Pastor Cal Emerson was called to the pulpit of Oakley Community Church as the Senior Pastor on March 23, 2025.
Cal was raised in Howell, a small farm town in mid-Michigan. After high school he attended Michigan State University and graduated with a BS in engineering. He then married his high school sweetheart, Beverly. Having worked in the construction industry during college and loving the smell of new home construction he landed a job designing and building vacation homes for families in northern Michigan.
That business was rewarding and exciting, but it was not a business that gave him the income he hungered for. A sales representative job for adidas opened up in Michigan and for eleven years it was a work he thoroughly enjoyed and an income he loved. Yet he began to realize as his income grew, that money did not satisfy a hunger that was growing deeper within.
That hunger was satisfied when he asked Jesus to be Lord of his life. In fact, he found that new of way of living to be so gratifying that he went into the ministry at the age of thirty-nine so he could encourage others to discover the Abundant Life. His Ministry degree and Master of Arts degree were received from Indiana Wesleyan University, and for twenty-eight years he pastored one church in Owosso, Michigan.
Cal has enjoyed many different activities. Hiking in northern Michigan with his wife was his favorite until they came face to face with a black bear one day. At that point she decided (and he tended to agree) it would be more fun to hike on civilized trails. They also enjoy riding their bikes, which became trikes in retirement, and camping with friends.
He enjoys woodworking and has built a desk for each of his children and now each of his grandchildren as they enter the ninth grade. During the winter he found sewing to be a constructive hobby but in lieu of giving up his “man card” as a seamster (male name for a seamstress) he argues that sewing is simply following a blueprint. It’s like building a house.
He is very proud (in a humble sort of way) of all his children, their spouses, and all six grandchildren and loves to have them come home and sit around the table together. Cal says, “It is a joy to just sit back and watch them interact.”
In addition to serving Oakley Community Church, he has kept himself busy writing, speaking at camps, and speaking at numerous churches in the Michigan area.