Supernatural

Coming soon to Fair Oaks Church:

SUPERNATURAL
A Safe~Fun~Family Event
October 31st from 6:00-8:30PM

God is in the details of this Fair Oaks event:

Chamber of Mysteries - When our community visits the Chamber of Mysteries they will find three drama teams acting out God's truth. Pray that our drama teams will proclaim the mysteries as in Colossians 4:3, "And pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ."

Come see the three performances:

- "Hand Writing on the Wall" - (Daniel 5) by our Adult Small Group
- "The Rich Man & Lazarus" - (Luke 16:19-31) by our High School Drama Group
- "In the Light" - an interpretative drama by our Mission Drama Team

Bible Booth - We want to make sure our community knows our Lord and what better way then by leaving our campus with a Bible as a gift from Fair Oaks Church. Our Bible Booth will be "stocked" with 200 Bibles to give out. The Bible Booth will be strategically located after the Chamber of Mysteries for those who want to find those stories and many more of God's truths!

Dinner for $2.00 - Our neighbors will come and not only be fed a great dinner for $2.00 by our High School Youth, but will also find out about the High School Mission trips and how God is working through our youth! All profits will sponsor our youth mission trip to New Orleans in 2008!

Prayer Tent - We will have a Prayer Station set up for any family that is in need of prayer for any reason. This station will show that our church community truly cares for families of Contra Costa County. There is nothing more Supernatural than the power of Prayer!

Praise God - He is in the details! Come see Him work His mysteries at Supernatural!

Youth Worship Night

For those of you who didn't get a chance to peruse the latest Oakleaf, here's a reprint of Gary's description of our upcoming new youth worship night. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would guide as we prepare for the first one.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.
-- Romans 12:1

In the previous issue of the Oakleaf, I talked about the changes we're making in the way we do youth Sunday School. Many of you who saw my article have taken the time to give me your feedback, and the feedback has been very positive. Some people have approached me with an idea for a class, or a desire to help by teaching a class, which encourages me greatly. The new structure begins on September 16th, so please pray for God's blessing on this new endeavor.

This time, I'd like to talk about another new addition to the Fair Oaks Youth Ministry landscape this fall. God has put in on my heart to start a Youth Worship Night.

Imagine it with me for a moment.

It's a Saturday evening. Students have been gathering at the church for the last hour or so. Some are in the gym playing basketball, some are up in the game room playing pool, and others are just hanging out talking with their friends. You can hear the student worship team upstairs in the high school room warming up, and there's a feeling of anticipation in the air.

Then, when the time comes, we all head up to the high school room. The worship team, made up of students of various ages and grade levels, leads us in a couple of songs. Next, a junior higher rises to her feet to give an Opening Reading of Scripture. A group of high school students present a short drama they have created and prepared, just for tonight, as an offering to God. Then a young man comes forward to teach a devotion on the goodness of God, preparing the hearts of his hearers for communion.

And as all this is happening, you get the very real sense that this is not a program. It's not a show, or a performance of any kind. It is a group of people who love Jesus, coming together to give Him a gift of worship, to give Him their very best.

That is what I believe this Youth Worship Night is intended to be, and here are just some of the benefits:

Equipping: I believe that the primary role of youth ministry is to come alongside students to help them become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Part of that job is teaching them how to use the gifts and talents God has given them for his glory. We must give our students opportunities to "try their gifts out," to develop them, and to see God move in them. Youth Worship Night will be one such opportunity.

Community: Imagine all the students of Fair Oaks - junior high, high school, and college - coming together to worship our Lord with the gifts and talents He gave them. By breaking out of our isolated programs and coming together in worship, we demonstrate that we are one body, one family, unified in our love for God.

Culture of Worship: Far too often, we in the church come into a worship service on Sunday morning looking for what we can get out of it. We begin to put ourselves at the center, and take away God's rightful place as the worship service's audience. Youth Worship Night is an effort to create a different kind of culture, a culture that sees worship as a service to God instead of man, a culture that comes to church looking to give rather than to get.

On September 29th, we will have the first of what I hope will be many Youth Worship Nights. Everyone is welcome at this gathering, so feel free to join us if you'd like. Please pray for the ongoing preparations and the students who will participate. Most of all, please pray that our efforts would be pleasing to God.

Thanks again for your support.

In His Service,
Pastor Gary Weston

Sunday School Re-imagined

Since Gary and I arrived at Fair Oaks, we've really been praying and seeking the Lord on direction for the youth programs. Throughout this summer, we've been developing our vision for the fall programming and are really excited about new things ahead. Our heart is to reach students where they're at, and to equip them to build a faith that will continue once they graduate from high school.

In today's Oakleaf (our church e-newsletter), Gary detailed Part One of our plans. Here it is:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

-- 2 Timothy 3:16-17(emphasis added)

Traditionally, Sunday School has served to impart biblical information to students. Many generations of young people have grown in their knowledge of what Scripture teaches on various topics because of quality Sunday School experiences during their formative years.

