Introducing: Oasis Ministries
(Updated January 2008)
Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones
Ministry
Overview
Mission
Statement
Introducing: Pam Dewey
Introducing: George Dewey
Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones
Is this what your personal
and/or group religious experience sometimes feels like—a dry and barren
wasteland? The daily and weekly grind of working hard to accomplish the
objectives we’ve set for ourselves can occasionally suck the life out of even
the most enthusiastic people. We all need periodic refreshment and reviving of
our spirits to help us regain our optimism and vitality. New ideas, fresh
perspective, innovative ways to approach problems—all of these can breathe new
life into those dry bones.
Oasis Ministries
wants to “bring an Oasis to YOU” that offers your group and the individuals in
it a program that refreshes, inspires, educates, and equips you to move forward
with a renewed zeal to accomplish all you hope to in the Lord’s service.
Whether you’d like a
one-session seminar for your local congregation, or a whole weekend—or
several-week—series to which you can invite friends, family, other
congregations, and/or the public in general, we can work with you to provide the
optimum experience for all involved.
Ministry Overview
We are Pam and George Dewey,
founders of Oasis Ministries, an educational and inspirational
outreach that takes us around the country to share our
enthusiasm, experience, understanding, and insights.
The focal point of the ministry
is the seminars which Pam presents, along with companion
websites which expand on the topics covered. In the past two
years, we have been invited to deliver presentations in Indiana,
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, and
Florida.
Then right in the middle of the
height of travel plans in May 2006, George suffered a series of
potentially-life threatening diabetes-related health crises,
including two extended hospitalizations, leg artery bypass
surgery, a serious staph infection, and eventual amputation of a
foot joint and toe. At several points it would have been
possible for him to have lost a foot, a leg, or even his life.
It became obvious by early fall that he was going to fully
recover from this round of problems. After weathering the storm,
we decided not to take for granted the "second chance" at life
he was given. With a few years yet to go to retirement time, we
have decided it would be foolish to wait until he's old
enough to retire to throw our energies into doing everything we
can in ministry before we are too old and feeble to do so. Early
last year George's job got shifted so that he is able to do it
anywhere in the world, over the Internet. We already have an
in-the-car Internet hookup, and use it every time we go on the
road ... Pam drives, George does his insurance audit reviewing
that keeps us able to pay our bills.
In addition, we've started
getting more and more frequent invitations in the past couple of
years for Pam to do seminars around the country. So George came
up with the unusual plan we first announced in January, 2007. We
were going to get a used RV ... perhaps a 28-30 foot mini-motor
home pulling a compact car ... and hit the road full time. Of
course we wouldn't be speaking somewhere every week. But instead of
going out and coming back here to our current home in Michigan
each time, as we had been doing for the past few years, we'd
go out ... and go on, returning to home base at least three or
four times a year to visit family, take care of doctor's
appointments, etc.
In between speaking engagements,
we planned to sight-see, and perhaps park at a campground for a
month or so in a central spot, so that we could go out to
engagements in several directions before moving on. We would
plan to spend spring and summer north of the Mason Dixon line,
fall and winter south.
In addition to visiting groups,
we planned to just let individuals and families know when we'll
be passing through their area, and if they'd like us to stop and
visit a spell, we'd do so. We’ve realized for a long time that
there are many lonely, isolated people around the country who
could use some fellowship, refreshing, and cheering up. Our
tag-line for Oasis Minstires is "We bring an Oasis to YOU!"
George videotapes all of Pam's
seminar presentations, and turns them into DVD collections,
which we make available to any who request them. We also plan to
make available, on computer disk, collections of the material
that Pam writes for the various websites that she maintains.
In June 2007 we had to make a
detour with our plans, to meet family obligations to Pam's aging
parents. Click here to read an update on
our revised plans as of January, 2008. Our travels won't be
quite as extensive for a time as we had originally thought. But
we have been able to continue to schedule shorter trips for
speaking engagements. This
website will contain continuing updates on the progress of our
plans, itineraries for speaking tours, and a variety of articles
elaborating on the most recent seminar topics covered. You are
invited to look over the listings in the
Library and send for a DVD sampler. If you find the
material educational, uplifting, and inspiring, and believe that
your local or regional group might benefit from one or more live
presentations, check the Contact page
for information on arranging a visit.
Mission Statement
Even the most
dedicated, sincere individual Christians and Christian
congregations can sometimes find themselves at a point in time
when it feels a bit like they are in a "dry and thirsty land."
And sometimes Bible study and prayer aren't enough to break the
cycle of dryness.
1
It is
our desire with Oasis Ministries to "Bring an Oasis to
YOU!" that will refresh and reinvigorate you, and
inspire and equip you to pass that same kind of
refreshment on to others.
And even groups that
are thriving welcome the occasional fresh perspective and new
ideas and insights that an outside speaker can bring.
2
It is
our desire with Oasis Ministries to provide educational,
inspirational, and motivational presentations that will
help listeners to broaden their understanding,
and more fully tap into their own gifts and talents
in service to the Lord.
In addition, some
groups have a heart to reach out in local evangelism efforts,
but haven't yet adequately developed the speaking gifts present
within the local group necessary to put together a program that
would appeal to and hold the interest of the public.
3
It is
our desire with Oasis Ministries to make available
a variety of presentations that would be suitable
for a special meeting, or series of meetings,
to which non-church friends, family,
and the general public may be invited.
