Church Update and Philippines Trip Review

6 · Oswald pivots from the Philippines trip report to church updates, listing multiple simultaneous initiatives: building project, 1 John sermon series planning, preaching calendar development, ongoing counseling ministry, and integration of new visitors

In terms of kind of what else is happening right now at the church, you know, we've just got a lot of things going on, of course, with the building and we just developed our preaching outline for the first John series and we're working on, Dov and I are working on actually getting a preaching calendar put together that'll project out into probably, you know, probably February or so.

And then we are, you know, just doing all the kind of normal counseling things that are going on.

And we're trying to do a good job between all of us of ensuring we're connecting with the new people that are coming to the church.

And yeah, it's just a busy, fruitful, but joyful season.

7 · Oswald highlights a significant men's ministry development: lay leaders taking ownership of teaching chapters from John Owen's work on fellowship

You know, I think that one of the more exciting things that's happened while I was away was, you know, we have this book by John Owen, this little booklet called Rules for Walking in Fellowship.

And Dov and I concocted the idea of just asking the men in our men's group to read that book and teach a particular chapter from that book at our men's meetings.

And so that was so encouraging to see guys just step up so quickly, really, and take on particular passage of particular chapters.

So really, for the next, you know, big chunk of time, men's ministry is going to be, you know, guys actually processing the work of John Owen related to fellowship, church membership, and then sort of explaining that to the rest of the group.

That's an exciting development.

Very, very grateful for that.

8 · Oswald urges men to attend the upcoming retreat on the fear of God and emphasizes it as an ideal evangelistic opportunity

We've got the men's retreat coming up soon, and I think that's on the fear of God.

And that's always a wonderful time.

The teaching is always good, but it's definitely a fellowship-forward kind of experience.

And certainly, this is absolutely the place you would want to bring an unbelieving friend, relative neighbor, because the gospel is showcased not just in the fact that it's explained, but that it's, you know, it's exemplified in the way that we enjoy one another and enjoy God's gifts and so on and so forth.

So I would just wholeheartedly commend you getting involved in the men's retreat and not only you going, but maybe also bringing somebody with you.

9 · Oswald articulates his primary excitement about the building project: the facility will itself become a vehicle for communicating theological truth and beauty, extending beyond words and actions to the physical space

In terms of wanting to touch on the building project, you know, it is just, Dove asked me, you know, what makes you the most excited about the building project?

And I think the main answer is that we are going to be in a situation where truth and beauty and community is communicated not only by our fellowship and by our singing and by our preaching and teaching, but also by the facility itself.

I really think you're going to see, wow, this is, this has allowed us to really emphasize the truth and beauty of God, not only with our words and our actions, but also our facility.

10 · Oswald provides a progress update on the building project, acknowledging expected setbacks while characterizing overall progress as good

So it's, it's coming along nicely.

We of course have had setbacks.

It's kind of, you know, the rule of thumb when you're undertaking a construction project of this size.

All in all though, it's gone quite well.

Want to give a special shout out to the leadership team in particular throughout this season.

I think they, I'm pretty confident in fact, that they conspired without me at some point to sort of exclude me from most of the decisions.

And, and that didn't take offense to that at all.

I'm guessing that's the case.

I might be slandering them, but I think that might've happened.

Anyway, I'm, I'm not, um, I'm not sad about that at all.

I'm so grateful for the way that they've sought to care for me in that respect.

And then, you know, especially everybody's, everybody's working hard, but, you know, Noah Maher has really just owned this whole thing and a, and a really extreme degree.

And this is a busy man with a very full life and many worthy things that he could give his time and attention to.

And so I'm especially grateful that, that Maher is, is handling so much of this.

He's doing an excellent job in terms of, uh, you know, our timeline for that.

11 · Oswald explains the November deadline imposed by the Blue Valley soccer contract and the urgent desire to avoid returning to weekly setup/teardown cycles

We, we, we are running up against what we think is a pretty firm timeline with maybe a little margin for error.

But the idea being that in November, we have to give over the gym to our soccer contract that we keep each year with blue Valley soccer.

And so, uh, that starts in November.

And if we had to stay in the gym during that time, we are, we are stuck in a situation where we'd be setting up and tearing down each week.

So we are extremely focused on not allowing that to happen.

And if there is any bleed over in terms of, uh, you know, having to set up and tear down, we really just want that to be extremely limited.

We're doing our very best to make sure that doesn't happen at all.

But if, uh, if it does, then that's kind of, that's kind of in many respects, God's gift to us as sort of a firm, get this done boys kind of situation, because we are all aware of the tediousness, uh, and just the kind of, the kind of soul depreciating, you know, effect that set up and tear down has on everybody.

12 · Oswald pivots from the building timeline to the church's visitor integration strategy, emphasizing that relational connection (through meals and group involvement) takes priority above all other congregational initiatives

So that's, that's, that'll give you some idea of where we, where we're looking.

It's, it's, it's not that far away if we're going to honor that, that deadline, uh, in terms of, you know, just other things to do, we are just trying to ensure above all else that everybody who visits Providence gets connected, you know, via, you know, relationships, lunches, dinners, coffees, they're included in the appropriate groups, plugged into the appropriate ministries and so on and so forth.

13 · Oswald issues pastoral encouragement toward diligence in visitor connection while simultaneously affirming the congregation's already strong performance in this area

And so, you know, really above all else, I'd just encourage everyone who's listening to this to just be diligent.

