The History of a church is really "His-story". It is the story of how God has worked in the lives of people, bringing them together one by one to be "fitly framed together...an Holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:20-22). The future of a church is built on the foundations laid by the testimony and teachings of those who have gone on before.

Pastor Wayne and Diane first came to Hawaii in 1980 after graduating from Pillsbury Baptist Bible College in Minnesota. Pastor Wayne served for five years under the leadership of Pastor Al Anger as Asst. Pastor, Youth Pastor, Principal and teacher at Koolau Baptist Church and Academy in Kaneohe. It was while serving there that they saw the need for a good Bible preaching church on this side of the island.

Ohana Baptist Church (Ohana means family) was born on August 3, 1986, after a year of deputation on the mainland to raise support. Fifteen people attended that first service in the Control Data building in Mapunapuna. The preaching service had to be delayed for fifteen minutes as Pastor Wayne rushed back home to get his notes!

Over the next six years the church had to move seven times as we successively outgrew each building that we were using. Many people have come and gone over the years, but God has continued to bless "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20) as the church has steadily grown in both numbers and ministry.

In 1991 the church voted to say "thanks, but no-thanks" to our supporting churches as we dropped all mission support and became self-supporting. In 1992, Kahua Baptist Church in Kapolei was born under the leadership of Pastor Les Lippincott with a dozen members from Ohana. In 1996 Pastor Steve Szukala started Lokahi Baptist Church in Mililani with thirty-three former Ohana members. (Lokahi had to close it's doors in 2004 because Pastor Steve was diagnosed with a brain tumor) In 1997 Pastor Rickson & Susan Kihleng joined our staff to work with the youth and our new Micronesian ministry. They now serve as missionaries to the Micronesian island of Pohnpei.

In the fall of 1998 the church voted to step out by faith to lease a 15,000 sq. ft. building on Nimitz Hwy. After countless hours of cleaning up from vandalism and a fire and investing over $300,000 of renovations, we finally moved in during the summer of 1999. The new building opened up many new opportunities for ministry including a Preschool, Reformers Unanimous (R/U) and expanded Micronesian ministries. Pastor Pat Smith and his family joined the church staff that summer. He and his wife lead the Preschool, R/U and Music ministries. Due to facility problems, we had to close down the Preschool and R/U in 2008 and the Smiths moved back to the mainland.

Pastor Matt & Lanissa Fitch joined our church staff to work with the Teens, Singles and Young Married ministries from January 2005 to May 2009. Pastor Mike Bui came to take their place in May 2009. Anter Sasuo heads up our Chuukese services and Pastor Andy Dela Cruz works with the Filipinos. We are thankful for the diversity that God has given to us in the church and our goal is to reach out to every ethnic group as the Lord opens up the opportunities.

2010 has been an exciting year of change for the ministry here in Hawaii. We were able to purchase our own buildings not far from the previous location. The Lord allowed us to buy $6,000,000 worth of buildings for only $665,000! The land is still leased, but we also have tenants in the building next door who pay us rent. We received the keys on December 1st, 2009 and after spending about $50,000 and lots of hard work, we moved in on for our first service on January 3rd. Since that time God has continued to bless the ministry an we have seen many new opportunities for growth and outreach.

Many people have come and gone over the years, especially our Military families of the church. God has brought us just the right people, at just the right times. Some God brought to meet a need in the church, and others for the church to meet a need in their lives. Each one has been a special blessing and will always be a part of our Ohana no matter where God leads them next.

In brief, this is some of the history of Ohana Baptist Church. The real "His-story" of the church is written in the hearts and lives of the many who have been saved and have grown in grace here at Ohana over the years. As we look back and count the blessings of God, let us also look forward to the blessings of being used by God to write the future "His-story" of Ohana Baptist Church as we contine to glorify Him.