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This is The Oaks Equipped, a podcast from The Oaks Church in Liberty Hill, TX where Pastor Josh Mings talks through the stuff he didn’t have time to say on Sunday, answers the questions people are actually asking, and keeps things way more real than polished. Expect biblical truth, practical takeaways, and just enough humor to keep you guessing whether he meant it.
If you want to follow Jesus with clarity (and laugh at least once), you’re in the right place.
Untitled - July 13, 2026
00:00:00 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome back to the podcast with Josh Mings. I'm Glen Mcgourty. Welcome, Josh.
00:00:07 Speaker 2: Howdy, everybody.
00:00:08 Speaker 1: This podcast is gonna be a little bit different. We're going to kind of give you a secret. Secret, not totally.
00:00:15 Speaker 2: Secret, but.
00:00:16 Speaker 1: Give you a heads up on what's coming down the road here. We got some a lot of good activities, a lot of good information to share with dates. And I think it should drive a lot of excitement about what's happening. But let's start with what you're going to do with Mark in July and August. A little bit of miniseries that you're planning in there.
00:00:34 Speaker 2: Yeah. So as we said from the beginning, Mark is the newspaper Twitter version of the gospels. It is quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. Uh, Mark's favorite word is suddenly or quickly.
00:00:47 Speaker 1: Immediately.
00:00:48 Speaker 2: Immediately. And so unlike the book of Luke and Matthew, not a lot of detail. But with that said, there are two occasions in the book where we have an overabundance of detail. It's like Mark slows down. And so the first one of those starts in chapter four, um, with the parables. And so we're going to do a little mini series inside the book of Mark called The Stories Jesus Told, which is about the parables. And then later on at the, uh, in the spring of next year, there's a second mini series, um, about the second coming of Jesus. So they're mark slows down again. So we have two little mini series built into the book of Mark, but now we're going to go to the parables and I'm really excited about this. I've always wanted to do a slower, deep dive on the parables because they're just a beautiful, beautiful explanation of the kingdom of God. But the thing that I think that everyone will find interesting is, um, the, the gospel of Matthew actually tells us that the parables are given to conceal the kingdom of God, which you would think, okay, well, parable is um, is a illustration that helps you understand, right? Um, the word parable, uh, parallel means to literally lay something next to. So like you would, hey, I'm trying to explain this thing, so I'm going to lay this next to it so that you understand what I'm trying to say. But in reality, um, unless Jesus explains the meaning of the parable, it's a riddle, right? And what we're going to see is that the unbelieving, the crowd, the religious leaders, they're going to hear the parables of Jesus, and they're going to just be like, what is this guy talking about? Yeah. But then what ends up happening every time is the disciples, the true followers of Christ, come to him and they say, explain to us what this means. Yeah. And in that great revelation of the mystery of the kingdom are revealed. And it's going to be so encouraging. so building to us to understand the realities, the secret of the kingdom that Jesus has to share. So we'll start that July twelfth, and they'll go all the way to August ninth. And this will be our first of two mini series.
00:03:11 Speaker 1: Looking forward to it. It's like a Star Trek, you know, set of episodes. Really good. All right. Then we're going to on August sixteenth, you're going to end the twenty third. You're going to kick off a partnership class.
00:03:23 Speaker 2: Yes.
00:03:23 Speaker 1: Those that came from the Grove are familiar with the concept of partnership, but it's a little different than membership. Why don't you explain what that means?
00:03:30 Speaker 2: Yeah. So let me back up. We we now have elders. Um, many of you guys remember we installed our elders a few, uh, maybe two months ago. And since then the elders have been meeting. We've been refining our constitution and bylaws, getting all the background work we have held off on partnership or membership. Um, as you may know it, because we didn't have elders and it's not appropriate to have any type of membership without governance. Yeah. And so now that we have that, that's the next thing that we're going to do. And we call it partnership because we believe that this is a two way street. Sometimes in churches you have congregations with all the power and sometimes in congregations and churches, you have pastors with all the power. And what we believe is that it's a two way street. Now, I assume that the listener doesn't want me to take the offering every week and run to Vegas.
