Stephanie Jo & Kimberly Ann Hjelt

Stephanie Jo Hjelt was born in 1947 to Magnus Alexander “Alec” Kasper and Wilma “Billie” Otelia Hjelt in Portland, Oregon. Her father, owner of Hjelt Heating Service, and school teacher mother raised the twins and their older brother Michael in the family Lutheran church, where they confessed the Lord from a young age. A graduate of Lincoln High School, Stephanie went on to study Philosophy at Portland State University. It was there in an Anthropology class that she met and later married the father of her three children, Jeff, Jessica, and Marc. As a couple, they travelled with their family all over Washington, Oregon, and California, working at various archeological sites. When her children became of school age, Stephanie went to work in the word processing department of a downtown insurance company, skills she later parlayed into a career at Oral Roberts University. At nearly midlife and the end of her marriage, she felt called to attend Rhema Bible Training Center. She packed up and helped her parents move with her, and she and her seventy-year-old mother attended classes together, graduating in 1991. Once hired at ORU, her employment translated into tuition for Jeff’s and Jessica’s schooling, which was a tremendous gift. Just as her youngest son Marc was graduating from Jenks High School, Stephanie felt the Lord calling her again—this time back home to Portland to work with her sister in beginning Word and Spirit Church as Executive Pastor.

Kimberly Ann Hjelt was born seven minutes after her identical twin. Their special bond deepened as they grew and shared experiences. Sometimes they even switched identities and pranked others who couldn’t tell them apart! Their wise mother always knew, of course. Kimberly likewise graduated from Lincoln High School and went on to earn degrees at PSU in English Literature and French. As a young woman, she worked at various downtown corporations. But ministry always burned in her heart; she led regular prayer meetings and Bible studies and was active in the Portland Foursquare Church and Full Gospel Businessmen. In 1985, she said goodbye to her family and embarked on a new adventure in Oklahoma: she attended Rhema Bible Training Center and graduated from the Pastors group before it was common for a single woman to do so. Because of her expertise as a writer and editor, the ministry subsequently hired Kimberly to write books for Kenneth E. Hagin, a tenure that deepened her knowledge of the Word of God. She treasured this time in her life. But God began stirring a larger vision in her heart, and her passion for the lost—particularly in the city of Portland—drove her to spearhead her family’s return to the northwest. After a time as a travelling teacher, Kimberly founded Word and Spirit Church as Principal Pastor in 1999. This January, the church celebrated twenty-five years.

Stephanie and Kimberly are survived by son and nephew Jeffrey Bryn Thomas and wife Shelley; daughter and niece Jessica Jo Thomas Russell and husband Austin; son and nephew Marc Alexander Thomas and wife Lacey; and three grandchildren, Luca Alexander, Bryn Thomas, and Ellis Anjolie Russell. The Hjelt twins would wish to be remembered by family as beloved and by their larger community as soul winners.