

Pastor Gregg Olcott and his wife, Sarah

(8/26/2015)

The pastoral search team at Cornerstone Community Church has been known to hunt nationwide for just the right pastor to lead the church in Goodview, so who would have thought the team’s most recent search would end in their own back yard?



Due to circumstances beyond anyone’s control, former pastor David Vanzant and his family found the need to move to Memphis, Tenn., after a short two-month stay at Cornerstone. Pastor Gregg “Gooch” Olcott (nickname given him as a youth by his baseball team members), a Winona resident and part-time pastor at Brookside Church, had been invited to deliver several messages at Cornerstone during the Sundays that followed. On August 1, as if by God’s provision, Pastor Gregg began his pastoral duties, partnered by his wife, Sarah, in the newly-built church located at the intersection of Highway 61 and 44th Avenue in Goodview.



While Pastor Gregg and his wife live and work in Winona, it is obvious God has led them and their family on quite a journey during their early years. Gregg’s grandfather was a Baptist pastor in Rose Hill, N.Y., near Geneseo, N.Y., a college community (pop. 10,000) where Gregg grew up. Sarah was raised in Lockport, N.Y., and they both attended undergraduate school in Geneseo. Gregg studied ecology and environmental science in hopes of becoming a forest ranger. Sarah studied English and eventually completed a Master’s program in higher education. The two met during Sarah’s senior year.



The Olcotts then moved to New Orleans, La., where Gregg changed his college focus, majoring in secondary education-- social studies. It was there that the couple grew and matured in their faith, were baptized as believers and served as part of the worship team at a non-denominational church called River of Life. They finally settled in Winona, where Gregg finished his teaching degree at WSU. Still motivated by an urge to someday pastor a church — perhaps his grandfather’s in New York — Gregg completed seminary studies in Lynchburg, Va., at Liberty University, an accredited Christian college founded in 1971 by late Baptist leader and evangelical pastor Jerry Falwell.



Besides Pastor Gregg’s current church responsibilities, he provides home-schooling for four of their five children and serves as assistant scout master for Boy Scout Troup 6 in Winona. He also directs “Lifeline,” a local Christian ministry network that connects the needs of area residents to those that can fulfill those needs.



Many in the local area know Pastor Gregg as the founder and director of “Classical Conversations,” a home-school organization that teaches parents how to teach their children using the classical model — grammar, dialectic and rhetoric. Pastor Gregg explained, “In this organization, we teach parents how to teach the basics using songs and whatever else is available, similar to the early one-room school house. At the same time, we encourage children to be warriors for Christ.” His wife also participates in this organization as a tutor while she juggles her multiple roles as wife, mother and WSU assistant director of housing and director of the residential college. In their “free” time, Gregg, Sarah and their children —Ian (12), Makarah (10), Uvonne (8), Jocelyn (6), and Malcolm (3), love to camp and spend time outdoors.



Pastor Gregg’s vision for Cornerstone is to encourage lasting God-centered relationships, and to share the love of Christ in the community. He foresees an influx of young families in the future, providing a nice age mix with many opportunities for fellowship as a whole and in small groups, supporting one another in life’s challenges.



“When God opens a door, it’s surreal!” Pastor Gregg exclaimed with passion. Then he added, “The new Cornerstone facility is a testimony to the fact that God opened doors and faithful people moved through them quickly, only to be blessed in the process.”



Visitors to Cornerstone are always welcome. For information about the church and to listen to several of Pastor Gregg’s sermons visit www.cccofwinona.org.