00:04:27 Speaker 1: Right? That would be a bad idea.
00:04:29 Speaker 2: That's a bad idea. That's inappropriate and wrong. Um, so there's that expectation that the congregation has of me and the elders that we don't abuse that power. Well, we also have expectations of those who are members of the church who participate. And in short, it's that you understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus, that you've been baptized by immersion in water, as Jesus calls and commands us that you find a place to serve, that you find a way to give what you can give, that you're aligned with what we're trying to do in our discipleship, in our disciple making efforts. So it's a two way street that everyone expects me to preach sound doctrine, preach the Word of God, not to preach my opinions. Well, the expectation goes the other way as well as a partner. There's expectations we have of you. And so we thought about all the ways that we could do this. We thought about, okay, well, we need to do a class. Um, but just logistically, because of the amount of people we anticipate, there's going to be a lot of folks. We decided, hey, we can't do a class because then that's going to pull people out of the weekend gathering, um, who are going to be serving and whatnot. And so what we just decided to do is on August sixteenth and twenty third, a two week partnership that will be our worship gathering. So I'm going to ask you, if you desire to be a partner of the Oaks, please be with us on those two dates because you're you're required to come to the two weeks where we're basically going to talk about our governance, our vision, and the expectations of partnership. We're going to give a whole presentation on the whole kit and caboodle, the theology, all of it. And then, um, after that, um, then we have elder interviews. So let me just, I know this will get complicated, but for those who came with us from the Grove and were partners at the Grove, you need to come to the first two weeks, the sixteenth and the twenty third of August. But you will not have to do a partner interview. And the reason that we're doing that is because the process of partner interviews at The Grove, we're hitting all the things that we needed.
00:06:37 Speaker 1: Like, yeah.
00:06:38 Speaker 2: Confirmation of baptism by immersion and serving and all those things. So just the two, two, uh, weekend gatherings, you can skip the, the partner interview. For those of you who didn't come from the Grove and weren't partners there. We do the partner interview. This is very important. For years I've had people come up to me and say, uh, church membership is not in the Bible, so why do we do it? And that's a really good point, because the statement is actually true. Church membership is not in the Bible, but also air conditioning is not in the Bible either. So we can't make an argument from nothing. Um, we're not asking anyone to make a pledge of loyalty to us. Membership or partnership is not an allegiance issue. Um, I like to appeal to this verse that's found in the book of Hebrews where it says this. Uh, pray for your pastors, for they keep watch over your soul so that there is this idea that as a pastor, an elder, I have a responsibility for the soul of the people who come to our church, our partners. I want to know who you are. And I want us to be aligned in and together in our pursuit of the Great Commission and to make disciples. And so while membership or partnership is not a command or mandate, it is just the acknowledgement that we're working together towards the same thing. And I want to know you and our elders want to know you. We don't want our elders to be this clandestine group behind the curtain, but they're the ones that conduct the interviews because they want to hear your story. They want to know your testimony. They want to know who you are. They want to hear how God has changed your life, and they want to be a part of the process of helping you continue to grow in your relationship with Christ. So this is just a very important thing. And so that's kind of the logistics and high level of it. Those two weeks are important. And then after that will come the interviews where you get to meet an elder and know your story and figure out how to get you plugged in. And then not long after that, the date is forthcoming. As we get closer to our one year anniversary in September. We'll have our first partners meeting, where we'll share a year's worth. Of all the good news, the finances partners are invited to that because they share in the participation of what God is doing at the Oaks. And so we'll have that right about the time of our one year anniversary and announce these are all the partners of the Oaks. This is what God has done in this last year and celebrate that day.
00:09:18 Speaker 1: And I remember the from the from the Grove. The partners also make decisions in terms of how we move forward financially on capital projects. Yeah. Installation of the elders and other important decisions. Again, it's a partnership. And we want to get everybody's feedback and vote on that.
