This is Us (30th Anniversary Edition)

We’re celebrating our church’s 30th throughout the month of November, so we’re focusing the “This is Us” posts on folks that have been around a good part of that time.

Deb Johnson came to Five Oaks and soon was brought on staff about 6 months after I came in 1997. Here’s a part of her story:

It was a raining October Sunday when we walked in the doors of Lake Junior High in 1997. After four dismal attempts to find a church in the area, we were tentative. We were escorted up the walk by a gentleman in a bright pink cap with an umbrella, who introduced us to the pastor’s wife. As we stood chatting, a squealing scream came down the length of the commons area and a young girl bounded up and bear-hugged our oldest daughter as if they’d been sister’s separated at birth! (They’d met at camp a couple of months earlier.) She quickly grabbed both our daughters and hauled them up to the front of the church with the rest of the teenagers. From the smiles on our daughters faces, we knew we’d found a place to belong.

Fast forward 5 months and I find myself not only employed by Five Oaks as Ministry Assistant to the Youth Director but also a youth sponsor preparing to attend Challenge 1998 in Colorado. To this day, that experience and the other mission trips we took, deeply impacted the rest of my life. (The picture above is from a youth missions trip to Mexico. Deb is on the back row, far right.) I interacted with other adults who loved teenagers and got to know students that would impress me with their faith and friendship. Today, several of those youth still attend Five Oaks and as adults they are now impacting the lives of kids and teenagers, just like they were impacted.  We had found a place to grow.

It’s almost 23 years since that rainy Sunday. My roles have been many, and our family has been involved in a multitude of ways. The faces have changed, and our congregation has grown and expanded, but it is still our place to call home. 

This is Us (30th Anniversary Edition)

We’re celebrating our church’s 30th throughout the month of November, so we’re focusing the “This is Us” posts on folks that have been around a good part of that time.

Today’s story is from Stephanie Kiel, our Communications Director and long-term member of Five Oaks. (Stephanie is third from the left in the picture on the right. More pics below.)

For as long as I can remember, Five Oaks has been my church home: one of my favorite places, filled with people and memories that have made me into the person I am today. 

My family first moved to Woodbury in the fall of 1993, when I was 2 years old, and started attending Five Oaks in the spring of 1994. While I have countless memories from my 25+ years here, my years in the youth group have been some of the most impactful. The relationships I built during those years are people that, to this day, are some of the most important and influential friends in my life. My faith was made stronger due to the teaching and conversations I had at youth group, my small group, and on all the various retreats and missions trips I was able to be a part of. It built a strong foundation for my faith and life as I went off to college and started to ask harder questions about life and God. It’s because of the impact of that time, the devoted volunteers, and influential friendships that I now serve on Wednesday nights in hopes that this next generation can experience some of the same encouragement and support that I did.

I am forever grateful that my parents found and engaged with the community here at Five Oaks. My life would certainly not look the same without the years of love, support, and relationships and teaching that have continually pointed me to Christ. It’s a blessing now to give further to this community and God’s mission by serving on staff and volunteering with the ministries that once made such an important impact on me.