Timeline

Tom Elie grew up at Bloomington Assembly of God (now called Cedar Valley Church) in Bloomington, Minnesota. After high school he helped launch the Jesus People Church in Minneapolis and served on staff for 12 years as music minister.

In 1984 he and hiw wife, Vicki, began Praise Assembly of God (now Praise Christian Center) in Crystal, Minnesota, where he was the senior pastor for 20 years.

In 1996 Tom founded Oasis World Ministries, a non-profit ministry headquartered in Maple Grove, Minnesota, dedicated to winning one million people to Christ by the end of 2010.

In September 2004 Tom felt called to leave the pastorate at Praise Christian Center in order to serve full time with Oasis World Ministries. God's favor rests upon him as he shares his heart and ministers both in the U.S. and in third-world countries.

A vision was born

In 1965, twelve-year-old Tom Elie wrote Evangelist Billy Graham after attending his Minneapolis crusade. "I think God has called me to win masses of people for Christ," Tom wrote. Rev. Graham replied back by encouraging him to follow God's call. That's when Tom began sharing his faith with his friends and bringing them to church.

Birth of Oasis World Ministries

In 1996, after 32 years of following God's call as a worship leader and pastor, God challenged Tom to double his prayer time and "seek His face, not His hand."

Tom began learning about God's favor through listening obediently in prayer and His Word. When Tom doubled his prayer time, he noticed that God's favor would open doors in minutes that would take him years to open by himself.

Within one month of doubling his prayer time, Tom was invited by Pastor Clarence Mauthiah to come to India for Tom's first gospel festival and pastor's school. While fighting jet-leg and culture shock, Tom was struck with the Indian people's desperate and passionate faith which resulted in 800 people coming to Christ a the Tankasi Gospel Festival.

"After experiencing such a great soul harvest, I had to go back," Tom said. So he founded Oasis World Ministries, an evangelistic ministry that has been bringing "Living Water" to thirsty souls, and he set a God-sized goal of reaching ONE MILLION decisions for Christ by the end of 2010.

Tom will go anywhere people are thirsting for "Living Water." He focuses on traveling wherever a major gospel crusade has never been held or hasn't been held in decades.