Our Church History

ESTABLISHING OUR CHURCH

O'okala Fellowship began when God stirred in the hearts of Phil & Cindy Underhile to move from Illinois to the Big Island of Hawaii to plant a church. Upon arriving in Hawaii in January 2005, the Underhile's, Phil, Cindy and their son Derek, began an island wide search for a community that did not already have a gospel preaching church.

The Lord in his sovereign grace directed them to the village of O'okala on the Hamakua Coast. For the first year an in home Bible study was held. There was one family who attended for a couple of months and then moved away. Other than one local gentleman, no one else came that first year. The second year it was determined that a Sunday morning service be held in the carport of the Underhile home. Unfortunately, not one visitor came the whole year. After some evaluation and prayer it was decided to move the location to a public building.

A survey was conducted to see if the community would prefer a morning or evening service. The majority chose an evening service, so in early 2007 an evening service was started in one of the old sugar plantation buildings. Through the year a handful of visitors attended service, but as year three came to a close,  no one attended more than once. There was never any thought of giving up.

The Underhile's believed that God had placed them in O'okala for a reason and were determined to stay faithful to what they believed God had called them to do. In February 2008, the evening service was changed to a morning service. That first Sunday two families came to the am service. God had began to build His church and over the next ten years He brought families. As with most churches, some moved on and some stayed. Today, there is a strong core group of believers who call O'okala Fellowship their home.