Ministry Partners
Discover our ministry partners at LOCC.
LOCAL PARTNERS
Lift Disability Network is a non-profit, faith-based organization that offers a suite of programs including camping, monthly events, and family services, working to build a community where the disability family is embraced, encouraged, and empowered. Its vision: “Elevating Life in the Disability Family.” Its mission: “Inspiring individuals and families living with disabilities to discover a new vision for their future.” No matter what the disability – developmental, intellectual, mobility, or a result of chronic illness or pain – Lift Disability Network comes alongside to help individuals and families move past the loneliness, poverty, helplessness, and hopelessness disability can create. Every year LOCC volunteers enjoy helping to facilitate the ministry’s summertime Breakaway Camp, a family retreat providing relaxation, recreation, and spiritual renewal for the disability family.
Contact: Jodi Rowe at sjorowe@aol.com or 561.386.9000.
Website: liftdisability.net
Love In the Name of Christ is a volunteer-based ministry that mobilizes local churches, volunteers, and community organizations to respond to needs in the community. The ministry’s core values, rooted in the Christian faith and the holistic, biblically-based principles of redemptive compassion, are designed to strengthen the faith of both the ministry’s volunteers and the people it serves. The relationships developed through this ministry create “Love Stories” for both its volunteers and neighbors in need. “We believe that lives are transformed when we deepen our faith and find mutuality in these relationships. Thus, our mission is to mobilize local churches to transform lives and communities In the Name of Christ.” Every year LOCC volunteers enjoy participating in Love INC’s Clothe-A-Kid project, helping to purchase school clothes for kids in need.
Contact: Suzy Erb at suzzers10@gmail.com or 352.630.7800.
Website: loveincflorida.org
Seeds of Hope supports the Wildwood Soup Kitchen and Wildwood Food Pantry, providing vital help to those who are easily forgotten. Live Oaks Community Church is an essential contributor to Seeds of Hope, conducting monthly food and donation collections to help our less fortunate neighbors. Many in our Live Oaks family also volunteer at the Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry.
Contact: Dean Parker at dpkp72@yahoo.com. Website: seedsofhope-wildwood.com
Take Stock in Children is Florida’s flagship mentoring, college readiness, and scholarship program for low-income, academically qualified middle and high school students. Volunteer mentors help students build a solid foundation of values, establish goals, improve academic and life skills, and develop self-esteem and confidence. Participating students can earn a scholarship to a Florida state college, university, or technical college to continue their educational pursuits. While not identified as a faith-based organization, Take Stock in Children allows Christ-following mentors complete freedom to share their faith with, and instill biblical values in, their mentees.
Contact: Jon Cope at jcope1952@hotmail.com or 815.218.5690. Contact Take Stock in Children at tsic@lake.k12.fl.us
REGIONAL/NATIONAL PARTNERS
A long-time ministry partner of LOCC, Urban Impact is committed to meeting the spiritual, physical, and educational needs of Central City in New Orleans and its youth – making disciples of Christ who bring transformation to their families, friends, neighborhood, and city. Executive Director (and virtuoso sax player) John Gerhardt has preached often at LOCC. The LOCC family has been sending short-term teams to support the Ministry of Urban Impact since 2012.
Website: urbanimpact.org
international PARTNERS
Cast Member Church is a Jesus-centered community exclusively designed for and dedicated to the Disney cast member culture. This global network of cast members – most of whom have never been part of a church before – explores what it means to live a life of faith and trust in a world of pixie dust. “We are not about the mouse, the magic, or the make-believe; we are about those who bring the mouse, the magic, and the make-believe to life.” Cast Member Church is connected on six continents with local expressions in Orlando, Anaheim, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, representing diverse nations, ethnicities, languages, and perspectives – including those skeptical and suspicious of anything religious. The church is affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America. Former LOCC worship leader Steven Barr led Cast Member Church from its inception in 2012. With 30 years of pastoral leadership in his rearview mirror, Steven is a visionary, innovator, communicator, and encourager for churches and leaders worldwide. But nothing compares to his passion for mentoring Disney cast members to follow Jesus.
Contact: Steven Barr at steven@castmemberchurch.com.
Website: castmemberchurch.com
Serving long-term with the Evangelical Free Church’s ReachGlobal ministries in the Dominican Republic, endeavoring to establish outreach opportunities and develop a robust DR connection with LOCC.
Contact: Gordy Grover at gordy.grover@efca.org or Bear Grover at bear.grover@efca.org.
