Pastor Kyle Hunter
God's Story in My Life
It is by the grace of God I know Christ and I count myself blessed to make Him known! It is hard to believe God’s goodness and grace that has brought my family and I back to Alberta to plant a church.
I grew up out west and spent most of my growing up years in Saskatchewan. When I was eight years old an evangelistic group came to our church and preached the good news of the gospel. The call at the end of the service was clear, “today… would you believe in Christ who was punished in your place, repent as a sinner, and receive certain forgiveness and eternal life, or… would you trust in yourself and face certain and eternal punishment.” That morning I understood the love of God for me a sinner and prayed to trust in Christ’s sacrifice for me as my substitute!
Very early on I had a strong desire to point others to Christ; those who hadn’t come to trust in him yet and those who had. After high school I attended Bible College, and met my wife Julie shortly before graduating.
Shortly after our wedding I entered full time ministry as a youth pastor and later as an associate pastor. Through the years the Lord was growing in me a desire to lead. I began to seek the Lord fervently for direction and my prayers were answered but not in the way I expected. My family and I had our world turned upside down when I suddenly, after twelve years of ministry I found myself without a job based on my Biblical convictions.
I took on a plumbing job as we cried out to the Lord for direction and searched for a like minded church in which I could shepherd. Six months later I was offered a position by Harvest Bible Fellowship as a pastoral resident. I took the job and we moved our family to Ontario. Our desire was to be trained for 7 months and move back out west to plant a church. But seven months turned into seven years.
However, in the Lord’s wisdom and kindness he was preparing us. He began to expose deep seated pride in my own heart and a desire for approval. As John 3:30 says, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I also gained training in Biblical counselling, preaching, teaching, seminary and saw great examples of god-fearing leadership, and godly brothers and sisters.
Over those seven years our heart for the west only increased. We constantly would pray, “Lord help us remain faithful and show us if you are sending us back out west.”
In May of 2021 we were accepted by the Great Commission Collective to church plant in the Edmonton area, starting officially September 1.
We are planting in the Edmonton area, but to be clear, the Lord will plant his church. Christ is the head, He is the foundation, and we are for His glory. There are faithful churches in Edmonton but we need so many more that will make disciples of Christ. Our desire is to see lost people saved, saved people matured, and matured people multiplied, all to the glory of God!
