Pastor, Rev. Amy Jo Whatley, was raised in a rural area just north of Georgetown, KY, where her parents, James & Peggy Cook still reside. To quote Amy regarding her formative years: I grew up free-range. Tobacco and beef cattle farm. Gravel road, canned veggies, hauled and rain water, Fisher stove for heat and windows for cooling. We generally knew supper by a first name basis and grew a lot of what we ate. Her brother, Jim, his wife, Carrie, and their daughters, Callie, and Sophia live in Georgetown. Favorite Auntie Amy admits to spoiling Callie and Sophia. Her nieces admit to not minding it a bit!

Amy moved to Chattanooga in 2008 where she met her husband, Robert Whatley who is originally from Macon, GA. Since joining our community, Robert has been a great blessing to us in his support of ministries such as our Young Adult ministry.

After graduating from Scott County High School, Amy entered Eastern Kentucky University, earning her BA in English Literature with secondary education certification. Her fondest memories of college were tutoring exchange students and sharing their cultural experiences and expressions.

She was the first in the Cook family to graduate college and did so with honors. The Wesley Foundation at Eastern Kentucky University was blessed to have her on their leadership team and as their first intern. Her Masters of Divinity was completed at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, KY where she worked in the tech department and tutored.

Amy has since served churches in Southwest Virginia (Norton), Johnson City area (Gray), Knoxville area (Trinity, Oak Ridge) and now enjoys the Red Bank neighborhood of Chattanooga.

As any English, teaching major would, Amy enjoys creative preaching, insightful teaching and is a source of both applicable truths and poignant humor. She is the self-proclaimed "house staff" for Watson Wesley, a Minature Schnauzer, and enjoys reading (biographies, scifi and "well-aged" Christian writing), exploring downtown Chattanooga (favorite hangout: Rembrandts Coffee House), and getting to know her new friends in Red Bank.

To Contact Amy by email send to pastor@whiteoakumc.org

Rev David Kammerdiener is our Minister of Music. He has been with the church for over four years and has education in music ministry. A native of Texas David has taught music in schools in the Chattanooga and north Georgia area. He also plays in a local swing band called ”Sweet Georgia Sound”. Currently he is studying computer technology at a local college. He is married to the Rev. Betsy Kammerdiener who is minister of music at St. Elmo UMC. He has a daughter Katy and son Kris who is also a member of our youth group. To reach David by email send to music@whiteoakumc.org

Carol Opalinski has had the pleasure of working at White Oak since April 2003. She and her husband, John, have been married 34 years and have two sons, Alex and Michael. The family moved to Chattanooga from Massachusetts in 1997. Carol's hobbies include digital scrapbooking. She is employed by a digital scrapping website and is also a Creative Team member for several designers and several websites. Another one of her hobbies is genealogy and she has traced her family back 14 generations to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Great Britain. She has a copy of handwritten testimony given by an ancestor during the Salem witch trials. To reach Carol by email send to office@whiteoakumc.org