However, we would all agree that following Jesus is about much more than mastering facts and information. Following Jesus is a way of life. The teachings of Scripture were always meant to shape not just what we know, but the way we live and the decisions we make day by day.

So if our goal is to teach students to live this lifestyle of following the Lord, it makes sense that our Sunday School should focus, in both structure and content, on equipping our students for every good work and teaching them how to "walk humbly with their God" (Micah 6:8).

To that end, I am very excited to share with you some changes we're making in our youth Sunday School programs this fall. I call it Sunday School Re-imagined.

In a nutshell, the concept is to offer multiple Sunday School classes and then allow students a choice in what class they attend. Classes will run in four to six week sessions, so at the end of each session, the student has a new set of options to choose from. Class topics will focus on Christian living and practical skills that emphasize not just knowing the truth, but living the truth on a daily basis.

Let's imagine a hypothetical student. We'll call him Jim. Jim is a sophomore who has grown up going to church and Christian schools. He knows his Bible pretty well, but he's not really sure what it means to live for Jesus. He usually feels bored in Sunday School, because it's all stuff he's heard before in one form or another, and he wonders if church will always be like that for him.

Now imagine that Jim begins the new school year in our new Sunday School Re-imagined. Maybe in the school year's first session of classes, Jim chooses to be a part of a class studying various spiritual disciplines. He explores prayer and worship more deeply than he has before, and he learns what fasting is and how it can enrich his spiritual life.

At the end of six weeks, Jim sees that there's going to be a drama class offered in the next session, so he decides to give that a try. Jim works with other students to write, prepare, and perform evangelistic skits that he gets to bless others with during worship services, and he even performs one in the park on a Saturday as a way of sharing his faith. Maybe someone even decides to follow Jesus because of Jim and his friends.

Then in the third session, Jim opts for a special series of classes taught by a licensed Christian counselor on being there for friends in crisis. He learns what to say when a friend tells you they are struggling with an addiction, or an abusive boyfriend, or suicidal thoughts. These are heavy topics, but Jim has friends struggling with some of these things. He's glad that now he has something to share with them.

By Christmas, Jim has learned a number of practical skills that enrich his own personal walk with the Lord and he's better equipped to be of help to his friends at school. He gave drama a try, and while he enjoyed it, he has decided that maybe it's not the ministry for him. Nevertheless, Jim is glad to have had the chance to try it out, and he's excited to see what new choices he'll have in the next session of classes. Who knows? The ministry that is right for him may be waiting right around the corner.

This is just one of several different combinations of experiences available to students within the structure of the new Sunday School Re-imagined. It's my desire to offer as diverse a range of classes as possible, and I need your help to do it.

Do you have special skills, like cooking, playing basketball, or repairing cars? Do you have a passion for prayer, or worship, or serving the poor? Would you consider sharing your skills and passions with a small group of teenagers during Sunday School? If so, I would love to talk it over with you.

In His Service,

Pastor Gary Weston

Fair Oaks Teen Takes the Stage

Every couple of weeks, our church produces a news letter called the "Oakleaf." My goal is to write stories highlighting youth group activities or celebrating the achievements of our teens for every issue, and it makes sense to share these stories here on the blog as well, so here is the story I wrote for the "Oakleaf" last week. I hope you enjoy it!

On Friday, February 2nd, a group of Fair Oaks junior highers and youth workers gathered together to watch one of our own take center stage. Fair Oaks eighth-grader Ashley Nichols performed the title role in King’s Valley Christian School’s production of Excerpts from the Diary of Anne Frank.

Playing to a packed house filled with parents, teachers, family and friends, Ashley gave a charming and mature performance, highlighting the difficulties Anne and her family experienced while living in hiding from the Nazis, yet allowing her joy and her irrepressible spirit to shine through.

“It was cool to play [Anne],” Ashley said, “because she’s inspired so many people all over the world. I learned a lot.”

The play depicts the true story of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who kept a diary while in hiding with her family and four friends during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam. After living in hiding for two years, the group was betrayed, arrested, and sent off to concentration camps.

Anne’s diary chronicles this entire span and includes her reflections on living in hiding and being a Jew living under Nazi oppression. Though Anne was only 13 when she started the diary, her writing is filled with maturity and insight, and her diary has become widely read around the world. In fact, Eleanor Roosevelt once described Anne’s diary as “one of the wisest and most moving commentaries on war and its impact on human beings that I have ever read.”

A veteran stage performer, Ashley has been acting since the fourth grade. She has played parts in numerous shows, including My Fair Lady, The King and I, Annie (lead), Oliver, South Pacific, and A Christmas Carol. Ashley hopes to perform on Broadway someday.

When asked why she enjoys acting, Ashley said, “It’s really fun to be someone else; the accents, and the costumes, and everything.”