Joel Oliphint
Most days Joel still finds it funny that Columbus is not only his home, but a city he's passionate about. (Not laugh-out-loud funny. More of a "Hey, whatta ya know about that?" kind of funny.)
Joel was born in Texas but spent the latter half of his childhood in Philadelphia, then met his wife, Kate, at the University of Richmond in Virginia. After convincing Kate to marry him right out of college, Joel begrudgingly agreed to move to the Ohio, which is filled with just as many fields of corn as he suspected (including a cement one), but is also home to the Short North, Ohio State and Robert Pollard. Kate and Joel made their home in Clintonville and added their son, Liam, to the family in 2007. Liam's impossibly curly hair still remains somewhat of a mystery. In July 2009, daughter Maggie made her welcome debut. (Her hair seems to be missing.)
Kate has a pretty cool job at the Columbus Zoo. Joel is currently juggling stay-at-home dad duties and freelance writing, mostly of the musical variety. It's not unusual for him to spend a morning attempting to keep Liam from stealing other parents' car keys at a Whetstone library storytime, picking up his yellow Lab's giant pile of excrement on a walk and analyzing the Hold Steady's latest record.
In addition to elder responsibilities, you'll find Joel on the launch team of the in-the-works Clintonville congregation, as well as leading one of the worship teams at Grace Central--playing guitar and occasionally attempting to sing. He likes to think the off-key notes just give him more indie cred.