Immeasurably More

When we arrived at Oasis in 2021, we had just come home from four years living in Germany, where we never found a real, lasting connection to a church. We held on to our faith as best we could, but we needed a church. We longed for community. We wanted connection.

We spent the first year feeling Oasis out — especially Oasis Kids — watching how our daughters, Audrey and Alexis, found their place. From there, our commitment deepened. We found CATO and became volunteers in our first year. I drove the hay ride (a lot). Melissa filled in wherever someone needed a break. In our second year I felt the Spirit calling me to give more time: design nights twice a week from March through October, installing the historic displays our community enjoys, helping lead a portion of Trees of Hope alongside another church family.

We’re now in year three, and we have an expanded family — shared holidays, spontaneous pool days, cookouts with several church families. Our daughters are vibrant members of Student and Children’s Ministry. We’re in small groups.

One day, driving home from campus, I heard my daughter singing in her car seat. I asked her to turn it up.

She was singing an Oasis Kids song about God and His Word.

“She was connected — to her community, and to her Creator.” Connection, community and service are real. To God be the glory.” — Steve

Thirty years ago, eleven people started this church with a conviction that God could use them right here in South Florida. Bob and Judy were among them, and they still joyfully serve each weekend.

“God began a work through them that He’s calling us to continue today.”

I saw the lights passing by, but my family and I had seen the lights tons of times before. It just so happened that at that time, I had just about finished with my treatments and whatnot and I was looking for a church and wanting to get back into the church because I wanted to get closer to God! My family and I decided to go one night, and I think it was Niki doing the tickets who had told me about Students. The following Thursday, I went to Students, and it’s since then that I’ve been at Oasis and I’ve even gotten a few of my family members to become part of Oasis as well!

I have a Germinoma brain tumor and it is benign, however I still had to do the traditional cancer treatment. I had brain surgery and did chemo and radiation, and I completed treatment on March 3rd, 2021! It was during that time that I actually really realized how much God does for us and was able to truly appreciate it.

“Now I serve others in Oasis Kids.”

Hello, my name is Elizabeth Padilla. I first came to Oasis seeking help for my marriage. Oasis received me and my family with open arms. They held me through what was left of my marriage and ultimately carried me and my children through my divorce. My son was baptized by Pastor Alex before he was even a pastor, and then I too was baptized. My son joined the youth group, and now, almost 10 years later, my middle daughter is in the youth group as well.

I lost both my mother and my baby sister during my divorce. Oasis not only held my hand, but they also came to the hospital with me. They literally held my mom’s hand, prayed over both of them, and supported me and my kids on and off church property. I say it all the time that heaven gained a lot from my family, but God sent me a village when He sent me to Oasis.

Now, Oasis is intertwined with my family in so many ways. My daughter is a part of the youth group choir and attends summer camp. We both volunteer every Christmas at Oasis. My son is now in college, thanks to the help of the godly, manly figures he had to look up to at Oasis. Anytime he comes down to visit, he comes to church with me, and Pastor Alex still gets on him about his hair!

Today, I’m so grateful for my Oasis family. I believe my middle child spends more time at Oasis than at home, getting involved in the youth group choir and events any chance she gets. The way this community has taken all of my children out of their shells and given us a family not just in church, but outside of it has been absolutely everything to us. I am forever grateful for the family God sent me in Oasis.

“When I walk through those doors, it doesn’t feel like a church. It feels like I’m seeing my family.”

In February of 2025 I got rid of my storage unit and gave away everything in it.

I had a storage unit, and in it I had enough stuff to completely furnish a small home. While they were things I was living without since downsizing my home, they were still my things, and I had built an emotional attachment to going to my unit and visiting the things in there that were beginning to collect dust.

One evening, I felt the strong urge to give everything inside of it away. I thought to myself I should sell these items, some of them are like new! But the small voice remained… give them away. So I did.

I gave away a bedroom set to a girl who was going off to college. A living room set to a grieving widow and her three children. My bakeware to a new couple who had the idea of starting a bakery. I gave, and I gave, and I gave. Within two weeks everything that I had hoarded for myself had a new home. And I haven’t missed anything from that unit in over a year.

Well, if I’m being honest I think about my slow cooker from time to time.

I think sometimes we hope, at least I do, that as I give something it will be given to me in even greater measure. That didn’t happen. At least not in a way that I can see, since after all I am still without a slow cooker.

“I have been blessed with more than enough, not so that I can have plenty, but so that I can share and be a blessing.”

When I think about what God has done in my life since coming to Oasis, I think about how faithful He has been in seasons where I genuinely didn’t know what was going to happen next. There have been seasons where depression and anxiety became incredibly heavy, where I questioned my purpose, my future, and whether I could keep moving forward. I’ve had moments where my faith felt stronger than my circumstances, and other moments where I honestly had to cling to God just to get through the day. But looking back, I can see that even when I couldn’t feel Him or understand what He was doing, He never stopped being there. He kept meeting me in the middle of my mess and reminding me that I wasn’t defined by the hardest things I’d been through. I had a completely different picture of what I thought my future was supposed to look like, but God has been teaching me that surrendering what I thought was going to be the “next step” sometimes looks like trusting that He will take care of the ones after it, and being willing to let go of the plan I made for myself so that He can lead me somewhere better.

