Sunday Mornings on Crescent Oaks
Stone Oak Church has stood at 20024 Crescent Oaks in the Stone Oak neighborhood of northeast San Antonio for more than three decades. The congregation was planted in 1992, and in the years since, the church has built a steady rhythm of teaching, worship, prayer, and community life that continues to draw neighbors from across the surrounding neighborhoods.
It is a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation, one of about twenty-five churches that make up the Trinity Presbytery in central and southeast Texas. Within that wider family, Stone Oak keeps a small-church feel. Worshippers know each other by name. Visitors are greeted as friends rather than strangers. The leadership, anchored by Senior Pastor Dr. Mark Marian Sontowski, talks openly about the church's mission to make Jesus known, to grow disciples, to teach the Word of God, and to share the love of Jesus Christ.
A visitor planning a Sunday can expect a straightforward morning. Adult Sunday School meets at 9:00 a.m. in the Choir Room, where the topic is usually a verse-by-verse walk through one of the books of the Bible. At 10:00 a.m., the conversation simply shifts to the Fellowship Hall for coffee and doughnuts, which lasts until about 10:25. By 10:30, the worship service begins in the sanctuary, and the doors stay open for anyone who arrives a few minutes late.
Worship at 10:30 a.m.
The Sunday worship service is the center of life at Stone Oak. It begins at 10:30 a.m. and runs roughly an hour to an hour and a half. The style is described by the church itself as blended. There is a liturgy, with some traditional hymns sung alongside newer praise and worship songs, so the room holds both the formality of a printed order of worship and the freedom of a contemporary band.
Holy Communion is served on the first Sunday of each month. Communion at Stone Oak is open to all who wish to partake, an open table in the oldest sense of the phrase. The method is intinction: worshippers come to the front of the sanctuary, where serving elders hand them a piece of bread that they dip into a cup of grape juice before eating. Prepackaged communion elements are also available for those who prefer them, and elders are happy to bring communion to anyone who cannot easily come forward. The dress at Stone Oak is what the church calls fairly casual. Jeans are as common as slacks, and the goal is for no one to feel out of place.
Children in the Service
Families with children are welcomed into the sanctuary rather than separated from it. Childcare for little ones is available in the nursery, which is housed in the Fellowship Hall. Older children stay with their parents for the first part of the service, where they take part in a brief children's moment before being released to their own Sunday School class.
Children's Church meets in the Choir Room during the 10:30 service and uses a combined-age-group format. The lessons are simple, the activities are designed for fun, and the teachers, led by Dr. Bob Gaffin, treat the children's ministry as a serious calling. The church says it has been blessed by how the Lord has grown this program over the years, and events like the annual Easter Egg Hunt and Vacation Bible School have become regular fixtures on the family calendar.
Sunday School, Coffee, and Doughnuts
Sunday School for adults begins at 9:00 a.m. in the Choir Room, with Dr. Bob Gaffin leading an open class that moves verse by verse through the books of Scripture. He has taught this class for years, and the room tends to fill with regulars along with visitors who want a deep, chapter-by-chapter study of the Bible. A second adult gathering, also led by Dr. Bob Gaffin, meets in the Fellowship Hall at 9:30 a.m. and complements the earlier hour with its own study of the Word.
Theological study is not limited to Sunday morning. From 10:00 to 10:25 a.m., between Sunday School and worship, the church shares morning fellowship over coffee and doughnuts. The choir room becomes the fellowship hall, and the doughnuts are made fresh. Visitors and members alike are welcome to linger.
Women, Youth, and Scouts
A Women's Bible Study meets on Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. in the Choir Room, with entry from the back of the sanctuary building. JoEllen Furnish facilitates the studies and is described by the church as someone who guides the group with skill and warmth. The topic changes with the seasons, and newcomers are always welcome.
For older students, a Youth Bible Study meets on Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. in the Choir Room and Youth Room. The study is open to students in sixth through twelfth grade and is led by volunteers from the congregation. Friends are welcome, and entry is from the back parking lot, which keeps the youth group a little removed from the rest of the building and gives it a sense of its own space.
