Hello, Everybody!

This week during our worship gathering, I (Seth) will be leading our discussion on the most well-known sacrament of them all: the Lord’s Supper. We will discuss the Scriptures that set the precedent for this wonderful experience and also look into what it means for the church today. Why do we do this every week? Why is it important? What does it mean? Join us Saturday for our discussion.

Seth Asher

Assistant Pastor

Hello, everyone! We had a wonderful turnout last week as we dedicated little Peter McCullough before his family, our faith community, and the eyes of God. We are always thrilled to recognize and celebrate our little ones as a church.

Last week, we entered the season of Lent in our “Ash Saturday” gathering. This is a season of intentional repentance, fasting, prayer, and service that the worldwide church participates in. Here at Emmaus Road, we are excited to have a Journey Group specifically geared toward this season. Mike Deen and myself (Seth) will be teaching about the disciplines of prayer and fasting during this time; there will also be dedicated time of individual and corporate prayer and artistic expression. We encourage you to make this group part of your Lent observance.

This week, Preston will be preaching on the idea of suffering as we find it in the book of Job. The idea of suffering within Christianity strikes us as an odd topic; when we think of faith, we often think of the positives and the benefits. How does suffering fit into this? Yet, Scripture tells us to be prepared to suffer as a servant of Christ. Perhaps many of us feel like Job; like God stood by and watched while the enemy reduced our life to shreds. What to make of this? Come out and join the discussion!

Seth Asher, Assistant Pastor

This Saturday is our Ashes service. This past Wednesday marked the beginning of the season of Lent.

Lent is a time of  of recognizing our own humanity, our own dependance on God, and it is a time of repentance for the ways that we often deny this reality.

- Part of Lent is recognizing that we are human, and that we are going to die. It is not fun to think about. We often are in denial about death. But, it is going to happen….obviously, we are always in anticipation for the return of Jesus, but so have people for many centuries. We need to learn to accept the fact that death is waiting for us. We are not here forever. We came from dust and we will return to dust.

- Also, during Lent we recognize that we are fully dependent on God. We are ultimately not the hope for the world. God is. We do get to participate in that hope, but it does not start with us.

- Finally, Lent is a time for repentance of the ways that we have tried to make it about us. In what ways have we tried to find hope, peace, strength, acceptance, or value apart from Christ. During Lent we “renew our vows” with God. We pursue Him with all of our heart.

Some of us may choose to give up something (food, coffee, chocolate, media, social networking, television, etc.) for Lent. We are basically saying, “God…I love you more than I love that thing.” This is not something that we are required to do. It is not something that God makes us do. He will also not be mad at us if we don’t do it (or if we slip up…which I already have ). Instead, this is a choice that we make out of the overflow of thankfulness that is in our heart.

I would encourage you not only to give up something, but to take on something. Take part in an intentional discipline in your life such as reading scripture, praying the daily offices*, or attending journey group regularly).

Let’s dig in this season of Lent. This week, we will be looking at the baptism of Jesus and his anointing for ministry. Also, we will be having a baby dedication!

Peace be With You,

Preston Sharpe

Lead Pastor

Emmaus Road Church

* A couple of great resources for daily prayer are www.commonprayer.net or www.pray-as-you-go.org

We are in a new season in the life our church. I sense that it is more than just a building change. Perhaps God desires to form us in a unique way at this time

This week, it is our hope to celebrate and reflect on that which God has called us to. We encourage you to invite family and friends and we talk about “Christ Before Us.” We are part of a story that was here way before us. But, we are also part of a story that moves forward into a changing culture.

What does it mean for the Gospel to engage with our world? What are the unique difficulties that come with this? We will be looking at Paul’s encounter with the philosophers of Athens in Acts 17 as we ask what our posture should look like in our world.

Afterwards, we will celebrate together! We are less than a week away from the season of Lent, a time of reflection, prayer, and fasting. Traditionally, the church has celebrated “Fat Tuesday,” a time of feasting and celebration before Lent. As we show our friends and family the new space that God has provided for us, this is a great opportunity to have a “Fat Saturday,” with pancakes!! Join us after service for a pancake dinner. If you can help provide the supplies, please let us know.

See You Saturday!

Preston Sharpe

Lead Pastor

Emmaus Road Church

Hello Everyone,

This week, we will be taking a break from our “Christ All Around Us” series to talk about love. In light of Valentine’s Day, my parents, Pastors Brent and Janis Sharpe will be discussing some of the myths surrounding love in our culture as well as offering some healthy alternatives from scripture and their experience as counselors.

We hope to see you there!

Also, a reminder that NEXT WEEK, February 18th is our “Fat Saturday” service. We will be having a pancake dinner. This would be a great time to invite friends, family, and co-workers.

Finally, you can give to Emmaus Road Church by clicking on the “donate” button in this email.

Peace Be With You,

Preston Sharpe

Lead Pastor

Emmaus Road Church

Greetings, all! We had a wonderful time meeting at our new location at Christ Church Episcopal (109th and S. Yale) last week. We found that the evening had a common energy as we set up, worshipped, and tore down our gathering together. We are grateful to Christ Church and Fr. Everett for letting us use their facility, and we’re looking forward to getting to know them better.

This week, Preston will be continuing his series on our directions. These are important for us to be aware of because these form our identity; what we’re about as a church, where we come from, who we are, and so on. This week we’ll be continuing the discussion on “Christ Behind Us.” What is the story of our faith? What are the traditions that help us understand it? We hope that you can come out and join the discussion this Saturday!

