PROFILE
Gateway Frisco, and it’s been cool seeing a culture of worship be established. It’s a very tight-knit community, like a small town.
BEN & ELISA HAAKE BEN HAAKE IS THE FRISCO CAMPUS WORSHIP PASTOR. HE AND HIS WIFE, ELISA, HAVE TWO BOYS: GRAHAM AND COLIN. ELISA: I first saw Ben at the end of 2007 when he was leading worship one night at Seven (now Gateway Young Adults). Then when I came on staff, we happened to be in the same Financial Peace University class. We didn’t really know each other before the class, so for those 13 weeks, I decided to sit next to him in every class. It wasn’t necessarily because I was interested in him, but he was always so serious, and I wanted to see if I could get him to smile!
interested in me, because he didn’t really talk to me, other than to ask me if I needed anything or wanted something to drink. It was kind of funny. BEN: People are always pretty surprised to find out that I’m highly introverted. You wouldn’t really see that on the weekend when I lead. ELISA: We eventually figured out we liked each other and ended up dating. After three breakups, the Lord made it very clear we were supposed to be together, and we got married. BEN: I knew whoever I married would minister with me, side-by-side. We had both received prophetic words that we were going to marry someone we could lead with and that our ministry would go to the next level when we were joined together.
ELISA: It’s family—literally for me! My brother, Johnny, is on the worship team with us, my sister-in-law is involved with Pink at our campus, my dad is a deacon, and my mom oversees prophetic training. But the campus is also one big spiritual family. We know what certain people are going through, and they trust us to lead them into the presence of God. We definitely feel the weight of that. BEN: We love traveling together—especially the Pacific Northwest, like Portland and Seattle. ELISA: My family moved here from Portland, Oregon. We lived on seven acres there and raised all kinds of animals—pigs, goats, horses, you name it. My least favorite chore was walking our pigs. The pigs were supposed to build more muscle than fat, but ours were all fat because we hated walking them. Sometimes they’d get out of control, and you’d have to chase them and catch them. It just wasn’t worth it. BEN: And I actually worked on a hog farm in Iowa growing up. My youth pastor raised 3,000 head of hog, and I used to help him.
BEN: I thought she was very attractive, and I loved her passion for the Lord. And she was obviously interested in me—she sat by me every week! [laughs]
ELISA: We’ve been doing that for almost six years now, and when we’re leading worship together, there’s a synergy there. We flow together easily, and it’s fun to sort of read each other’s minds in that way.
ELISA: I think we found out we both had grown up around pigs during one of those party games where you have to say two truths and a lie. It was one of those, “Wait! You did too?!” moments. [laughs]
ELISA: He ended up asking me out on a double date, and on the date I thought, There’s no way he’s really
BEN: We love leading together at the Frisco Campus. We were here right in the beginning when it became
For more about our Gateway pastors and staff, visit staff.gatewaypeople.com.
34 JULY 2016