High School Bible Study

 

NEW!

Starting Thursday, September 16, the High School Bible Study will start a new study series by TrueU:  Does God Exist?

Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?  Does God exist?  Can we prove the existence of God, or are we left to grapple in the dark and take blind leaps of faith about what we believe?

Everyone asks these questions, and maybe you think you have the answers.  But can you defend your beliefs when peers and professors are challenging your worldview?

In TrueU:  Does God Exist?  Dr. Stephen Meyer plays a “hilosophical survival game” pitting four worldviews against one another in the quest to decided wich one gives the best answers.  Dr. Meyer helps you examine the evidence and provides the tools needed to defend your faith and make it your own.  You will be equipped to defend your faith and become a world changer in an increasingly hostile culture.

Parents are welcome!

Nathan Hiner nathan@countryoaks.org is Director of Student Ministries.

LifeHouse for Teens

The next LifeHouse will be Sunday, September 12, 2010.  

LIFEhouse normally meets the second Sunday of the month @ 6 p.m. in the chapel at Country Oaks Church.  Teens and their parents are always welcome!

Change Your World!
Worship and Prayer:

Tapping into God’s power to change YOUR LIFE!
brought to you by Nathan Hiner and the LIFEhouse staff.

LIFEhouse for Teens – Worship, Grow, Serve, Invite Others to Know Jesus!

Here’s the remaining schedule for 2010:

September 12, 2010

October 10, 2010

November 14, 2010

College/Career Ministry

CrossRoads - Fall Bible Study will begin on Monday, September13.  We’ll be studying the book of Matthew as we meet at the home of Pastor Brent at 7:00 pm.

The College/Career fellowship group at Country Oaks is designed to help young Christians navigate the world as as adult members of the Body of Christ. We meet to encourage one another with prayer and the Word of God.

Our goal is to glorify God by seeking to use the life that Christ purchased for us and the gifts he bestowed on us to advance His kingdom. We believe that these precious, exciting years of post-adolescence do not have to be spent “finding myself” or “having fun until I am forced to settle down and grow-up.”

If you too believe that there’s got to be more to life than than just “hangin’ out”, then please join us as together we seek God’s will for our lives and form friendships that will last an eternity.  Contact Pastor Brent for more information or directions to his house at brentwhitney@sbcglobal.net.

Student Ministries

Student Ministries is all about teens learning how to “live a life worthy of the calling with which we have received” (Ephesians 4:1).  Using a variety of venues, we challenge and encourage students to worship, grow, serve, and invite others to know Jesus Christ.

Join us for LIFEhouse, the biggest teen event for Christ in Tehachapi. COBC also offers weeknight Bible studies for guys and girls, and we meet every Sunday morning to study God’s word together at 9:00 a.m.

Pastor Brent Explains His Vision for Our Teens

One Sunday night per month, we offer LifeHouse which is an evening of worship, prayer and Christian fellowship for teenagers and their parents. We also offer 8-week high school Bible studies three times a year. The pastors have decided to use the resources of the church to promote family worship and spiritual growth within the home by equipping parents to be the “pastors of the home.” Therefore, we do not offer a weekly “youth group” or a place for teens to “hang out” at church. Instead, we encourage teens to socialize and fellowship with all Christians, young and old alike so that they can benefit from the wisdom of more mature believers and grow in humility and gentleness as they minister to the needs of little children. Though we are not against age segregated fellowship, we believe that the church should play a more limited role in providing such opportunities.

Christian College Matching Scholarship Fund

Click here for (Scholarship Application)

Thanks for checking this post.  All funds have already been distributed for the 2010-2011 school year.  Please check with us next year if you think you qualify.

Matching Scholarship Concept Background:

Several of our young people are attending Christian colleges that offer MINISTRY MATCHING GRANTS or MINISTRY MATCHING SCHOLARSHIPS that are designed to encourage Christian organizations such as local churches, Christian schools, and missions organizations, to provide scholarship support for students attending their college.

