Pastor Bobby and his team are excited to see what the future holds
This week as I spoke with Bobby (above right), he was even more committed to bringing the power of a camp experience to the lives of the urban youth they serve. He is also feeling blessed to support the growing network of affiliated ministries and churches seeking to bring the light of Christ to the least of these in the greater Los Angeles region through the impactful Christian retreats and camp programs we developed over the last four years.
Pastor Bobby comes from a youth ministry family and is also a Marine. I would say former Marine, but if you are a Marine you would never say that. He is flanked by some great young adults and his strong wife Mayra. His story is here. Cielo Arrioja (above left), who served in programs with OMV in 2024, is taking the lead on camps for Passion. Che Che Canales, her fiancé and a former Oaks counselor, is by her side leading other aspects of Passion's ministry. You can see her story here. Gabriel Manuel is another major team member at Passion. Many of the photos and media pieces you have seen over the years come from his photography skills and graphic design capabilities. There are many more I could mention! Please explore their website.
Check out this short message from Pastor Bobby to all of us at OMV:
THE IMPACT OF WINTER CAMP WAS INCREDIBLE
See How Students Grew in Faith at Kingdom Nights 2025
Our good friend and ministry maven, Elias Johnson put together this moving video sharing student testimonials from winter camp. Elias also blessed us by driving Sean's ministry car back from CA to PA! If you need a ministry or wedding videographer, he is a great resource.
PLAN TO TRANSITION YOUR GIVING JULY 1st
Passion SoCal and Others Can Use Your Support
We need your support through June 30th of this year and we want to set Passion SoCal and other urban youth serving camping organizations we have partnered with up for continued success. While Passion SoCal received two large grants this year for camp, they are not certain these will be renewed and your continued support of the camps they create will be much appreciated.
You can get set up to partner with Passion SoCal by going here. They need prayer, volunteers, and financial help to keep camps going strong.
Our board would also like to give you several other great options to consider:
Psalm68Five - They provide funds for children without fathers in their life to get to a Christian camp, and provided OMV grants last year.
Star Rock Ministries - They have provided grants to Passion SoCal for winter camp, and support getting urban youth to Christian camp.
We also want to assure you our board has taken appropriate steps to transition our physical resources and equipment to appropriate organizations. We will share more on this stewardship aspect of our wind down in the next newsletter.
MINISTRY COMMUNICATION TRANSITIONS
Our bi-monthly prayer times and weekly 'Take 5' blog have ended
Because of the limited hours and work schedule of our Executive Director during this time of transition, we are ending our monthly zoom prayer times, and discontinuing our 'Take 5' blog. If you still wish to enjoy the great writing of Gem and Alan Fadling at Unhurried Living, please enroll in their content directly by going to their website. Much thanks to them for their willingness to let us share their content these last four years. Our monthly Newsletter, periodic letters, and social media posts will continue through July 1st, although our social media posting tempo will slow some. Thank you for all who participated and enjoyed these great ministries, particularly our prayer warriors - you know who you are!
Oasis Ministry Ventures, P.O. Box 121, Lake Hughes, CA 93532, USA, 661-262-3637