00:09:35 Speaker 2: And that's why we're it's at that meeting where the constitution and bylaws of the church become public. You know, in the event of a capital purchase like land or facility, um, you know, partners would contribute in the voting of how we move forward and what we do. And so it's a very important part, and it's how it's how we work together to keep keep this thing on rails to make sure it's done above reproach and with integrity. It's a two way street.
00:10:01 Speaker 1: Yeah. And I remember when we were initiating the kickoff for the Oaks, the how important it was that everybody understood that we need to be rowing in the same direction with the mission and vision. And I think the partnership allows us to keep everybody on the same page where we're going. And so we don't have that drift over time. Like discipleship is not so important. And we really have to say, make sure we always keep the vision and mission in front of us and the decisions that we're making as partners and in leadership and elders, it's all towards that same vision, same bingo. Yeah.
00:10:34 Speaker 2: Drift is so easy. And this is, this is how we remain aligned, just like you said. Um, and so it's a beautiful thing. Can't wait. Excited for what God's doing.
00:10:43 Speaker 1: Yeah. Looking forward to it again. That was August sixteenth and the twenty third.
00:10:47 Speaker 2: Yes.
00:10:47 Speaker 1: At the church. At the school?
00:10:49 Speaker 2: At the school. For a normal worship gathering. This is a great time. As we've added new folks, they can just kind of hear what we're all about. Just because you come to that doesn't automatically make you a partner. You don't have to do that. But this will be a great opportunity for us just to recenter on what our vision and purpose and what we're doing. And I think it'll be everyone will enjoy it because they're like, okay, this is what The Oaks is all about.
00:11:11 Speaker 1: And I think another benefit is if you're new, you get to feel like you're, again, part of the team. You weren't with the initial team kick off, which is fine, but now you're with we're all partners going forward, which is great. Next step or next opportunity that we're going to be doing is the DMG launch. That's discipleship making groups. And we're really excited about this. This is.
00:11:33 Speaker 2: Oh, it's been a long time coming.
00:11:34 Speaker 1: One of our core DNA, uh, things here. Um, but we're going to go ahead and do a kickoff on September twenty seventh, but we're going to get some things ready so that we can really launch as many groups as possible, because we have a lot of people that are interested in doing this.
00:11:47 Speaker 2: Long time coming. Um, side note, you know, I, we, we went through the book of judges after we did, um, um, uh, Ephesians in the book of judges was meant to cause us to see the need for true and honest discipleship. Just a side note, humble, humble by God's grace. Um, I wrote a book based on that series and I just finished it and it's being sent off to a publisher. Wow. And so, Lord willing, we'll see if this book can be published. But that book was meant to create this sense of urgency in us, that we need a different way to address the darkness in this world. And it's through discipleship. It's through the very thing that we're trying to accomplish in our dmgs. So I know there's been a lot of talk. Josh constantly talks about it, hints at it. It's coming, it's coming, it's coming. There's been a lot of work behind the scenes. In order to effectively launch Dmg's, we need leaders. We still are in need of leaders. So if you're hearing this and you may not even fully know what a DMG is, but you've been around for a while and you know how to handle your Bible. Um, we need leaders. And so we've been working behind the scenes to have enough groups to accommodate the amount of people that need to be discipled. And so we set a target date of September the twenty seventh to go live with the groups. What we anticipate is that we're probably going to have somewhere between twenty and twenty five groups, but that's not enough to serve everyone that wants to be discipled. But it's a good starting place, and we thank God for what he's provided. So that work has been going on behind the scenes. And, you know, however many groups and leaders he provides is how many he provides. And so we'll, we'll link people who want to be discipled in those groups starting in late September. But for those who want to be discipled, but we don't have a group, we're going to do something special that we're calling the DMG incubator. And so I'm not going to get into all the details here, but in short, what it is, is I will take every person that's like, hey, I want to be discipled. And we will do a six to eight week class where I spell out everything that disciple making, discipleship making group is and what it's about, and we'll model it and we'll try to get as many people up to speed on the program that we're trying to build. I'm going to make this, this comment because it'll be important that you see this on the front end and then understand on the back end on our next big announcement, we are very rigid and dogmatic about discipleship, meaning Dmgs are how we make disciples. We're rigid about that. It's it's it's sacred to us. It's in stone how we do the other things we're open about. And that will make sense when we get to that announcement in a second. So this is our primary way of, of having discipleship and spiritual growth is through dmgs. So don't get discouraged. So September comes, you're like, hey, Josh, I'm ready to step up and be discipled. We're going to get you in a DMG group as long as we have space. If there's no space, don't get discouraged. We're going to have the incubator, which is going to be a six to eight week course where basically we're going to get as many people trained up to see what a DMG is and how it works and all those things. And then out of that incubator, we're going to start more groups. And Lord willing, this will just catch fire and there will be a discipleship, um, making effort that just blows all of our minds and the heartbeat of our church just takes off through these DMG launches in September.
