Whether it was helping start the renovation of our new home on Saturday, or running a booth at the Fall Festival on Sunday, all the volunteers this weekend served as blessings from God! It was wonderful to watch and be a part of, and we can't thank you enough!
Fall Festival November 1st!
We're partnering with the Church at Brook Hills to put together a fall festival in Marks Village on Sunday afternoon, November 1! Check out more information -- and about how you can help -- at the Brook Hills blog in a guest post written by my wife and me! http://www.brookhills.org/blog/join-god-at-work-in-marks-village
What Our Students Are Teaching Us
God is amazing in all the ways that he teaches us!
Reading Club is off to a wonderful start! We have had so much fun munching on snacks, playing with Legos, writing spelling words in shaving cream, and exploring our new library!
This past Tuesday, the Reading Buddies met together before the students arrived for our Bible Study time. We were talking about God’s attributes, specifically that he is holy, just, gracious, and the Creator. We read and memorized scripture and then talked about ways that these attributes could flow in our normal conversations with our students. Little did we know, but God was teaching our students the same thing!
During DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) time, one student and her Reading Buddy were reading a book about a horse together. The children in the book were making fun of the horse because she didn’t look like the others. I know what you’re thinking, beautiful teaching moment, right? Well, yes! But, instead of the Reading Buddy beginning, the student looked up and said, “That’s not nice. They shouldn’t make fun of the horse because it’s different.” And as her Reading Buddy agreed the student continued to say, “You know, people do that sometimes too. Children make fun of others because they are different. But we shouldn’t make fun of others because they look different. God is the one who created us all that way.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself! That nine-year old girl just spoke Gospel truth to her Reading Buddy! If that isn’t proof that God is working, I don’t know what is.
Reading Club Today!
The library is ready, and it's time to read! The Reading Club starts today at 3:00 this afternoon, and we're so excited! Be praying for the reading buddies today that it will be a fun day of books, learning, and family. Once again, we'd love to know you're praying for us, so let us know on Facebook, Twitter, or email!
It's Happening!
Things are about to finally get started, and we need your prayer! Today is the first training for tutors at the Reading Club which is kicking off next week! The training starts at 2:30 this afternoon, and we'd love your prayer as the tutors get ready to read.
Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill the room with his counsel, so that everyone can absorb what they need to learn. Pray for each and every tutor that they can feel God's presence and joy, with confidence for the work ahead. Pray for the children with whom they will be working, that their hearts will be prepared for a love of reading and of Christ.
It's an exciting day, and we're looking forward to the future! If you are praying tonight (or anytime as we get started), let us know via email, Facebook, or Twitter! We love to know when we're being lifted up!
Books and More Books!
I love bookstores! They seem so inviting. Row after row and shelf after shelf filled with possibilities. What will I find today? When I pick up a book, excitement bubbles over the prospect of something new or nostalgia sweeps over me from adventures past. An unread book is a vault waiting to be opened; information, quests, emotions, and friends. A book complete is a picture album; people I once knew, places I once traveled, fond memories.
When you buy a book you get to take someone else on the journey with you. You can pass the book on to another reader and enjoy reminiscing together when you both have finished. You aren’t keeping the magic all to yourself.
Waiting on God’s timing to begin a tutoring program, I have become an even more voracious reader, determined that my library will have a book that captivates each and every one of the children that walk into it. I wonder which children will be tempted to read by the antics of Henry and Mudge, who will need the thrill of adventure with Percy Jackson, or who will want to be a sleuth with Cam Jansen?
You see, when you experience all sorts of places you could never have imagined, you can’t help but want to share that with others! In the same way, I daily read that there is a God who created the universe, loves everyone despite their sin, and invites them to live with him eternally if they surrender their lives to him. I know a God who loves me and I can't keep that to myself!
And so with great anticipation, I look forward to sharing my God and my books with a group of students every Tuesday with our reading club!
Welcome!
This is a perfect picture of the beautiful, evolving journey God is allowing us to travel! Welcome to Oak Tree Ministries.
“Oak Tree Ministries labors with the people of Marks Village in fulfillment of God’s promise to raise up for himself oak trees of righteousness for the display of his splendor.”
Isaiah 61 shows the magnificent way in which God choose to restore his people to himself. He used his people, restoring them to each other, so that they might work together to restore Israel. God could have “fixed” all of the problems, but he wanted a right relationship with his people and for them to have relationships with each other. This chapter resonates in our hearts as we desire God’s creation to be reconciled to Him and to be reconciled to one another.
We are in eager anticipation of being able to work alongside the people in Marks Village even more to make disciples of one another for the glory of God.
We have so much left to learn and so much left to do!