'Being obedient' brings new pastor to Spencer

(Photo submitted) Rev. Kevin Grimes, the new pastor at DaySpring Assembly of God, and his wife, Kim, and their two sons: Kevin, 13, and Lucas, 8.

Rev. Kevin Grimes readily admits he doesn't care much for Iowa's cold weather or snow. But he's being obedient and attempting to "get used to it."

The 43-year-old native of Hawaii and longtime California resident is the new pastor at DaySpring Assembly of God Church.

Grimes and his wife, Kim, left California in a moving van last Wednesday, drove 2,300 miles in two days, and arrived at their new home Friday morning.

After giving his first sermon Sunday as the Spencer church's full-time pastor, the Grimes family was welcomed to northwest Iowa with a new snow blower from DaySpring members.

Grimes, who describes himself as a "transparent and down-to-earth" pastor, confided, "I like to be real and don't put on any show that I'm holier than thou."

"And I'm just trying to be obedient," he added. "That's how we landed here: By being obedient."

The Grimes' path to Iowa

While an architecture student at California Polytechnic "Cal Poly" State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Grimes practiced obedience again when the Lord called him to pursue another profession. In response, he transferred to Bethany Bible College in Santa Cruz, Calif.

After graduating, Grimes trekked to Africa for five months, serving as a missionary. The then-novice pastor returned to California to "plant" a church in Carmel. He remained there for seven years before being called to serve at another church in Highland, Calif., which Grimes did the last 13 years.

The pastor said a feeling of pending change occurred for both he and his wife on Dec. 29, their wedding anniversary. As they ate breakfast in Beverly Hills, an anniversary tradition for the couple, both began to cry.

"I told her, 'I don't know exactly what, but I promise you that this time next year our lives are going to be radically different,'" Grimes recalled.

In response once again, Grimes sent resumes to Assemblies of God district offices throughout the United States. When Sandy Forslund of DaySpring called to ask if Grimes might speak with her husband, Darrel, a board member at the Spencer church, he smiled again as he admitted the family got an atlas out to find where Iowa was located.

"Spencer is under the staple is what I tell all my friends," Grimes said with a chuckle.

During that telephone call, the Grimes family was asked to meet with the church's board members during the Clay County Fair. During the visit, Grimes remembers tears flowing again as he entered the church's sanctuary.

"The same thing happened at my church in southern California," he said. "...We came here, walked in, felt the same drawing and I cried. I told my wife, 'I don't really want to come here (to Iowa), but we're supposed to come here.'"

He continued, "But we fell in love with the community, fell in love with the area and really felt the Lord calling us here. It was unmistakable."

Kim Grimes, meanwhile, began searching online for available homes in the area. She pointed to one in particular and stated, "If we can live in that house, I'll move to Iowa."

After delivering an Oct. 12 sermon in Spencer and being offered the church's pastor position that night, the Grimes family -- which also includes Kevin, 13, and Lucas, 8 -- is living in "that house," at 913 E. 21st St., today, with a signed one-year lease on their home in California. Grimes' mother, Sandra, and his wife's parents, Carl and Crystal Ford, are planning to spend about three weeks in the area to help them settle into their new residence and community.

While Grimes is still not excited about the cold weather they've experienced to date, he reported Hans and Heidi, the family's two Bernese Mountain dogs, do seem to enjoy it.

Of the Spencer church his family finds itself currently settling into, he added, "I believe this church is perfectly positioned to be a lighthouse for the community. It is already very loving and very warm. And, they're forward-thinking; they're not stuck in tradition and ritual. They're very progressive. ... I want people to walk in and feel significant, feel like they matter."