Hello. We are the Brian and Mariah Abraham. Both born and raised in Oklahoma, we originally came to Stillwater for higher education, fell in love with our beautiful city, and never left! Serving both at Center Church and Langston University Chi Alpha, we are passionate about making Christ known and seeing lives radically changed by the power of God. 

Hi! My name is Finlea Baxter, and I serve as the Kids Coordinator for Center Church. I initially joined this family in 2018 when I moved to Stillwater for a year to intern with Chi Alpha, and I cannot describe how much I valued the friendships and community I found here. It is truly an honor to get to move back and serve this church which welcomed me so readily with open arms.

I graduated in 2018 with a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of Oklahoma and have worked with Chi Alpha as a missionary ever since, first with the University of Oklahoma and now with Oklahoma State. The whiplash of teaching discipleship concepts to college students on the weekdays and elementary school students on the weekends is so wild, but makes for such a fun challenge because I get to watch people come to truly know who Jesus is both as children and as budding adults.

That knowledge of Jesus is vital. It will take you through the best moments of your life and the worst. It will teach you who you are and why you’re here; it will put you into contact with the One who created you from nothing, who knows each hair and freckle, and who loved you enough to provide you a way to know Him. 

That knowledge of Jesus and that desire to be close to Him, to be His hands and feet, is what makes this community of Center Church what it is. It’s what drives our ministry, and it’s what your children will be taught each time they walk through our doors. I am a product of a church environment that loved me enough to see me not with the world’s eyes, but with God’s, and then to treat me accordingly. It was a family that lived me both as I was and as I could be. It was a family that prayed for me and believed the best of and for me. And it is this environment that I and the staff strive to create not only for the children, but for the Church as a whole.

I don’t know you yet, but I love you, and I want to get to know you. If you see me on Sunday, say hi! I’m the one with the colorful hair and the overalls. See you soon!