 HR Huntsman, founding pastor of Real Life Family Center, was born and raised in the deserts and beautiful mountains of southern New Mexico. With a love for sports, he proved to be a fairly good athlete and student through high school. He grew up in a broken and dysfunctional home and spent far more time in bars (mom was a bartender) as a kid than in churches. In 1983, after graduating from high school, he entered the Air Force and became a Christ-follower during Christmas leave the following year. The God he had heard about in stories became very real to him and his new faith became the passion of his life.
Though trained as an electronic technician and computer programmer (he wrote 2 copyrighted programs while in high school), HR felt a call to ministry almost immediately. He knew his life had been radically altered and he wanted to give back to God the rest of his life. He went to Eugene Bible College after leaving the military and received his education in Cross Cultural Ministry and Biblical Languages. He went on to the University of Oregon (go Ducks!) to work on his master’s degree in linguistics with a plan to move overseas and work as a Bible translator.
That all changed and in 1994, Pastor HR felt God's call to restart, what is now Real Life Family Center. There were 23 people on the first Sunday. From the very beginning we wanted to be a church that lived out a passionate, authentic love for God and demonstrated that love to our community. RLFC is continually being built on God's powerful principles and His passion for our community. Our vision statement, “We will not rest until every person in our community has an intimate, vibrant and growing relationship with God” still drives all we do. Though RLFC has grown greatly since those early days and we are now in our third building our passion for God and people is still what compels us. When you walk in our doors you will still get a great sense of “family” and “home.” All are welcome here.
HR's passion is to reach those far from God and then equip, build, and release them to know and do God's will in their lives. As he says, “I want to be a part of a church that will accept people like I used to be and where I came from.”
HR has been married to the love of his life Gwen since 1987 and they have two beautiful children, Danielle and Nathanael. “I personally invite you to come join us on the most exciting journey you will ever undertake. The journey to learn how much God loves you.”
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