Pastor Jose Saint Phard to Lead Oasis Christian Center

January 24, 2023 - Vancouver, Wash.

Our next pastor has been selected! Pastor Jose Saint Phard has accepted a call from the Oregon Conference to become the new pastor of Oasis Christian Center, a Seventh-day Adventist Fellowship, and is planning to join us soon. Most recently Pastor Jose was the lead pastor of Newday Adventist Church, a 270-member church in Colorado.

"My family and I are elated to join the Oasis family," said Pastor Jose. "Tiffany and I have been praying for God's leading for a while now, and all roads seemed to be leading toward Oasis. It will be a joy to partner with you to expand the kingdom of God!"

Pastor Jose is a high-energy, passionate man with a range of ministry experience. He was at Newday in Colorado for two-and-a-half years, and prior to that was the lead pastor at Burwood Adventist Community Church in Australia. (Long-time Oasis members may be interested to know that he actually followed Pastor Moe Stiles at Burwood when she came to Oasis as our pastor in 2018.) He began his full-time pastoral career at Bolingbrook Church in Illinois, where he led for seven years, after spending three years as chaplain at Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, MD. While chaplain he was also the part-time pastor of the Community of Hope Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, MD. 

Pastor Jose was born into a Catholic family in Haiti. After moving to the United States, his family joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church when he was 6 years old. He was soon preaching at the Wednesday night prayer meeting, and as a teenager found many adults coming to the youth service he led. He earned a BA in theology from Washington Adventist University in 2007, with an emphasis in biblical languages and metropolitan ministries. He is fluent in English, French, and Spanish, and while in college spent time doing mission work in Costa Rica. He was ordained as a Seventh-day Adventist minister in 2016, and recently completed certification as an executive coach.

Pastor Jose has significant experience with church revitalization and growth. As the part-time Pastor of the Community of Hope Church, he helped grow the church's membership by more than 25% and led new people coming to Christ in baptism each month. Then, as the lead pastor at Bolingbrook, he helped the church transition from a multi-family church of 60 people in weekly attendance to a thriving, contemporary, highly-missional congregation of over 400 people in weekly attendance. Thanks to his leadership, in 2017 Bolingbrook was recognized by the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists as one of the fastest-growing churches in the denomination. Later he helped Burwood in Australia grow to break the 200 attendance barrier, reaching an average weekly attendance of 290 people. And at Newday in Colorado, while leading the congregation through the Covid-19 pandemic, he saw over 90 new people join the church, including 26 through baptism and profession of faith.

Pastor Jose has been married to Tiffany for over a decade, and together they have two young children, Noah and Harper.

"Tiffany and I are excited about joining the Oasis community," said Pastor Jose. "We believe God has been preparing our family for this next season of ministry. We are confident that God has been preparing the Oasis church for this next season of fruitfulness, and we look forward to doing ministry well together. Together we will be a force of good for the city of Vancouver and be a source of eternal hope amidst a world desperately in need of it."

Oasis thanks Elder Randy Hill, assistant to the president of the Oregon Conference, the headquarters for the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Western Oregon and Southwest Washington. Elder Hill led the pastoral search for Oasis and was excited to recommend Pastor Jose, believing him to be a great fit for the church. Oasis also thanks the members of the pastoral search committee: Malaika Childers, chair; Kevin Black; Flora Flint; David Lackey; Linda McEwen; Rob McNabb; Debbie Pierce; Helena Stringer; and Angela Witzel.

"Thank you for your many prayers that have brought us together," said Pastor Jose. "Tiffany and I are looking forward to being Oasians!"