Oakfield Village Tea

On May 2, 2010 from 1:00-3:00PM, the Oakfield Village Tea will be taking place at Oakfield United Methodist Church. There will be tea, snacks and desserts available throughout the event. The speaker will be Susan Marie Manzke. Her speech is entitled, "Saving the Past".

History isn't only in textbooks. It comes from the every day lives of
ordinary people. Collecting family stories and handing them down to future
generations is a gift anyone can give. Susan will share personal stories
while giving tips that will help everyone start their own family
collection.

We would love to see you in Oakfield for this event. Tickets are $7.00 in advance and can be reserved by contacting the church office at (920) 583-3352. Others you can get your tickets at the event for $9.00.

Brent Vernon in Concert

I am excited to announce that we will be hosting Brent Vernon at Oakfield United Methodist Church. The performance will take place on May 28, 2010 at 7:00PM. No tickets will be required, nor is there any cost for admission. A love offering will be taken during the course of the performance. The Oakfield Youth Group will be selling concessions before, during the intermission, and after the show. Brent will have recordings available for sale as well.

Brent Vernon is a writer, illustrator, and performing musician. Since the summer of 1995, Brent has toured in 48 states, Canada, Australia, and the Caribbean executing a calendar of 75 to 210 concerts each year in schools, churches, coffee house and a myriad of other venues.

Over the last decade, Brent has developed an unusual ability to communicate with people of all ages by keeping his message clear, his methods current, and his presentation polished. His approach is simple, often using only a keyboard to accompany his warm vocal stylings.

Brent’s music, namely the song “If You’re Not In It” from his latest CD, A Thousand Pictures, was enthusiastically received on Christian radio stations across the nation, topping the charts in several markets.

Brent is also a ventriloquist. With the growing popularity of his friend “Sam”, many of Brent’s performances have taken a decided kid-friendly turn, with terrific response.

To find out more, please check out his website at: http://www.brentvernon.com/. He also has a Facebook site at: http://www.facebook.com/BrentVernonOnFB.

New Commercial Opportunities

I do enjoy living in the Oakfield community. It is quiet, peaceful and friendly. I like walking to get my mail each day and I appreciate how easy it is to take a walk and not worry about traffic.

The main drawback to living in Oakfield is that there is not much commercial development in the city. For almost anything, we need to travel to Fond du Lac. We have a gas station/convenience store, a bank, a salon and a bar/restaurant. We have a few other small business, but these are the ones that come to mind or are businesses we have frequented.

A few months ago I heard a rumor that they were doing to be putting a seven store strip mall in the lot where the grocery store used to be. Some were questioning if it would ever happen. It appears that this is going to happen! The picture that you see is what remains of one of the old buildings.

Christa and I have been trying to brainstorm a list of stores that we would like to see in there. I have to counter that with thinking of stores that also have the potential to survive in a city of 1,000 people. Thus far, I think a Subway would be great. I also think a ice cream/candy store may have some potential. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Regardless, I celebrate any steps that Oakfield makes to expand. Between this and the new housing development taking place by the old Belle Reynolds school, I an encouraged by what could happen in this community.

Oakfield Pork Chop Supper - No Longer a Rookie

While working my first Pork Chop Supper, I was told by a member of the congregation (who shall remain nameless) that my true worth as a pastor for the church will be demonstrated, not at the pulpit, but at the supper. Ha!

I found out in advance of the dinner that the pastor's responsibility was to play host. I would take tickets and show people to their table. Having a background in catering, I actually enjoyed the responsibility. My co-host, Traci, and I did a good job in this area. She was an excellent teacher :).

Based on ticket counts, we served about 380 people in the church fellowship hall and sold at least 100 to go dinners. More than 580 pounds of pork chops were grilled for the event, and...we sold out of pork chops! We sold out at around 7:30, so we did not have to turn anyone away. It had been a long time since we've sold out. This is good news indeed!

Taking this event in for the first time, I was really amazed by how smooth of an operation this event can be. It takes a lot of people to make this happen, but everyone knows the role that they are supposed to play. It was wonderful to see so many folks from the church gathering together to make this event happen. It is a great community event and something that a many folks look forward to each year.

Congratulations members of Oakfield United Methodist Church! You did great!!

Town Hall Meeting - Sunday's Service.

I had every intention of attending the Oakfield Town Council meeting last night, but I was not able to go. I hope to be able to attend in September. I want to make an effort to be knowledgeable and aware of the affairs of this village. In Oshkosh trying to do that was intimidating...I think it will be more manageable on this level. I did notice earlier this week that Tom Petri would be visiting Oakfield for a Town Hall Meeting.

With all the hub bub over health care and some of the interesting occurrences that have happened at these meetings around the country, I wanted to check it out. I was curious to see how many people would show up. Walking down Main Street, I noticed a lot of cars parked. I could tell this one was going to be packed. That was the case. It was a standing room only crowd.

With one hour for the meeting, Petri fielded a variety of questions and allowed for people to comment. Much of the discussion revolved around concerns regarding health care. Other topics included illegal immigration, off-shore drilling, media bias, and the taking of God out of America.

It was neat to see democracy inaction and it was neat to see a Congressman talking to the people about the issues that concern them. But...I sensed a great deal of fear among the crowd. They were fearful of socialism creeping into America. They were fearful of losing benefits to illegal aliens. They were fearful for a secular United States that lost its religious roots. One man said he was mad at the state of the country, but he didn't know what to do.

* * * * * *

I wish I had an easy answer for that man. Politics aside, there are lots of issues that we are wrestling with. This Sunday, the theme of the worship services at Tabor and Oakfield is about wisdom.Specifically, we will be looking at Solomon's desire for wisdom above everything when God asks him what he wanted. Hopefully, we can learn more about how to proceed in times when we are uncertain, scared and overwhelmed. God bless.