For example, The Masters College will match, in grant aid, on a dollar-for-dollar basis up to $2,500 per student, per academic year provided by Christian ministries with whom the student or the student’s parents are affiliated. BIOLA University will match dollar for dollar such gifts up to $500 per student per year.

Our FUND may not be able to provide 100% of a college’s matching grant dollar amount, but the fund will try to provide as much as possible to as many qualifying students as possible, who attend qualifying schools.

The purpose of this FUND is to help students who are attending Christian colleges and universities that are orthodox in their Christianity, that only hire faculty who are orthodox in their Christianity, and only enroll students who are orthodox in their faith. Also, qualifying colleges must have a Ministry Matching Fund program.

It is not the intention of the fund, or of the donors to the fund, to say that the Christian colleges that do not meet this strict criteria are somehow flawed or less Christian. The donors to this fund simply want to support Christian colleges and universities that do meet the criteria. This SCHOLARSHIP FUND will not be available to all of our college students, but it will help many of our students.

At this time, the only two colleges that we are aware of that meet this strict criteria are BIOLA University and The Master’s College. If you are aware of any COBC young people who are attending another college that meets this criteria, please let us know.

This SCHOLARSHIP FUND has been funded entirely from gifts from donors, and none of these scholarship funds are from the Church budget. Families are welcome to give to this fund at any time.

Students must apply to be considered, and there are eligibility criteria that must be met. Both the students, and the schools that they attend, would have to meet the criteria of the Matching Scholarship Fund.

 Ministry Action Plan for Matching Scholarship Fund

 WHEREAS several of our young people are attending Christian colleges that offer MINISTRY MATCHING GRANTS or SCHOLARSHIPS that are designed to encourage Christian organizations such as local churches, Christian schools, and missions organizations, to provide scholarship support for students attending their college;

WHEREAS the costs for attending these Christian colleges and universities can place a significant burden on these students and their families;

WHEREAS Country Oaks Baptist Church seeks to share in the effort to train our young men and women for future Christian service through higher level Christian education;

WE PROPOSE the creation of the Country Oaks Baptist Church Christian College Matching Scholarship Fund.

What this fund would be intended to do:

• To take advantage of existing Ministry Matching Grants and Scholarships offered by Christian colleges and universities.
• The SCHOLARSHIP would be available to full-time undergraduate students attending qualifying Christian colleges or universities. The Scholarship would be available for one year, and all students must reapply every year. Students must attend a school that offer such Ministry Matching Grants and Scholarships, and that qualifies as described under “Eligibility Criteria for Students.”

What this fund is not intended to do:

• This FUND is not intended to be a scholarship or grant fund offered to every and any undergraduate college student from Country Oaks Baptist Church or the community of Tehachapi, even if they are attending a “Christian” school.
• This FUND is not intended to be offered to students at any or every “Christian” school, as many Christian colleges and universities today do not have mission statements, doctrinal statements, faculty hiring policies, or student admission policies, that would be consistent with, and supportive of, the conservative evangelical and orthodox positions held by Country Oaks Baptist Church.

 Eligibility Requirements for Students:

1. Applicant must be a Christian, and be able to give testimony to his or her faith and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ, both by spoken and written words, and by the testimony of their lives, exhibiting the Christian characteristics of one who “…walks worthy of God…” (I Thessalonians 2:12) in daily life;
2. Applicant, or Applicant’s parents, must be a member in good standing at Country Oaks Baptist Church and have a demonstrable history of active participation in the ministries and community life of Country Oaks Baptist Church; or
3. If not a member, the Applicant must have a demonstrable history of active participation in the ministries and community life of Country Oaks Baptist Church for at least 3 years;
4. Applicant must be accepted and enrolled full-time (a minimum of 12 semester units or equivalent) in an eligible Christian college or university (see the “Eligibility Criteria for Colleges” below);
5. Applicant must have a letter of recommendation from a ministry leader of Country Oaks Baptist Church, or a letter of recommendation from a ministry leader of the church that they attend in their college town, verifying their active participation in the ministries and community life of their church; 
6. Applicant must complete the application, and deliver the application and recommendation letters to the Church Office by FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010.

