Mission Statement
Three Oaks exists to bind up the wounds of the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for those held captive by habits & addictions, and to comfort and provide for those experiencing grief by modeling a loving, empowering, Christ-Centered community whereby life transformation and true purpose may be found. “They will be called Oaks of Righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor.” Isaiah 61:1-3 _______________________________________________ Vision Three Oaks envisions creating a community center whereby anyone can safely find help, hope, healing and life’s true purpose through a holistic and balanced approach that includes meeting not only emotional and spiritual needs, but the physical, social, and educational ones as well. It is our desire to create an environment whereby anyone, regardless of church background or affiliation, type and depth of need, or ability to pay, can come and receive the necessary tools required to empower them for life long change rooted in a maturing relationship with Christ. Three Oaks embraces a three-pronged approach of recovery, discipleship, & leadership development. To run concurrent with the “Recovery Phase,” Three Oaks envisions a medical clinic and food pantry to feed the hungry as well as offering a variety of basic life-skills education classes. _______________________________________________ Core Values Three Oaks Life Transformation Center is committed to the following “Core Values” and will seek to incorporate them into every area of the program: God’s Word as the sole authority, an attitude of servanthood, authentic community, dynamic and effective discipleship and evangelism methods, one on one mentoring and accountability, restoration and reconciliation of relationships, the art of “speaking the truth in love”, praying for God to heal every area of our lives, and finally, seeking “balance” in everything we do. • God’s Word • Prayer • Community • Accountability • Discipleship • Reconciliation • Evangelism • Truth • Servant Hood • Balance | About The FounderJames Barnes, the author of the "Christ-Centered Change" Program and founder of Three Oaks Life Transformation Center, knows all about the need for second chances. James grew up in a Christian home and ran from God at the age of 17 after being deeply wounded by Christian leaders at a Bible college. He quit and spent the next seven years perfecting the art of drinking, fighting, and sexual promiscuity, attempting to run from God and numb the hurt & pain of the rejection he’d experienced.
Exhausted, confused, and morally bankrupt, James began to spiral out of control after filing for his second divorce at the age of 25 and hit “ROCK BOTTOM” in 1999 with a string of alcohol related arrests and a Grand Theft Charge for embezzling over $12,000. Fearing for his life as a former Corrections Officer and Military Policeman, James found himself on his bedroom floor with a loaded handgun in his mouth contemplating suicide. “What happened next is hard to explain,” James recounts, “but God just got a hold of my heart of stone and the next thing I new I was face down CRYING out to God for a second chance. I was so ashamed of who I’d become I couldn’t even look myself in the mirror and I doubted God even wanted me back, but I promised to dedicate the rest of my life to telling others about God’s love if he was willing to wipe the slate clean.” James was handcuffed and sent to prison on March 13th, 2000 in what he describes as, “the most humiliating day of my entire life.” He spent nine months incarcerated and God provided a miracle as no one he’d previously supervised ever recognized him. James says he’s always prayed, “God help me make the maximum impact I can for Your kingdom and Your glory.” Answering that prayer over the years, God’s given James the following amazing opportunities to serve Him: He graduated a two-year school preparing him for ministry in 2005, has helped plant a church, worked with youth in various settings, helped lead two Missions trips to Mexico and Las Vegas, and, most humbling, has publicly shared his personal journey of faith he calls, “Discovering God’s Grace” well over 50 times resulting in countless decisions for others to follow Christ!!! In 2005, James started working with hurting students suffering from addictions, divorce, abuse, and bad choices using the LHGH Curriculum after receiving training from Saddleback Church. “I was hooked,” James recounts, “and my heart just broke for these students that never had the chances I had and were suffering needlessly. I knew God had been preparing me for many years to do something about it.” Specifically designed as an after-care follow up program to LHGH, James started working on a faith-based alternative to CSC (Cognitive Self-Change), he calls "Christ-Centered Change", and has been teaching it for two years with amazing results. Three Oaks Life Transformation Center is the “next step” of obedience in fulfilling God’s call on James’ life to “preach good news to the poor and bind up the wounds of the brokenhearted”. (Is. 61:1-3) Contact Information James Barnes Founder & Executive Director www.3oakstransformation.org james@3oakstransformation.org |
Our Roots
In June of 2008, shortly after sharing my story of God’s amazing love and healing grace in my own personal life on a Sunday morning service at The Pursuit Church, I was approached by the elders and encouraged to start my own ministry on a full-time basis teaching CCC, LHGH, and giving my testimony. After prayerful consideration, I felt compelled to pursue launching the vision God had been depositing in my spirit for the past eight years to reach out to the hurting and broken in our community. After confirming the vision in multiple ways, God quickly began gathering an army of amazing volunteers with servants' hearts and opening doors at an alarming pace!!!I began using the lyrics to Brandon Heath’s Song “Give me your Eyes,” as my daily prayer… and God answered in a HUGE way!!! They go like this:
"Give me your eyes for just one second.
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing.
Give me your love for humanity.
