2023: A Year of Transition
2023 at OMPC. A year of transition with great momentum!
As we wrap up 2023, I can’t help but feel gratitude to the Lord for so many things He has done during this year of preparation for our Lead Pastor transition. We heard over and over again of the “parade of providence” from the Pastoral Search Committee regarding their experience of searching for our next Lead Pastor, Caleb Click. And in the midst of the search and the waiting, we’ve seen God’s providence over every area of our church and our ministries. The Lord has graciously brought amazing new staff members to our team, He has brought an abundance of new members to our church, and we’ve seen thriving ministry from our Oak Kids to our Forerunners and everyone in between! Additionally, the Lord has mobilized members over the fence, over the mountain and overseas through our Serve Days and short-term trips. Aslan is on the move!
Now as we prepare to turn the page into 2024, and as I pass the baton to Caleb Click to lead our church into this New Year, let us remember that in a season of transition, God is still the same. As we have seen Him go before us in so many ways over the last year, we can trust He has gone before us into 2024 and the years to come! Dear church, let us run the race with endurance, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith and the one who sits on the throne as King and Lord of all!
Engaging Every Neighbor With the Surprising Power of Grace
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Engaging Every Neighbor With the Surprising Power of Grace 〰️
2023 Sermon Series
Introducing OMPC’s Next Lead Pastor, Caleb Click
Just over a year ago, Bob Flayhart announced his plans to redeploy from Lead Pastor to Founding Pastor at Large. As a congregation, we were informed of the big picture process but had no idea all that the Lord had in store for us in the coming year! In the Fall of 2022 we nominated and voted to approve our Pastoral Search Committee. In January we hosted a “Discovery Weekend” for our consultants and committee to hear from our members about “the state of our church” to help find the type of leader we need. In March we began the search! In August we were informed of the final candidate and got to hear from Caleb Click in the pulpit preaching as well as personally during a panel on a Sunday morning. We then voted to approve the PSC’s nomination of Caleb Click as OMPC’s next Lead Pastor and Caleb was installed in November as OMPC’s next Lead Pastor. Click the button below to access the Lead Pastor Transition Page with all the information from the first announcement, through Caleb’s Candidating weekend to the November 26 Lead Pastor Installation Service.
Transition Timeline:
“Seeking the Lord Together” Event in June of 2023. A time of worship and prayer together for our next Lead Pastor at OMPC.
“Get to Know Caleb Click” panel Q&A on Caleb’s Candidating weekend in August 2023.
Prayer with the elders over Caleb Click during his installation service as OMPC Lead Pastor.
Flayhart Celebration Weekend
“Sheltered” by Gina Hurry
Painting presented to Bob and Laurie on Celebration Sunday, honoring their time, ministry and investment over the last 35 years.
This year’s Week of Prayer landed on a significant week in the life of our church! While we had the Week of Prayer planned for August 13-20, we had no idea that it would be the week in between our Lead Pastor Candidate announcement and his candidating weekend. On August 13, we gathered in the Gym at 9:30 am for a Combined Discipleship Hour of Prayer where we prayed through the Values of OMPC: Grace Driven, Relationally Authentic, Kingdom Oriented; as well as for Caleb Click and this huge season at OMPC. Throughout the week we shared prayer prompts through each of our values and encouraged all our congregation to stop and pray at 8:26 am and 8:26 pm, in connection with Romans 8:26.
OVER THE PEW
Engaging every neighbor with the surprising power of grace…OVER THE PEW.
101 New Members
New Leadership Commissions: 1 Elder; 2 Deacons; 7 Women Shepherds
Receiving new members and communicant children on December 3, 2023.
Last Discover OMPC with Bob Flayhart.
Installation Service and prayer for P.D. Mayfield and Dax Gibson.
Women Shepherd commissioning on August 27, 2023.
P.D. Mayfield, Pastor of Shepherding Care
Dax Gibson, Pastor of Life Groups, New Members and Outreach
Caroline Rives, JrHi Girls Coordinator
Stephanie Maxey, Guest and New Member Coordinator
Morgan Nordyke, Missions Coordinator
Kendra Knowles, Financial & HR Coordinator
Haylee Stuart, Mustard Seeds Coordinator
Katherine O’Neal, Nursery Coordinator
Megan Elliott, New role as Children’s Ministry Assistant
Jenn Trucks, Assistant to Executive Suite
Tim McCracken, New role as Pastor of Visitation and Care
WORSHIP MINISTRY at OMPC
Kids Musical, Please Come Home.
