My name is Bret Kendall. I live in Idaho with my wonderful wife and six beautiful children. I serve as a bi-vocational elder, helping to pastor Wellsprings Church in Caldwell, Idaho.

I grew up in Southern California and from day one my mom would take me and my sister to church every Sunday (and often whenever the doors were open). But in my early years my dad was not a Christian. He was a good father, faithful and devoted, and he would go sometimes on Christmas or Resurrection Sunday to church, but he was not a believer. It was not until his “faith” in evolution was challenged, in a class taught by an elder in my church, that shook up those presuppositions. Interestingly, because of the class, he became a creationist but not a Christian. It wasn’t until later on that he proclaimed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and turned from his sin to find forgiveness in Him.

My desire to serve in ministry was ignited in Bible college. I was really impacted when I heard a pastor preach on 1 Peter 2:2 where it says “as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby”. Due to this passage I knew two things: a Christian desires the Word, like a baby strongly desires milk. Secondly, God wanted this truth known to other Christians. God used this in my life to desire to preach and reach others for a genuine relationship with Jesus. I realized that so many Christians just “went through the motions” of religion and I didn’t want to be like that nor did I want the other people around me to also be like that.

After graduating college and I was under a mentor that planted a church in my hometown. This was a great experience, learning from him how to preach to the how to minister to people according to the Word of God. After a few years under his mentorship, we moved to Idaho to assist a friend in church ministry.

A few years ago, God brought a trial to my life that really caused me to grow in my faith. I developed some major health issues that culminated in brain surgery to remove a tumor. I thank God that it was benign, but I experienced several things as a result of that adventure. I remember learning about the immanence of God in theology class, but it wasn’t until I was on the brink that I knew that He was imminent; I knew He was near. I also learned that God owns everything. I remembered being taught that “the earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains” (Ps 24:1), but it was only a theoretical truth until you can’t work (and we didn’t have disability at my job) and are faced with approximately $150,000 in medical bills. It was amazing to see checks come in from all over the country to cover those bills. It is more amazing that we didn’t pay a penny of that cost and all of our other needs were met as well! Lastly, I learned of the tremendous love of God, it wasn’t merely a concept that was discussed but a reality that I lived in every day.

Before getting sick, I had started a master’s degree but it was not exclusively distance learning, and that proved more of a challenge as my family grew. I am so thankful to God that He providentially brought me to Reformed Baptist Seminary, because it was affordable, online, and most importantly to me, it was “pastoral focused”. Before I enrolled, I listen to all of the free online lectures to get sense of the focus and was very glad that it was pastoral. During the whole process of enrollment and classes, I have found this to be the fact throughout. I am very thankful for their sacrifice for providing this opportunity!

In Christ,

Bret Kendall