May 15, 2013 We have added Issue 67 of "A Minute with the Masons" to our newsletters page. You can read it here.
May 7, 2013 The new Oasis Church homepage is now up and running. It is still in the Beta stage with a few bugs to be worked out and a few pages that need to be translated into Japanese. However, go ahead and have a look and get a feel for what Oasis Church is like. Enjoy!
May 1, 2013 As we are preparing to launch the new Oasis Church homepage, we needed to find a new home for the "Re-Thinking Church" message series that we did at SIBC back in 2011-12. If you are interested in listening to the messages that God used to start us on a journey towards becoming an organic house church, please have a loook at our new SIBC Sermons page.
April 28, 2013 We had a wonderful gathering at Oasis today. One of our members shared about a wonderful ministry in South Africa that he and his wife will be a part of when they return home in June. Then, one of the women in the church lead us in a wonderful bible study/discussion from Acts 17:16-34. Athens was described as being "full of idols" (v. 16), and the same can be said of Japan. Finally, for lunch Mr. & Mrs. Kawano made locomoco. It was soooo delicious. What a great day!
April 18, 2013 We finally figured out how to put slideshows on our website, so we added a number of photos to our Media page, including a day-trip to Amanohashidate, looking at Cherry Blossoms in Nara Park, a day spent exploring Kobe, and a number of pictures from the past few months at Oasis Church. Enjoy! April 15, 2013 This year KCS is putting on a theatrical production of Dr. Suess' "The Cat In the Hat." To help raise funds for the drama department, Chris made a green eggs and ham lunch for anyone who wanted to order one. Many of the students were hesitant to eat green eggs, but those who did said that they were delicious. Would you expect anything less from Chris' cooking?
April 12, 2013 Luke, got his third quarter grades today. While he usually does well in school, for the first time ever, Luke got straight A's! Way to go Luke! Since he is only in 6th grade, he does not qualify for the honor role yet, but that will change next year once he enters jr. high. Congratulations Luke on all of your hard work.
April 12, 2013 It was chapel time again at KCS. This month Michael talked about the freedom that comes from following Jesus. Galatians 5:1 says, "It is for freedom that Christ has set you free." Specifically, we learned that we are set free from three things: 1) guilt & shame, 2) religious performance & 3) selfish living. This is what Jesus makes available to all those who say "yes" to the wonderful invitation to follow Jesus.
March 31, 2013 Today was Easter Sunday. Being that we are a house church, this year's Easter "message" was a little different than usual. After remembering the death of Jesus through a time of communion, we then got into small groups and each looked at a different passage of scripture on the resurrection. As each small group shared their findings with the large group, we discovered that because of the resurrection of Jesus, we now have freedom from sin, new birth and the hope of new, "spiritual" bodies in heaven one day. Those are truly things worth celebrating! After the service we were planning to go to the park for a picnic, but chilly weather caused us to stay inside for lunch. Anyway, here is the group that joined us for Easter. For more photos of Oasis Church, look here.
March 30,2013 We took advantage of the nice weather to view the cherry blossoms in Nara Park with our friend Lori. The trees were in full bloom which made for lot and lots (and LOTS!) of pictures.
March 22, 2013 Luke had his annual piano recital. His song this years was Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Third Movement. As you will see, it was a REALLY hard song. He actually memorized it rather quickly, but then spent about 7 months actually trying to make his hands do what they were supposed to do. Luke did a wonderful job and we are very proud of him. He is planning to play the same song at his school's Open Mic Night in May.
March 1, 2012 Today was all-school chapel at Kansai Christian School. Continuing in his series called "Following Jesus," Michael spoke on "Receiving Eternal Life." While eternal life is something that we can look forward when we die and spend all of eternity in heaven, according to Jesus in John 17:3, eternal life is about knowing God and living in relationship with Jesus. This means that we don't have to wait until we get to heaven to receive eternal life. Rather, it is something that we can begin to experience in this life as well!
February 22, 2013 We have added Issue 66 of "A Minute with the Masons" to our newsletters page. You can read it here.
February 3, 2013 We did it! After many months of discussion and lots of prayer, we finally have a new name for the church. As of today, we are no longer Sakai International Bible Church. Rather, we are now called Oasis Church. Since moving to a house church format in Izumiotsu City, we felt that maybe it was good to change the name of the church. Not only are we no longer in Sakai, but also God is in the process of re-shaping our paradigm for what it means to be the church. Since our current way of gathering is quite different from what we used to do before, we thought that a new name might be a good way to symbolize the "new" church we have become.
The name "Oasis" is inspired by the words of Jesus in John 7:37-38. Jesus says"If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink."We believe that this is one of the main functions of the church: to be a place were we can come to Jesus and "drink" from HIm. Through worship, prayer, Bible study and fellowship, we want to look to Jesus and experience the streams of water that only He can give. As you know, the nation of Japan is a spiritually dry place. For this reason, we want our gatherings to be a kind of spiritual oasis. We want to be a place where tired, thirsty people can be refreshed and renwed as we seek Jesus together.
February 1, 2013 Michael gave the message at the KCS All-School Chapel today. Since September he has been doing a series of monthly messages called "Following Jesus: Responding to the Invitation of Jesus." Today's message was called "Living a Life of Trust" and the text was John 14:1 where Jesus says “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” We learned that following Jesus means that we can trust in the Word of God, the Character of God and the Guidance of God.
January 20, 2013 We took our annual group photo today after church. As you can see, the group has gotten a bit smaller since our move to a simple-style house church, but this is good group of people who are hungry to seek God's heart for the church.
January 12, 2013 After months of waiting and preparing, Luke finally got braces today. At first, they are only on the top teeth. At some point he might get them on the bottom as well. They actually look pretty good on him, and so far he doesn't seem to mind them. We want to thank grandma and grandpa in Los Angeles who helped to foot the bill.
January 7, 2013 The Oregon Ducks won the Fiesta Bowl today so Michael is happy! Being from Eugene, Oregon, Michael has been a Duck fan since elementary school. Congrats on a great year!
January 1, 2013 Happy New Year. May the Lord bless you all in 2013!
May 1, 2013
This year KCS is putting on a theatrical production of Dr. Suess' "The Cat In the Hat." To help raise funds for the drama department, Chris made a green eggs and ham lunch for anyone who wanted to order one. Many of the students were hesitant to eat green eggs, but those who did said that they were delicious. Would you expect anything less from Chris' cooking?
February 3, 2013
ry 12, 2013