20th Annual Bullfrog Choir
Retreats
April 27-30, Blue Mountain Beach, FL
81 Women went on a retreat diving into what it means to belong to the Lord and the body of Christ.
“As I reflect on my time at the retreat, I’m beginning to realize that It’s often in the places where I feel most vulnerable that the Lord allows me to experience the deepest connection and belonging.”
JrHi The Edge: 57 students
SrHi Beach Retreat: 71 students
JrHi Getaway: 68 students
SrHi Winter Advance: 78 students
“It’s always amazing to see the walls between grades, schools, and friend groups be torn down through retreats...students came as acquaintances and left with Christ-centered meaningful friendships.”
76 Fathers & Sons attended a weekend-long retreat full of worship, teaching, games and bonding time for dads and their boys!
“This weekend helps create and nurture a bond that is already forming between us. It’s an example of how we should go to the Lord with all our problems, worries, praises, which I want my son to do, just like I want him to come to me with questions about anything he is thinking or dealing with.”
31 Young Professionals spent time away for the weekend to enjoy fellowship with one another and time with the Lord.
At the end of October, our Forerunners joined with others from Asbury United Methodist Church for a trip to Nashville, Tennessee, where they saw shows, received tours and experienced all the city has to offer! This was a great time of fellowship and connection for our 30 Forerunners at OMPC.
Engaging in Discipleship and Spiritual Growth Together
2023 Church-wide Devotional: New Morning Mercies
As a church we walked through the book New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp. Through this devotional, we encouraged our congregation to spend daily time with the Lord. Each Sunday’s worship service started with a call to worship using a passage of scripture during the following week’s devotional readings.
Combined Discipleship: The PCA & Human Sexuality
OMPC Men gathered for a morning of diving into the study of God’s Word using the Seeing Jesus Together Journal, which is the 2024 Bible Reading Tool for OMPC! There were 50 men in attendance at this event led by Journal creator, Ted Sinn.
Our Young Professionals Ministry also hosted their second “Elephant in the Room” mini-conference, this time calling it “Elephant in the Room 2.0.” Throughout this two-day event, community leaders shared on God’s design for men and women, diving into how the Gospel defines God’s roles and intent for males and females. Nearly 60 YoPros attended this event.
OMPC Women’s Ministry hosted a panel of three wise counselors, Kara Jones, Heather Parker and Julie Sparkman, to discuss together what it looks like to engage in biblical friendship during an age of loneliness in our culture. CLICK HERE for a replay of this event!
Our Women’s Ministry also hosted the second Strength in Weakness event that drew over 165 women to hear testimonies of God’s grace from OMPC Women in their times of suffering and weakness. This event is a testimony of the culture here at OMPC: that we, individually and as a church body, are deeply dependent on the Lord’s strength in our weakness.
Gospel-Centered Community at OMPC
The Gospel Waltz Journey continues to impact lives at OMPC! 93 men and women' attended this year’s retreat.
OVER THE FENCE
Engaging every neighbor with the surprising power of grace…OVER THE FENCE.
2023 saw OMPC’s first podcast! The ParentU Podcast is a show led by Pastor to Families of Youth, Mark Long, as he hosts various leaders and experts from the community to discuss issues and topics relevant to today’s youth. Click the button below to access our ParentU Podcast feed.
Oak Kids Summer: Over the Fence ministry all summer long!
Summer 2023 was Bloom’s first full week summer camp! We had over 180 girls and over 50 serve team members join us for this impactful week learning about the ministry’s theme verse, John 15:5.
Oak Kids concluded the summer with a Movie Night on the field! We showed Super Mario Bros and had popcorn and Kona Ice on site. It was a great way to close out the summer!
Our Children’s ministry had to pivot a few days before our annual Oak Kids Eggstravaganza was scheduled to take place due to all-day rain in the forecast for the Saturday of our event. Rather than canceling or hosting a drive-through egg grab, the event was hosted indoors in the OMPC Gym! We had a separate room for nursery, preschool and children with special needs, then two different “egg grabs” for our lower and upper elementary kids. It was organized chaos and a ton of fun!
