Oakhurst Baptist Church

On Sunday, November 7, we honored all those we have loved and lost, taking and opportunity to name their names aloud in worship. We also honored specifically the Oakhurst Baptist Church Saints we have lost since last All Saints Sunday: Sue Woolf and Margaret Blevins. Listen as Pastor Melanie Vaughn-West reflects on these two Oakhurst saints.

Listen as Brandeis Tullos explores Mark 12:28-34, and invites us to see more deeply and compassionately into Jesus’s invitation in a way that invites us to include ourselves and maybe even start there.

We are living in times where feelings of loss, isolation, and loneliness have reached extreme levels. And instead of uniting us, the pervasiveness of those feelings seems to only push individuals further into feeling alone. As we examine our own circumstances alongside those in the book of Ruth, Pastor Lauren Colwell asks: “What is the call to us as individuals and as communities?” Instead of islands of isolation, how can we strive for more crowded tables?

Listen as Pastor Melanie Vaughn-West reflects on what it might mean to be a servant in a kin-dom where there are no lords and there is no hierarchy and where losing in the eyes of others just might mean liberation in the eyes of our own souls. Melanie’s sermon is followed by a song by Lee Bains and a prayer by Leslie Withers.

On Pride Sunday 2021, we welcomed back Oakhurst-ordained Rev. Benjamin Curry, who reflects on Mark 10:17-31. Ben shares: “Pride is about getting down to earth and being true to who you have always been. No shame. You cannot truly understand pride unless you truly understand shame…and release it.”

“There is something in every one of you that waits, listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself and if you cannot hear it, you will never find whatever it is for which you are searching.…” – Howard ThurmanListen as Melanie Vaughn-West shares her search for the genuine in her own heart and invites… Read more »

“I learn by going where I have to go.” (Theodore Roethke) Karen Bryant Shipp shared experiences, both planned and unexpected, from her recent sabbatical/pilgrimage to the Cedars of Peace in Nerinx, KY.

We celebrate the 20 years that Karen Bryant Shipp has led Oakhurst Baptist in experiencing connection to music, one another, and God’s work for justice in God’s world!

Get a glimpse of our All-Church Retreat in Hayesville, North Carolina and listen to this reflection by our retreat leaders, Marty and Robin Anderson!

Listen as Rev. Brandon T. Maxwell, Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs at Columbia Theological Seminary, reflects on the mysterious John 6:51-58 text, where Jesus talks about the bread of life.