Staff Team

When Doug was finishing college at Texas Tech University, he got to be part of the core group that founded Live Oak Community Church in 1993. He served on staff in various positions for 9 years and then became a hockey missionary with Hockey Ministries International. In 2012, when Live Oak’s founding Senior Pastor felt a call to “pass the baton” to a new senior leader, Doug was ready for the challenge!  Doug also has the honor of serving as the Character Consultant for the Texas Tech Men’s basketball team.  

HOMELIFE:
Doug and his wife Jennifer have two kids, Jean and Graycia, in high school and middle school respectively.  They have a house full of pets as well!

DOUG LOVES:
Movies
Hockey. All things hockey, including an intense Fantasy Hockey league.
Watching Texas Tech sports
Cigars
Travel
Doug can also get captivated by the latest conspiracy theory…just ask him who shot JFK
Books! 
Doug is a constant reader and learner

WHY HE LOVES BEING SENIOR PASTOR:
Doug enjoys being part of a great team that cares deeply for people and works hard to connect people to God, God’s Word, God/s people and God’s mission.

Mark is a gradaute of Texas Tech, where he got both a bachelors and masters in Chemistry. He worked as an instructor in the Chemistry department at Texas Tech and then in sales for a pharmecuetucal company for 10 years. All the while Mark was serving in various ministry roles at Live Oak as a volunteer. Eventually an postion became available at Live Oak that was tailor made for Mark.  He was asked to apply and the rest is history.

MARK’S HOME LIFE:
Mark is raising 2 college-aged sons with Mindy (also on staff). He loves connecting with his boys as they both still live in Lubbock while they go to Texas Tech.  Mark is currently pursuing a Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy thorugh an online program at ACU. 

HE LOVES:
Running
Hiking
Grilling and smoking meats
He is slightly obsessed with WWII history and reads it about it constantly
Being with his family &  friends
Texas Tech athletics (he is a very “passionate” fan)

WHY HE LOVES BEING A PASTOR:
Mark loves seeing folks take steps of faith in their journey of transformation with Jesus. He loves working with a team committed to the mission of more and stronger followers

Mindy has been at Live Oak since 1997 when she was a young adult looking for a new church home post-college.  Along the way, as a volunteer in multiple capacities, she has led small groups, served as a worship leader and help start MOPS. In 2009 she came on staff part-time while still working as RN part time, and in 2012 part-time turned into full time. She is in the unique position of working with her husband (Mark, our Executive Pastor) which they navigate fairly well most days :).

MINDY’S HOME LIFE:
Mark and Mindy have 2 college-aged sons and are learning that empty nest life. They love rest and low-key living when it’s possible.  Mark and Mindy are currently leading a small group at Live Oak for young adults and are loving it!

MINDY LOVES:
Creating Spotify playlists
Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts
Kombucha
Trying to master doing her own gel nail manicures
Time with her sister-friends,
Voraciously reading on her Kindle (160 books and counting)
Her temperamental and majestic rescue dog, Churchill
When all 4 Porters are hunkered down on the couch laughing and talking
Creating the coziest home possible

WHAT SHE LOVES ABOUT BEING A CREATIVE ARTS PASTOR:
She loves overseeing all the ways Live Oak gets to tell God’s good story…whether it be through beautiful music, web design or something as mundane as an all-church email. It ALL matters and can bring God glory.  In recent years her role has shifted more and more to building into other leaders, both staff and volunteers, and she adores this part of her job!

Clay grew up in Plano, Texas. After high school he made his way to Lubbock where he graduated from Texas Tech. He was involved in ministry all through college and upon graduation he and his wife Mallory headed to Houston where he did youth ministry and worship ministry at a church there for several years.  He joined the Live Oak staff in 2017 (his love of all things Texas Tech was a huge bonus in his interview process). Clay finished a degree from Dallas Theological Seminary while working at Live Oak (and raising kiddos!).

CLAY’S HOME LIFE:
He calls it a beautiful choas, as he and his wife Mal (who teaches kindergarten and is also a worship leader at Live Oak) are raising four kids (2 boys and 2 girls). Recently a move into a new house expanded Clay’s do-it-yourself knowledge base immensely. 

CLAY LOVES:
the mountains
golfing
Texas Rangers
and Dallas Cowboys
(his staff teammates would add: being fun & goofy)

WHAT CLAY LOVES ABOUT BEING A WORSHIP PASTOR:
He loves magnifying the greatness of God in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit by means of skillfully combining God’s Word with music, thereby motivating the gathered church to proclaim the gospel, to cherish God’s presence, and to live for God’s glory.

Kristy started serving in Kids Ministry at Live Oak when she was in high school and never looked back!  She got Music Education and Theater degrees from Texas Tech and Oklahoma City University, which led to her being an Elementary Music teacher for a time. She was also a Stay at Home Mom for a time (which she says was the BEST job title she ever had).  Now she works full time in Kids Ministry where she gets to combine her love for all things kids, music, and theater.

