Emanuel Stoia

Emanuel immigrated to the United States with his family from Communist Romania in 1980 and has since been raised in the greater Chicagoland area. He attended the University of Illinois at Chicago graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in 1999. He also attended Norwich University, completing a Masters of Information Assurance and Cyber Security degree in 2021. Emanuel is also a C.S. Lewis Fellow, completing their discipleship program in class of 2023. He is grateful to work as Sales Engineering Manager with Juniper Networks for the last 16 years supporting large enterprise organizations. When Emanuel is not working, he enjoys reading, exploring the outdoors, playing tennis, hitting the gym with his sons, and singing worship music with his family. Emanuel was once antagonistic to the Christian faith. During college at UIC the Holy Spirit pressed upon him the weight of his sins. By God’s mercy, Emanuel cried out to God, “Lord if you exist, open my eyes, change my heart and help me to love you.” In October 1995, God answered that prayer and drew Emanuel to Himself. Since 1999, Emanuel has been happily married to his wife Emanuela (Emma). They are blessed with four lovely children named Julia, Rebecca, Benjamin and Christian. They have been members of The Orchard since 2012. Emanuel has served in various capacities at The Orchard including A/V teams and 3rd - 5th grade Sunday school, Nominating Committee, Men’s Breakfast and Trustee teams.