Kyle has been performing on stages for over 40 years and leading worship for over 30 years in different churches, ministries and Christian settings.
Like many children that are brought up in the church, he was involved in children’s choir and Christmas performances. His church would do children’s Christmas shows and he got the opportunity to perform solos or speaking parts at a very young age. His mother was a drama teacher before she was a stay at home mom and she noticed his talent. She took him down to Circle Theater in downtown Grand Rapids at the age of 11 to audition for a show. He was cast in a small role and it broke open a passion for performing arts.
He was active in choir and vocal jazz groups at Ottawa Hills High School and his freshman year formed an acapella group with 3 friends. They performed for various school shows and were paid to serenade various places around Grand Rapids. Though he attended Ottawa Hills he started attending Young Life student gatherings at Grand Rapids Christian High School. He ended up going to Castaway, a Young Life Summer Camp in Detroit Lakes, MN and formed some new friendships that led to another singing group that would be called eQWPt. For 6 years this vocal group of 5 guys travelled all over West Michigan to churches, youth events and Christian ministry venues to perform and lead worship, sometimes performing hour long concerts. He had also started to learn how to play acoustic guitar throughout that time.
By the time he graduated from high school he had performed in almost 20 mainstage shows and his overall performance resume alone almost got him into USC film school. However, he ended up studying theater and business at WMU in Kalamazoo, MI and joined the volunteer staffleadership for Young Life at Portage Northern High School. He began to use his performing talents to reach students and bring them to Young Life Camps as a leader. This all led to a paid position in youth ministry at a local church in Kalamazoo. Though being offered a full-time ministry position he opted to pursue a career in business while continuing to participate in volunteer worship leadership and performing arts opportunities around him.
After a few years in the working world he was approached by a company with the idea of motivational speaking to students across the nation. He ended up putting together a presentation and they began to book him in middle schools and high schools around the U.S. He eventually accepted a full-time Worship Arts Director position with Keystone Community Church (KCC)and continued speaking nationally for another 2 years while developing his skills for leading bands and creating worship experiences at KCC. After 6 years at KCC he accepted a Development Officer position with CURE International. While working with CURE he held a temporary part-time Worship Leader position with Cascade Christian Church in an effort to help them through a staff transition. Kyle lost his position with CURE after some structural downsizing and he decided to go into business for himself.
So in 2014 Kyle bought a PakMail Franchise and made the decision to end his position with Cascade Christian and attend Magnify Church which was closer to home and better for his family. He became heavily invested in their theater outreach ministry playing various roles in their fall productions, including Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady and John Wesley in Ride, Ride. He has also played the role of “Jesus” for 10 years in their large Easter production. He has been a worship leader in many different facets at Magnify Church including their Rockford and Ensley campuses, middle school, high school, NightLife gatherings, various ministry gatherings and multiple summer youth trips. Throughout that time he also helped a church in Muskegon for about 8 months while they transitioned to a new full-time worship director.
He is currently helping Revelation Pointe Church as they are completing a merger between two congregations and giving their band a break once a month. He is enjoying the process of helping cast vision for worship in the future of their church. He has also helped launch MIDWEST WORSHIP with his son who wanted to reach his generation with fresh new worship music and helped them book events locally to spark youth worship. He and Nathan Hardman are currently co-leads for the outdoor worship series, Praise in the Park, held in downtown Rockford.
He is currently working to try and start a student worship gathering involving multiple churches and ministries in the Rockford and Greater Grand Rapids community to hopefully spark student led worship gatherings. He wants to inspire this generation to gather more frequently in worship together and work to reach their generation for Christ. There is power in their testimony and desire for worship so Nathan and Kyle want to help platform talented young people in our area and train them up as worship leaders and musicians.