the event. It happened more than once… in fact I lost track of how many times I saw one child give another child something that they had found. My immediate thought wandered to an idyllic life were adults did the same thing. What happens when we grow up that makes us so greedy?

Making A Big Move

Volunteers are a critical part of POCF. Almost everything we do has a wonderful group of sacrificing people behind the scenes that make it happen. From 6 – 8 PM on the day of the Egg Hunt we had a church full of people show up to help load, unload, and set-up our local middle school for Easter services. While a storm was threatening there was a flurry of activity taking place. The group worked together, everyone did what they were assigned, and the end result was a much less hectic Easter morning. Thank you to each and every volunteer that showed up to help us move, set-up, tear-down, and move again over the weekend. The massive ministry that took place the next morning would have never been possible without you.

Sunday’s Coming

“Not a typical Easter morning,” was what I expected to hear people say as they left our service on Sunday. However, there was so much to be learned and the message could not have rung truer in the hearts of those who joined us. Jesus dies on the cross so sin would be defeated, and while we may be carrying some massive sin luggage…God forgives and restores! The life of Peter provided the backdrop for this truth. The result was transformation. Eternity was changed on this Easter and we ALL got to be part of that miracle. From cleaning crews, children’s workers, movers, musicians, techies, refreshments, and greeters… everyone played a part and shared in the joy of this new birth.

I think one of the most impressive things was the way God answered both our prayers for people and transformation. We could have NEVER handled everyone who showed up to worship in our other space. Looking back (and looking forward) the move to Anna Middle School was the right thing to do. The “church” was FULL. No joke, it was packed out. Humbled by God and His ability to draw the hearts of men, we left Sunday tired…but ALIVE! What a joy to be able to share in this great work of making the Gospel known in Anna. Helping people meet Jesus and grow in that relationship is at the heart of all we will do in the months and years ahead. I hope you will join us for this great journey.

I read this on a blog I follow and thought it was a fitting way to wrap up this great weekend:

Hallelujah, Christ is risen
You who are the gardener of the new creation,
Cultivate the new seeds that have sprung into life,
Bring growth, bring blossom, bring fruit,
May your new creation flourish
in us, through us, around us,
So that all the world may say
Christ is risen indeed Hallelujah.

Now, if I just stopped there, this would make for a pretty pointless and stupid post, so I’m not going to. What’s interesting to me are the things that I didn’t describe that are back there, things that I don’t expect or want you to see. We have a new dog that’s still a bit of a puppy and she likes to drag things out the dog door and into the backyard. She doesn’t typically chew them up (except for shoes) she just takes them outside and deposits them between the fort and the back door. One day my wife and I were talking while I was driving home from work and she said, “Don’t look in the back yard when you get home.” Naturally, I was curious why I was being restricted like this and she replied with, “Because it looks like a diaper bomb went off out there.” Apparently Maggie had found a trash can in the bedroom where we had been putting diapers and was taking them outside, one by one.

Now you might be wondering why I’m telling you about this and how it relates to my point. You really need to be less like my son watching a movie, constantly asking about what’s going to happen, and be more patient. I’m only 250 words into this.

When there is stuff strewn all over the back yard, I hate going out there. It’s surrounded by a fence so nobody sees it and this removes just about any motivation I might have to clean it up. I don’t even like mowing out there. Normally, nobody knows about this except for my family and it’s not a big deal. However, last week, anyone driving by my house knew about my lack of back yard cleanliness. After a couple days of strong winds and one good storm, my already pathetic fence gave up on one side of the house and came crashing down. I look outside during the storm and notice three fence panels on the ground and two more waving like fans at a football game who just realized the camera was turned their direction. I was understandably disappointed that I would have to repair the fence, but I was more disturbed that now people would be able to see into my back yard and the sorry state it was in.

Last weekend while I was rebuilding the fence, I had plenty of time to think. I started to realize that the way we maintain our house could really be a metaphor for our own lives. I try to make sure that the front yard is fairly well kept, always mowed and looking at least presentable. The front yard is like my public life. It’s lived out in front of anyone who can see it and what goes on there isn’t hidden in the least. Any words I speak in public are out there for all to hear.

My back yard is a bit more guarded. I try to keep what is going on back there private, but it doesn’t always work, as evidenced by my fence falling in. Just like that fence, sometimes my guard is down and people see a bit more of what I’m really like. I might try to quickly build the fence back up but once someone sees that back yard of my personality, they probably won’t forget it, especially if it contradicts what I normally do.

My point behind all this is that we need to be sure that what we display in the front yard of our lives, our public face, is consistent with how we live in the back yard of our life. We expect privacy there, but we should also understand that at any moment that privacy can be broken, and all the things that we try to hide from public view will be displayed for all to see. Luke 12:2-3 tells us:

² For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. ³ Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.

Let us live our lives so that what is proclaimed from the housetops is our love for our Savior, our dedication to living our lives for the calling He has given to us. We are the light of the world, shining like that city on a hill to make known His sacrifice for us, not for our own glory, but for His. Pray that we do not let the hidden part of our lives become a hindrance to the spreading of His word.

Originally posted at mezzamorphis.com.

Please RSVP (if you haven’t already done so on Facebook) by emailing Pastor Phil with the number of people from your family attending and how many are children.