Kyle Warmington

President

**Fiddler on the Roof** (Magnify Church, 2015)

Kyle Warmington has been a stage performer since he was about 8 years old. His mother was a drama teacher before he was born and as Kyle grew up he started singing in the children’s choir at his church. Karen Nash, the volunteer children’s choir director saw talent there and started giving him solos in the kid’s performances. In 6th grade he got the lead role of “Johnny Appleseed” for their school musical and this sparked his mother to take him down to Circle Theater in Grand Rapids, MI for their once a year auditions for shows. He and his brother, Chad, got cast in a little children’s show called “The Adventures of Carrotman”, playing bodyguards. This local theater experience ignited a passion in Kyle that burned for performing arts.

He would go on to perform in show after show in local theaters or at his high school. While working for a local talent agency called Pastiche he had the amazing opportunity in 1990 to travel to Detroit to audition for the movie “Newsies”. He became a top pick in Detroit but it was communicated at that time that due to budget concerns they would probably film it all in LA and they would not pay for kids to travel or stay there, they would need to either live close by or make their own arrangements. That was not in the cards for Kyle but he loved the opportunity. That movie was later released in 1992 starring Christian Bale.

Kyle would go on to study Theater Performance at Western Michigan University and graduated with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration and a Theater Minor realizing God had other plans for his life. He started working in youth ministry and used his theatrical talents there for many years and later became a worship leader after learning how to play acoustic guitar while working at a Camp Geneva in Holland, MI. While living in Holland, MI after graduating from WMU he was cast as the lead role in “John’s Improv” , a unique Christian show that was performed at Ridgepoint Community Church. He continued doing worship leadership in many churches and youth ministries locally and worked professionally as a worship pastor in the West Michigan area at Keystone Community Church, Cascade Christian Church and Journey Church. He landed at Magnify Church with his family in 2014 and was cast as Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof” in their 2015 performance, which was the first time the church ever attempted a Broadway show after 20 years of writing their own fall shows. The following year he started playing the role of Jesus for the Magnify Church Easter Productions and continued that role until 2023.

In 2019, when the church was facing some tough decisions about whether to continue the fall shows due to budget concerns, Kyle stepped up and sprang into action to come up with a proposal to save the rich history the church had developed over a 20+ year history and worked to remind the leadership of the power of storytelling and the discipleship that happens with the cast and crew as they prepare these massive productions often involving well over 100 people sometimes. It is a powerful movement among the church and draws so many different kinds of people to participate in something for a common goal to reach their community and create a unique way to invite their friends into the church building. Kyle became passionate to help make sure that this could continue for many years to come. Kyle helped form the 501c3 organization he decided to call For His Glory Theater to reflect the common sentiment he felt was not only shared by the participants but was steadfast in the heart of their director/producer Vicki Modert. Her humble leadership yet solid commitment to remind everyone involved throughout the entire process that this is all for His glory and not the performers themselves. That has made an indelible impression on Kyle throughout his involvement with Magnify, having performed in many secular locations, he knows how much performers love to soak in the applause, attention and accolades for their performance. It was refreshing to work with people that wanted to seek excellence in performance but in the end, deliberately give God all the glory.

Kyle is working on building more partnerships like Magnify Church to hopefully spark other performances in other locations but there will always be a special place for Magnify Church in his heart and their undying commitment to not only tell stories but empower young people to learn the art and importance of storytelling. It was important to Jesus ……so it should be important to us as well.

Fiddler on the Roof (Magnify Church/FHG, 2024)

Tale of Two Cities (Magnify Church/FHG, 2022)

Hunchback of Notre Dame (Magnify Church/FHG, 2020)

My Fair Lady (Magnify Church, 2016)