2015-16 Update

Dear Friends of Oasis Fellowship:

It is August and normally we would be announcing our August speaker to kick-off another year of Oasis Fellowship meetings.  With many of our volunteers in workplace transitions this year, we have chosen to suspend meetings for the 2015-16 academic year.  Please know that we are not ending Oasis fellowship.  Rather, the year will be used to review, renew and expand our volunteer group and to structure our efforts so that Oasis meetings can continue.  The first five years have been blessed by God and successful through the ad hoc service of our volunteer group.  To continue into the future, the volunteer group that makes Oasis happen needs to develop a more formal structure that allows it to be self-sustaining and to transcend a single group of people.  We want the Oasis Fellowship gatherings to continue to be a blessing to faculty, staff and students far into the future. 

So, we ask for your prayers and support over the coming year.  Specifically, please pray for wisdom for the current volunteers as we plan for the future.  Pray for the Lord to move in the hearts of additional faculty and staff to help continue this ministry into the future.  If you have found the Oasis gatherings to be a blessing, please consider taking a more active role in making the meeting happen into the future. 

The Oasis volunteers will continue to meet the first Wednesday of each month from 12 to 1 pm in room 330E Burruss.  If you would like to learn more about our plans and/or to join as a volunteer we invite you to join us.  If you have suggestions for ways that the Oasis gatherings might improve we would welcome your input.

Sincerely,

The Oasis Volunteers

April 15th Speaker - Minnis Ridenour

Oasis Fellowship would like to announce that the speaker for the April 15th meeting will be Mr. Minnis Ridenour.  Mr. Ridenour’s career at Virginia Tech spans three decades, beginning in 1974 as the university’s Budget Director and Chief Business Officer, later serving as Vice President for Finance until his promotion in 1987 as Executive Vice President.  In 2001, he was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and served in this role until his retirement in 2005.  Minnis has remained affiliated with Virginia Tech as Senior Fellow for Resource Development and as an Affiliated Faculty member in SPIA.

Since his retirement, Minnis and his wife, Louise, have been involved as volunteers with mission projects in the local community as well as internationally where they are leading an effort to develop programs in theological education to prepare pastors and church leaders for the United Methodist Church in the post-communist countries of Europe and the Balkans.  In addition, Minnis and Louise have devoted time to programs which assist families at risk and street children in Kiev, Ukraine.

Come on out and enjoy the fellowship, worship, and message that will be based on our theme, “His Hands, Our Hands.”

March 18th Speaker - Shahn Wilburn

Oasis Fellowship would like to announce that the speaker for the March 18^th meeting will be Dr. Shahn Wilburn, Pastor of Riverview Baptist Church.  He has been a faithful servant at Riverview Baptist in Ripplemead, VA since 1980.  A native of Giles County, he has obtained a well-rounded education by obtaining degrees from Ferrum Junior College (Ferrum, VA), East Tennessee State University (Johnson City, TN), Piedmont Bible College (Winston-Salem, NC), Liberty University (Lynchburg, VA), and Golden State School of Theology (Stockton, CA).  Come on out and enjoy the fellowship, worship, and message that will be based on our theme, “His Hands, Our Hands.”

February 18th Speaker - Bishop Anthony Tucker

Oasis Fellowship would like to announce that the speaker for the February 18^th meeting will be Bishop Anthony Tucker, pastor of Greater Mount Zion United Holiness Church in Christiansburg.  If your schedule permits, feel free to come and join us for fellowship, worship, and a message that will be based on our 2014-15 theme, “His Hands, Our Hands.”    

January 21st Speaker – Ken Smith

Oasis Fellowship would like to announce that the speaker for the January 21st meeting will be Dr. Ken Smith.  He is the Vice Provost for Resource Management& Institutional Effectiveness at Virginia Tech and has been a faithful servant within the campus community since 1997.  Come on out and enjoy the fellowship, worship, and message that will be based on our theme, “His Hands, Our Hands.”