Sermon Study In Progress

So I am hanging out at It's A Grind Coffee House in Miramar, trying to get focused on writing a message for our That's Amore series... and the subject?? In-Laws!!

Now, this is a subject that affects every marriage and yet, there is not a lot of stuff written about it to help married people out (there are however, lots of jokes and horror stories!)...

It is has been a crazy morning featuring a Dr visit and 2 puking episodes (Zachary is sick...) and Ryan falling asleep for about 1.5 minutes and then back up trying to crawl...so I have just now been able to begin to work on this...

Oh, by the way, the Bible has a couple of in-law stories...but most of these are jacked up situations...one of the things I love about the Bible is it never holds back a punch or shows only the good side of people...you get the full picture (the next message I am writing is about Samson!)...the good and the bad and the ugly...

So, I need your help...how are your in-laws? How do you treat them and they you? What have you learned or do different now than when you were first married? If you want to be confidential, feel free to email me at jeremyh@visitoasis.org and I will keep it between you and me!! Thanks ahead of time!

Re:MyBois

I'm taking a break from talking about Oasis NoMi for a little video update of my family for the friends and relations that haven't seen the kids in a while...near the end of the video, you will see Ryan take his first crawling motion forward!!

Enjoy...

Re:NoMi Finishing Touches

I know, I know, I am a little behind on pictures. But before I show the final project, here are some of the finishing touches that went into the property, both on the inside and the outside (these all happened between March 14 - 18). I hope you enjoy...I will have pics of the first service and complete after photos tomorrow...

The Original Builder of NoMi...

of the auditorium, lived in the North Miami area in the 1940's... in fact, he was a deacon of the church and his name was C.E. Kirksey. How do I know this?

I met his grand-daughter, Judy, this past Sunday at NoMi! Seems she still lives in the area, heard what was happening, and wanted to check it out herself. She told me she grew up in our church and she writes "God bless you for carrying on the Word of God".

Now, she wasn't saying that to just me...she is saying that to us! Even though this past week was our first official Sunday, God and His Word have been at work for many years on that street corner and throughout North Miami. We are part of His work and are joining Him in His mission...what an exciting realization to know we are not blazing new trails but instead, are following our King where He leads and desires us to go! By the grace of God, we will see many years of that property being to used for people to find and follow Jesus.

Oh, small world, while Judy was there on Sunday, she runs into Pat Dunne, her mailman! Pat's daughter is Erin, who was leading and taking pictures this week and is also engaged to Jimmy Purchase, our worship leader...it IS a small world after all!

Miami Herald Article on NoMi campus renovation

Here is the link on the article that was in the Herald on Easter Sunday... http://www.miamiherald.com/548/story/466959.html

Fifteen minutes of fame for Higdon...I might start going by my last name! At least I got my name in the paper for something good and honorable...

Although, the funniest is the slideshow of pictures...number 9 the caption says it's me but it's not...nope, that's actually Guy Melton! Was that picture staged?? Hmmmm.... I do know for sure he laid sod (Green Side Up!), tilled up some grass, and mopped the lobby floor Saturday night (among other things) but pavers?? I don't think so! Guy, I think you need to weigh in on this!!

Easter at NoMi

Here is the scenario on Saturday night... as I get home from preaching the Easter message, and knowing that the final, final details are being worked on to prep for the 11am launch, here is what I am thinking...Will anyone show up? Or, will too many people show up? From what I understand, these are the classic thoughts of a church planter or anyone who is beginning something new!

Well, after pouring rain all day on Saturday, Easter Sunday literally dawns and the sun breaks through... we began with telling the boys the story of Easter (Jesus is alive!) and then let them open the Easter baskets (Ryan tried to eat his...believe me, I think he could do it!). I head out the door with Jonathan and make way for NoMi...

We had done a practice run (a preview service) on Saturday (which helped us iron out many kinks ahead of time...after all, we tore up and re:nomi'd our church in the last few weeks...we had to know what we were doing when our potentially biggest service of the year was going to happen!). As we rolled up to the campus, the teams were already beginning to arrive and set up their areas. They all did great! From warm Krispy Kreme and hot Starbucks coffee, amazingly decorated kids rooms and smiling KidsWorld team leaders, First Impressions team members in the parking lot and wearing aprons for our "That's Amore" teaching series, to our worship band and tech team...every area was clicking on all cylinders and hitting homeruns... we were finally ready for our guests...

And wow, did God bring us our guests! Over 300 people (including 48 kids - and 12 of those were under age 3!) showed up for our first official service as Oasis Church North Miami. All of our new chairs and tables downstairs were filled. The balcony was filled and buzzing with a great spirit (I asked the audience the question to fill in the blank... "That's Amore means _______"...I got some answers from those near the stage and then I said "how bout an answer from the balcony?"... and as one voice, literally, they said... "Love means trust!!!...the whole room reacted...it was awesome!). We even set up some folding chairs and had people sitting in the lobby. Our small cry room was filled with kids. God brought us the perfect amount of people for our building. In fact, I heard there were about 112 cars in the parking lots and grass...and this does not include our team parking wherever they could find a spot!

