Welcome to Oak Springs Community Church!
Thanks for visiting our website! Oak Springs Community Church is a group of believers dedicated to loving God and the people in our lives, for His glory. Our mission is to get the good news of Jesus Christ into the lives of the people we live with, work with, play with, and interact with. These relational connections we have are the ‘live wires’ God uses to transform lives! We hope that your visit here will be inspiring.
We meet together on Sunday mornings for worship and study of God’s Word. We welcome you to venture out to Grand Isle Senior Apartment Homes in Murrieta each Sunday at 10 AM to experience God in worship and to study God’s Word with us as we equip one another with the truth.
To say, “our doors are always open” would be a little misleading, for our “doors” belong to the Grand Isles. But it is an understanding of Oak Springs’ that we are ‘open doors’ to the love of God and His grace by the sheer fact of His open arms to us. We’ve been embraced by our Heavenly Father and we are just one of many of His open doors to the world He loves and gave His only begotten Son to rescue. So, we welcome you with open arms!
Good Monday morning...
… and today is Lisa’s birthday, the number I will not say. But it begins the eight weeks in which we are the same age and is two weeks before our 41st wedding anniversary. Our youngest was born 32 years ago this coming June 7th. June has always been an important month for its numerous celebrations. So, I offer my wife a “Happy Birthday” this Monday morning, June 1st!
I am humbled by the deep significance of each of my family members in my life. While our independent nature is often in tension, our commitment to living well and to meaningful contributions to our kids’ and parents’ lives keep Lisa and me on the same page. Malia, our granddaughter, is an exclamation point on that page! We have been head-over-heals in love with her for over 4 years now… and as part of Lisa’s birthday we will be peeking in on Malia’s dance class tonight.
Family is a powerful metaphor for the church. And while there are so many abuses over the years of her existence, the love of brothers and sisters for one another will always be the expectation of God for His family. I often am reminded that my introduction to family was into a mid-west, nuclear family of four, Mom, Dad, me and Lori, my sister who is 14 months younger. In the years prior to graduating high school, I tended to fight and argue with my sister, but then, quite naturally, she has been one of my best friends for the last 47 years!
As we grow up in the church, our relationships are intended to deepen, to naturally get better, and to grow into “best friendships.” I have seen that happen in Oak Springs, and it is wonderful to see! But they don’t just happen, they take time to grow and develop, to deepen into an inter-dependency. God’s gifts to us are especially important to the deepening of these relationships. The gift of encouragement has been something I have tapped into for the formal gathering of the church each Sunday morning, intending to give each member in attendance encouragement from the Word of God. I’m dependent on Him to use the gift He has given me to bless the family.
Special days are nice to celebrate, but special people are worthy of our time and attention. In our nearly 41 years of marriage, we are still committed to each other, our kids, my mom (only living parent), and our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is humbling and satisfying to see the family of God getting along in our weekly celebrations – every Sunday!
For His glory,
Pastor Mike