Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 21, Number 9, 1 September 2004 — Kawaiahaʻo kahu [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Kawaiahaʻo kahu

Kawaiaha'o church ended a 14month search for a new kahu in July, when it named Rev. Curtis Kekuna as its new senior pastor. Members of Hawai'i's oldest Christian church had no problem choosing Kekuna as its new senior pastor, with 106 of 117 voters backing him. Kekuna now assumes a position

that as been vacant for all but 18 months since the departure of Rev. William Kaina in 1997. This search, however, was not without controversy. Last year, Rev. Kaleo Patterson failed by just four votes to receive the two-thirds majority needed to heeome senior pastor, making him the first nominee in the church's 160-year history who was not approved by its members. Kekuna, 56, has had a long affiliation with Kamehameha Schools, having graduated from the school in 1966 and worked as a ehaplain there since 1980. For the last year, he served as senior ehaplain at the school's Kea'au campus on Hawai'i Island. Kekuna received his master's degree in youth ministry from Fuller Theological Seminary in California in 1973.

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