Sharing God’s Love Through Music

Archive for ‘Summer’


Summer is around the corner

Hello sisters, family, friends, & fans. Summer is upon us. Yea! Oasis has had a slow start this year. The Yates family and the Siegethaler family have been under great distress dealing with the loss of precious loved ones. We share in their mourning. As I search God’s word on ‘mourning’, I have been reading the scripture verses in Isaiah 61. The chapter refers to proclaiming God’s word and comforting all who mourn. The verses tell us “v.2…to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion-to bestow on them a crown of beauty…the oil of gladness…and a garment of praise instead of spirit of dispair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”
As I reread and reread this entire chapter, I felt God pointing out a path for Oasis to take. Often our Lord forces us to STOP what we are doing & focus and assess our direction. The last several months we have been thinking about our testimony as a group and as individuals. Through these difficult times growth occurs.
Isaiah 61:6 “And you will be called priests of the Lord, you will be named ministers of our God…” I know that we as a group do not see ourselves as “Priests”; we are vocalists and musicians! But I interpret this as sharing the gospel to the poor in spirit. And we can truely feel the pain of the brokenhearted. I have felt an urgency to share the gospel for all who are lost. My prayer is that we are never afraid to speak about what the Lord has done for us and what He can do for you. May our hearts be BOLD and speak truth, yet continuously be humble, reaching out to those who are in pain and mourn.
After over 3 years together,this Memorial Day weekend will be our first entire Oasis Ladies Ensemble Family gathering and 1st Board of Directors meeting. I pray that this weekend will bring a thread of blessed communion and shared wisdom of the Lord’s direction for our future.
For all who support our ministry, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
Shelli Shelton

Summer time with Oasis

Hello fellow singers, musicians and fans:
Welcome to our new blog page. For those who do not know about us, we are an ensemble of Christian female vocalists, who are busy mothers. We’re regular ‘ol all american gals over 40 who love praising the Lord. We lift others up in prayer, and “attempt” to be godly examples to our families and friends.
And when I say “attempt”, I am referring to those so often tough moments. Sometimes those moments become hours and days of stress. Though it’s tough going through the fire and lonely traveling through the dark valleys, we know that we have a GOD who is real and alive to hold us up and guides us.
As I always say, I am thankful for a group of gals who are dedicated to serving.
For a little biography of the beginning of Oasis (NKBC ladies ensemble), it began as a calling for me around 1999 back in Valdosta, GA. I had moved back home to my parents and rededicated my life to serving Christ. I felt that God was calling me to sing with a vocal group, however, it never transpired until around spring 2005 at a church all the way across the United States in a small town outside of Seattle. Rick and I began attending North Kitsap Baptist Church, Poulsbo, Wa in 2004. I took a severance from Delta Air Lines as a flight attendant and dove into the music program at church. After getting to know some cool gals at church, we all began chatting here and there about singing together as a group. After praying to God, “could this be what you want God”, we formed a ladies ensemble vocal group.
I was quite suprised at how excited and faithful the ladies were with our group and pracitices.
Our initial members were Denise Stocks, Lisa Hanson, Pam Whitt, Lana Peters, Karen Waddell, Kerri Siegenthaler and me, Shelli Shelton. Unfortunately, Denise and eventually Pam had to step off due to other obligations. We really miss those s. But God had exellent replacements around the corner. We invited Jane and Emma to join us the fall of 2006.
Never the less, when God has HIS hand in it, things just always turn out great!!!
I would say that a Key item that keeps us bonded is our joy and laughter. We love to laugh and share.
Anyways, we are entering our third year together and our repertoire is growing. God stretches us, and we discovered that many of our songs are culturally diverse. Even though we love the oldy goldy songs, we love many diverse contemporary songs too. And with our newest member, Karen Yates, we should be able to pull off some great new songs this next year.
We have great instrumentalists. Karen Waddell-keyboardist/pianist; Jane Melin-violin; Kerri Siegenthaler-guitar; Lana Peters-guitar.
Our next song will be presented July 29,2007 at both services at NKBC. It could shock the congregation (again) with its Afro-American sound. We also have a surprise this time. We have invited 4 teen percussionists as our musicians. The song is “Shut De Do”. I hope everyone with enjoy it.
Well, enough blogging. I have children to pick up at preschool/daycare.
God Bless all.
Shelli Shelton