00:15:43 Speaker 1: Yeah. So when you say this is a rigid point, you know, DMG you're really talking about this is the way we're going to do discipleship. But when we do the DMG, we're really just looking for a consistent process, a consistent set of outcomes through the process. So how you actually deliver that with your group, you have that flexibility, but there is a certain process and a certain set of things that we're trying to accomplish in each session. So we have the same outcome that is repeatable. And then when you're when those folks that you're teaching then start discipling other people, it's consistent, repeatable, going through.
00:16:19 Speaker 2: Yeah. That's the thing because I, I've spoken at nauseam and I know everyone is tired of it. The idea is, hey, Josh, why don't you do Sunday school or why don't you do this class? Because the reality is, is it's not discipleship. It's, it's, you're gathering information, which is important and good. But then the question is, after you take the class, can you teach the class you took? You took my class on this subject. Can you now teach the class? Discipleship has to be repeatable, and we're trying to decentralize the church. We don't have a building, right? We're limited on our resources and time and availability. I want to I want to decentralize this and empower you, the listener, to learn how to self feed, read your Bible, pray every day, interact with God's Word, and then be able to show someone how to do the exact same thing.
00:17:06 Speaker 1: The day to day rhythms that you're expecting to see. So if I go to the incubator, um, what should I expect as like in the class? And then what am I if I do that and I quote, graduate, what, what am I going to do when I come out? AM I going to just be like, given four people and I'm on my own? How am I going to do this?
00:17:24 Speaker 2: Yeah, I hope the incubator turns into some great community. So maybe there's a, you know, your couple and you have a couple friend that, hey, they want to be discipled, like go to the incubator together and we can, we can start with the intention of you use the incubator to learn the play, learn what we're trying to do, and then you guys go out and start, um. That's what I'm saying. I don't I'm not rigid on that end. You know, whether it's a group of guys where it's a couple, uh, with other couples, um, you know, I'm not rigid on that. What I'm rigid on is the play that we're running. Yeah. And so you come to the incubator, what you can expect is it's going to be simultaneously, uh, teaching and undoing, uh, our preconceived notions of what discipleship is and then building back, okay, this is our form of discipleship that's rhythms that are repeatable. And then what we'll do is we'll do little mini dmgs. Yep. So you'll go home that week and you'll read your Bible every day, follow the play that's in the evergreen material. You'll memorize the scripture verse, and then we'll come back and we'll discuss it. We'll talk about it, and then I'll ask probing questions. Why are we doing it this way? Um, you know, what is this leading to? And then and then, um, basically model in a large group what the small group will look like. Um, and what that does is that gives us purity of quality assurance. So you may come to the incubator and you may not feel ready to be a leader, but you know how to be, you know, a student or a follower in a DMG and you can make sure that they were staying true. Yeah. Because the hardest thing is we, Lord willing, multiply is you have to keep the purity and the consistent, the quality assurance of what.
