Pastor Doug Kuster, and his wife, Trisha, have brought the word of the Lord to their congregation and beyond as the leaders of their church, Shepherd's Gate Foursquare Church of Macomb, for 30 years, but their journey in Christ began before Shepherd's Gate was but a vision. The couple created the church, which is affiliated with The International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, after the Lord called Doug to lead more than three decades ago.
The Makings of Shepherd's Gate: How it all Started In the early years of their marriage, of which they recently celebrated their 33rd year, the couple attended a local church called The Sanctuary, which first met at Horn Lodge in Macomb. From there it moved to a few more locations within the community until it found its permanent home on East Murray Street. It wasn't long before Doug was named the assistant pastor and then the associate pastor, and when the head minister moved out of state, the leaders of Foursquare approached the 31-year-old Kuster and asked him to take the reins.
'I was only 31. I hadn't gone to Bible college. My heart was in it, but I didn't know how I'd do this. I told them to give me four days to think it over,' Doug explained. 'We prayed on it, and that Thursday, when I was still working at NTN Bower, I prayed. I need the Lord to speak to me.
'I was sitting in my car and weeping. I saw what the Lord was showing me. All the hurts of the past so I would know what NOT to do as a pastor,' he added. 'So I told them I'd serve as interim for a month, but only if my father-in-law (Don Hightower), who had been pastoring all his life, could join me.'
Hightower joined his son-in-law, with the pair taking turns at the pulpit on Sundays. The one month turned into nine months, and the Lord spoke to Doug again. He said he felt the Lord strong in his heart and that there no longer needed to be two captains steering the ship.
'I told the leaders I was ready to be the pastor and here we are 30 years later,' Doug said with a laugh. 'And that's how we became Shepherd's Gate.'
In 2002, the couple decided to purchase the former Grace Baptist Church (and later Robin Redbreast Daycare) on Robin Road, which Shepherd's Gate still calls home today. While Doug is the pastor, Trisha, who is also a nurse for Mosaic – the same organization the couple met 36 years ago when they were working there – is 'everything' at the church Doug is quick to point out. As the daughter of a pastor, Trisha has the experience, know- how and knack for all the behind-the-scenes work that keeps God's house in order. She takes care of the newsletter and the calendar, does PR for the church, organizes events and activities, leads the music and the band, is a worship leader, serves as the educational director and leads a women's Bible study group each month. It was also Trisha that led Doug to the Lord, on March 10, 1991 to be exact (more on that date later), which ties into their long history with leading Shepherd's Gate.
'She is my savior. We were friends, and she took me to a Christian concert. I am a musician and she thought I'd enjoy it,' he shared.
Trisha invited him, but only as a friend as she had no interest in dating her colleague, who they both described as being a 'partyer,' because he didn't know the Lord, she stressed.
'I didn't even want to say anything to him about the Lord because I thought he'd laugh at me. But I just started talking about his salvation and he responded the opposite of how I thought he would,' Trisha said. 'He didn't laugh at me.'
And it was at that moment that it clicked for Doug. She invited him to a Bible study at a home in Adair, and it was there he met other strong Christians. He hadn't met anyone like these people before, and the last time he'd stepped foot in a church was when he was in seventh grade after his family moved to London Mills. The group told him they just didn't believe in their faith, they lived it. From there, Doug was hooked.
'Trisha gave me two cassette tapes of Christian music, and I was driving to my (secular) band's practice in Canton and I kept listening to one song over and over about the shed blood of Jesus and the music was talking to me. I just cried,' he exclaimed. 'I turned it off because I'd never had music speak to me like that, and I went on to band practice. After, I didn't want to, but I turned it back on, and rewound it over and over again. It just clicked.'
Now back to March 10, 1991 … it was that night that Trisha invited Doug to her family's church, the Macomb Assembly of God, which just so happens to be next door to what would become Shepherd's Gate's home on Robin Road. He went to morning service with her family, then the evening service, and then it was time to head home to London Mills. Doug hopped in his car to head home when he had the feeling someone was in the backseat.
'I remember thinking when I got to the stoplight near Hardee's, I was going to grab the person in the backseat,' he recalled. 'And after I unbuckled my seat belt, I jumped over that velour bench seat and there was no one there. But I still felt a presence in my car, and as I was driving out of Macomb, it had moved to the front seat.
'I started feeling every heartache I'd ever known, and the grief just hit me so hard. I honestly thought I was going to die that night. I apologized over and over to the Lord for doubting him, and asked for His forgiveness,' Doug said. 'I gave my life to him that night and when I did, everything looked different. I called Trisha and told her what happened, and asked if I was a Christian now, and she said, 'I'd say you are.' I didn't know this, but when I had left that night, she had gotten down on her knees and prayed for my salvation.'
Doug moved to Macomb shortly after that evening because he wanted to give his life to Christ, and he was baptized at the Macomb Assembly of God. The couple married two-anda- half years later and the voyage to leading their own church began.
Shepherd's Gate Today With a congregation of about 40 parishioners of all ages, the church, which centers on the Foursquare's beliefs of Jesus Christ as the Savior (Romans 10:9), Baptizer with the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16), Healer (1 Peter 2:24) and Coming King (Acts 1:11), is one of tens of thousands Foursquare churches across the globe. Shepherd's Gate is what Doug and Trisha call a 'Pentecostal charismatic church' and a 'spirit-filled church.' Its motto is 'You're in the Right Place.'
'We believe in divine healing, miracles and prophecies. We pray for healing and miracles,' Doug expressed. 'We've witnessed so many miracles here. Cancer has been healed. Hearts have been healed. Parkinson's has been healed. A gentleman with a severe spinal condition was a month away from being in a wheelchair when a visiting Evangelist prayed for him and we saw him go up and down the stairs and take two laps around the sanctuary. We are excited about the Lord and what he can do.'
The Kusters said their church encourages people to worship any way they see fit when they're at Shepherd's Gate. If they want to worship silently, so be it, and if they want to shout, sing and dance, that's perfectly acceptable too, they added.
'We want people to feel at home here,' Trisha said during the interview, which was held in a comfortable living room-like space in the lower level of the church, which she designed as a cozy room for meetings and informal conversations. 'We want them to feel like they can be their genuine and authentic selves. We want you to worship in a way that is authentic to you.'
The pair also shared they don't stress religion at Shepherd's Gate, rather a relationship with Jesus, and how to grow and walk with Him. And as Trisha said their message is also that your Sunday self shouldn't look any different than your Monday through Saturday self.
'Be yourself here. Come as you are,' Doug added. 'We welcome you as you are. I pray by the grace of God we've created a place for people to get to know the Lord as we know the Lord: kind, patient and loving.'
The Next Chapter
Doug will be 70 in eightand- a-half years, which is the age he has in mind to step down from leading the church. He said he's had the Lord telling him over the past year to start getting ready for the next pastor, so he made sure the building has been taken care of, with a new metal roof put on and a new boiler installed.
'The Lord was telling me to get it ready for someone so they wouldn't have to worry about the building,' he said. 'I'm always looking for the next leader, and I'm sure the Lord will tell me who he or she will be when He's ready.'
After Kuster retires, it's Doug's and Trisha's hope that the church continues for another 30 years and then some under a new pastor.
'What we've built and seen grow over the past 30 years is amazing,' Doug said. 'We've touched so many lives, and there have been people who have left our church who have gone on to lead all over the world. You feel the presence of the Lord here. It's tangible, and it's very powerful. By the grace of God, we get to minister to that.'
