About Eight Oaks
Started in 2009. About 120 people on a typical Sunday. Non-denominational. On Halvorsen Street, on the east side of Aurora.
How it started
Thirty people, a rented school gym, and folding chairs that had to be stacked by noon.
In 2009 about 30 adults from a large church in Naperville started meeting on Sunday mornings in the gym at an elementary school on the east side of Aurora. They wanted a church close to home, small enough that people knew each other, with a pastor who had time to sit down with anyone who asked.
For six years they set up and stacked chairs every week. In 2015 the church bought a former VFW post on Halvorsen Street, and volunteers spent most of that summer turning the bar into a kitchen and the basement into rooms for kids.
17 years on, about 120 people come on a typical Sunday. When the room started to feel full, the members decided to help start a second church on the south side instead of adding another service. That plan is still being talked through.
Eight Oaks is non-denominational, which means no national body sets our rules; the members and a small group of elders do. We hold a standard evangelical statement of faith (see what we believe), and we try to keep the main things central and leave room for people to differ on the rest.
Sunday is simple: songs, a passage of the Bible, prayer, and coffee afterward. During the week there is a kids program, a youth group, eight small groups, and a monthly shift at the food pantry.
Your first Sunday
You don't need to sign up. If you'd like someone to look out for you, send the visit form and Renee will meet you at the door.
- When
- Doors and coffee at 9:30. The service is 10 to 11.
- Where to park
- Park in the east lot off Halvorsen Street. The six spaces nearest the door are marked for guests, and the two accessible spaces are right beside the ramp.
- What happens
- Four or five songs (words on the screen), about 25 minutes of teaching from the Bible, a prayer and a last song.
- Kids
- Babies to fifth grade can go downstairs to Eight Oaks Kids. Check in at the first table inside the door.
- Where to sit
- Anywhere. The back rows are good if you'd like to slip out at 11; the side by the windows is where families with little ones tend to sit.
What we believe
Your church's statement of faith goes here, in your own words. The template leaves it blank so it does not assume a tradition for you.
Most statements cover Scripture, God, Jesus and salvation, the church, and how members live it out.
How we try to run things
- We go through the Bible in order
- James picks a book and works through it a passage at a time, so the hard chapters get preached too. Last year was Genesis 1 to 25 and the letter of James; this fall is Mark.
- Questions are welcome on Sunday and after
- The First Visit Class is mostly questions, and James keeps Tuesday and Thursday afternoons open for anyone who wants to talk something through.
- Help is arranged quietly
- Meals, rides and money help go through the small groups or the office. Nobody is named from the front unless they have asked us to pray for them by name.
- The neighborhood comes first
- Our outreach is within a couple of miles of Halvorsen Street: the Aurora food pantry, the elementary school on our block, and neighbors who need a hand.
- We disagree politely
- Members vote on different sides and hold different views on plenty of secondary questions. Sermons stay on the passage and off party politics.
Who you will meet
Four people are on staff, two of them part-time. Everything else is done by volunteers.
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James Holloway
Pastor (since 2014)
James came to Eight Oaks in 2014 as the church's second pastor, after nine years as a chaplain at a hospital in Joliet. He preaches most Sundays, leads Wednesday Youth, and runs the First Visit Class. He meets one-on-one with anyone who asks, and his cell number is on the bulletin for emergencies. He and Rachel have three kids: two in Eight Oaks Kids and one in the youth group.
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Maria Delgado
Eight Oaks Kids director (since 2019)
Maria taught kindergarten in Aurora for eleven years before she took over Eight Oaks Kids. She writes the volunteer rota, picks the lessons, and runs the background checks for every adult who works with children here. She is at the check-in table most Sundays from 9:45. Her two children are now in the Wednesday youth group.
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Caleb Ortiz
Music director, part-time (since 2021)
Caleb started playing guitar on the Sunday band as a volunteer in 2018 and took on the music director job, part-time, in 2021. He chooses the songs with James each week, keeps the volunteer musicians' rota, and runs rehearsal at 9 on Saturday mornings. He lives four blocks from the church and teaches guitar lessons the rest of the week.
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Renee Park
Connections director (since 2022)
Renee is usually the first person a visitor meets. She reads every visit form, writes back herself, and is at the front door on Sundays from 9:30 in a green "First Visit" lanyard. She works half-time at Eight Oaks and spends the other half running a small bakery on Broadway, which is why there is usually something good next to the coffee.
Tell us which Sunday, and Renee will meet you at the door.
The visit form takes a minute. You'll get directions, parking and kids check-in details by email. We read every message and reply within 2 business days.