Let's Get Aquainted

Pastor Mike and Gail McKenzie

Gail and I are so excited to be here.  And you have made us feel very much at home.  You have very much lived up to the meaning of your name.  In a world where there are not very many places that are like a fertile spot in the desert where one can find a source of water to quench the thirst of the soul, you have been that and more to us!  And is that not the mission that we have as believers?  To be Oases in a world of spiritual drought, a world that has nothing to offer to quench the spiritual thirst of men's and women's souls?

Gail and I have been in ministry for some 40 years, starting in Michigan in the mid 70's when we were just a bit younger!  We spent 12 years there, the last four of which were with Dwight Nelson at Pioneer Memorial Church, which is where I got into youth ministry and Gail actually got started doing women's ministry.  Our oldest two kids, DJ and Amy, started school there, and we have fond memories of those years.  

But in 1989 we received a call that would define the rest of our lives and bring us here ultimately.  We came to KY-TN Conference where I became the youth director for 7 years, leading Indian Creek Camp as director, pathfinders, etc.  Stephen, our youngest, was born in 1990, and that changed the dynamics of our family enough so that I decided to stay home in 1996 when Madison Campus asked me to become their youth pastor.  Staying with that for 10 years was not difficult because I loved kids and youth ministry.  In 2006 I transitioned to an associate role, staying at Campus for 6 more years.

​In December of 2012, the opportunity came to become the pastor of the White House church where we have been until now.  Just recently the opportunity came our way to become the pastor of the Oasis family.  And we could not have been more excited.  We were around at the beginning of Oasis and to now, ten years into it's life history to be asked to join the family as a spiritual watchman and shepherd,  is an honor and a privilege.  

 Both Gail and I have a passion for people.  We love being around them.  We love seeing them come to know the Father by having a relationship with His Son, Jesus.  We love learning and teaching and sharing about both of them through the Bible.  It excites us to see people come alive as their lives are changed when they, too, come to know the Father and Jesus as Savior.  And since at this time of the year the whole Christian world is focusing it's attention upon the birth of Jesus it's appropriate that we at Oasis heartily agree that His was the greatest birth announcement ever made!

Gail and I are blessed to be here and look forward to getting acquainted with those of you that we don't know yet and learning new things about those of you that we already know!  And together we are hoping that all of us are getting to know Jesus better every day so that we can introduce Him to the rest of our family who are not here yet.  Portland, Oasis is comin' for ya!  And we mean that in the best of all possible ways!  

Blessings,
Pastor Mike and Gail McKenzie