Meet The Oasis Staff Team

The leadership of the Oasis community always happens in team — with various different teams working together to serve the whole. One of those is the staff team, who work to implement the church’s vision across all areas of community life.

This article introduces the different members of the staff team; individuals who have been released for a particular amount of time each week to serve the community in specific ways. Most of the team are part-time — combining their work at Oasis with other roles and responsibilities in the workplace, home and neighbourhoods — and each brings their unique character and gifting to their roles, with the aim of benefitting the whole community.

Becca Blaber

Working Days: Wednesday & Friday
Email: becca.blaber@theoasischurch.com

Becca joined the Oasis staff team back in 2016, having been part of the church for over a decade before that. Her main role is to oversee our finances, which means you can mostly find her sitting at her computer happily immersed in multiple spreadsheets! Becca is also one of our trustees, and she works closely with the rest of the team to ensure that we have robust internal policies and procedures to keep everything behind the scenes running safely and efficiently. Outside of Oasis, Becca loves to be creative in any way she can — from music and watercolour to knitting and dressmaking, and she’s often got some sort of home improvement project on the go too!

Mike Blaber

Working Day: Friday
Email: mike.blaber@theoasischurch.com

Mike joined Oasis as a student in the early 2000’s and has found it to be a good home ever since. He serves Oasis as part of the teaching and preaching team, in overseeing midweek small groups, in providing pastoral care and in supporting the oversight of children’s work (OKC). Mike is married to Becca and has three daughters, making him very outnumbered at home… until ‘Otto,’ the puppy, boosted the male presence slightly! Mike works one day a week for the staff team, spending the rest of the week in healthcare. He likes to run, play football, read books about Jesus and eat cake.

Sarah Bowen

Voluntary Working Days: Usually Tuesday, Wednesday & Sunday
Email: sarah.bowen@theoasischurch.com

Sarah is passionate about seeing people grow in their faith and experience more of the transforming power of God in their lives. This often includes taking a lead in prayer meetings and evening gatherings, meeting with others to encourage and support them, and helping to facilitate training for people to grow in hearing from God. She is also part of the leadership team, and gives her time as a voluntary staff member in order to serve the community. Outside of church, Sarah loves travelling, walking, nature and looking at art. She is married to Richard and they have 4 adult children.

Richard Bowpitt

Working Days: Tuesday-Friday, Sunday
Email: richard.bowpitt@theoasischurch.com

Rich has been part of the staff team for about a decade, and his role primarily involves helping to look after our events and communications. That covers things like organising the logistics of our various gathered moments across the year, working on projects to help strengthen who we are and what we do together, overseeing our graphic design, audio editing and video production, and generally helping to keep things running smoothly! When not at South Street, he enjoys being part of his local cricket team, visiting different parkruns on a Saturday morning, and playing board games (the longer the better!).

Rebecca Eastwood

Working Days: Monday-Friday
Email: rebecca.eastwood@theoasischurch.com

Rebecca joined the staff team in early 2024 to manage the development of the new South Street Community Hub. Her role involves overseeing community activities across the week, as well as dreaming up new ideas and activities which will bless Harborne and make South Street known as a place of welcome. She also manages the bookings and external events taking place in the building. Outside of work, Rebecca can usually be found rehearsing for her latest musical with her amateur theatre company, baking (and eating) something chocolate-related, or working on an oil painting.

Andrew Gordon

Working Days: Tuesday, Wednesday & Sunday
Email: andrew.gordon@theoasischurch.com

Andrew has been part of the Staff Team since 2017 but has been leading the Oasis Worship team since the late 1990’s. His main role is organising and looking after the worship team, and is part of the team that makes the services and meetings happen. Andrew is passionate for Jesus to be proclaimed and worshipped in Birmingham, the UK and the nations — with a particular desire for creativity to be celebrated and fostered as we find our unique voice to celebrate and give space to rest in the presence of God.

Andrew also runs his own business as a recording engineer — usually recording local singer songwriters and bands. In his spare time Andrew likes listening to podcasts, his favourite are ones about theology, films and food, not necessarily in that order. Along with his wife Zoe, he attempts to parent 3 young adult daughters.

Alice Gray

Working Day: Wednesday
Email: alice.gray@theoasischurch.com

Alice has had the joy of being part of Oasis since she moved to Birmingham in 2017 and then has been on staff since 2022. She oversees the Youth team, coordinates the Alpha courses that run twice a year and has the privilege of getting alongside people and encouraging them in following Jesus in their particular situations. She is also part of the leadership and preaching team. Alice is a lover of adventure and being outdoors. So whether it’s on foot, paddleboard, or bicycle, she loves to explore new places!

Phil Henly

Working Day: Friday
Email: phil.henly@theoasischurch.com

Phil has been part of the staff team for just over two years, and his role primarily involves the oversight and execution of keeping our home at South Street in good working order. This includes building/renovation projects, health & safety, and IT; ensuring that it is fit for use for both the Oasis Community and external hirers.

Outside his staff role, Phil also oversees the audio and streaming production elements for our gathered moments and has done for the last 15 years. If he gets time, he’s also allowed to play bass! When not at South Street, he enjoys indoor bouldering, walking, slow-paced computer games and eating good food with great people.

Adrian Hurst

Working Days: Sunday-Thursday
Email: adrian.hurst@theoasischurch.com

Adrian has been part of Oasis since the beginning, having moved to Birmingham in 1999 to help plant the church. He is passionate about people discovering the wonder of the reality that Jesus is enough, and in discovering this truth growing to see how Jesus changes everything for them and for others. His role is all about encouraging people to live lives that are centred on Jesus, and figuring out what that means for them in their unique context. This includes pastoring, preaching, writing resources, hosting various gatherings, and spearheading a weekly podcast, as well as by leading the Oasis team where he seeks to encourage and give space for others to play their part.

Ben Kyte

Working Day: Thursday
Email: ben.kyte@theoasischurch.com

Ben re-joined the Oasis team in mid-2024 (having previously been a part of The Bridge addiction recovery project team from 2012 to 2018). Ben’s role is to oversee our fundraising towards building maintenance and repairs, as well as our ongoing Community Hub work, primarily through writing applications to grant-making trusts and foundations. During the rest of the week, Ben works for another charitable organisation (in a similar role), tag-teams with his wife to try to keep up with their two boys, and stays sane by going to live music gigs at his local venue in Kings Heath.

Mandy Mistry

Working Day: Wednesday or Friday
Email: mandy.mistry@theoasischurch.com

Mandy is our Children’s Worker, which involves planning and preparing sessions for children aged 3–11 years during our Sunday morning meetings. These include play, worship, Bible readings, prayer, discussions, videos, games, crafts and snacks — essentially, lots of fun and learning! When at home she spends lots of time with my husband and three children, mostly in lots of parks and soft plays! Mandy also enjoy the countryside, nice walks and coffee (and cake) with friends and family.

Charlie Pearce

Working Days: Tuesdays & Thursdays
Email: charlie.pearce@theoasischurch.com / admin@theoasischurch.com

Charlie joined the staff team in February 2024 as the church administrator, and as the keeper of our admin email account she is likely the first person on the team that you’ll contact with any questions! Charlie enjoys spreadsheets and organisation, which comes in handy when lending support to the various projects that the team are involved with. She also takes a lead on spearheading accessibility improvements throughout the building.

Outside of work, Charlie enjoys spending time with friends, dabbling with some kind of sewing/knitting and watching the best (or worst!) of what Netflix has to offer - usually with her pride and joy, Clemmie the cat, nearby.