The church also sponsors the Stone Oak Scouts, which meets at the church on Mondays at 7:00 p.m. Scouting brings boys and girls from the wider neighborhood into the building each week, and the program has become a quiet but important ministry of the church. The scout leaders and the church staff talk about the way these young people have brought so much goodness to the congregation, and the partnership has become a regular feature of Stone Oak's outreach into the surrounding community.
Pastor Mark and the Music Director
Senior Pastor Dr. Mark Marian Sontowski brings an unusually broad background to a single congregation. He was born in Poland, in what was then East Prussia, Germany, and grew up in the United Methodist Church family. He and his own family traditionally practiced the Reformation tradition, and he studied and respected Reformation theology and doctrine. Over the years he has preached and taught at United Methodist, Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, and Cumberland Presbyterian churches, and has taken pulpits in England, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and the United States. His teaching weaves together a deep knowledge of church history with a simple conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord.
The music at Stone Oak is led by Music Director Kevin Baxter, who has been the church's pianist for more than fifteen years. Baxter holds a Bachelor of Science in Piano Performance from Huntingdon College, a Master of Arts from the University of Montevallo, and a Master of Arts in Music from Texas State University. He served in the 5th United States Army Band at Fort Sam Houston and spent his professional career as a music teacher in the Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District before retiring. The blend of traditional hymns and contemporary songs heard in worship each Sunday is in large part his work.
The Session and the Work of Governance
Like every Cumberland Presbyterian church, Stone Oak is governed by the Session, a body of elders elected by the congregation. Stone Oak's Session has seven members, elected to three-year terms. The Senior Pastor serves as the Session Moderator, a non-voting chair; the Clerk of Session, also non-voting, keeps the minutes. Meeting minutes are posted for any church member to read, and Session meetings are open to the membership. They are held at 7:00 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at the church.
The current Session includes Jane Hasty (term expiring 2026), Awe Gaffin (2026), Keith Parker (2027), Jacquelyn Duplantis (2027), Keith Ludy (2028), and Joe Cesmirosky, who serves as Clerk of Session. One of the elders rotates through the role of Elder on Call each month to handle church emergencies that come up outside of office hours. The church's stated belief is anchored in John 3:16: For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
The Community Prayer Trail
Behind the main church building, a community prayer trail has been cut through the brush and trees on church-owned land. The trail is open from sunrise to sunset and is meant for anyone in the neighborhood who wants a quiet walk with a Bible verse or two along the way. The idea grew out of a partnership with Reagan High School. Nathan Kopel and then Art Suarez led a group of Reagan students, alongside dedicated Stone Oak Church volunteers, in clearing the brush and laying out a path with several prayer and reflection sites.
The opening ceremony was held on a Sunday afternoon in late September, with local dignitaries walking the trail and pointing out the different reflection points. The Sonterra Property Owners Association donated a cross and two picnic tables that now sit along the trail, and the church frames the project as both a gift to the neighborhood and a place of retreat for the congregation itself. Visitors are invited to walk, take in the beauty of the natural setting, and meditate on Bible verses and reflective thoughts along the path.
Devotionals and the Prayer Ministry
Beyond Sunday mornings, the teaching ministry of Stone Oak extends into a steady stream of written devotionals. A weekly devotional, written by a writer who goes by G. Yarian and shared under the editorial eye of Penny Ludy, is released each week. The devotionals are short, scripturally grounded, and often built around a single image: a key, a fence and a gate, a yoke, a window, a pomegranate, a shield. They are meant to be read on a phone or in print and to carry the reader through the week between Sundays.
The same devotional approach carries over into the church's pastoral care. Stone Oak describes itself as a church that prays, and Senior Pastor Mark is available for prayer and pastoral comfort. Prayer requests are welcomed, and the church promises that someone is waiting to stand with you in prayer, whether the concern is large or small.
An additional feature is a small prayer pamphlet, undated and reusable, available in the Narthex. It is designed to help keep personal prayer fresh and intentional, and is filled with practices learned from faithful believers who understood that effective prayer requires effort, humility, persistence, and spiritual courage.
