Overland Hills Church gathers each Sunday on the south edge of Papillion, in the rolling Sarpy County suburbs just below Omaha. The congregation calls itself, in a single phrase that runs through everything it does, a gospel-centered community. That framing is more than a motto. It shapes the way the church teaches through books of the Bible, the way it trains children on Wednesday nights, the way it supports missionaries in Chile and Togo, and the way it welcomes military families stationed at nearby Offutt Air Force Base.
Overland Hills is a self-governing congregation affiliated with Converge, a national network of Baptist churches, and is part of the Converge Heartland district that stretches from North Dakota through Oklahoma. The campus sits at 11151 South 90th Street, and on a Sunday morning the rhythm of the day is simple: Sunday school for all ages at 9:00 AM, and a worship service at 10:15 AM, both available in person and on the church's livestream.
Sunday Mornings on 90th Street
The Sunday schedule is built around two anchor times. From 9:00 to roughly 10:00 AM, classrooms fill with children, youth, and adults in graded Sunday school classes. Adult classes work verse by verse through books of the Bible (recent studies have included a sustained walk through Philippians) alongside a doctrinal series called Firm Foundations, which walks through topics such as Regeneration, Justification, Sanctification, Adoption, Union with Christ, the Atonement, and the Offices of Christ. That pairing of careful biblical exposition and systematic doctrine is deliberate and reflects the church's stated belief that Scripture is sufficient for faith and life.
At 10:15 AM the congregation gathers for the worship service. Teaching from the pulpit is expository and book by book, with recent sermon series walking through the book of Exodus and selected Psalms. Both the worship service and Sunday school are streamed live on the church's YouTube channel, and archives of recent messages are posted for catch-up viewing.
Families with young children are well cared for. Every nursery volunteer is background-checked and trained to look after the physical and spiritual good of children. On the second and fourth Sundays of the month, a children's program called Church-4-Kidz gives boys and girls ages 4 through 3rd grade a gospel-centered worship experience designed for their age, though parents are warmly welcomed to keep their children with them throughout the service if they prefer.
Children, Youth, and the AWANA Midweek
Overland Hills invests heavily in the next generation, and the centerpiece of its midweek ministry is AWANA, an international, non-denominational children's ministry whose name comes from 2 Timothy 2:15, Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. The church's stated AWANA goal mirrors its own: to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve him.
AWANA runs Wednesday evenings during the school year at the church, with five tracks meeting at the same time.
- Cubbies celebrates the spiritual potential of preschoolers (ages 3 and 4) by helping them develop respect for God, his Son, and his Word.
- Sparks (kindergarten through 2nd grade) builds a foundation of wisdom by walking children through the people and events of the Bible.
- T&T (3rd through 6th grade) engages upper elementary students with their questions about God and guides them through a pivotal life stage.
- Trek (7th and 8th grade) and Journey (9th through 12th grade) prepare older students with a biblical worldview and a sense of mission in the world.
The younger three clubs meet from 6:30 to 8:15 PM; Trek and Journey run until 8:45 PM.
For middle and high schoolers, the church also runs a Sunday evening youth group from 5:30 to 7:30 PM with fellowship, fun, and teaching from God's word. The youth ministry occasionally takes students on trips such as Lead the Cause to train them in evangelism and missions.
Care Groups, Men's Coffee, and Monday Prayer
Beyond the Sunday gathering, the life of the church pulses through smaller rhythms. Care Groups are small groups that meet regularly in homes for fellowship, Bible study, and prayer, and they are the primary means by which the church pursues what it calls biblical fellowship. Men's Coffee Fellowship gathers the men of the church every Friday at 6:45 AM for Bible discussion and encouragement. Women's Bible studies are offered at various points throughout the year to provoke gospel-centered thought and conversation. And on the first Monday of each month at 7:00 PM, members gather for a prayer meeting to pray for one another and the church's mission.
The Four Marks of a Disciple
Overland Hills organizes its ministry around a simple framework called the Marks of Discipleship, drawn from the Great Commission in Matthew 28. The church's mission statement is to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, and these four visible marks are how that mission shows up in daily life:
- Identify with Christ through baptism and with his Church through membership.
- Gather with fellow believers for worship and fellowship.
- Become like Christ in character.
- Serve in the church and represent Christ in the world with time, abilities, and resources.
Church membership is treated not as a credential but as an expression and outcome of saving faith. Members covenant together to hold one another accountable to obeying God's word, gathering for worship, and using their time, talents, and wealth to serve others. A five-part sermon series unpacks these marks in greater depth.
Salvation by Grace Alone
The doctrinal center of Overland Hills is summed up in a single sentence the church repeats often: salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as revealed in Scripture alone, to the glory of God alone.
From that foundation, the full statement of faith unfolds. The Bible is the Word of God, fully inspired, without error in the original manuscripts, preserved in doctrinal purity, and supreme in all matters of faith and conduct. God exists eternally as one God in three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, equal in nature and distinct in role. Man was created in God's image and likeness but, in Adam's sin, the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became spiritually dead; of himself, man cannot remedy his lost condition. The Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became fully man without ceasing to be God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died a substitutionary death, rose bodily, ascended to heaven, and will return personally and visibly.