Feed My Starving Children is a Christian nonprofit organization called to feed God’s starving children who are hungry in body and spirit. “We want to reach everyone until ALL are fed. We truly mean this. This means reaching the hard-to-reach people and places, the ‘least of these.’ They will be found, and they will be fed.”
Website: fmsc.org
Los Pinos Nuevos is LOCC’s sister church in Cuba and our partner in Caribbean outreach.
Contact: Contact: Jonatan Hernandez at jonatanhr@gmail.com or 786.823.4168.
OM Ships International began in 1970 as part of the global Christian training and outreach movement OM International. Since then, OM’s ships have visited more than 480 different ports in 151 countries and territories and welcomed more than 47 million visitors on board. The ministry’s current ship, Logos Hope, visits each port for several weeks and opens the gangways to hundreds and sometimes thousands of visitors daily. The floating book fair offers more than 5,000 titles, giving many visitors the first opportunity to purchase quality educational and Christian literature. An international crew and staff of volunteers live and work on the ships. Teams from the ship go into surrounding areas to supply aid and community care. In each port, the ship’s crew joins local churches to bring hope and show love to people, whatever their circumstances, culture, or background.
Contact: Will Schraven at will.schraven13@gmail.com or Marie Schraven at schravenccclp@gmail.com or 352.496.2211.
Website: omusa.org
In 2021 LOCC’s Operation Christmas Child “Filler Factory” saw this labor of love’s 100,000th shoebox packed with gifts for children around the globe since LOCC began partnering with Operation Christmas Child in 2012. Annually, LOCC volunteers make toys and assemble fun and useful gifts for more than 20,000 shoeboxes to be delivered to “Special Access” countries, some of the darkest places in the world – and the hardest to penetrate with the gospel message of Christ. The children who receive these boxes not only experience great joy opening such an amazing gift box, but they also encounter the good news of Jesus.
Build a Shoebox Online
Another way you can make a difference is through the Build a Shoebox online program. Send the Gospel to the ends of the earth without leaving home. Shoebox gifts built online go to children in some of the hardest-to-reach places – whether deep jungles, city slums, steep mountainsides, or one of more than 1,000 remote Pacific islands. Many of these areas are resistant to the Gospel for cultural or religious reasons, and are home to numerous unreached people groups – some of whom have never heard the Name of Jesus Christ.
Click sere to build a shoebox online
Contact: Tom Stark 585.451.9164 tstark1@ymail.com
This team of LOCC volunteers helps when natural disasters strike, coming alongside homeowners to bring relief and compassion in Jesus’ name.
Contact: Kirk Miller at wkmglobal@aol.com.
Shepherds’ Support International works with skilled teams to help disciple pastors worldwide, multiplying the ministries of international colleagues through spiritual encouragement, practical equipping, and relational engagement.
Contact: Rick and Diana Lowe at rick@shepherdssupport.org or Will Schraven at will.schraven13@gmail.com or 352.496.2211.
In obedience to the Greatest Commandment, Vision Nicaragua exists to enhance love, life, relationships, growth, and potential in local communities. A small non-profit organization based in Asheville, N.C., Vision Nicaragua has established sponsorship programs to send children to school and provide spiritual support, medical treatment, and financial assistance to families in the 2nd poorest nation of the western hemisphere. “By God’s grace, we are seeing lives forever changed and restoration at work every single day.”
Contact: Bonnie Shores at bonnieshores@gmail.com or 770.231.2964; Steve Sarcia at stevesarcia@yahoo.com or 352.630.5975; or Norm and Val Mydske at 704.756.5036.
Website: visionnicaragua.org
Missionary Support
Serving with Trans World Radio.
Serving with EFCA’s Reach Global focusing on Southeast District church planting.
Serving with EFCA’s Reach Global as director of Caribbean/Latin America.
Ministry Partners
Discover our ministry partners at LOCC.
LOCAL PARTNERS
Contact: Pastor Tom Taylor at tomtaylor@liveoakschurch.org or 352.913.2043.
Lift Disability Network is a non-profit, faith-based organization that offers a suite of programs including camping, monthly events, and family services, working to build a community where the disability family is embraced, encouraged, and empowered. Its vision: “Elevating Life in the Disability Family.” Its mission: “Inspiring individuals and families living with disabilities to discover a new vision for their future.” No matter what the disability – developmental, intellectual, mobility, or a result of chronic illness or pain – Lift Disability Network comes alongside to help individuals and families move past the loneliness, poverty, helplessness, and hopelessness disability can create. Every year LOCC volunteers enjoy helping to facilitate the ministry’s summertime Breakaway Camp, a family retreat providing relaxation, recreation, and spiritual renewal for the disability family.
