Christopher Ollila was born and raised in Northeast Ohio and graduated from an Akron area high school in 1992. During his freshman year of college in the spring of 1993, Chris received the Gospel message, became a believer in Jesus Christ and began attending a church and Bible study.
After graduating from the University of Akron in the spring of 1998 with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Secondary Education, Chris began teaching social studies and language arts at a public school in Geauga County, Ohio. In 1999, Chris and his wife Nikki began attending Lake Erie Bible Church in Concord, Ohio under the instruction of Pastor-Teacher Ken Reed.
By 2000, having identified his spiritual gift, Chris answered the call to join the ministry and he and Nikki moved to Oklahoma City, OK and began attending Maranatha Church. Concurrently, under the instruction of Pastor-Teacher Jack Ballinger, Chris began studying theology in the Maranatha Seminary and in the spring of 2003 graduated with his masters in theology. Soon after graduating, Chris accepted the job as pastor-teacher of North Texas Bible Church in Wichita Falls, TX where he served between February of 2004 and the summer of 2009. Chris and Nikki then moved back to Oklahoma City and returned to Maranatha Church. Chris’ ministry work was put on pause and he held various managerial positions at retailers in the Oklahoma City area.
Then, in October of 2021, a group of believers living in the Oklahoma City Metro asked Chris if he was interested in picking his ministry backup with them. This group became the founding members of what has become Stephanos Church, where Chris has served as Pastor-Teacher to this day.