Interim Executive Pastor

This email is going out on Friday to the Five Oaks family.

Dear Five Oaks Family:

I’m very happy to announce that Wayne Whitney will be serving as Interim Executive Pastor from September 4 through the end of the year as we conduct a search for our next Executive Pastor. I can’t express just how critical his help will be in this interim. Wayne currently serves on our General Board and will take a non-voting role while serving in this position.

Wayne has served in multiple roles in a number of church settings, including elder, deacon, trustee, general board member and in many teaching positions. He has served as chairman in four churches. In his last church in Elk River, Wayne helped lead this fast-growing church in the day-to-day operations, as well as preaching, while the senior pastor was on a six-month sabbatical after the loss of his wife to cancer.

Wayne retired this year from IMI plc, an English engineering conglomerate located in Birmingham, England. He worked there for twenty years and at the time of his retirement was serving as Executive Director, Board member and President for several of their international businesses. Yes, Wayne spent a lot of time in the air between Woodbury and England!

Wayne crossed the line of faith in his late twenties through the ministry of his wife Bev and a small church in Kankakee, Illinois. He relates how seeing the love of Christ modeled through others caused him to begin asking questions and investigating faith.

Wayne is a friend and mentor to me and other staff. I’ve watched him bring prayer and spiritual discernment in his counsel and leadership. I’m a big believer in the value of being coached, so I’m delighted to have the added benefit of  his in side look at how we do things day-to-day and the value of his counsel for years to come, even after his tenure as Interim is completed. 

Please join me in praying for Wayne, for our pastoral search committee and for the Westurns as they transition to a fruitful ministry in Pennsylvania.

In Christ,
Pastor Henry