00:19:03 Speaker 1: We're trying to do. Yeah. And if someone's not comfortable coming out of the incubator to lead, we can certainly partner them up. Let them work with another group for six, seven, eight weeks until they can get that rhythm, understand how it works, and then they can launch their own. Yeah. Easy to do, pretty straightforward. And, and by and large, the, the content is very understandable. Yeah. The books are laid out very nicely. They have questions already in there. And then we have some other resources that are being built now to help out even further. Yeah. Okay, so we have the DMG launch September twenty seventh incubator to be determined. And it's exciting, very exciting news to get to get that going. We're also talking about you mentioned this last week, men's and women's ministry. You have some some ideas and some things there as well.
00:19:54 Speaker 2: Yes. So this is very important. I want again, what we're rigid on is our discipleship making process rigid. It's not going anywhere.
00:20:04 Speaker 1: So are we rigid about dmgs?
00:20:06 Speaker 2: We are rigid.
00:20:07 Speaker 1: Okay, I wasn't sure. I'm not flexible.
00:20:10 Speaker 2: We are not flexible.
00:20:11 Speaker 1: Okay.
00:20:11 Speaker 2: Um, but what we recognize is and we hear it, we feel it. There is a need and it is a biblical, godly thing. There is a need for fellowship and community. Now, first of all, the DMG can fulfill that need and I, I will, I will defend that forever. You know, some of the closest men that I've ever had in my life are from my dmgs that has a place for it. But because we're rigid, we want to make the purity of the DMG. Its primary function is not relational, it's disciple making. With that said, we do need connecting opportunities and events and, and, um, and so we see the men's and women's ministries as opportunities to do that. So to make sure that we keep the lines clear and the differences clear between ministry and discipleship, we've kind of created a matrix and guideline for what men's and women's ministry look like and do, and function so that it doesn't creep into something that would compete with disciple making. Disciple making is hard work. And what I know to be true is if we don't keep these lines clean, people will elect to do what's easier instead of what's harder.
00:21:33 Speaker 1: Na.
00:21:35 Speaker 2: And so this is to it's so important as a young church, we keep this vision and identity of who we are crystal clear. So men's and women's ministry will be made up of four elements that are very important. Number one is prayer. And so what's been cool is over the last couple of months, there's been prayer meetings that have been happening. And prayer is a great way to, to, to really identify, um, the priorities of people you call a prayer meeting and not very many people will show up. And so prayer is important to us and we want to continue to develop and grow in that because we're not going to see God move in miraculous ways unless we're praying people. The next element is going to be fun. Um, the book of acts tells us that the, the gathering together in fellowship and community is vital. And we recognize that we, we don't have a church building, as I mentioned, and the need to get together and just let our hair down and have fun and goof off is absolutely spiritual and important. And so we want to provide opportunities for that. So the ladies who are in charge of the women's ministry, they're working on activities. I'm, I'm working with a few of the guys to plan a deep sea fishing trip in the spring. Um, you know, opportunities just to get together in people's house and watch the ball game and eat good food and goof off like that is absolutely necessary. And so we are making a consistent rhythm of opportunities to connect, to pray and have fun. And then our two next things which are serving. So I know, I know the guys and the gals are working on opportunities to serve at the local food bank. Um, there's a, there's a facility here in town I know that they've worked towards like doing construction projects to improve the facilities. Those are very important things. So we pray together, we have fun together and we serve together. And then finally, the last parameter is what I want to call bless activity. Bless activity ties directly to what we learn in Dmgs. And so let me just give you an example. And I'm giving you this example because again, this is not rigid. This is where the freedom and the creativity can come in. What does fun look like? It could look like anything. What does serving look like? It could look like anything like this part is not rigid. This part is wide open and fun. Bless. Activity. Last year, my wife, um, for Halloween, uh, she put out a little table in our driveway and had snacks and goodies and candies and, and tracks and, and all these things. And then she made little cards with our pictures and a note and then a little goodie bag. And we walked around our neighborhood and introduced ourselves to every home, uh, you know, in a two block radius of our house. This was bless activity. Okay. This was us coming up with a way. How do we engage and love our neighbors around us? My wife loved it. She was living her best life. All the people. After she delivered the goodie bags, we came and sat down and were handing out candy in the driveway. I hated it.
00:24:48 Speaker 1: You hated it.