Salvation is the gift of God's grace, freely given to all who trust in the finished work of Christ at Calvary, and the saved are kept by God's power and secure in Christ forever. The church observes two ordinances committed by Christ: baptism by immersion in the name of the triune God, and the Lord's Supper, a commemoration of his death observed until he returns.
Distinctives the Church Stands Behind
In addition to its statement of faith, Overland Hills publishes a separate list of biblical distinctives, convictions the elders believe the church must be explicit about for both moral and gospel reasons. A few highlights show the shape of the church.
On biblical marriage and gender, the church teaches that marriage is the one-flesh union of one man and one woman for life, reflecting Christ's relationship with his Church, and that sexual immorality in any form is sinful and offensive to God. Gender, the church teaches, is created by God and immutable.
On the sanctity of human life, the church teaches that human life begins at conception, that abortion, euthanasia, suicide, and murder are unjust terminations of life that God alone authors, and that life extends beyond death into eternity.
On divorce and remarriage, the church teaches that divorce is a sinful severing of what God has joined together. Permissible grounds are sexual immorality or abandonment (which the church interprets to include abuse). Where restoration is not possible, divorce is permissible for the innocent party, and remarriage is likewise permissible. Past sins are forgiven at the cross for the truly repentant.
On the complementary roles of men and women, the church teaches that men and women are equal in worth and dignity but differ in God-given roles at home and in the church. Men are to fulfill the leadership role as head of the wife and may serve as elders or pastors. Women may serve in many roles but are not permitted to serve in the office of elder nor in roles requiring teaching authority over a man. They may teach children, mentor other women, serve as deaconesses, and take on administrative and service roles.
Other distinctives include the sufficiency of Scripture (no program, technique, or fad is needed to supplement it), the necessity of church membership, a transformed life as evidence of salvation, God's sovereign election in salvation, a plurality of elders as the model for church leadership, restorative church discipline that follows the pattern of Matthew 18, and a cessationist view of the so-called sign gifts (tongues, healings, miracles, visions, and prophecies), which the church teaches were given to authenticate the apostles in the early church and are not normative for today. On eschatology, the church is intentionally open-handed, allowing members and teachers to differ between amillennialism, dispensational millennialism, and historical premillennialism, as long as no view contradicts the doctrinal statement.
Missionaries from Antofagasta to Togo
Overland Hills supports a network of missionaries and ministries across the Americas and Africa.
In the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Pastor Miguel and Clara Castillo supply shelter, food, safety, and the gospel to communities in need, while also organizing pastoral leadership and training seminars for hundreds of pastors across the region. In Antofagasta, Chile, Dave and Kristi Flinck have been working since 2011 to start a reproducing New Testament church; the city is growing rapidly because of the copper mining industry, and a mission house purchased in 2012 now serves as their home and a meeting place for a growing core group of believers and leaders-in-training. In Togo, Josh and Ashley Freeman partner with a team on church planting, serving as a Church Planting Coach, sharing the gospel, and discipling future Togolese pastors. Andrea and Patricio Leon serve in Macas, Ecuador, where they offer children's Bible clubs, visitation, evangelism, and discipleship alongside the local church with the long-term goal of planting an active, Christ-exalting congregation.
Closer to home, Davy Lee, a former associate pastor at OHC, was called to pastor Center Baptist Church in Omaha in a revitalization effort. The church also partners with Steve Krier, District Executive Minister of Converge Heartland, the regional district that spans from North Dakota through Oklahoma, including the I-29 corridor of Missouri.
A Plurality of Elders
The church is led by a plurality of elders and served by a team of pastors and deacons. Jon Vinter serves as Senior Pastor. Aaron Long is Associate Pastor of Discipleship. Josh Huntoon is Associate Pastor of Youth and Families and preaches regularly from the pulpit. The board of elders currently includes Bob Atkins and Jim Wamhoff. The deacon team is organized around areas of service: Curtis Rainge (Benevolence), Daniel Wood (Facilities), Joe Gershon (Safety), Kelly Lyle (Women's Ministries), Matt Insko (Finance), Paul Woodall (Audio Visual), and Roger Lyle (Logistics). Jamie Bonge directs the Christian Childcare & Preschool program.
This structure reflects the church's conviction that the local church is best served through more than one elder who shepherds, leads, and guides the congregation through the ministry of God's word and prayer, as outlined in Acts 6 and 1 Peter 5.
Welcoming Military Families from Offutt
Overland Hills is registered with the Military Missions Network and welcomes military members and their families stationed at Offutt Air Force Base, home to Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine personnel. Internationally, the Lees (Jim and Christie) serve as long-term missionary partners through The Navigators ministry at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, helping cadets, faculty, and staff know Jesus, grow as his disciples, and serve him as leaders for a lifetime.
Christian Childcare & Preschool
Sharing the church's campus is a separately branded Christian Childcare & Preschool program for infants through pre-kindergartners. The preschool is led by Jamie Bonge and uses a curriculum that introduces even the youngest children to the same gospel-centered vision that shapes the rest of OHC's ministry.
A Gospel for Every Part of the Week
From Sunday school through AWANA, from Care Groups in neighborhood homes to global missions across the Americas and Africa, Overland Hills Church is built around the conviction at the heart of its ministry: the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. That aim, drawn from Romans 1:16, shapes the rest of the ministry, from a Wednesday-night Cubbies club to a sermon series walking verse by verse through Exodus, and reflects the prayer that everyone who walks through its doors, or joins online, would become a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.