While in his early twenties, in the midst of a career in radio, never having been witnessed to or having attended an evangelical service of any kind, Pastor Hildebrandt was saved by the Grace of God through the reading of the New Testament. He has had the privilege of sitting under the ministries of Pastors Albert Martin and Ernest Reisinger. He attended the Trinity Ministerial Academy in Montville, New Jersey and Graduated Summa Cum Laude from Florida Baptist Theological College.

In the late seventies and early eighties, Pastor Hildebrandt was involved with itinerant preaching in inner city missions and churches in New York and in New Jersey.  In 1988  Pastor Hildebrandt had the privilege of being ordained to the full time pastoral ministry in the Fort Lauderdale area by Rev. Ernest Reisinger.  In 1994, he became the founding pastor of Grace Baptist Church of North Tampa Bay.