Pastor Kevin Hart was born in southwest Florida. He got saved at the age of five in a Baptist Church in LaBelle, FL. He grew up in a Christian family, but was always looking at the grass on the other side of the fence. When he was old enough to get out from under his parents authority, he joined the Navy and was stationed in Pearl Harbor, where he worked on nuclear submarines. He did the things that sailors do: he talked like one, drank like one, and lived like one.

Once he got out of the Navy, he went back to Hawaii to live, only to find himself running with the wrong crowd, falling into drugs, and eventually becoming homeless. After hitting rock bottom, he decided to end his life by jumping off a sixteen story building. As he was standing at the edge of the building, he stepped back and prayed, “Lord, if you can somehow get me back to where I once was, I’ll serve you.” His cell phone started ringing. It was his sister, from Florida, asking him to come back to Florida. He agreed and flew back. Knowing he needed some serious help, he checked himself into a Christian men’s home in Alabama. There, God got ahold of his heart and he surrendered his life to the Lord. He then went to Landmark Baptist College, where he met his wife, Lori.

They surrendered to be missionaries to Hawaii and reach the people who were in the same condition as he once was. They arrived in 2013 and began working with the homeless in Waimanalo. He also worked on staff at the R.A.M. (Rebuilder’s Addiction Ministry) program in Kahaluu, and started teaching classes at Hawaii Baptist College. In May of 2020, the former pastor of Rock Point Baptist Church asked him to take his place as pastor as he felt led to take a church in Indiana. On July 5, 2020 he became the pastor. He served there for four years until God began to lead him to become the pastor of Highlands Baptist Church of Lake Placid. On October 13, 2024, the Hart family was voted in as the pastor of our church. They have five children, Elisabeth, Victoria, Alexander, Olivia, and Jeremiah.