Our staff is the driving force behind the day to day ministry of Center Church. These servant leaders provide support and organization to help the rest of us accomplish the work to which we are called.
Staff
Staff
Our staff is the driving force behind the day to day ministry of Center Church. These servant leaders provide support and organization to help the rest of us accomplish the work to which we are called.
ReedJames
Lead Pastor
Hi everyone! My name is Reed James and I serve as the lead pastor at Center Church. I grew up in small town Oklahoma and then made my way to Stillwater to go to OSU. (Go Pokes!) After a few years away for ministry training at seminary, my wife, Emily, and I made our way back to Stillwater in 2010. Since then, I have served the congregation, first as a college pastor and now as the lead pastor. Emily and I now have two young girls (they are quite the delight!).
I have a dream that Center Church will be a people who love God by bringing Him to the center of our lives and love our neighbors well in the center of Stillwater.
Brian + Mariah Abraham
Incoming Pastors
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.
ReaganMitchell
Small Group Coordinator
Hello. My name is Reagan Mitchell, and I serve as the Small Group Coordinator at Center Church. As a recent college grad, a self-proclaimed bible fanatic and a lover of people and fellowship, I feel like I couldn’t have designed a ministry that more accurately plays to my God-given passions than this one.
Center Church has been my church-home for years, and is, in so many ways, where my love for God began to inform my plans for my life. In short, I am uber passionate about biblical engagement, and transformation as a result, family commitment and radically-relational discipleship. All of what I do, or what I hope to do, at Center Church as the Small Group Coordinator can be summed up in those three things.
In college, I was involved with a ministry that started me on a path that has helped to convince me of the importance of small groups in the larger church culture. Small groups create families, and families create legacies and spiritual lineages. I hope that our church is full of those long after my time in Stillwater is up. If you want to know more about me, this ministry or anything else, I’d love to sit down over a cup of something good, preferably coffee, and tell you anything you want to know. I want to know you, so don’t hesitate to reach out. In case you can’t find me at church, I’m the girl with the crazy curly hair and the bellowing laugh-- come up and say hi!
ReneeRhodes
Evangelism Strategies Coordinator
Howdy. I am Renee, my driving passion these days is equipping Center Church to live their faith outloud. I also oversee the communication processes, like this website and our livestream. I graduated from OSU with a degree in Public Relations. My husband, Andy, and I have raised four kids here in Stillwater, and have been a part of this church for eight years. (Well, we were also here about two years back about 2002. We were very happy to return home in 2012.)
I also now wear the title Cancer Warrior. What I love most about that title is the many ways I see God faithful - not because I have survived, but because He never, ever left me. Every day I am wrapped in His arms and I know His presence. I’m also really excited to have hair again. Especially eyelashes.
SandraKelly
Worship Leader +
Community Care Coordinator
Hello. My name is Sandra Kelly and I'm the worship leader and community care coordinator at Center Church. I graduated with my degree in Music Education from Oklahoma State University and spent ten years teaching in public schools, churches and a private school at a children's home. I taught elementary education, intermediate mathematics, physical science, biology and music.
I’ve been a member of Center Church since 2014, drawn by the tremendous passion of the church to care for families and our passion for worship. I couldn't have found a better fit. All praise and glory goes to God as I worship. His example of compassion and sacrifice compels me to show His unique love to those in need around us.
Macy+Gannon Reese
Center Kids Coordinators
Hey! We are Macy and Gannon Reese, and we serve as the Coordinators of Center Kids. We have both lived in Stillwater since we were tiny children ourselves, and we have loved getting to be a part of this amazing community. We have been married since 2017 and we both have big, close families that live here in town. Raising our son, Callahan, alongside our community is one of our greatest joys in life.
We have seen firsthand the importance and power of building strong and healthy families on the foundation of God’s truth, and we are passionate about equipping both parents and children with every resource we can find to do that. Our greatest hope is that every child that walks through the doors of Center Church would be offered an opportunity to know Jesus in a real way, and that the seeds that are planted here would take root and continue to grow for generations in their families.
Our goal is to partner with parents in the discipleship process and be a tool which aids the discipleship already happening in the home. We believe that by combining the influences of the love and support of the home and the consistent teaching of truth in the church, we will see an eternal impact on the children that God has entrusted to us.
DanielAvila
Digital Media + Production Coordinator
Howdy!
I'm Daniel Avila, and I serve as the Multimedia and Production Coordinator at Center Church. I was born in Bogotá, Colombia and came to the United States in 2017. I'm a guitarist and a composer recently graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA.
You might wonder how I made my way to Stillwater... let's just say that God always knows better. He modifies our plans when we're willing to surrender our futures to His hand. Center Church became the family I never had and I'm happily serving God with the videos and visual media you see on this website and during service on Sundays. You can recognize me as the electric guitar player on the stage.