4
And at
the same time, we wish to make available
to the church members themselves
guidance in how to then make best use of the
opportunities
such exposure may provide, through building
a healthy and nurturing spiritual environment
within the congregation.
The
Library includes a catalog of titles
and descriptions of seminars and seminar series that are
suitable for one or more of the purposes listed above.
Introducing: Pam Dewey
Pam has a
degree in education with high honor from Michigan State
University, and graduate work in education and the social
sciences. She also has forty years' experience teaching,
encouraging, and inspiring people from all age groups, pre-schoolers
through Senior Citizens.
For the past
decade Pam has been a popular seminar speaker at regional and
national conferences, local congregations, and other groups
around the country. Her lively presentations cover topics as
varied and wide-ranging as evaluating speculative "End Times
Prophecy"; the role of women in the Church; the Christian
significance of the biblical Feasts and Holy Days; dealing with
depression; and using examples of characters and themes
from the Star Wars saga to communicate biblical principles to
modern youth.
Sample seminar titles: "History is HerStory Too"; "Whiskers on
Kittens & Picking Up Chickens"; "Understanding Spiritual
Hunger"; "Escaping from The Matrix"; "Want to Be a Superhero?";
and "Flea Powder for Itching Ears."
See the
Library for information on ordering
DVD collections including these and more.
Pam is also the
author of the book Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion
and a companion website with the same name.
Pam is the
author of the Field Guide to the Wild World of Religion,
a companion to her website of the same name. Both contain
overviews and detailed profiles based on Pam’s 20+ years of
research into modern religious movements. The emphasis on
the Field Guide website is unconnected profiles of
various religious movements, groups, leaders, and ideas. The
book clarifies how these all fit together into patterns of
change on the face of the American religious landscape of the
past five decades.
Special
emphasis is included in both the book and on the website
regarding those groups or teachers that may use deceptive or
abusive tactics to attract and keep followers. The first section
of the book expands on the website content with an overview of
some of the factors that have taken us from the relatively Tame
World of Religion in 1957 to the Wild World out there now in
2007.
Other sections
include an expansion of the website's Religious Lingo
Lexicon, providing concise explanations of over 100
specialized terms, from Preterism to Petra and
from Hermeneutics to Holy Ghost Glue; an
expansion of the website's Who’s Who Digest of the Wild
World of Religion, with brief biographical sketches of
over 120 of the most influential movers and shakers of the
American Religious scene, past and present; and profile chapters
of four of the most influential movements on the religious scene
today: the End Times Prophecy Movement, Word
Faith Movement, Healing Ministries Movement,
and Hebrew Roots Movement.
The book is
available on order through local bookstores, online by clicking
on the
Amazon.com link on the Field Guide website, or directly from
Oasis Ministries by using the
contact information on this website.
Pam also has
authored and maintains a collection of other websites on a
variety of educational and inspirational topics. (See the
Links section of this website for more
information.)
Introducing: George Dewey
George has a BA
in Communication Arts with graduate work in Education from
Michigan State University. A former Church Pastor for a number
of years, he currently earns a living as an insurance auditor,
while spending most of his free time working on Oasis Ministries
projects.
For his
contribution to the Oasis Ministries outreach, George brings to
the table 40+ years in computer and audio-visual experience.
Fascinated by
computers from the days when they were still room-size (he took
a computer course in college at a time when the programming was
still done via cardboard punch cards!) he’s been tinkering with
computer hardware and software ever since, and regularly builds
and troubleshoots all the many family computers.
Fascinated by
camera work since the days when most photos were still black and
white, and he was a teen experimenting with processing his own
negatives in a make-shift bathroom “darkroom,” he’s now moved on
to the latest cutting edge digital still cameras. And now he
doesn’t have to rely just on shutter speeds and flash
attachments to get the best photos for ministry projects—he has
at his fingertips all the latest computer photo-editing
software.
Fascinated by home video cameras
since the days when they still had to be connected to a
lumbering tape player by a cord in order to make a recording on
a VHS or BETA tape, he’s now using the latest digital recording
cameras to capture Oasis Ministries seminars.
And, as with
the still photos, he has at his fingertips all the latest
computer video-editing software.
Fascinated by
home methods of combining artwork and words on the page, and
making multiple copies of them since the days when the copying
method included messy gel in a metal tray and even messier
blue-inked transfer paper, he’s now moved on to the latest
cutting edge desk-top publishing software and printers.
George was
making video presentations for church activities back
when most churches were just discovering the value of audio
cassette players.
And he was
making creative covers for church bulletins through computer
photo-manipulation software when most churches were still
producing their bulletins on typewriters, with mimeographed clip
art cut out and taped to the typewritten manuscript for
photocopying.
More recently,
he’s been burning video DVDs for distribution by Oasis
Ministries at a time when most small ministries--and even many
big ones!--are just barely beginning to consider switching from
audio cassettes to audio CDs.
And he applies
an artistic flair, creative verve, and enthusiasm to the
material he produces with all this computer and A-V equipment
that earns him enthusiastic praise from folks all over the
country. George has been a real pioneer in the area of
audio-video enhancement of evangelistic and discipling outreach
by small ministries, putting, as the
E-Sword computer Bible program slogan puts it … "an
electronic edge to the Sword of the Lord."
As an ordained minister, George
also presents sermons at host churches when requested.