Contact: Jodi Rowe at sjorowe@aol.com or 561.386.9000.
Website: liftdisability.net
Love In the Name of Christ is a volunteer-based ministry that mobilizes local churches, volunteers, and community organizations to respond to needs in the community. The ministry’s core values, rooted in the Christian faith and the holistic, biblically-based principles of redemptive compassion, are designed to strengthen the faith of both the ministry’s volunteers and the people it serves. The relationships developed through this ministry create “Love Stories” for both its volunteers and neighbors in need. “We believe that lives are transformed when we deepen our faith and find mutuality in these relationships. Thus, our mission is to mobilize local churches to transform lives and communities In the Name of Christ.” Every year LOCC volunteers enjoy participating in Love INC’s Clothe-A-Kid project, helping to purchase school clothes for kids in need.
Contact: Suzy Erb, suzzers10@gmail.com. or 352.630.7800.
Website: loveincflorida.org
Operation Bless Wildwood (OBW) is a loose-knit organization comprising local residents, pastors, businesses, and community leaders whose mission is to identify the needs of children and families in the city of Wildwood and invest God’s resources to help address those needs. With an all-volunteer team, 100% of donations to OBW are funneled back into the organization’s various projects. Since the needs are many, public schools are the focus – the administrators, teachers, staff, and students of Wildwood Elementary School and Wildwood Middle High School.
Website: blesswildwood.org
Every year, LOCC volunteers report for bell-ringing duty with The Salvation Army. Your donations to The Salvation Army help serve the most vulnerable members of our community.
Contact: Bill Eggert at wmceggert@msn.com or 352.633.3116 or 952.212.1041.
Seeds of Hope supports the Wildwood Soup Kitchen and Wildwood Food Pantry, providing vital help to those who are easily forgotten. Live Oaks Community Church is an essential contributor to Seeds of Hope, conducting monthly food and donation collections to help our less fortunate neighbors. Many in our Live Oaks family also volunteer at the Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry.
Contact: Dean Parker at dpkp72@yahoo.com. Website: seedsofhope-wildwood.com
Take Stock in Children is Florida’s flagship mentoring, college readiness, and scholarship program for low-income, academically qualified middle and high school students. Volunteer mentors help students build a solid foundation of values, establish goals, improve academic and life skills, and develop self-esteem and confidence. Participating students can earn a scholarship to a Florida state college, university, or technical college to continue their educational pursuits. While not identified as a faith-based organization, Take Stock in Children allows Christ-following mentors complete freedom to share their faith with, and instill biblical values in, their mentees.
Contact: Jon Cope at jcope1952@hotmail.com or 815.218.5690. Contact Take Stock in Children at tsic@lake.k12.fl.us
REGIONAL/NATIONAL PARTNERS
A long-time ministry partner of LOCC, Urban Impact is committed to meeting the spiritual, physical, and educational needs of Central City in New Orleans and its youth – making disciples of Christ who bring transformation to their families, friends, neighborhood, and city. Executive Director (and virtuoso sax player) John Gerhardt has preached often at LOCC. The LOCC family has been sending short-term teams to support the Ministry of Urban Impact since 2012.
Website: urbanimpact.org
international PARTNERS
Cast Member Church is a Jesus-centered community exclusively designed for and dedicated to the Disney cast member culture. This global network of cast members – most of whom have never been part of a church before – explores what it means to live a life of faith and trust in a world of pixie dust. “We are not about the mouse, the magic, or the make-believe; we are about those who bring the mouse, the magic, and the make-believe to life.” Cast Member Church is connected on six continents with local expressions in Orlando, Anaheim, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, representing diverse nations, ethnicities, languages, and perspectives – including those skeptical and suspicious of anything religious. The church is affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America. Former LOCC worship leader Steven Barr led Cast Member Church from its inception in 2012. With 30 years of pastoral leadership in his rearview mirror, Steven is a visionary, innovator, communicator, and encourager for churches and leaders worldwide. But nothing compares to his passion for mentoring Disney cast members to follow Jesus.
Contact: Steven Barr at steven@castmemberchurch.com.
Website: castmemberchurch.com
Serving long-term with the Evangelical Free Church’s ReachGlobal ministries in the Dominican Republic, endeavoring to establish outreach opportunities and develop a robust DR connection with LOCC.