The mix of people was awesome as well...we have always been a multicultural church but, being our first service and advertising in Dade, we did not know what to expect...but looking over the audience and shaking hands after the service, I saw an amazing mix of people, cultures, and ages, and life stages...perfect!

Well, this post is reaching GuyMelton.com length and I don't want to lose you...I will update this week with some special stories and people I met, let you know about the follow-up, share with you some feedback I got and my thoughts on it, and update any others things that need to be told...thanks for praying and being part of Re:NoMi!

The Last Few Details are being worked on...

in our Re:NoMi project...Easter is only a few days away!

We finshed our Extreme Project on Friday the 14th at midnight (although some people were there until 3am) and the official estimate (by me) was that we were 97% done...it seems those last details are always the trickiest! In the past few days, the wood floor in the pre-school room has been completed, the baseboards are in, the doors have been cut to accomodate the tile...the details that are so important for the overall look and feel of our church!

This week has also seen the fabric of our awning go up, the landscaping begin, the sod continue (including a pic of Guy getting his hands dirty!), the a/c repaired (we destroyed three pipes in our water cooled system during our demo!), and the sound system and lights installed... all I can say is...wow!

Please continue to pray for the next few days...we are definitely on the radar in our community and are waiting expectantly for God to move in a mighty way at our grand opening... people are going to accept Him as Savior this week!! That thought pumps me up and makes this whole project worth it!

The next few posts will be updates from this past week, as I have been way too tired to keep up... thanks for understanding!

The Final Countdown!

We are in the final push to complete our Re:NoMi project! As I write this, we have only a few hours left to get to our 9pm "official" deadline...did you notice the quotation marks?? Ha! We are planning to work as hard as we can to complete as much as we can...

What a week! The bad part is, I have been so busy, that I have not been able to share all the stories (and there have been plenty!) that have been part of our project. I am looking forward to sharing them over the next week or so...in the meantime, you can check out some recent pics here...

God is good...in fact, today's scripture in our 30 days of prayer Re:NoMi journal had to do with God being the one who completes the work of salvation in us (I love the gospel!)...and I believe we read that today to remind us that God will complete the physical work here as well...woohoo! I needed to hear that today!

Tomorrow, Yard Sale and Block Party at NoMi...from 9am - 1pm... our community is coming...we are looking forward to meeting them!

Picture This....

Here are some pics taken through Tuesday of Re:NoMi... the project is coming together and the work is being done... do you see how many people have been involved in the past few days?? Incredible! Gotta go, I am headed back down there now...check back soon for more pics!

30 pictures a second of Re:NoMi

Here are 2 videos (shot and edited by Joel Collins) that tell better than words alone about the first two days of our project... as one of our host pastors said "it is a picture of heaven...all cultures, all nationalities..." working together and giving the praise to Christ... I could not agree more...



This is great as we are asking God to help us love Him and help the city love Him too...like Nehemiah, the work is being done now so that ministry (people following Jesus) will happen for years to come!

Re:NoMi is over halfway done!

Well, I am finally able to lift my head from under the water for a few moments from our 24/7 weeklong project to extremely makeover our church in North Miami to blog a few thoughts and updates...I wouldn't say we have been drowning, but we are swimming as hard as we can!

There had been so much happening....it has been unbelieveable! We started the makeover at the crack of noon on Friday, March 7th...and the teamwork of people volunteering their time and gas money has been amazing as hundreds of people have come down to NoMi...for a quick rundown, here ya go...
Demo...pews out, carpet up, curtains down, walls out, fences down, hedges gone, light poles down, furniture moved, ceiling fans gone, sidewalks smashed, 8 dumpsters full, rooms cleaned, 3 bathrooms gutted...wow and I haven't even gone into detail!
Renovations...exterior primed and painted, interior (ceilings and walls) painted, walls in, stage expanded, awning frame in, 2 story building halfway painted, bathrooms painted, 2 water pipes repaired, lights installed, sound booth framed...woo and again, no detail!

God has been good as always...so much to say about this but too tired now! As a reminder, here is the video we shot in the fall about our new campus...the next post will have video of the vision being completed in front of our eyes!

Random Thoughts

Here are some random happenings on my mind right now...

-our Re:NoMi project begins in a day and a half...one week to completely radically renovate the campus of Oasis Church North Miami...it is finally here... let the fun begin!
- over 321 people who attend Oasis have volunteered to help us this week as part of the project...wow!

- Alex Martija (our project manager) is the man for this project...I have really enjoyed getting to know him and learn from him and am looking forward to partner with him throughout the week...

- I just realized today, we are already an hour behind with our project...we move our clocks ahead one hour on Saturday!!

- I have always enjoyed my job...there are some weeks I enjoy it more...this is one of those times!