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted,
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me your eyes so I can see."
Upon reflection, it truly is miraculous how quickly and powerfully it all came together. Within a few weeks we had the opportunity to attend the Willow Creek Leadership Summit at a local church and God broke my heart for the hurting all over again, in a new and profound way. A few short weeks later, my wife and I were blessed with the opportunity to attend the Celebrate Recovery conference at Saddleback Church as God provided the funds for airline tickets, food, and hotel.
At the same time, God moved on someone’s heart to donate their time and talent to create our logo, business cards, & brochures and another sum of money was donated to pay for the printing of these materials. Someone else donated their time to design our website! To say we were STOKED would be a major understatement!
At the CR Conference, God rekindled our passion for reaching out to hurting teens and reminded us of our calling to work with them, but also convicted us of the need to help the parents seeking healing as well. A few weeks later, I attended the third consecutive conference (REFORM) and was once again stripped down to nothing as the severe injustice of the “human sex trafficking trade” shed new light on a topic I was in complete denial of. God once again reminded me He’d called me to be a voice for the “voiceless” by taking a stand against injustice.
Upon returning from these three consecutive conferences, I was “on fire”, and with my vision sharpened and my passion freshly stoked, we launched our first trial run of "Life Hurts, God Heals" for adults. Although it was originally created for teens, we felt called to use the curriculum for adults as a “starting point” and were blessed with some amazing life change and healing in people’s lives. In the midst of re-launching LHGH, doors were opened to begin doing Three Oaks presentations inside the Ada County Jail. Many people were choosing to repent from their sins and turn to Christ and expressed interest in getting involved with the Three Oaks program. We honestly weren’t prepared for what God did and had no idea how to handle the influx of people God brought us. But, after praying for direction we quickly developed an “online application” that could be accessed by Ada County Counselors for the inmates expressing interest, and we subsequently started visiting several people to follow up on their applications. The Ada County Clergy Visiting Team was born. Within a couple of months we had six volunteers cleared to go in and we began building relationships, encouraging, mentoring, and bringing hope to the hopeless.
Simultaneously, Terri and I went through training at the Juvenile Corrections Center in Nampa (JCCN) and were scheduled to do a couple church services there. God’s favor was SO heavy that nearly 90% of those in attendance accepted Christ at every service. Many opportunities to pray for the youth and encourage them with the message that "they too COULD change with God’s love and grace” began opening doors for 1-on-1 clergy visits. Within nine months of launching, God had gathered a team of over 40 volunteers willing to help. The "Christ-Centered Change Class" continued to grow and we moved many people from phase 1 into phase 2, making room for the growth and preparing to launch the next "Life Hurts God Heals" classes. We originally planned to do one adult and one teen LHGH, but ended up combining them into one combo class with age and gender appropriate small groups. The fruit of this last LHGH session, which graduated in May, was AMAZING!
After volunteering at JCCN for a few months, we felt led to seriously consider bidding for a contract the state of Idaho was placing for a position overseeing the religious services inside all three state run juvenile corrections facilities. The more we researched it, the more it seemed to line up with Three Oaks vision and mission and seemed like a truly amazing opportunity, BUT, also overwhelming and impossible! You know what they say, “If it’s possible to do on your own, it isn’t God’s vision”. So, after much fear and trembling, mixed with whining, pouting, and a lot of lame excuses in an attempt to try to convince God He had the wrong guy… I finally surrendered and stepped out in faith and obedience. Three months later, Three Oaks was awarded the contract as the Faith-based Resource Developer.
Let me summarize by saying, “I’ve seen more favor and grace poured out and more opportunities to demonstrate God’s love in practical ways to hurting and broken teens and their families in the past six weeks than I ever thought possible. We are still in the middle of a HUGE transition due to the contract, but it truly is an exciting time for everyone involved with Three Oaks as we are releasing ministry in various areas and empowering the amazing volunteers to take it to the next level, leading various ministries, and hiring our first few Three Oaks “staff”.
You can read more about God’s AMAZING favor and grace throughout the state of Idaho under the “Current Events” section of the front page, by clicking on the IDJC tab, or by reading the information found under the “Volunteer Opportunities” tab. Three Oaks is a Faith-based Organization whose goal is to see people be free from their hurt and pain and find freedom in Christ. This ministry would not exist without the generous donations of time, talent, and finances of it’s supporters .
If you would like to give to Three Oaks Life Transformation Center, check out the “partnerships" tab, call or email us. All class fees are on a “sliding scale” basis and nobody is ever turned away for inability to pay. Thank you and please join us in praying for God’s continued favor.
In June of 2008, shortly after sharing my story of God’s amazing love and healing grace in my own personal life on a Sunday morning service at The Pursuit Church, I was approached by the elders and encouraged to start my own ministry on a full-time basis teaching CCC, LHGH, and giving my testimony. After prayerful consideration, I felt compelled to pursue launching the vision God had been depositing in my spirit for the past eight years to reach out to the hurting and broken in our community. After confirming the vision in multiple ways, God quickly began gathering an army of amazing volunteers with servants' hearts and opening doors at an alarming pace!!!I began using the lyrics to Brandon Heath’s Song “Give me your Eyes,” as my daily prayer… and God answered in a HUGE way!!! They go like this:
"Give me your eyes for just one second.