Click the button below to access the document provided by WSOM with their 2023 Highlights!
OVER THE MOUNTAIN
Engaging every neighbor with the surprising power of grace…OVER THE MOUNTAIN.
In January 2023, we launched a Mobilization Assessment site, which, through a series of questions, assesses each member’s spiritual gifts in order to discern how members can be mobilized to serve others over the fence, over the mountain, and overseas! Click the button below to access this site.
MOBILIZATION in 2023
Led by Pastor of Mercy and Mobilization, Juan Vasquez:
Developed and Launched our OMPC Mobilization Assessment Website (over 350 assessments taken with over 180 one-on-one mobilization meetings!)
Organized 3 Serve Days in the Fall that offered 337 service opportunities
Created a Mobilization Team
Coordinated a Pastor Mobilization Cohort with local pastors
Mobilized 24 Life Groups
Mobilized 350 members
Accrued 1500 + hrs. of volunteer service
Served our Widows
MERCY Through OMPC
In 2023, the Mercy Team helped support other ministries throughout the Birmingham area:
South Park Baptist Church: Various mercy ministry initiatives ($32,650.00)
Rosedale Food Bank Distributes food to those in need in Homewood ($19,000)
Urban Hope Community Church Gospel Community in Fairfield ($12,500)
Christian Service Mission Distributes food and other essential resources ($8,750)
Work/Faith Birmingham: Empowers the vulnerable in our city through education, mentorship, and job readiness ($5,000)
Oak Mountain Mission Provides Food, Clothing, and Financial support to those in need ($6,000)
Red Mountain Grace: Supports families undergoing long-term medical procedures by providing affordable housing ($2,749)
Banks Academy: Provides Education ($1,500)
King's Home Serves youth, women, and children fleeing domestic violence ($658)
Housing/Mortage Assistance ($18,724)
Utilities ($3,042)
The Mercy Team also attended to 77 mercy cases, which provided financial support to individuals inside and outside OMPC. The financial support included covering:
Medical bills
Mortgage payments
Utilities
Counseling sessions
Housing Support
Discipleship material for prison ministry efforts
Groceries
Giving to Adoption Fund
Essential home repairs (including participating in the labor)
Total amount spent on Mercy this year through 11/30 = $219,483*
Total Mercy Income through 11/30 = $136,364
* Final financial figures for 2023 will be released in January 2024!
For this year’s Angel Tree, we collected over 160 gifts for 40 children that supported 12 families this Christmas. Oak Mountain Missions shared:
“Thank you for coordinating the Angel Tree at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church and for inspiring others to give so generously. This year, Oak Mountain Mission will serve 486 children and teens in Shelby County for Christmas. It is because of your prayers and support that we have been able to meet this need. You are brightly shining the love of Christ during this Christmas season. Thank you for living your faith through service to others.”
“Thank you for being a bright spot in a dark year! Our family appreciates you so much.”
US Missions Weekends
Our US Missions weekends started with guest speaker, Brian Habig from Downtown Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC. We heard from several ministry partners throughout the two weekends and concluded with a church-wide picnic at the Youth House. During this time, we heard from four of our US Ministry Partners about their work in Birmingham and across the country!
OVERSEAS
Engaging every neighbor with the surprising power of grace…OVERSEAS.
This year’s Global Missions Conference theme was All Things New. As a congregation, we took a week at the end of February to learn and experience how the Lord is working through our Ministry Partners all across the world to make all things new! Our theme verse was Isaiah 43:19:
“Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.”
2023 Global Missions Conference Visiting Ministry Partners
Short-Term Mission Trips
“The consistency of this camp and the outreach opportunity it represents for the non-churched community was inspiring to see. It was humbling to witness the team from Inspire be consistently dedicated to evangelizing this community with the good news of Jesus Christ.”
“The mission to Birmingham, England has made me more intentional and overt with my faith and letting the world see it. ”
“Taking our students to Nassau was one of the most eye-opening experiences I have ever had. The Lord used that trip to stretch our students beyond their limits. I have never seen students depend on each other and the Lord for support like I did in Nassau. On the first day, our kids were completely overwhelmed with the brokenness that they encountered. They were tired, exhausted, and going back the next day was a challenge. By the end of the week, our students were in tears as they said goodbye.”
