Bruce A. Hess | Husband, Father, Grandfather, Pastor, Speaker, Author.
Bruce has served as Senior Pastor and as Teaching Pastor at Wildwood Community Church, in Norman, OK for 45 years. Bruce has also served for 29 years now on the national speaker team for the Weekend to Remember Marriage Getaways by FamilyLife.
Background / Fun Facts:
- Family: Bruce is married to Janet and they have four adult children – Rebekah (Nick), Emily, Kyle (Brittany), and Jennifer (Zac) – plus seven grandsons, Aiden, Landen, Lincoln, Noah, Hunter, Luke, Max, and three granddaughters, Kinsey, Summer, and Harper.
- Education: Bruce has a BA in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Nebraska and a Master of Theology in New Testament and Greek from Dallas Theological Seminary.
- Hobbies: Bruce enjoys college sports, especially football and basketball, rooting most intently for his alma mater in football along with the OU Sooners. He also enjoys the Oklahoma City Thunder, and follows both the Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys.
- One thing about Bruce that others might not know: Bruce’s messages have been broadcast for 28 years (in the Latvian language) twice weekly on Latvian Christian Radio (found at http://lkr.lv) reaching some 120,000 listeners throughout the eastern European country of Latvia, along with thousands of Latvian internet listeners in the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain, Germany, Czech Republic, Russia, Canada, Australia, and the USA. His program is called Treasures for Everyday or Dārgumi katrai dienai in Latvian.
- What Bruce loves the most: Knowing the Living God, Jesus Christ, who loved him before he was born. Also, the amazing Word of God which restores, enlightens, makes wise, endures forever, and rejoices the heart (see Psalm 19:7-14).
Hi Bruce
Did you live in Little Silver NJ at one time and was your Dads name Ed and your Moms Wanda ?
Thanks
Lance
Hi Bruce,
Just wanted to thank you for the personal tour through the children’s ministry (and memory lane). My grandson Donovan spoke of “my class room” many times afterward. Seeds were planted in that little heart and I trust God to grow them.
Something interesting happened Wednesday night after we visited you on Tuesday last week…I felt drawn to attend the Wednesday night service at Victory church on the corner of Boyd and Berry. Don’t recall the name of the Pastor, but he spoke almost exactly your same words…”just returned from travel where children are used in the sex slave industry and abused in unspeakable ways.” His heart is burdened for these children and I could not help but wonder if I was hearing this by divine coincidence. Perhaps I am suppose to link the two of you? God is burdening many hearts for this ministry which you shared with me.
I am sending you a DVD in the mail which touched my heart regarding God’s love for children and how he is using them in ministry. I hope you will be touched and inspired by it, especially the part about Indonesia.
Have you heard of “Pearl Ministries”? This is a ministry started by Heidi and Rolland Baker to help the abandoned and orphan children of Mozambique. I highly recommend their three books “Expecting Miracles”, “Compelled By Love” and “Always Enough”. Reading about their ministry has inspired me to pursue God’s heart for children in a more fervant way.
I was very honored to pray with you about the children God has placed on your heart and I will continue to pray that he opens doors for you and for Wildwood in particular to reach out to these precious little ones. They are our future and the kingdom of God belongs to such like them.
Thanks again for the blessing of spending some time with you and may God bless you as you continue to pursue the “laid down life” for Christ.
Tammie
Re: Wknd 2 Remember – King of Prussia, PA 11/19 – 11/21/10
Dear Bruce & Janet,
Just a note of thanks and gratitude to you and Family Life for such a great weekend! What a discovery to find out that marriage was not designed for my happiness but to glorify God. And, that together, as a couple we mirror His image.
Thank you for sharing your weekend to minister to me, my husband and all of the other many couples who attended.
God bless you, your ministry and Family Life!
June & Paul Fariss
-Wyndmoor, PA