Our Story

Olive Knolls, from its beginning, has served up a banquet of joy and generosity. This is the testimony given by dozens of early members who have since gone on to Heaven – members going back to a little living room Bible study of the late 1930s. They soon grew out of that small house, found a pastor, and pitched a tent for worship.
Rev. Swatzel had retired from ministry, but he saw the field white unto harvest in that humble Bible study and came out of retirement. He not only came out of retirement, but he donated his retirement property to build its first building.
Imagine that kind of sacrifice: He donated his retirement property in the latter years of his life during the Great Depression. What kind of guarantees did he have of comfort in his declining years? None. This act of generosity would become a part of the very DNA of that congregation for generations to come.
They dedicated their first building at the corner of East Warren Avenue and Wisteria Street in Oildale and organized as the North Park Church of the Nazarene. During that great celebration service a charter member came in late. He had been detained by his truck driving occupation. He strode through the front door to announce the news he’d heard on the radio: Pearl Harbor had been bombed! Their celebration, Sunday, December 7, 1941, turned to mourning.
Pastor Swatzel shepherded that congregation throughout the war. Rev. Garrison came to be their pastor in 1945 and for the next thirteen years it thrived as a joy-filled congregation.
One of the early women of our church described that joy as the magnet that drew her to the love of God. Her life had been scarred by a series of marriages and sorrow-filled divorces. Yet in this young local church she was refreshed with a pitcher of fellowship seasoned with irresistible merriment. Her description of that happy church was a common theme of all those who joined that congregation throughout the 1940s and 1950s.
Rev. Clarence Killion came to pastor in 1958. It was he who lead the church in its move from that first small building to a new edifice on Woodrow Avenue and Oildale Drive. It was renamed the Oildale Church of the Nazarene.
In 1963, Rev. Bert Rhodes took up the reins of leadership. He would pastor that congregation until his death in 1988. Pastor Rhoades was passionate about people.  His vision for the church led him to believe the impossible was possible.
The congregation was growing. That small hemmed-in corner couldn’t hold the vision that sprang into the hearts of that faithful people. In 1966 they doubled their giving in order to make a miracle happen: purchase a five-acre property on Fruitvale Avenue and Lucille Avenue. Imagine an entire congregation doubling its generosity out faith of what God would do. By 1972 they dedicated their first buildings on that corner and became Olive Knolls Church of the Nazarene.
By 1979 they founded Olive Knolls Christian School that still thrives to this day. It’s ministered to thousands of families throughout the years – many who have become a part of the church congregation.
By the 1980s they had purchased another 15 acres in order to expand their vision of ministry. In the first four years of the 80s the congregation doubled in size ministering to more and more families.
It was under Rev. Mel Rich’s leadership that the long-envisioned Family Life Center was built. It was a building intended to minister to the whole-man: spiritually, physically, mentally, socially, and aesthetically. It was dedicated in 1992.
The Hope Center Incorporated is a non-profit 501 c.3 charitable organization that began in 1999 as a ministry of the Olive Knolls Church of the Nazarene. Several Olive Knolls members recognized a growing need in the community and began putting together food baskets for the holidays and clothing packages for distribution to in-need individuals and families in the North Bakersfield Area. An appeal was made before the Olive Knolls congregation and the response was positive with donations of clothing, food and clothing being accumulated in a back room at the church. It was soon determined, because of the awesome response, that more room would be needed.
Since those days, Olive Knolls has been led by Rev. John Calhoun, Rev. Rob Songer (who had grown up in the church and now DS), Rev. Kent Pedersen, Rev. Darren Reed (who had grown up in the church), and now Rev. Kevin T. Hardy.
Pastor Kevin Hardy was called to be Pastor in February 2020 after he decided to leave the District Superintendency (Michigan) and returned to his first love the pastorate.  He arrived in Bakersfield in April 2020 at the beginning of the shut down for Covid 19.  God has blessed these Covid years with strong leadership that has led to renewed passion for God, outreach to the lost, an outpouring of generosity and joy.  Over the last four years the church has revitalized the Gathering Place, Church Office Building, new signage across the campus, recoated the outside of the Worship Center, updated the sound and video equipment and so much more.  It launched the online ministry which was so necessary during the pandemic.  
Throughout its years three things have remained constant: Olive Knolls has been a place of generosity, service, and joy! It is a place for families to experience God’s love and all to find a place of belonging.
One day we will join those who have gone before us; we will be gathered together forever in heaven. We will experience a joy unfathomable as eternity unfolds and we tell our stories to one another. We will laugh with light-hearted spirits – free from pain and sorrow – as we meet those who made generous deposits of wealth into the Kingdom economy of Olive Knolls. It will be revealed to us for the first time the hidden sources from which the rich veins of joy and generosity flowed into our lives – and we will be glad we were a part of it.