This is Us (30th Anniversary Edition)

Here’s the last of our 30th Anniversary Edition posts celebrating the Five Oaks 30th anniversary.

For years my office away from the “office” was the Caribou at the corner of Valley Creek and Radio in Woodbury. I wrote countless sermons there, and it was our go-to spot for staff meetings and worship planning meetings. I don’t know how many people told me they were leaving Five Oaks over coffee there, but it was a lot. It has also been a place to meet with folks considering Five Oaks, many of whom when on to lead ministries that impacted our church and my life and family. When Lois’ parents or other relatives visited, it’s where we went to hang out in the evening and play games. But the memory that most stands out to me is when Lois and I went there to talk about whether or not I should accept a call to pastor Five Oaks if it was offered. We loved Minnesota. We had met at Northwestern and married in the chapel. I use to spend summers in MN as a kid with family that lived on Lake Minnetonka. We loved MN, but we didn’t particularly want to move north. We wanted mountains or ocean and anything warmer than MN. And we certainly didn’t want to come to a church that met in a school. And so we kind of lamented the fact that everyone we met on the search team had impressed us, the foundation laid by the founding pastor was strong, and the prospects for reaching people in a fast-growing city were exciting. It was in that Caribou that we looked at each other, sighed, and concluded we had to come, in spite of the cold. Here we are almost 23 years later. And we both love winter! But mostly we love being where God called us to, and we’re so happy it’s here with the people of Five Oaks. And thankful beyond words!

We don’t have any pictures from meeting in Caribou in those early days so I thought I’d include this one from one of our lake baptism and picnics in N. St. Paul. They were one of my favorite days of the year. Unfortunately we outgrew the location, but I know all of us who were around then have very fond memories.