At the end of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy declared, “There’s no place like home.” Kyle and Rachel Stoker have discovered the truth of that statement. They left their lifelong home in Celina, Ohio, and eventually followed God back to Celina to plant a church. An atheist in his teens, Kyle loves sharing the good news about Jesus Christ and answering questions about faith with people in his hometown. They will partner with Pine Hills Church and the FEC multiplication team to launch a new church in January 2023.
In 2020, Kyle had left his job with a Celina area church, desiring to plant a church. A family member who attends Pine Hills Church connected them with Colleen Senstraro, Pine Hills Multiplication Executive. In 2021, they moved to nearby Auburn to invest in the one-year residency program and prepare to plant a church. When the one-year residency program ended, they were surprised to discover that God was leading them back to Celina.
Pine Hills Church will continue to provide resources and mentor Kyle as they begin the process of church planting. In addition to Pine Hills’s oversight and support, the FEC multiplication team in Fort Wayne will take the lead role in the process, and Brandon Risch, FEC Director of Church Planting, is coaching Kyle.
They recently received another surprise when a Christian business owner in Celina offered his building for their team to use, free, on Wednesdays now and on Sundays beginning in 2023.