- the adversity from Satan is ramping up...we have talked about over the years whenever big projects, chasing lions, or days like Easter happen, Satan loves to turn the heat up... will he ever realize the battle is over and Christ has won and He has called us to follow Him? Oh, one day Satan will figure it out...

- Ryan has his first tooth come through on his bottom gum! I will post a pic when it comes out more...

-Patrick Swayze has cancer...I hate cancer!

- Brett Favre retires...but will he stay retired? If he does, us NFL fans will miss one of the best quarterbacks (and great guy) we have ever seen play... and he was a lot of fun to watch, on the field or sideline or throwing a snowball at his teammates...I am not a cheesehead but I will miss #4!

- The Heat stink, the Panthers might not make the playoffs, the Marlins won't do much...but UM basketball has had a record setting season... go Canes! I love March Madness...it's almost here!

Saturday in Sebring - Part 2

You ever have a moment that is so surreal, so unexpected, that you ask yourself "Did that just happen?" We had one of those on our way home from Sebring on Saturday. We were headed home after my Grandpa's party and I needed to preach at church that night. We were just south of the thriving metropolis of South Bay on US 27 (which in the past has been called "Bloody 27" because of all the accidents that used to happen on it...when it was just a two lane highway) when the moment happened.

I was cruising at 70 mph in the family Ford Escape when to my left, I see a crane (the bird not the construction vehicle) flying across the highway in a slow glide. It crossed the northbound lane and was in the median when I first saw it. My thought was "wow, that bird is coming close to us!". Now, just so you know, we are the only car on the highway in either direction for at least half a mile. My car is black and it is like 5:30pm (the sun is out still!). Well, this crane flies in front of us and there is an instant where I can tell it realizes "uh oh!". It tried to fly faster but instead of going up, it seems to try to outrun us.

Well, it didn't....
It ends up running into our windshield in the upper passenger corner and actually bends the metal frame that goes around the entire windshield! A little bit more in the middle of the car and that thing could have ended up on my lap after shattering the windshield and sending us into the Everglades. As it was, the only casualty was the bird (believe me, it didn't make it!).

For miles down the road, Jeanine and I keep asking each other..."did that just happen?" I mean, this bird can fly at any height and yet, it chose to cross a highway about 6ft off the ground. There are miles of clear highway and it crosses in front of us. It could have been really bad for us, yet, God spared us (how many times do you think that happens on a daily basis?) by letting us hit it in a spot only a few inches from the difference in a broken windshield or not.

Wow...I still can't believe it!

Saturday in Sebring - Part 1

This past Saturday, we loaded up the family Ford Escape and headed 140 miles into central Florida up lovely highway 27 to a town called Sebring. We were going to meet up with a ton of relatives to celebrate the 95th birthday of my Grandpa (my mom's father) Edward Micka. He lives in a mobile home village called Marantha, which is made up of mostly retired missionaries and pastors. I love playing golf there because it is a homemade course with clay "greens" and the holes are literally 5 gallon buckets sunk into the clay... I am serious!! You would think I would score better there... but you would be wrong!

Anyway, where was I? Oh, Grandpa turns 95...well, the last time we were all in this place together was to celebrate his 90th. At that time, there were NO great-grandchildren...only a five years later, there were 4 great grandsons (we need some girls to be born!!) and two more babies on the way. It was definitely great to see the cousins play and chase each
other all over the place.


My Grandpa has inspired me to make sure I finish life well. To this day, he continues to minister through prayer & evangelism to the "old" (his words) people he visits at the nursing home. He has a 97 year old "girlfriend" named Mabel whom he looks after (and she looks after him!) and spends time with daily. He will write letters to his whole family that sound like something Paul would write to Timothy. Although not perfect, he strives to live each day dependent on Christ as his source of strength and love and tells everyone he encounters how they can and need and should do the same.


In fact, he told my mom recently, "the secret to living long is to stay active...physically and spiritually." That is something I hope is said about me when I am his age... I love you Grandpa! Thanks for praying for me and our family...

Now, if I could only keep my eyes open for the Higdon family picture! Oh, well, maybe next time!

30 Days of Prayer for Oasis Church NoMi

The month of March is finally here! And with, we are finally in the month of officially launching our weekend worship service at Oasis Church North Miami. On the 7th of March, we begin our week long "extreme church makeover" style project as we will be renovating our property. On Saturday, the 15th, we are hosting a community-wide yard sale and block party (over 50,000 homes are getting info about this in the next few days!). And, of course, on March 23, Easter Sunday, we are praying for hundreds of people to come and worship with us and help birth a new church that will point people to Jesus for years to come.

With all this in mind, we know the potential problem right in front of us is to operate this whole month in our strength. But, that is not the way the Church that follows Jesus is supposed to operate... we are dependent on Him. We are challenging our church to pray with us for the next thirty days and we have provided a journal (download and save to your computer to read or print) for you to follow this month...

Will you pray for North Miami the next 30 days? I am excited to see what God will do as His people pray for Him to move...woohoo!