Posted on: Monday, July 19, 2004

Kawaiaha'o Church picks new pastor

By Peter Boylan
Advertiser Staff Writer

After a 14-month search, historic Kawaiaha'o Church has a new kahu.

Curt Kekuna, 56, was overwhelmingly approved yesterday as the senior pastor, said Haunani Hendrix, co-chairperson of the pastoral search committee.

It has been three years since the church had a permanent senior pastor. Fourteen months ago, another candidate failed by four votes to win the two-thirds majority needed — the first time a Kawaiaha'o congregation has rejected a candidate for kahu.

Kekuna delivered a sermon at the 9 a.m. service yesterday and afterward the congregation voted overwhelming to give him the job, she said.

The congregation is "very blessed, extremely blessed. I'm smiling as I say that," Hendrix said. "Our interim kahu (Jim Halfaker) who was in place was wonderful, so we were headed the right way. The foundation was laid for his coming and we're extremely happy to just be moving forward."

Hendrix said Kekuna was a unanimous choice by the seven-member search committee. She would not say how many candidates were considered, but did say that the list included people from the Mainland. Only one name is presented to the congregation, she said.

Kekuna takes over Sept. 1.

"It's pretty overwhelming right now," Kekuna said by phone from Hilo yesterday. "It is exciting but also very humbling going to Kawaiaha'o with all of that history and tradition. That's huge. But with Christ anything is possible."

Kekuna said he wants Kawaiaha'o to "be a congregation honoring Christ and building his kingdom" and he wants the church to be known as a place that accepts all people.

"I am not confident in myself, I am confident in Christ leading the Church," said Kekuna, who is married with three children.

Kekuna currently serves as chaplain at Kamehameha Schools' Hilo campus. He graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1966, Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash., in 1970, and the Fuller Theological Seminary in California in 1973.

Before his job in Hilo, Kekuna taught Christian education to middle schoolers at Kamehameha Schools' Kapalama campus on O'ahu.

"I think he's an excellent choice. He's been in the community a long time," Hendrix said. She said he has worked in youth ministry for more than 30 years.

Controversy has dogged the kahu position at Hawai'i's first ali'i Christian church several times since 1997, when the Rev. William Kaina retired.

After a three-year search, the Rev. James Fung was chosen, but he resigned 18 months later.

Fung gave no negative reasons for his departure, but said at the time that the "Western" style of ministering he developed during 35 years on the Mainland was "not the best fit" for a church so steeped in tradition that ministers must be able to speak Hawaiian.

A mix of deacons, preachers, and pastors have filled the gap since Fung left.

Last year, the Rev. Kaleo Patterson was nominated, but for the first time in the church's 160-year history the congregation said no to a nominee for senior pastor.

Patterson, 48, fell four votes shy of being confirmed. Church bylaws required him to get a two-thirds majority, or 79 of the 118 votes cast.

He was a controversial candidate with a history of activism and protest.

Baptized at Kaumakapili Church, he found his calling at Swedish Covenant Church in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he had studied civil engineering, worked on the Alaska Pipeline and became a dog-sled musher.

In 2001, Patterson wrote an article advocating total independence for Hawai'i that was published by the magazine of the United Methodist Church.

Reach Peter Boylan at 535-8110 or pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.