Contact: Gordy Grover at gordy.grover@efca.org or Bear Grover at bear.grover@efca.org.
Website: fmsc.org/
Los Pinos Nuevos is LOCC’s sister church in Cuba and our partner in Caribbean outreach.
Contact: Contact: Jonatan Hernandez at jonatanhr@gmail.com or 786.823.4168.
OM Ships International began in 1970 as part of the global Christian training and outreach movement OM International. Since then, OM’s ships have visited more than 480 different ports in 151 countries and territories and welcomed more than 47 million visitors on board. The ministry’s current ship, Logos Hope, visits each port for several weeks and opens the gangways to hundreds and sometimes thousands of visitors daily. The floating book fair offers more than 5,000 titles, giving many visitors the first opportunity to purchase quality educational and Christian literature. An international crew and staff of volunteers live and work on the ships. Teams from the ship go into surrounding areas to supply aid and community care. In each port, the ship’s crew joins local churches to bring hope and show love to people, whatever their circumstances, culture, or background.
Contact: Will Schraven at will.schraven13@gmail.com or Marie Schraven at schravenccclp@gmail.com or 352.496.2211.
Website: omusa.org
In 2021 LOCC’s Operation Christmas Child “Filler Factory” saw this labor of love’s 100,000th shoebox packed with gifts for children around the globe since LOCC began partnering with Operation Christmas Child in 2012. Annually, LOCC volunteers make toys and assemble fun and useful gifts for more than 20,000 shoeboxes to be delivered to “Special Access” countries, some of the darkest places in the world – and the hardest to penetrate with the gospel message of Christ. The children who receive these boxes not only experience great joy opening such an amazing gift box, but they also encounter the good news of Jesus.
Build a Shoebox Online
Another way you can make a difference is through the Build a Shoebox online program. Send the Gospel to the ends of the earth without leaving home. Shoebox gifts built online go to children in some of the hardest-to-reach places – whether deep jungles, city slums, steep mountainsides, or one of more than 1,000 remote Pacific islands. Many of these areas are resistant to the Gospel for cultural or religious reasons, and are home to numerous unreached people groups – some of whom have never heard the Name of Jesus Christ.
Click sere to build a shoebox online
Contact: Tom Stark 585.451.9164 tstark1@ymail.com
This team of LOCC volunteers helps meet the critical needs of victims of war, poverty, famine, disease, and natural disaster.
Contact: Chip West at chip@looktothelord.com or 740.310.0648; or Tom Stark at tstark1@ymail.com or 585.451.9164.
Shepherds’ Support International works with skilled teams to help disciple pastors worldwide, multiplying the ministries of international colleagues through spiritual encouragement, practical equipping, and relational engagement.
Contact: Rick and Diana Lowe at rick@shepherdssupport.org or Will Schraven at will.schraven13@gmail.com or 352.496.2211.
In obedience to the Greatest Commandment, Vision Nicaragua exists to enhance love, life, relationships, growth, and potential in local communities. A small non-profit organization based in Asheville, N.C., Vision Nicaragua has established sponsorship programs to send children to school and provide spiritual support, medical treatment, and financial assistance to families in the 2nd poorest nation of the western hemisphere. “By God’s grace, we are seeing lives forever changed and restoration at work every single day.”
Contact: Bonnie Shores at bonnieshores@gmail.com or 770.231.2964; Steve Sarcia at stevesarcia@yahoo.com or 352.630.5975; or Norm and Val Mydske at 704.756.5036.
Website: visionnicaragua.org
Missionary Support
Serving with Trans World Radio.
Kirk serves with Encompass World Partners as coordinator of Chadian Ministries in Africa. The Carvers hope soon to resume annual trips to Chad to assess church planting, medical and education coalitions, and training.
Serving with EFCA’s Reach Global focusing on Southeast District church planting.
Serving with EFCA’s Reach Global as director of Caribbean/Latin America.
Connect
It’s easy to connect! From weekend worship, discipleship classes, special events, and serving opportunities, there’s something for everyone at Live Oaks Community Church.
Join us for worship! We are one church with two locations and have multiple services to choose from.
This 7-week class serves as an introduction to Live Oaks and is the first step toward church membership.
Encore Groups represent your “Florida family” as they gather weekly to study the Bible, pray, and fellowship together.
Are you ready to serve at LOCC? There are many different opportunities in which you can share the love of Christ.
Get in touch
Phone: 352.446.3975
Email: info@liveoakschurch.org
Office Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Get in touch
Phone: 352.446.3975
Email: info@liveoakschurch.org
Office Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.