Chris Hofacker was saved while
attending a Baptist Church Camp in 1976 at age 15. He attended Heritage Christian School in Sandusky, Ohio for five (5) years, grades 8th-12th. He has been preaching and filling pulpits
since he was 16 years old. He served Independent Baptist churches as a youth director, and adult Sunday school
teacher as well as working as an associate for former missionary/evangelist, Dr.
Richard E.Williams. Although serving in
these capacities, he never felt God’s call to go into the ministry full
time.
In
1986 Chris began a Law Enforcement career with a police department in northern
Ohio. The department was large enough to staff 54
full time officers and another 24 part time during Chris’s tenure there. He worked as a K-9 officer for four years,
and also served as a member of the county wide Drug Task Force Unit for three
of those years. God blessed his career
and moved him through the ranks, to the position of lieutenant. During his time serving in supervisory
capacities, Chris was able to serve as the department’s Patrol Division
Commander as well as spending time as their Public Relations Officer, Citizen and
Youth and Academy Commander, Training Coordinator and he headed the
department’s Chaplaincy Program as well. He also wrote the department's first Core Value and Ethics training program.
Chris
became a Police Defensive Tactics Instructor and Use of Force expert and served as a trainer in this
capacity under the State Attorney General’s Office, for the Ohio Peace
Officer’s Training Academy near Columbus for the last nine years of his
career. He taught Police Defensive
Tactics at several academies, agencies and colleges with law enforcement
programs during that time also . Besides
the hand to hand training he did, he was also certified as A.S.P. baton and
T.A.S.E.R. Instructors. During a portion
of his law enforcement career, Chris owned and operated a mixed martial arts
school and was part owner/operator of a second.
He has over 35 years of hand to hand combat training and experience. He has studied various systems of martial arts during those years. Because of the influence of eastern religions
in most martial arts systems, Chris refused to teach a traditional art and
created his own fighting system known as “Kanji-itsu.” The system was developed originally as a Law
Enforcement fighting system but has been modified for general use and training. He
believes violence is a last resort and should only be used when defending
oneself, family or others from physical attack and then only as a measure and to the extent of
stopping the offender from inflicting harm or further harm to their
victim. Brother Hofacker now uses his knowledge in this area to assist churches with establishing and training church security teams. He can also assist you with general self defense and/or women's self defense classes if desired. David did say in Psalm 144:1“Blessed be the Lord my strength,
which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:”
With
just over two years left to go before retirement and a full police pension, the
Lord called Chris into full time evangelism and he left his career to follow
God’s call on September 30th of 2010. He is currently serving out of Beacon Baptist
Church in Lorain, Ohio under Pastor Aaron Webb.
When not preaching out, he teaches the Adult Sunday School class at
Beacon and assists the pastor with filling the pulpit there as well. Please remember to pray for him and his wife
and four children as they follow God’s call for their lives.