Give me your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing.
Give me your love for humanity.
Give me your arms for the broken-hearted,
Ones that are far beyond my reach.
Give me your heart for the ones forgotten.
Give me your eyes so I can see."
Upon reflection, it truly is miraculous how quickly and powerfully it all came together. Within a few weeks we had the opportunity to attend the Willow Creek Leadership Summit at a local church and God broke my heart for the hurting all over again, in a new and profound way. A few short weeks later, my wife and I were blessed with the opportunity to attend the Celebrate Recovery conference at Saddleback Church as God provided the funds for airline tickets, food, and hotel.
At the same time, God moved on someone’s heart to donate their time and talent to create our logo, business cards, & brochures and another sum of money was donated to pay for the printing of these materials. Someone else donated their time to design our website! To say we were STOKED would be a major understatement!
At the CR Conference, God rekindled our passion for reaching out to hurting teens and reminded us of our calling to work with them, but also convicted us of the need to help the parents seeking healing as well. A few weeks later, I attended the third consecutive conference (REFORM) and was once again stripped down to nothing as the severe injustice of the “human sex trafficking trade” shed new light on a topic I was in complete denial of. God once again reminded me He’d called me to be a voice for the “voiceless” by taking a stand against injustice.
Upon returning from these three consecutive conferences, I was “on fire”, and with my vision sharpened and my passion freshly stoked, we launched our first trial run of "Life Hurts, God Heals" for adults. Although it was originally created for teens, we felt called to use the curriculum for adults as a “starting point” and were blessed with some amazing life change and healing in people’s lives. In the midst of re-launching LHGH, doors were opened to begin doing Three Oaks presentations inside the Ada County Jail. Many people were choosing to repent from their sins and turn to Christ and expressed interest in getting involved with the Three Oaks program. We honestly weren’t prepared for what God did and had no idea how to handle the influx of people God brought us. But, after praying for direction we quickly developed an “online application” that could be accessed by Ada County Counselors for the inmates expressing interest, and we subsequently started visiting several people to follow up on their applications. The Ada County Clergy Visiting Team was born. Within a couple of months we had six volunteers cleared to go in and we began building relationships, encouraging, mentoring, and bringing hope to the hopeless.
Simultaneously, Terri and I went through training at the Juvenile Corrections Center in Nampa (JCCN) and were scheduled to do a couple church services there. God’s favor was SO heavy that nearly 90% of those in attendance accepted Christ at every service. Many opportunities to pray for the youth and encourage them with the message that "they too COULD change with God’s love and grace” began opening doors for 1-on-1 clergy visits. Within nine months of launching, God had gathered a team of over 40 volunteers willing to help. The "Christ-Centered Change Class" continued to grow and we moved many people from phase 1 into phase 2, making room for the growth and preparing to launch the next "Life Hurts God Heals" classes. We originally planned to do one adult and one teen LHGH, but ended up combining them into one combo class with age and gender appropriate small groups. The fruit of this last LHGH session, which graduated in May, was AMAZING!
After volunteering at JCCN for a few months, we felt led to seriously consider bidding for a contract the state of Idaho was placing for a position overseeing the religious services inside all three state run juvenile corrections facilities. The more we researched it, the more it seemed to line up with Three Oaks vision and mission and seemed like a truly amazing opportunity, BUT, also overwhelming and impossible! You know what they say, “If it’s possible to do on your own, it isn’t God’s vision”. So, after much fear and trembling, mixed with whining, pouting, and a lot of lame excuses in an attempt to try to convince God He had the wrong guy… I finally surrendered and stepped out in faith and obedience. Three months later, Three Oaks was awarded the contract as the Faith-based Resource Developer.
Let me summarize by saying, “I’ve seen more favor and grace poured out and more opportunities to demonstrate God’s love in practical ways to hurting and broken teens and their families in the past six weeks than I ever thought possible. We are still in the middle of a HUGE transition due to the contract, but it truly is an exciting time for everyone involved with Three Oaks as we are releasing ministry in various areas and empowering the amazing volunteers to take it to the next level, leading various ministries, and hiring our first few Three Oaks “staff”.
You can read more about God’s AMAZING favor and grace throughout the state of Idaho under the “Current Events” section of the front page, by clicking on the IDJC tab, or by reading the information found under the “Volunteer Opportunities” tab. Three Oaks is a Faith-based Organization whose goal is to see people be free from their hurt and pain and find freedom in Christ. This ministry would not exist without the generous donations of time, talent, and finances of it’s supporters .
If you would like to give to Three Oaks Life Transformation Center, check out the “partnerships" tab, call or email us. All class fees are on a “sliding scale” basis and nobody is ever turned away for inability to pay. Thank you and please join us in praying for God’s continued favor.
