Rev. John Moyle
John has served as Pastor of Missions and Social Justice at the Oakbrook Church in Reston Virginia since March, 2012. In this capacity, he oversees the many community, national, and international outreaches of the church. He has personally led fifteen different short-term mission teams sent out from the church, including eleven trips into the northern highlands of Guatemala. He has ministered in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Togo, and the West Bank of Israel-Palestine. In addition, he has ministered locally with troubled youth in the Loudoun County Juvenile Detention Center and with the local Hispanic day laborer community in a ministry called “Lunch for the Soul.” Since 2011, he has been involved in peacemaking and reconciliation ministries on the ground in Israel-Palestine, and was instrumental in arranging the meetings that eventually lead to the founding of Roots. During the first three years of Roots, John’s guidance and support were crucial. Since 2016, John has served in the role of Youth Pastor at Oakbrook as well.
John served as the Senior Pastor of Oakbrook Church from 2006–2012 and has been a member of the pastoral staff since 2003. He is married to the former Jenna Ecker since 1998. They have three children: Samuel, Matthew, and Kaylin. John is also the Offensive Line Coach for the Herndon High School Varsity Football Team. He is fluent in Spanish.
“After several years of studying the Arab-Israeli conflict and, more importantly, building real and trusting relationships with many Israelis and Palestinians living in the West Bank, I began to realize that the great separation that had been created over time between the two peoples in the land was a central cause of the violence and conflict and was doing literally nothing to reduce or prevent it. It became clear to me that separating Israelis and Palestinians from each other (even though they might live in neighboring communities!) made it near impossible for them to build relationships with each other. When people groups are segregated and individuals have little to no opportunity to truly know the other, they gradually become gripped by fear, suspicion, and mistrust of the other. Stereotypes and prejudices emerge which cause even greater division.
Roots was formed for the purpose of creating a safe space in which Israelis and Palestinians could begin to meet each other, hear each other’s stories, narratives, and world views, and gradually come to know the other. The goal was never to blend or do away with the distinct identities and cultures of the two peoples, but offer opportunities in which each group could gain greater familiarity with and appreciation of the other. For when people begin to truly know each other, the walls of fear, suspicion, mistrust, and misunderstanding come tumbling down. Real transformation of the human heart can take place.
In the six years since Roots was established, it has never deviated from this focus. Roots brings together the people of the land. For no matter what the future political solutions may be, Israelis and Palestinians will still live here and they will need to live in shared community ... a community in which each people will respect, honor, and even admire the other and a community that understands that true shalom can only be experienced when shalom is being experienced by all.”