And I see no evidence that that's not taking place, by the way, every time I go to talk to somebody that's new, there's a line of people already ready to talk to them.

So I think it's going well.

14 · Oswald makes a bold ecclesiological claim about hospitality as Providence's central lay ministry and argues for its superiority to most other ministry methods

I would like to remind you that, you know, the central ministry at Providence, the central ministry that we ask everybody to engage in is hospitality.

It is really just a, it's just a superior method of ministry compared to almost anything else.

And so, uh, if we, in fact, if we were just a church that did preaching, singing, and hospitality, we would probably be, you know, mostly feel fulfilling God's expectations for our creation of disciples.

15 · Oswald applies the hospitality claim by directly urging consistent practice of having people in homes

So it's just a key thing to do.

And I just want to encourage everyone to consistently have people in your home.

And it's just a means of expressing care, of fostering connection.

And it's also just so wonderfully helpful to remind your children that the church is something that happens not only on Sunday, but that the church has a role to play in daily life.

And really to see their faith in action.

16 · Oswald illustrates how his wife conducts hospitality by involving their children in planning and execution—asking questions about guests, assigning tasks, turning the event into family ministry

There's something about giving your kids a responsibility.

My wife would do it this way.

She'd be like, okay, on Tuesday, we're having the Smiths over.

Does anyone know what?

She talked to the kids like this.

Does anyone know, you know, if there's any food allergies?

How old are the kids?

What, what would be a good thing to cook for them?

And so forth.

And then as the time drew nearer for, uh, for that person to come over, that family to come over, she would then give them tasks.

You know, Wesley, you set up the silverware.

Sarah, you get the drinks.

You know, Brooke, you get the door, whatever.

And all these sort of activities.

And you, you, you wind up building ministry out of your family when you do hospitality.

17 · Oswald makes a cultural analysis claiming that church attendance is experiencing a "preference cascade"—a rapid sociological shift where cultural attitudes flip direction

So it's a key thing.

Um, I would, I would let people know also just that, you know, we are, uh, really grateful to see the, the many new visitors.

And I just think that this is a moment in history where you should assume that, that the majority of people you talk to right now are thinking about possibly going to church.

I, I, I'm not, I don't think I'm overstating that.

I think that that's actually real.

And so, boy, I'd really encourage you to, um, I'd really encourage you to just assume that your neighbors, your relatives, and so forth are thinking about attending church.

If they aren't, assume they are thinking about it.

They're considering it.

Church attendance has gone into what you might think of in, in, in, uh, sociological terms as a preference cascade.

And you'd be shocked by how quickly things change in one direction to another.

And it would be great to harvest that particular sort of thing that the Lord is doing and to be very intentional about it.

18 · Oswald begins closing the update by summarizing what he's covered and referencing a video (not included in transcript) about caring for both the Filipino group and a Pakistani group through regional Sovereign Grace partnerships

Well, I think that's a decent overview of what's been going on at Providence and also the trip itself.

Once again, as you saw in that video, which we'll post also as a podcast, as you saw in that video, I really am excited about some of the possibilities, not only for me to care for this particular group or for Sovereign Grace, the region, uh, our Midwest Northwest region and Sovereign Grace to care, continue to care for the Pakistani group.

19 · Oswald casts vision for Providence's emerging international mission focus: not just theological training but professional development for bivocational pastors, particularly Filipinos

But, but really, I, I suspect that we are just on the very first page of a long story that involves Providence's commitment to equipping leaders and blessing the world with leaders, uh, not just this country, but blessing the world with leaders.

I'm working on some possibilities there.

I'm actually meeting with someone, um, tonight who might be able to help us think through how we could be a blessing to the Filipinos professionally, because almost every pastor in the Philippines is going to be a Bible, a bivocational pastor.

And so one of the more obvious sort of opportunities to support, uh, emerging leaders in these nations is to think through, do we have anything to contribute either to, uh, elevate their potential employment opportunities or, uh, maybe even to find virtual assistant type employment opportunities for them, so forth.

And our church is really well positioned, I think, uh, given the roster that we have of members, our church is really well positioned to, um, you know, to, to, to help in some of those areas.

The, the, the issue is just going to be the details.

Like, how do we do it?

What does that look like?

How do we turn this into something that is, you know, uh, repeatable and scalable and so on and so forth.

20 · Oswald provides specific update on a meeting scheduled for that evening to explore creating employment opportunities for Filipino pastors

But I have a meeting tonight where, uh, I think that I'm seeing a, a way forward that would develop over the next year that would allow us, in addition to caring for a number of pastors in terms of their theological development, their life and doctrine might also be able to open some doors for, um, some potentially better employment situations for a number of these pastors.

And, uh, that would be, that'd be pretty amazing if that, if that paid off.

It's worth exploring.

I mean, it, it's certainly worth exploring to see whether or not we could do something like that.

There's a lot to figure out there, but it's worth exploring.

21 · Oswald closes by previewing upcoming podcast content (sufficiency of Scripture and commentary on Charlie Kirk) and offering standard farewell benediction

All right.

Well, with that, I'm going to let this podcast come to a close.

I'm going to, um, actually immediately go into another podcast on the biblical doctrine of, uh, sufficiency of scripture.

And, uh, we'll see what else, uh, probably also do another podcast, uh, just doing some additional comments on Charlie Kirk situation as it's developed over the past two weeks.

All right.

Until then, God bless.

Have a wonderful day.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.