Seth Asher

Associate Pastor

Hey friends,

Are you ready for this new adventure? This week, we begin meeting at Christ Church at 109th and Yale. Our gathering time has not changed. We are still meeting at 6pm.

If you are able to help set-up on Saturday, please let Seth or I know.

This week, we will begin a series called “Christ All Around” looking at the various impulses that led us to start Emmaus Road in the first place.

This week, we will begin with “Christ Behind Me.” We will be looking at our part in The Great Story of faith. You will not want to miss it.

Thanks for walking through this change with us. Change is always difficult. Our church is more than a building. I can think of no better people who I would rather go on this journey with than you!

Peace Be With You,

Preston Sharpe

Lead Pastor

Emmaus Road Church

Hello Emmaus Road,

Last night, we announced that Emmaus Road will be moving to Christ Church (Episcopal) at 108th and Yale. We will begin meeting there NEXT SATURDAY, January 28th at our normal 6pm time. Most of you may be aware of the reasons why we considered a move in the first place (rent was raised, studio moved out, giving dropped all about the same time) so I won’t bore you with those details. Though we would not have looked if we did not find ourselves in this position, we are pretty happy that we did! We are incredibly excited about this opportunity. Let me tell you about some of the benefits of the move to Christ Church.

- Financial Flexibility- We have always desired to be a church that would “build people and use facilities,” not “build facilities and use people.” We never want to be in a situation where we are pushing people to give in order to make the rent. Our current facility is pretty expensive for  a community of our size. We love the location and the modern-feel, but we do not believe that it is worth the anxiety that comes with it. Our landlord has been great and has given us a great deal, but it still is too much for us at the moment.

Christ Church is welcoming us in and not asking us to pay very much. They are doing this to help our community, not to make money. It will allow us to save money in order to put ourselves in a better long-term financial position.

It will also allow us to do more in terms of missions and outreach. Right now, all of our budget goes to facilities and salaries. This move will allow us more space (literally and financially) to explore other opportunities. Our desire is to be good stewards of our resources and this will allow us to do that.

- Better Facilities- Christ Church has a fairly large building with beautiful, intentional architecture. At our current space, we have often found ourselves wanting more auxiliary areas: kids areas, kitchen areas, etc. Christ Church is perfect for this. The kids classrooms are fully-equipped and they have a full kitchen.

- Relationship with Christ Church- Over the past year or so, I have built a friendship with Fr. Everett Lees, the newly commissioned pastor of Christ Church. He has a great heart to reach the city with the love of Jesus and we are excited about partnering with them. We have already begun to dream about joint projects that would bless our city.

- Strengthened Relationship with Sanctuary- Many of you know that our parent church has recently gone through a church merge. They are now called Sanctuary and meet at two campuses, one in Jenks, one in South Tulsa. Our move will place us almost directly between the two campuses. We envision a more intentional relationship with Sanctuary in the years to come.

So, here is the timeline:

- This WEDNESDAY NIGHT at 7pm, Emmaus Road will be participating in a “Night for Christian Unity” at Christ Church. We will be joined by several churches of various denominations, all located in the South Tulsa area. All are welcome!

- We will meet at Christ Church beginning THIS SATURDAY, at 6pm. We will meet there from now on. The first few weeks will be kind of stripped down. We will not have all of our stuff moved or new signs in place.

- We will have a “Fat Saturday” worship gathering on February 18th, the Saturday before Lent. This will serve as a “welcome to the neighborhood” gathering. We will have a pancake dinner and celebrate this next step in the life of our church!

If you have any questions, please email me at preston.sharpe@emmausroadtulsa.org. To view more pics of the church, click here.  If you are available to help with the move, please let us know your schedule ASAP. We are trusting God as we experience Him on the Road!

Preston Sharpe

Lead Pastor

Emmaus Road Church

An Epiphany is an “A-ha” moment, a time where we realize or experience something unlike what we have seen before. The scriptures are full of these “A-has.” God is always showing up in new and unexpected ways.

This Saturday, my parents will talk about these moments. Walking through the scriptures, as well as their own story, we will be encouraged to open our hearts to the ways that Christ is speaking.

This Saturday, we will also be making a major announcement regarding our new meeting space. You will not want to miss it. It will surely be an “A-ha” for Emmaus Road Church.

Peace Be With You,

Preston Sharpe

Lead Pastor

Emmaus Road Church

Hello Emmaus Road,

I hope that all is well with you! This is going to be an exciting year for us, I can just feel it. Thanks to all who participated in the Family Meeting last week. Your feedback was incredibly valuable. The board has decided to take another week to decide our next steps.

As we have been in this process, I have been reflecting on the story of the children of Israel wandering in the desert. I have always seemed to be drawn to this story over the years. God’s people dealt with uncertainty. In fact, they dealt with harsh weather conditions, wild animals, and foreign enemies. But, they were still guided by YHWH. Sometimes, that was with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud of smoke by day, one time by parting a large body of water. Eventually, God gave the law and the covenant, but He had seemed absent for so long that they turned to a golden calf while Moses was on the mountain!

My prayer in this new year is that we would be a people who are faithful to God, no matter what comes our way. God’s love for His people has not changed or the fact that He chose us.

This week, Seth will be teaching on the sacrament of baptism. I hope to see you there!

Preston Sharpe

Lead Pastor

Emmaus Road Church