God didn’t just provide circumstances for me though, He provided people. He gave me pastors, mentors, friends, leaders, and a church family who have walked with me through some of the most formative seasons of my life. There have been moments where I came into church carrying things I didn’t know how to put into words, and somehow God used worship, a conversation, a prayer, or simply someone choosing to show up for me to remind me that He sees me. Oasis has given me a church family that has loved me through seasons when I wasn’t at my strongest. My friends have prayed for me, checked on me, laughed with me, cried with me, and reminded me of God’s goodness when I had trouble seeing it for myself.

Looking back, I realize that some of the prayers I thought God was going to answer by changing my circumstances, He answered by changing me and surrounding me with people who would walk through those circumstances with me. I am still not perfect, I am still growing, and I don’t have every answer, but I can honestly say that God has carried me through things I didn’t think I could walk through, and He has shown me over and over again that His grace is enough for me. I’m incredibly grateful that He chose to do so much of that through Oasis.

“God has carried me through things I didn’t think I could walk through.”

There was a season when I was in a really difficult place financially, and I honestly didn’t know how I was going to pay certain bills. But instead of allowing fear to take over, I chose to trust God and stand on His Word that He would never leave me nor forsake me, and that He is faithful. Even when I couldn’t see how things would work out, God came through in ways I didn’t expect. Looking back, I can truly say that He provided exactly when I needed Him to.

“Even when I couldn’t see how things would work out, God came through.”

We first came to Oasis in November 2023, shortly after moving to the United States. We were new to the country, adjusting to a different culture, and looking for a community where our family could belong. A neighbor invited us to visit Oasis, and from our very first Sunday, we felt welcomed. Someone from the Welcome Team spent time with us after the service, showing us around, explaining the church and simply talking with us. That kindness meant so much when everything around us still felt unfamiliar. Soon after, our neighbor invited us to Christmas at Oasis. Our children loved the lights, the hot dogs, and trying s’mores for the first time! More than anything, it was one of the first moments since moving here when we truly felt part of a community.

As we became more connected, Oasis became an important part of our family’s life. My daughter Sofia first began volunteering with Christmas at Oasis because she needed service hours for school. My husband joined her, then I began helping whenever my work allowed, and eventually serving became something our whole family loved. During a very difficult season of adjustment, Pastor Garfield, Jonathan, and so many others offered prayers, encouragement, friendship, and support. One of the most meaningful moments came when Sofia wanted to attend student camp, but we could not afford it at the time. Through the generosity of people who sponsored students, she was able to go. Sofia had struggled for years with bullying and with feeling that she belonged anywhere. When she returned, she told me, “Mom, it was the first time I was surrounded by so many people and I didn’t feel alone.” I will never forget those words.

Through Oasis, our entire family has grown tremendously in our faith. Our children have developed their own relationship with Jesus, my daughter and I were baptized at Oasis, and serving has become something we cannot imagine our lives without. Sofia is now becoming more involved with the student ministry, and this fall I am beginning to lead my first group focused on mental and emotional health — an area very close to my heart. What I love most about Oasis is that faith is lived through people: through kindness, service, integrity, prayer, and genuine relationships. We came to Oasis looking for a church and a community. What we found was a family — and a place God has used to strengthen our faith, carry us through difficult seasons, and inspire us to serve others in return.

“Mom, it was the first time I was surrounded by so many people and I didn’t feel alone.”

In the autumn of 2023, I was in the darkest valley of my life. Following the end of my 43-year marriage, I relocated to a small apartment in Miramar. I was isolated 90% of the time, battling physical illness, relentless panic attacks, and resurfacing memories of childhood trauma. Even my daughter felt helpless watching me sink deeper into despair.

Every time I drove along Flamingo Road, the white steeple of Oasis Church caught my eye. Though I was paralyzed by fear, I decided to attend a Sunday service. When I walked through the doors, shaking from anxiety, I immediately felt a warmth and peace I hadn’t known in years. Pastor Alex and Arelis embraced me like family and gifted me a book, The Purpose Driven Life by Pastor Rick Warren, as a welcome gift. When I returned home, my daughter instantly saw the light back in my eyes.

Step by step — the book, attending church weekly and reading the Bible — God reignited my faith and my life through the ministry of Oasis Church. I began serving, first at Christmas at the Oasis, then in the office making calls to first-time guests. Listening to others share their heartbreak gave me a higher purpose: praying for their healing helped heal my own heart. I also began serving as a greeter.

When I suffered the sudden loss of my beloved brother, Steven Serrano, Pastor Guy, Pastor Garfield, Pastor Alex, Arelis, Cieara, Jonathan Morales, and my whole Oasis family carried me through the grief.

Today, my life is completely transformed.

“To anyone walking through darkness, depression, or mourning: do not be afraid to take that first step through the doors. Open your heart and let God restore you.”