Youth Pastor
Pastor Eli's Testimony
The Storhaug family: Eli, Eve, Loralie, & Lorena
Elias Storhaug grew up in a Christian home. He received the Lord at a young age and was baptized at the Kaneohe Nazarene Church when he was in elementary school. It was around this time that the family moved to Mililani and not long after they began to attend the North Shore Christian Fellowship. During this time he learned the Sunday school stories and knew many of the answers to the questions that his teachers asked, but he felt that something was missing.
The summer before he entered the seventh grade he attended the (CEF) Child Evangelism Fellowship’s summer camp at Camp Timberline. One night Pastor John was giving a message about Samuel and Eli and how the Lord was calling Samuel to be His servant. John gave an invitation by asking if anyone wanted to be the Lords servant. Eli felt the Holy Spirit tugging on his heart and went out to talk to a counselor. The first question that was asked was have you ever received the Lord into your heart? Eli had so the counselor told him to go and listen to the end of the message and hear what John would say. At the end John told everyone that there might be people here who feel that the Lord is calling them to serve Him, and if that was the case they should stay after and dedicate their lives to Him. Eli stayed, along with three others, and dedicated his life to serving the Lord.
Over the next few years Eli worked every summer with CEF doing five-day clubs for kids. He learned how to set up a Bible lesson and teach kids about the Lord. He also moved to Calvary Chapel Central Oahu with his family when the Church started. It was during this time that the Lord showed Eli that He had given him a teaching/preaching gift.
In 1995 he graduated from Hanalani High School and went to Northwestern Christian College for one year. When he returned he went through a time in his life of running from God. He got a job at Costco in 1997 and he married Lorena in 1999. They had their first child, Loralie, in 2000. Loralie was diagnosed with idosymatic Neuphrotic Syndrome and his marriage was suffering. No matter what Eli did he couldn’t fix anything and he finally turned back to God. God healed his marriage and He miraculously healed Loralie, and He gave them their 2nd child, Eve, in 2003.
The Lord opened a door for Eli to help out with the CCCO Youth Group in 2004. He assisted Jerry and Melissa Maas by teaching on some Sundays and doing things with the youth. At the end of 2005 Jerry handed the Youth Group over to Eli and he started to coordinate everything in 2006. The Lord started to put a call on his life during this time. Eli started to realize that there was no way he could work at Costco and still give these youth the attention that they needed. He began to pray that the Lord would raise someone up to take over the youth group full-time. At the same time the Lord was showing Eli that He didn’t want him at Costco and that he was called to minister to the youth. The Lord also put this on the hearts of Pastor Rick and the leaders of CCCO. After a lot of prayer Eli came on staff as a full time Youth/Assistant Pastor in September 2006. He became ordained on September 16th 2007.
The Lord has really blessed the Youth ministry with great leaders. He led some of us to Mexico in 2007. He is working on us with a worship ministry, as well as a ministry to the youth at the local skate park. I am excited about where the Lord is taking the youth and I can’t wait to see what He has for us in the future.
pastorelias@calvarychapelcentraloahu.com