MBC Alumni Feature: Raising cattle, family, and Gospel-centered disciples on the plains of eastern Montana

Eight years after graduating from Montana Bible College, Calvin and Kenzie Stickel aren’t exactly where they thought they’d be—and yet they know they are exactly where God wants them.

Their days are filled with the care of land and cattle, and four children between the ages of 1-8, as they live and work full-time at Calvin’s family ranch on the broad plains of eastern Montana. Their weekends and evenings are devoted to the care of community members through a church they helped plant in Glendive in 2022.

Living Hope Bible Church is a non-denominational church that started in the basement of the public library but outgrew its space and now meets in the Eastern Plains Event Center. It is rooted in reformed theological perspectives, shepherded by five Biblically qualified elders, and committed to ensuring every activity and interaction—expository preaching, times of fellowship, counseling church and community members—is conducted through the lens of the sufficiency of scripture.   

“We wanted it to be a slow build, not a flash in the pan,” Calvin said. “We want to build the church through administering God’s word, shepherding by using God’s word, and seeing God’s word change lives.”

‘People are people no matter where you live’

Calvin earned his bachelor’s degree in Biblical studies, with a pastoral studies emphasis, from Montana Bible College in 2016. His uncle, Mark Amunrud, had been president of MBC, and Calvin believed an education in God’s word would serve him better than an agriculture degree, even if he ended up back at the family ranch.

Kenzie started at MBC the same year as Calvin, but she took a much different path to get to Montana—and she certainly didn’t think she’d stay in the Treasure State.

Her early childhood was spent in Idaho, but when she was 11 years old her parents became international workers in China. When she finished high school, she knew she wanted to attend Bible college and was seeking God’s direction regarding entering the mission field herself. She followed in her brother’s footsteps and enrolled at Montana Bible College.

After living in a city of nearly 20 million residents, Bozeman felt “very small.” But Kenzie flourished in her studies in Biblical counseling, her church home, and her relationship with Calvin. The two were married in 2014, took an opportunity to lease ranch land near Calvin’s family ranch in 2015, and finished their degrees via distance learning in 2016.

The ranch land lease was for three years, with the full understanding that the Stickels were leaving the door open for missions or pastoral work elsewhere, as was Kenzie’s hope.

“When I first moved back to the U.S., I believed people outside of America needed the gospel more than people in America,” Kenzie said. This belief was amplified when the couple first considered living and ministering in rural western Montana.

“There’s more cattle than people; who are you going to reach?” Kenzie wondered.

With time and God’s work in her heart, Kenzie realized location doesn’t matter: “People are people no matter where you live.” And it helped that her parents, displaced from China by the Covid-19 pandemic, were able to move to the ranch so her dad could be the lead elder for the church plant.

Rooted and Growing

Even though it’s been over eight years since Calvin and Kenzie graduated MBC, they see the ongoing positive impacts of their education.

“MBC really helped me develop and lay a foundation for a more Biblically accurate, gospel-centered worldview—a Bible-centered and gospel-centered view of life and people,” Calvin said.

At Living Hope Bible Church, Calvin regularly employs his training in Bible study methods and homiletics when he preaches every 5-6 weeks, leads worship monthly, teaches a mid-week Bible study, and disciples men in the church as they seek to work out their faith in marriage, business, and more.

Kenzie knew her strengths were not in formal Biblical counseling, but she regularly uses her education to shepherd the hearts of her children and to engage in meaningful relationship with other moms in the community.

The high plains of eastern Montana—where there are more cattle than people—may not be where Calvin and Kenzie thought they’d end up long-term. But it’s where they know God wanted them to plant, so they’re working on growing strong roots so that their obedience can produce a rich harvest amongst a people group who desperately need God’s love and transformative grace.