00:24:49 Speaker 2: I hated it, but she loved it. And she was. She was living into who God made her to be.
00:24:56 Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:24:57 Speaker 2: Okay, so here's what I'm saying. When I say bless activity, I don't want to institutionalize, bless, activity, fun and serving. I want to let you free. I've institutionalized and become rigid about disciple making because that engine has to be pure and true. And we have to make sure that we're following this to the tee so that it it reproduces and has the potency that it needs to have. But what my wife did is in her heart, she thought like a missionary. What can I uniquely do to love my neighbor? So like we talk on this podcast all the time about the Mormons coming to the house. I love it when the Mormons come to the house and I get to talk. I love it when they come and I get to talk about God. Like, that's the way I'm uniquely wired.
00:25:47 Speaker 1: But but your wife.
00:25:49 Speaker 2: That's not to say that she doesn't do a good job at that too. And she doesn't love it.
00:25:52 Speaker 1: It's not her favorite thing.
00:25:53 Speaker 2: Yeah. But but she wants she she wants relationships. She wants to meet community. She wants to see how she can connect with the other moms in the block.
00:26:02 Speaker 1: That's right.
00:26:03 Speaker 2: And so what I'm saying is we want to release you to be a missionary. So for the men and women to get together and think about, okay, Halloween is something that we don't personally participate in. You're not going to see us dressing up. And, you know, it's I'm not trying to make a statement by that. Um, I know that people have different convictions and I respect that. That's not my point in saying that we're not going to participate in this, but for us to deny that the mission field comes to our door one night a year, and for us not to capitalize on that opportunity, I think is a mistake. And so here's my point. I want to release the Oaks Church into thinking missionally. You know, Dan Reimer on staff. He's a missionary to the Dominican Republic. And in his time there, he had to think through like, okay, what do we need to do to reach these people with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Now, unfortunately, there were tragic, um, earthquakes in South America. You know, if Dan was to hop on a plane from the Dominican Republic and go down to South America, and, um, he might have to change up his playbook. He might have to change what works in the Dominican Republic, what works in Liberty Hill, Texas may not work in South America. Like that's the way I want people to be thinking, what can we do to make an impact in our sphere where we work, live and play? And how can we do bless in meaningful ways in our neighborhood and in our schools? And, and so that's where I want the freedom to come. And so we're going to try to say, okay, at this time of year, we're going to try to do a strategic way for you to bless your neighborhood. And then you get to fill in the blanks. It could be having a potluck, it could be having dinner, it could be doing what Abby did. It could be doing what I would do. It doesn't. I want to release you to be a missionary. And so that's how our men and women are going to take shape. Those ministries are going to take shape. We're going to have plenty of prayer. We're going to have fun together. We're going to serve in meaningful strategic ways, but then we are going to release Bless Activity, where we are strategically finding ways to engage the people around us.
00:28:15 Speaker 1: Yeah, engage them. Like you said, even just meeting with their neighbors, building those relationships and have opportunities to share the gospel, let them know who God is and how he's changed your life and just take time to to get to know people. That's kind of the first step. I, I look at it even when I'm like, play ultimate Frisbee, there's somebody new that shows up. I start talking to them, I find out who they are and you know, hey, let's go to lunch. You know, just trying to be friendly and getting to know them. Um, yeah. So it's just a matter of, like you said, whatever style, whatever you feel comfortable with. Yeah. But always moving out to be a missionary. Anything else on the men's and women's ministry?
00:28:53 Speaker 2: No. That's it. So please, let's all grow the same direction. Um, we've got good things coming as we roll into the fall. Um, we got the parables, the partnership, the DMG launch, the men's and women's. So my, my call and ask to you is join us row in the same direction and let's, let's go make disciples.
00:29:12 Speaker 1: Yeah. Sounds good. And we, and we get to the fall. We can have to hear about the cowboys again, huh?
00:29:18 Speaker 2: That's that's right. It's almost time.
00:29:20 Speaker 1: All right. Thanks, Josh. Thanks, everybody.