Eligibility Criteria for Colleges or Universities

To be an eligible Christian College or University, the institution must meet the following criteria:

1. The College or University must offer a Ministry Matching Scholarship, or equivalent, to students.
2. The College or University must have a Doctrinal Statement that is consistent with the Doctrinal Statement of Country Oaks Baptist Church, as further described below.
3. The College or University must require faculty to agree with such a Doctrinal Statement, and will only hire faculty to teach our students who have a testimony to their salvation in Christ, and whose lives and doctrine are consistent with such a Doctrinal Statement.
4. The College or University must require students to agree with such a Doctrinal Statement, and will only admit students who have a testimony to their salvation in Christ, and whose lives and doctrine are consistent with such a Doctrinal Statement.

Main Points of Doctrine to Consider without Compromise:

• We recognize and believe in the authority of the Bible as the Word of God.
• We do not recognize creeds issued by man as authoritative and binding…
• The Scriptures, (both) Old and New Testaments, are the divinely inspired Word of God and infallible in their original writings. They are perfect and complete, the only written revelation of God to man and authoritative in all matters.
• There is only one God, who as Creator of the universe, manifests Himself in three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
• Man was Created in the image of God without sin. He voluntarily fell from his sinless state and sin has passed on to all mankind alienating all from God resulting in physical and spiritual death.
• Because mankind is hopelessly lost, we are in need of a Savior.
• Salvation has been provided through the substitutionary death of Jesus upon the cross. Through the shedding of His blood we have the forgiveness of sin.
• Salvation is a gift entirely by the grace of God.
• Christ’s Church is composed of all born-again believers who are voluntarily united together for (the) Worship of God, ministering to the saints, evangelizing and discipling, keeping the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Navigating in the New World

Navigating in the New World is finished for 2009. 

Monthly seminars for teenagers, adults, parents and grandparents on raising the next generation to make a difference in our world and to be successful in their lives.

Sunday, June 28, 2009 – 6:00 pm. 

Topic:  “Future Marriage” – Learn the skills needed to have a successful, wonderful marriage

Sunday, April 26, 2009  – 6 pm

Discover the secrets of healthy families…What do these strong families have in common?  How do they do it?

This is a great seminar for both parents and teens!  Discover what really works to reduce confict.  Get on the same page as your teen, or your parents.  Start living as the family God inteded you to be! 

Hosted by Dr. Doug Cowan, Pastor of Family and Student Ministries

Sunday, January 25, 2009 - 6 pm

Pastor Doug will take a look at video game addictions, cell phone use and misuse, and internet pornography abuse and addictions in teenagers. No childcare. Because of the topic no one under the age of 12 will be permitted.

Special Event for Teens & AWANA

September 12, 2009 – Information is trickling in on a special event for teens and those involved in AWANA. Check out the posters around the church!  The date is Saturday, September 12th from 8:30 am to 1:30 pm at Bear Valley Church. After registration, doughnuts and coffee, participants will enjoy a band and many workshops geared towards what our youth are dealing with currently. Here’s just a sampling:

• Worship Music with Jim Carr – for those interested in going into music ministry. Why we worship. What is worship. Sharing resources.
• Creationism with James Henderson–you were created by a loving heavenly Father.
• Authentic Beauty (girls only)—based on the book with open discussion.
• Standing Firm in a Sinful World (boys only)—encouragement from His word for our young men with open discussion.
• Are you sure?—Salvation OR Leadership/Discipling with Brandon Kirby.
• Missions with Roger and Cindy Davis —why we should go.  Opportunities for youth 
• AWANA Basic Training with Chris and Eliott Uribe for LITs in AWANA.
• And more.

Flyers will be available soon.  Cost is $5. If you have questions, call Kelley Dehart at 821-1630.