Hometown: Haiku, Hawaii (Maui)
Degree(s) Obtained / Years Graduated from SAGU: Church Leadership 2002
Q. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I graduated from SAGU in 2002 and became a college pastor in Oregon. I returned to SAGU as a dorm pastor (Kendrick 2004-2007)—one of my favorite jobs ever!
After that season, I started my first business as a full-time traveling photographer. Between paid jobs, I spent my 20s traveling to 30+ countries to creatively partner with missionaries through art, photography, youth ministry, teaching & coaching.
I married my husband, Travis Oberg (a songwriter/musician), in 2012. We worked together as artists & teachers at a local Christian School before starting a Volleyball Club in Morgan Hill, CA. Our Volleyball Club is running in its tenth year, and it’s been our privilege to coach and mentor hundreds of young athletes and our staff of coaches.
During COVID-19, our business closed for three months, and God opened a miraculous door for us to buy a three-acre ocean-view farm on the North Shore of Maui with my brother and his wife. Together, we are managing a tropical fruit farm. Still, our passion is our 2-3 month ‘farmternship’ where young people come from all over the US to live at the farm while helping us part-time host people, manage the land, and have some epic island adventures in between! We always hope they will get a glimpse of living a missional life during their time with us.
Q. How did your time at SAGU influence/ prepare you for your current work?
My time at SAGU was about learning to love and follow Jesus—he is the most important influence for a fulfilling life!
Q: How did you know you wanted to be in your current field?
I imagined myself in full-time traditional pastoral ministry, but what Jesus really had for me was full-time unconventional ministry in business, arts, design, sports, and now in farming and hospitality. My heart is to pastor, but my pulpit has been on airplanes, behind cameras, in gyms, and now while scooping poop on a farm!
Q: Tell us a little about your current career/ ministry role.
I still own my business in California while living & running our farm in Maui.
Since the devastating August wildfire in Maui, we have also been leading a small non-profit involved in housing displaced people, service projects, hosting groups at our farm, and buying food/supplies for families that have lost everything. Next week, we host a missions team from Texas helping us prep and donate 2,000 plants from our farm to replant in Lahaina and landscape a new housing project built by an A/G church in Maui.
Q: Tell us about a memorable/funny moment in your career/ministry.
I have visited Amy Farley (SAGU alum) several times in different countries where she has served as a missionary. On one trip, my team was painting a colorful mural in a community center. We arrived one morning and saw a very large 3-foot pelican caught in a rope. We were busy figuring out how to free the huge poor bird when we were informed it was someone’s lunch.
Q: How has SAGU left an impact on you/ your family?
I love that SAGU gives every student the opportunity to have eyes and hearts for the Nations. The heart of God is for the Nations, and we are a global church.
Other than that, I met my lifelong besties at SAGU! Everyone needs friends that will last through every season of life.
Q. What would you tell a current SAGU student today?
I would tell you so much, but you will have to come to my @mauifarm for that! So the only thing I will say here is…Jesus is your calling!
About SAGU:
Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927 and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu or by calling 1-888-YES-SAGU.
