"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." Okay, we won't go back that far! In January of 1990, our founding pastor, Bruce Campbell, began a home Bible study with seven other believers in Kona. By June, the first EFCA church in Kona would hold its first worship service at the Kona Surf Resort. In 1992, a five acre of land was purchased. In 1995, a prayer ministry was launched and outreach services began at Honokohau Boat Harbor. Our current property on Palani Road was gifted to our church. Though it would take a while to become settled in our new church home. In 2003, we broke ground on the new property and construction began. In the meantime , weekly Sunday services started in 2005 at Kealakehe Elementary School and fundraising for our new church facility began. By 2006, services began on-site at our current location.
Founding Pastor, Bruce Campbell, was passionate about discipleship. During his time as Lead Pastor, Bruce required church elders, deacons, small group leaders, and Sunday school teachers all to go through theological training and equipping classes. Bruce also equipped the church for his retirement. He challenged the congregation to be aware of the "sacred cows" and "golden calves" of personal opinions and human traditions, so they would avoid the harsh rebuke Christ brought upon the religious leaders of His day, saying, And Jesus said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition... thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And that's just the beginning!” Bruce had a vision of one day seeing Grace Kona having a Bible College on our campus that would serve as a discipleship training center where people from all over the world could come and be equipped for the ministry of The Gospel.
Our current Lead Pastor, Kevin M. Kelley, joined Grace in July of 2024. Like Bruce, Kevin is passionate about the WORD of God as the primary and ultimate authority for every area, aspect, facet, and dimension of our lives. Kevin's heart is to pastor the flock well through grace and truth. As a former missions pastor, Kevin loves the unique ministry of Grace Kona as both a local church for the residents of Kona, but simultaneously a missional church where God brings people to us because of our beautiful surrounding in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Kevin share's Bruce's vision to one day see Grace as the home of a world-class Bible College that trains and equips men and women for the work of ministry across the globe.
