By Patrick Kalout
Pastor of Redeemed Life Church Oʻahu in Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi
I am Patrick Kalout, lead pastor of Redeemed Life Church Oʻahu. My wife, Nicole, and I moved to Hawaiʻi in March 2024, following God’s call to plant a church.
And let me tell you, it has been quite the ride.
People often imagine Hawaiʻi as paradise. But we came here to plant a church, not start a surfers’ academy. Behind the beauty are real people facing real struggles: homelessness, hunger, addiction, mental health challenges, and the rising cost of living. Broken people, like you and me, live here – and they desperately need the hope only Jesus can provide.
One of our greatest challenges has been earning the trust of local communities. Hawaiʻi’s history, including the painful consequences of colonization and the ways Christianity was sometimes represented, makes that trust especially important. We are learning that planting a church here requires more than showing up. It requires staying, listening, serving, and loving people consistently.
Our vision is to build a community of Jesus followers, especially among those who are marginalized and unchurched. We believe the church is called not only to lead people toward spiritual and emotional transformation, but also to care for their physical needs and create opportunities for education and employment. . . .
For the first time ever, NAB Gateway is hosting their Short-Term Missions Leadership Workshop online!
This Friday and Saturday, November 13–14, Gateway Director Randy Schmor will lead this workshop on best practices in short-term missions, including walking through the logistics from planning and fundraising to execution and debriefing. If you are thinking about leading a short-term mission in the near future, you won’t want to miss this workshop.
The cost is $15 per person. Register at the link below.
register for the online workshop
What does it mean – and why is it essential – for us to move away from efficient, results-driven church models toward slower, relational, Spirit-led ways of being? Join Deb Judas and Luke Miller from the Missional Initiatives Team on November 19, 10:00–11:30 a.m. (PST), as they walk through what it looks like to reorient our focus to being formed into the likeness of Christ.
Together, we will think through ideas such as:
- Who and what is forming the people in our churches, and who do we want them to become.
- How spiritual practices shape us over time and help us discern where God is already at work and how we might join him there.
- How we do this as a people of God together.
For more information, or to sign up for this webinar, reach out to Deb Judas.
For a number of years now, the NAB has been guided by Four Ministry Ends, directives we believe God has called us to as a conference. These state that NAB churches will:
- be trained for missional ministries
- seek opportunities to engage cross-culturally
- develop spiritual leaders
- send and support international missionaries.
Looking at all God is up to in the NAB – a new church planter network in Brazil, Year of Equipping and Blue Ocean cohorts, training for cross-cultural conversations, upcoming FUSE trips with Gateway, and much more – we see the hallmarks of each of these. Your ongoing donation of $5, $100, or any other amount will help, in part, to resource missionaries, local churches, and leaders so we can seek these Ends together as a conference of churches.
Give to the fall offering (canada)
give to the fall offering (us)