Pastor Herman Gantt and First Lady Judith Gantt are founders of an eclectic, exciting and diverse church located in the heart of Kansas City, Missouri--just five minutes east of downtown. Pastor Gantt originates from Harrisburg, Arkansas, while his wife is a native of the Philippine Islands. After their 1973 marriage, destiny carried the newlyweds to small town USA--Trumann, Arkansas. It was in th
at small town where they had come to know the Lord, under the leadership of Reverend Joseph L. However, before Pastor Gantt ever stepped foot in Kansas City, he was called to the Evangelical field. That calling led the Gantt family to pile everything they owned into their car (then eventually their trailer) to evangelize this country for over a decade. Finally, after fifteen years of crossing the American landscape, after several thousand miles (and many, many oil changes) and, most importantly, after an innumerable amount of crusades in which hundreds were filled with the Holy Spirit, Pastor Gantt was called to minister in the inner city of Kansas City, Missouri. Metro Lighthouse Apostolic (MLA) was established by the Gantts in 1991 along with their two sons, Martin and Joshua. MLA got its start with a small congregation which gathered in the basement of the Gantt's Kansas City home. When the basement could no longer accomodate their growing membership, the Gantts rented space (three small rooms, actually) from a local church located on 31st and Indiana. It didn't take long for MLA to outgrow the space, leading the Gantts to purchase a small brick building on the corner of 9th and Chestnut. The building was by no means new; in fact, it used to be a small union hall that had seen better days. It has a leaky roof and a cold, drafty basement which tends to flood every time it storms, but the extra space meant room to worship! Over the years, the congregation continued to grow and was again in dire need of more space. In mid-2000, the Gantts embarked on a new building project. The endeavor started out promising, but was later met with many obstacles, the most damaging being the global financial crisis of 2008. Even still, the Gantts stayed faithful and hopeful, and continued in their calling. For many months, the Gantts looked for suitable rental properties that would fill the needs of MLA while staying open to the idea of salvaging the building project. Trying to fund the new building project along with maintaining the existing church property proved to be taxing, not to mention stressful. Eventually, in the Fall of 2011, it came to realization that the new building project would have to be abandoned. The decision to do so did not come easy, but the future of MLA was in jeopardy. With an uncertain future, MLA pressed ahead and continued to look for rental space. Then a surprising twist occured in January 2012 when the Gantts received information about an old church property whose Pastor may have been looking to rent its space. The property, located in the Historic Northeast community, was owned by the Methodist Church. The Gantts later learned the Methodist Church was not exactly interested in selling their building. So, it was in that moment when Pastor Gantt stepped out on faith and ask if they would be willing to donate the property instead. This remarkable blessing was everything the MLA family prayed for and more. For the church family, this meant a "new beginning." Thus, in early 2012, MLA was renamed New Beginning Apostolic (NBA).
