• Contact Us
  • Classifieds
  • About
  • Home

Pathway

Missouri Baptist Convention's Official News Journal

  • Missouri
    • MBC
    • Churches
    • Institutions & Agencies
    • Policy
    • Disaster Relief
  • National
    • SBC Annual Meeting
    • NAMB
    • SBC
    • Churches
    • Policy
    • Society & Culture
  • Global
    • Missions
    • Multicultural
  • Columnists
    • Wes Fowler
    • Ben Hawkins
    • Pat Lamb
    • Rhonda Rhea
    • Rob Phillips
  • Ethics
    • Life
    • Liberty
    • Family
  • Faith
    • Apologetics
    • Religions
    • Evangelism
    • Missions
    • Bible Study & Devotion
  • E-Edition

More results...

Olivia and Luke Stockeland

Daddy-daughter time gains Kingdom purpose for Open Door Church pastor

February 13, 2020 By Tim Howe

COLUMBIA – When a daddy accompanies his daughter to a tea party or escorts her to a dance, she remembers. But for Olivia Stockeland, she will forever remember the time her daddy swept her off her feet and took her on a mission trip.

Luke Stockeland, Olivia’s dad and pastor of Open Door Church in Columbia is a father of four. He has been active in mission work since he was a teenager, when he and his family developed a heart for Haiti. His father and brother currently serve there as missionaries.
Stockeland and his wife Anne are committed to passing on a passion for the gospel to their own kids. This has led them to create a rite of passage in their family. When one of the children turns eight years old, they get to go on a mission trip with their dad.

“Taking kids on mission is a great way to broaden their horizons,” Stockeland said. “Instead of just telling our kids to serve Jesus, it allows us to do it with them.”

The oldest two children, Jarren (13) and Jolee (11), each travelled with their dad to Haiti, where they did evangelistic and humanitarian work. Since she was five years old, Olivia watched and waited for her time to come.

Olivia got her chance when, after turning eight, she and her dad travelled to Florida to serve with a mission support agency which helps deliver mail and cargo to missionaries serving in Caribbean countries. During the trip, Olivia got to help sort mail, pack boxes, load planes, learn about missionaries, and serve Jesus alongside her daddy.

“Not only did we get to help do some things to support missions across the Caribbean, but two of the mail slots were for my brother and Dad in Haiti,” Stockeland said. “She got to put in letters that she could see were going to them.”

“I thought it was super cool,” Olivia said. “It felt really cool to help.”

Stockeland has led several such short-term mission trips. He says that others in the church have taken similar steps to write missions into the story of their family. One church member began by taking his son on a mission trip to Haiti. His wife joined him on the next trip. Eventually, instead of taking a family vacation, the whole family went on a mission trip together. According to Stockeland, they saw the world with different eyes when they came home.

“I know there are a lot of varying views of short-term missions,” Stockeland said. “They may seem to have little immediate return, but they have a great long-term benefit because of the ability to expose people to missions.”

Stockeland believes short-term missions plants a seed that will grow for life.

“When you take your children to the mission field,” Stockeland said, “they start to get the picture of how God networks us together in the big Kingdom of God.”

“Doing short-term mission trips is a great example of being stronger together than we are individually.”

The Stockelands’ youngest daughter, Briella, is currently 2 ½ years old. In just over five years, it will be her turn.

Comments

Featured Videos

Lick Creek Fellowship - A Story of Cooperation

A declining rural church faced closure after years of dwindling attendance and aging members. But after the doors closed, a small group stepped in to build something fresh from its legacy. Watch this video to hear this story of cooperation and new life.

Find More Videos

Trending

  • The blessing of staying

  • Amendment on role of women in pastoral ministry fails to achieve 2/3 vote

  • Hooked on serving: One trip was all it took to seek out MODR training

  • Students accept call to faith, ministry during a peak year at Super Summer

  • Citing challenges overcome 100 years ago, Iorg urges Southern Baptists to choose cooperation

  • Bellevue Baptist Church search committee announces Lifeway’s Mandrell as pastor candidate

Ethics

Churches, religious broadcasters prevail in lawsuit challenging Johnson Amendment

Diana Chandler

The Johnson Amendment, as it formerly restricted political comments from the pulpit, is null and void, according to a July 7th binding consent judgment.

FIRST-PERSON: Liberty for all – a Baptist distinctive

Baptist Press

More Ethics Stories

Missouri

Students accept call to faith, ministry during a peak year at Super Summer

Dan Steinbeck

More than 1,600 students gathered across three Missouri Super Summer camps this June, making 2025 the largest year in the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) camp’s recent history and resulting in dozens of spiritual decisions.

Copyright © 2025 · The Pathway