Dear Austin Oaks Church Family,
What does faithful generosity actually look like?
It looks like parents standing in the hallway with tears streaming down their faces, trying to find words for what it means that their child, who learns differently and needs extra support, is finally seen, loved, and welcomed. It looks like a man in a discipleship group realizing for the first time that Jesus is real and for him. It looks like a single mom walking through our doors wondering if anyone notices her struggle, and your small groups answering with overwhelming love. It looks like families halfway around the world in Rwanda continuing to serve Christ because you said “yes.”
This is what your generosity looks like in 2025.
Your faithful giving, both through the Perhaps campaign and your consistent weekly tithes, has been the fuel for Gospel work in Southwest Austin and around the world. When we launched Perhaps, you responded with such immediate generosity that we completed our HVAC and roof without needing a bridge loan, a testimony to your faith and quick obedience. You also sent $217,611 to Africa New Life, sustaining three church plants and feeding hundreds of families. While there is still more work ahead in the campaign, your response has been more than we could have asked or imagined.
But here is what I really want you to see. It is your regular, faithful giving, week after week and month after month, that makes the life-changing work of ministry possible.
Because you give faithfully to our general fund, twenty-one people went through baptism class and eleven stepped into the waters of baptism this year. Twenty-seven men sat in circles and talked honestly about their lives, their struggles, and their faith in intentional discipleship groups. Eight women launched into deeper intentional discipleship through Abide and are looking forward to adding two more Abide discipleship groups. A small group in Nueva Vida that started with just three potential members now welcomes fifteen to twenty people each week and is already talking about multiplying.
Because you give faithfully, God brought fourteen new volunteers as a direct answer to prayer, teenagers, bilingual speakers, and men who stepped forward, to love and serve children who need a little extra support, a little more patience, a bilingual voice, or simply someone who sees them. Four families who visited for the first time kept coming back week after week. Children who once felt unsure now run through the doors with joy.
Because you give faithfully, your small groups wrapped single moms in the tangible love of Christ this Christmas. One woman, who was once a single mom herself, gave $1,000 to help another single mom experience the hope she once needed. Another mom, coming out of an abusive marriage, is seeing God’s hand of love where she once saw only dead ends. Your youth students spent a weekend serving with four different Austin ministries, learning what it looks like to show God’s love through their hands. You raised over $10,000 through Kingdom Builders for families at Clint Small Middle School, and you are launching a food and clothing ministry there in 2026.
Thirty new people joined the AOC family this year. Disciples are being made. The Gospel is going forward. Lives are being changed. And it is because you give, not just when there is a campaign, but faithfully and consistently to the ongoing work of the church.
The Perhaps campaign is addressing critical facilities and expanding our capacity for ministry. But the daily work, our staff who shepherd and teach, the programs that disciple and care, the outreach that serves our neighbors, and the missions partnerships around the world, is sustained by your faithful giving to the general fund.
As you consider your year-end giving, would you prayerfully consider a gift to the general fund? These are the gifts that make Sunday morning possible, that keep the lights on and the doors open, that pay for curriculum and coffee, that send support to missionaries and fund benevolence for families in crisis. These gifts are the steady heartbeat of ministry that changes lives every single day.
Contributions received by December 31 apply to your 2025 tax year. Many have found that donating appreciated stocks or securities can provide significant tax advantages. You avoid capital gains taxes while receiving a full charitable deduction for the fair market value. If you are considering a stock gift, please contact Dawn Beacom at dawn.beacom@austinoakschurch.org.
Thank you for being the kind of church that says “yes” to whatever God puts in front of us. Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel. Thank you for giving faithfully, generously, and with a heart for Kingdom work.
Grateful for you,
Brandon Zieske
Lead Pastor
What does faithful generosity actually look like?
It looks like parents standing in the hallway with tears streaming down their faces, trying to find words for what it means that their child, who learns differently and needs extra support, is finally seen, loved, and welcomed. It looks like a man in a discipleship group realizing for the first time that Jesus is real and for him. It looks like a single mom walking through our doors wondering if anyone notices her struggle, and your small groups answering with overwhelming love. It looks like families halfway around the world in Rwanda continuing to serve Christ because you said “yes.”
This is what your generosity looks like in 2025.
Your faithful giving, both through the Perhaps campaign and your consistent weekly tithes, has been the fuel for Gospel work in Southwest Austin and around the world. When we launched Perhaps, you responded with such immediate generosity that we completed our HVAC and roof without needing a bridge loan, a testimony to your faith and quick obedience. You also sent $217,611 to Africa New Life, sustaining three church plants and feeding hundreds of families. While there is still more work ahead in the campaign, your response has been more than we could have asked or imagined.
But here is what I really want you to see. It is your regular, faithful giving, week after week and month after month, that makes the life-changing work of ministry possible.
Because you give faithfully to our general fund, twenty-one people went through baptism class and eleven stepped into the waters of baptism this year. Twenty-seven men sat in circles and talked honestly about their lives, their struggles, and their faith in intentional discipleship groups. Eight women launched into deeper intentional discipleship through Abide and are looking forward to adding two more Abide discipleship groups. A small group in Nueva Vida that started with just three potential members now welcomes fifteen to twenty people each week and is already talking about multiplying.
Because you give faithfully, God brought fourteen new volunteers as a direct answer to prayer, teenagers, bilingual speakers, and men who stepped forward, to love and serve children who need a little extra support, a little more patience, a bilingual voice, or simply someone who sees them. Four families who visited for the first time kept coming back week after week. Children who once felt unsure now run through the doors with joy.
Because you give faithfully, your small groups wrapped single moms in the tangible love of Christ this Christmas. One woman, who was once a single mom herself, gave $1,000 to help another single mom experience the hope she once needed. Another mom, coming out of an abusive marriage, is seeing God’s hand of love where she once saw only dead ends. Your youth students spent a weekend serving with four different Austin ministries, learning what it looks like to show God’s love through their hands. You raised over $10,000 through Kingdom Builders for families at Clint Small Middle School, and you are launching a food and clothing ministry there in 2026.
Thirty new people joined the AOC family this year. Disciples are being made. The Gospel is going forward. Lives are being changed. And it is because you give, not just when there is a campaign, but faithfully and consistently to the ongoing work of the church.
The Perhaps campaign is addressing critical facilities and expanding our capacity for ministry. But the daily work, our staff who shepherd and teach, the programs that disciple and care, the outreach that serves our neighbors, and the missions partnerships around the world, is sustained by your faithful giving to the general fund.
As you consider your year-end giving, would you prayerfully consider a gift to the general fund? These are the gifts that make Sunday morning possible, that keep the lights on and the doors open, that pay for curriculum and coffee, that send support to missionaries and fund benevolence for families in crisis. These gifts are the steady heartbeat of ministry that changes lives every single day.
Contributions received by December 31 apply to your 2025 tax year. Many have found that donating appreciated stocks or securities can provide significant tax advantages. You avoid capital gains taxes while receiving a full charitable deduction for the fair market value. If you are considering a stock gift, please contact Dawn Beacom at dawn.beacom@austinoakschurch.org.
Thank you for being the kind of church that says “yes” to whatever God puts in front of us. Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel. Thank you for giving faithfully, generously, and with a heart for Kingdom work.
Grateful for you,
Brandon Zieske
Lead Pastor