Pastor Mark's Meditations
For longer-form teaching, Pastor Mark has written several meditations that are shared widely. The pieces range from a January 2023 reflection on spiritual growth to a February-March 2023 study of Nicodemus's nighttime visit with Jesus in John 3, to a meditation on faith from August 2025 that walks through the healing of the woman who touched the fringe of Jesus' robe. These writings reflect the pastor's conviction that Christian faith is something practiced every day of the week, not just on Sunday morning. They are shared freely with anyone who wants to read, return to, or share them.
Rooted in the Cumberland Presbyterian Tradition
Stone Oak is a Cumberland Presbyterian congregation. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church was founded on February 4, 1810, and has maintained its own identity within the broader Presbyterian and Reformed family for more than two centuries. The denomination's headquarters are in Cordova, Tennessee. Stone Oak belongs to the Trinity Presbytery, which gathers around twenty-five churches in central and southeast Texas.
The Cumberland Presbyterian Church operates Memphis Theological Seminary in Tennessee and Bethel University, the denomination's official institution of higher learning. A copy of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church Book of Faith, the denomination's confession, is available from the denomination. In its own statement of belief, Stone Oak points to John 3:16 as its anchor text. From that foundation the church derives its mission, vision, and purpose. The mission is to make Jesus known, to grow disciples, to teach the Word of God, and to share the love of Jesus Christ. The vision is for all to be filled with the love and grace of Jesus Christ. The purpose is to glorify God by sharing that love and grace with everyone who walks through the door.
Ministry Teams and Ways to Get Involved
For members and regular attenders who want to do more than show up on Sunday, the church organizes its work into eight ministry teams, each with its own point of contact. The Admin team supports the professional and administrative work of the church staff. Adult Ministries include Dr. Bob Gaffin's Bible studies and JoEllen Furnish's Women's Bible Study. The Children's Ministry oversees Sunday School and family events like the Easter Egg Hunt and Vacation Bible School.
The Communication Committee focuses on making sure the congregation and visitors know what is happening at the church. The Hospitality and Social Events team organizes church-wide meals and looks after members who are grieving, recovering, or otherwise in need of support, including meal coordination around funerals and graduations. The Finance team handles the church's budget and financial forecasting. The Property team takes care of the building and grounds, including quarterly all-church workdays. The Worship Committee oversees the planning of the worship services and integrates new music and technology as needed.
The teams are open to newcomers, and as the church continues to grow, new ministry opportunities will appear.
Online Giving and Other Resources
For those who want to support the work of the church financially, Stone Oak offers online giving through Planning Center. The system supports both one-time and recurring gifts, is described as safe and secure, and records each donation as if it had been placed in an offering envelope at the church. Links to give are available through the Church Center app.
A Calendar of upcoming events, a Pictures and Stuff photo gallery, and a Members section with internal information for the congregation are also available. Services can be watched online through the church's Facebook video channel, which is updated regularly with recordings of recent worship services. For those who want to follow the church more closely, an Instagram account shares images and updates from the life of the congregation, and the church's main Facebook account keeps the wider community informed.
Planning a Visit
Stone Oak Church sits at 20024 Crescent Oaks in San Antonio, Texas 78258, in the Stone Oak neighborhood on the city's north side. The church phone number is (210) 497-7974, and the office email is socpcoffice@yahoo.com. Office hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Visitors who arrive during off hours are encouraged to leave a message.
On Sundays, the morning begins with Adult Sunday School at 9:00 a.m. in the Choir Room. Coffee and doughnuts are shared between 10:00 and 10:25 a.m. The 10:30 a.m. worship service runs about an hour to an hour and a half, includes a brief children's moment, and offers Holy Communion by intinction on the first Sunday of each month. Children's Sunday School and Children's Church are held during the service, and a nursery is available in the Fellowship Hall for younger children. Dress is casual. Visitors who want a point of contact before arriving can call the office.
A Church That Prays
What ties the various pieces of Stone Oak's life together is the church's own description of itself: a church that prays. Whether someone is sitting in the pew on a Sunday morning, walking the prayer trail behind the building at sunrise, reading a devotional on a phone during a lunch break, or joining the Women's Bible Study on a Wednesday morning, the prayer is the same. It is the prayer that God would be known, that disciples would be grown, that the Word of God would be taught, and that the love of Jesus Christ would be shared with everyone who passes through the door on Crescent Oaks.