HOMELIFE:
Consists of her husband Mike, and listening to him play guitar

Her middle schooler, Sam, who still loves to snuggle and who talks to her about all things Minecraft, sports, and superheroes

Her high schooler, Abby, and listening to her play violin and taking trips to coffee shops because she now loves coffee as much as her momma does.

KRISTY LOVES:
Watching kids learn something new
The sound of kids singing and worshipping God together
The sound of laughter
Rainy days
Beating her family in board games
Working puzzles
Yoga (duh) 🙂
The 2 C’s – Coffee and Chocolate 🙂
Shopping with her mom who makes ALL decisions about her home decor because “she has no taste.”
Hanging out with family and friends
Her Small Group
The mountains 
Embarrassing my kids by dancing in the car and dancing down the aisles while grocery shopping (for some reason, they don’t want to go to the grocery store with her anymore) 🙂

WHY SHE LOVES HER MINISTRY ROLE:
She loves seeing people make the decision to serve, not really knowing how they feel about it a first, but then later discovering that there’s nothing else they’d rather be doing and also discovering that serving grows their faith! She loves seeing people use their God-given gifts and talents to serve others in the church and in the community and also seeing people discover gifts, talents, and skills they didn’t know they had!  She loves seeing kids get to be in a Small Group of their own where dedicated leaders make them feel known, loved, valued, and cared for!  She loves seeing Small Group Leaders get plugged into serving and the sparkle in their eyes when they realize that yes, they are the ones leading and discipling kids, but they are learning just as much, if not more, than the kids are!  She loves seeing the smiles on kids’ faces when they discover and rediscover truths from God’s Word in FUN and exciting ways. The Bible doesn’t have to be boring! 🙂

Christy came Live Oak in 1998 as a single mom with 3 kids. She says she was loved on immediately and her kids were too and they just loved coming on Sundays. Her kids eventually got involved in LOSM (our student ministry) and she decided to start serving in LOSM too. And goodness, she learned so much and got so much in return! Christy was a mentor mom for MOPs and enjoyed going to Sisters and Seekers as well. Later she decided she wanted to serve in Acorn Club (our preschool ministry) as her kids were grown and she had grandkids attending. After a couple of years, the position for Acorn Club Coordinator became available. She was asked and answered, YES!

HOMELIFE:
She is a married mom of three grown kids and two fantastic grands who she loves to spend time with. She also loves her two dogs.  You can find her outside walking those dogs almost everyday.

CHRISTY LOVES:
Walking the dogs
Hitting the gym and hiking
Watching mystery type shows to see if she can figure it out before her husband, Tom
She despises house cleaning but will mow the yard, no complaints.
Her grands…they opened a valve in her heart that she had no idea was there!
Traveling to Maine to spedn time with her large family there.

WHY SHE LOVES HER ROLE:
Families matter! No matter size, type, how new or possibly different they may seem, family is deeply important to God, community and to Christy. She loves getting the privilege of being a small part of letting families know they are loved and known. Best job ever! She gets to love God and love people!

Live Oak has been Jana’s church home since 1996 and she has loved serving as a volunteer in many different roles. When the opportunity came about to join the staff team to take on the role of Small Group Childcare Coordinator, she was incredibly honored that people saw in her the qualities and gifts that God would use her for in this role.

HOMELIFE:
 She is married to Floyd, her husband of 20 years and counting! Their son Casen is in middle school their and daughter Brityn is in elementary school. They also have an AussieDoodle named Mack and a mini Golden Doodle names Hank!  When Jana is not working at Live Oak she works part time at a local car dealership.

JANA LOVES:
Being a wife and mom
Shopping
Spending quality time with family and friends.

Aaron was born and raised in Lubbock. He was saved when he was 11 but didn’t really pursue a relationship with Christ until his sophomore year of college. Around that same time, he started to get involved in the media department of his church and fell in love with it. He went to South Plains College to get an associates in audio engineering and has been focusing on using his gifts to serve the kingdom ever since. While attending South Plains College, he worked at Indiana Avenue Baptist Church as a Media Intern and then eventually Media Director before moving to Midland to serve in a similar role there.

HOMELIFE:
He is definitely a homebody. He loves getting to spend time at home with his beautiful wife, Jessica. A typical weekend for them is full of cooking, TV shows, and lots of board games. They also love having friends over and making their home a regular game night destination.

AARON LOVES:
– creating immersive worlds through writing. Whether it’s just describing the vibrant scenery of a landscape or world building a complex political structure for a fantasy city, he loves getting to take people on a journey with words
– to go with the previous point, he loves D&D and DMing. I enjoy getting to create a world that others can enjoy get sucked into.
– board games/table top games
– music, all kinds and genres

WHY HE LOVES BEING A TD:
He enjoys getting to use his craft to help others worship. Getting to prepare during the week to make a Sunday morning service as immersive and intimate as possible is his favorite part of the job. He also loves getting to use his gifts to help his fellow staff teammates do their jobs better. Most of all, he loves this community that he gets to be a part of.