Tulsa's John 3:16 Mission CEO Retiring; Son To Take His Place

Tulsa's John 3:16 Mission will have a new leader in a few weeks. CEO Reverend Steve Whitaker is retiring, and his son is taking on the role.

John 3:16 has been serving Tulsa's homeless community for more than 70 years, and for nearly half that time, Reverend Steve Whitaker has been a part of it.

When he first started 34 years ago, the CEO position did not exist, and the only building was the downtown shelter.

"To say that John 3:16 has changed in these last 34 years is an understatement,” Steve said.

His son, Rev. Steven Whitaker, will become the new CEO August 1.

The transition comes at a time when the mission is going through a multimillion-dollar expansion at its campus in West Tulsa.

A new distribution center for food, clothing and furniture is expected to be done early next year. The new women's recovery center was just completed a few months ago. And a job training center is in the works.

"I have got to see growth most people only get to dream about, to speculate about and we're in the middle of all that,” Steve said. “And so as you see the buildings around you, you see the open pads where new buildings will be -- those are the fruition of dreams. I look forward to seeing those built."

"So now a lot has been built. He's been steward over tremendous expansion,” Steven said.

Steven started working for the mission in 1997. Now he looks forward to the future, following his father's footsteps.

“It's exciting. But it's very humbling at the same time,” he said.