When Kelly and Jennifer Oaks moved their family to Lubbock in 2008, they were simply looking for better schools and opportunities for their three children. They purchased a Betenbough home, never imagining that the Lord was placing them within a community that would shape the next season of their lives.
A few months after settling in, Jennifer joined the Betenbough accounting team. Kelly followed a year later, stepping into land development. From the very beginning, they sensed this company was different. The culture felt deeply relational. Leadership talked about purpose in a way they had never experienced. Conversations about vision trips, community impact, and Kingdom principles were woven into everyday work life.
And then there was something neither of them fully understood at first — employee ownership.
Through Betenbough’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), team members share in the ownership of the company. At the time, the Oaks were young parents focused on raising kids, making ends meet, and coaching Little League. Retirement felt like a far-off dream.
“I didn’t join Betenbough because it’s an ESOP,” Kelly says with a laugh. “But I should have.”
In the early years, their ESOP statements were small. But each year at the company’s family meeting, as the Board announced the new stock price, the Oaks watched those numbers grow. And grow. And grow.
“On year five I looked at the number and thought, whoa! This is more than I have in my 401(k) from 17 years as an electrician,” Kelly remembers. “And for our family, it was double because Jennifer had her own ESOP account.”
That realization became a turning point. Kelly began learning everything he could about the ESOP, asking questions, digging into the details, and recognizing the powerful connection between personal ownership and company stewardship.
“One of the best things about the ESOP is it encourages everyone, no matter the job title, to proactively solve problems,” Kelly shares, “Because we all own the company.”
That mindset began shaping his daily work. Kelly and his team negotiated repairs in the field to avoid unnecessary service calls. He witnessed the decision to hire in-house detail technicians, reducing delays, saving money, and taking better care of home buyers. When COVID disrupted supply chains across the globe, Kelly was thrilled that Betenbough leadership traveled overseas to negotiate material shipments directly.
“It enabled us to save money and pass that savings to customers,” he says. “Which meant we could serve more families and keep our homes affordable.”
After years of operating in that kind of mindset for the Betenbough team, Kelly suffered a devastating leg injury while hanging Christmas lights on his home. The doctors were unsure if he’d ever walk again.
Nine surgeries later, Kelly and Jennifer decided to retire and focus on his recovery. They were only in their mid-40s at the time, but their combined ESOP accounts were enough to make retirement at that age possible, even with early withdrawal penalties.
Within a month of retirement, Kelly was walking. After five months of physical therapy, he was playing pickleball.
Just as he was regaining his mobility, Kelly’s mom and Jennifer’s mom were both diagnosed with cancer. The couple’s early retirement, funded by their ESOP, gave them the freedom to help their moms through that season, taking them to doctors, supporting them through treatment, and being fully present through the battle for health.
“It’s the biggest gift possible — being in a company that thought so much about their employees that they wanted us to feel that sense of ownership,” Kelly says with emotion. “Most people are still working and have to figure out the balance of work and kids and aging parents when that time comes. We know we’re blessed.”
Looking back, Kelly sees the ESOP as far more than a financial tool. It has been one of the ways God provides for their family — through the generosity and foresight of a company committed to Kingdom principles and to the flourishing of its people.
“To say the ESOP has been a blessing for my family would be the understatement of the year,” Kelly emphasizes.
