Pastor
Keith Hunholz was
called to serve as minister of St. Peter and St. Paul in
October of
1999. His conviction is that the Bible is the authoritative Word of
God, having
been inspired by the Holy Spirit so that it was written without error
in the
original manuscripts. Because of this, he spends considerable time
studying the
Scriptures, so that he can effectively communicate God’s truth,
and relate that
truth to life situations in practical ways. His goal is to help people
discover
the reality of Jesus Christ in their lives, and then grow to spiritual
maturity, which comes from living out God’s truth in our lives.
As Paul states
in Colossians 1:28-29:
Building the church involves preparing God’s people to live their faith and carry out the work of the church. The church might be compared to an orchestra. Each of us, as different instruments, will at times be playing different notes in different ways, but we must all follow the music that has been given to us at the direction of our conductor, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we all do our part, preaching, teaching, serving, as the Lord enables and directs us, we will bring a symphony of praise to the Lord and accomplish His purposes.
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How God
Prepared Pastor Keith for Ministry
Keith grew up
in a church-attending family in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, learning about the love of God at an early age.
He was
baptized and confirmed at Galena United Methodist Church, but went off
to
college with unanswered questions about God and the meaning of faith.
During his
second year in college, Keith
discovered that Jesus Christ offers not only teachings, but the
possibility of
a fulfilling relationship with God. He opened his heart to Jesus Christ
through
prayer and accepted Him as Savior and Lord. Becoming involved in the
ministry
of Campus Crusade for Christ, he began to grow in his faith,
and learned
how to share his faith with others. After graduating from the
University of
Wisconsin at Whitewater with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education,
his
burning desire was to help other students find new life in Christ, and
was called
to serve on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ at Kansas State
University.
Pastor Keith
then attended Trinity
Evangelical Divinity School, where he was solidly grounded in
evangelical
theology and Biblical studies, and prepared for pastoral ministry.
After
completing the Master of Divinity in 1977, his burden was to return to
a
mainline denomination to bring spiritual renewal through the preaching
and
teaching of God’s Word. It was at that time that God gave Keith
his life verse,
Ezra 7:10: “For Ezra set his heart to study the law of the
Lord, and to
practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”
For Keith, God’s plan was to
study, live
out his faith, and teach God’s Word in the United Church of
Christ. He accepted
the call to serve as Associate Pastor at St. John’s United
Church of Christ
in Monroe, Wisconsin, where he was ordained as a minister.
After receiving a call to serve the First Congregational Church of Neligh in 1981, Keith was united in marriage to Kay Cole Olsen, and they have been blessed with three children and one granddaughter. Keith also served Zion Church in New Bremen, Ohio, the Congregational Christian Church in Hagerstown, Indiana, and First Congregational Church of Hebron, Connecticut, before returning to Wisconsin and accepting the call to serve St. Peter and St. Paul United Church of Christ in Elkhart Lake.