Welcome to Oak Springs Community Church!
Thanks for visiting our website! Oak Springs Community Church is a group of believers dedicated to loving God and the people in our lives, for His glory. Our mission is to get the good news of Jesus Christ into the lives of the people we live with, work with, play with, and interact with. These relational connections we have are the ‘live wires’ God uses to transform lives! We hope that your visit here will be inspiring.
We meet together on Sunday mornings for worship and study of God’s Word. We welcome you to venture out to Grand Isle Senior Apartment Homes in Murrieta each Sunday at 10 AM to experience God in worship and to study God’s Word with us as we equip one another with the truth.
To say, “our doors are always open” would be a little misleading, for our “doors” belong to the Grand Isles. But it is an understanding of Oak Springs’ that we are ‘open doors’ to the love of God and His grace by the sheer fact of His open arms to us. We’ve been embraced by our Heavenly Father and we are just one of many of His open doors to the world He loves and gave His only begotten Son to rescue. So, we welcome you with open arms!
Good Monday morning...
… and the 2026 Winter Olympics have captured the attention of the TV viewing at the Patton household. For the 40-year existence of said “Patton household” the Olympics have always dominated our TV viewing. Lisa is an avid fan of everything Olympics. The thing I love about the Olympics over the years is the continual advancement and improvement of performance. Who would have ever imagined an ice skater doing quadruples! And this year, we were wowed by the “Quad God” Ilia Malinin, who consistently landed quads and led the US Figure Skating team to a gold medal.
But the unimaginable happened in the final men’s program. The Quad God got the yips! Sports analysts have written about the surprising and disappointing performance as a case of the yips. I have heard the term on the golf course, lining up for a put, and missing a high percentage putt due to the yips. But now it was applied to the Olympic pressure that these elite athletes experience, and for 21-year-old Ilia Malinin, it is reported to be an experience that can be used to improve his game.
Leaving the psychology of the yips to athletic coaches, I will offer a thought about the yips in terms of Christian living. It seems we are in a vacuum of Christ-like performances in our world today. Missed opportunities to shine the light of God’s love on our neighbors, choosing self over the well-being of others, or acting as deterrents to the decaying of civility in our politically divided communities.
As believers in Christ on the world stage of community life, lets learn from the yips of missed opportunities and misguided attempts at humor at the expense of others, and humbly grow in our living like Christ where we live. I come back often to the “breathe a prayer” strategy of pausing before acting… checking in with God and intentionally aligning my soul with God prior to engaging with people. There are so many opportunities for us to engage the world with kindness and service, rather than criticizing and drawing uncrossable lines in the sand to alienate those who see things differently.
“Pobody’s Nerfect!” Obviously, but we are Spirit-filled people who have direct access to Almighty God, and therefore, we can overcome the yips! Slow down and review God’s will and plan for you today. Ask Him for guidance and peace as you engage with the people in your life. Christ doesn’t demand perfection, but He is perfect and with Him we can overcome the yips and perform at maximum efficiency for all the world to see!
For His glory,
Pastor Mike