A Kagy Farewell

 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people. (Philemon 4-7 - NIV)

Over 3 years ago, Sam, I, Brian Henderson, and our 8-month baby girl showed up to check out this church with the weird black sign and way too many black curtains. And come to think of it, even a black soundboard case…and a black cart for loading equipment…like I said, weird. Anyway, we had been searching for the right place for over 5 months. After our first Encounter Worship Gathering, the search was over. It changed our lives. And you, Encounter Church, have not only changed our lives with your love—but you’ve changed what we know about church. 

I have been actively serving the Lord in ministry for over 15 years with 13 of them serving as a minister in the local church. During that time I was confronted (often and in a myriad of ways) with one overwhelming problem—the American version of the New Testament Church is failing. Sam and I would dream, plan and some times even plot what church could or should be. Even while attending seminary here in Louisville, we were still dissatisfied.

When God called us to Encounter, He showed us what the Church can be and was meant to be. He didn’t show us a perfect church or a convieint church with bells and whistles or a cushy church where we were catered to. He showed us a Christ-centered church that stretches to reach out to people. Encounter has spoiled us. Or more accurately, God has spoiled us with the people of Encounter Church—and we'll never look at the New Testament Church in the same way.

For those of you who haven’t heard, God has called our family to move to my hometown of Sarasota, Florida. This Sunday, the 21^st will be our last. For those truly hurt by how quickly things went down, its Sam’s fault. She’s just terrible, I am doing my best with her. Sorry.   

So like the above verse in Philemon, we have been refreshed by your love. And we praise God for our Encounter Church. And like the verse, we are Partners of and with Encounter and we will always be. (We should be good for a while at least: Michael, Mike and Kerry haven’t invented a “We-just-kicked-you-out Procedure.”)

I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Before Encounter Church, our closest family was almost 1000 miles away. Once God showed us our place, we found we had family less than 10 miles away. You have loved us, watched our kids, helped us, prayed for us, worked with us, and cooked for us (which is saying a lot for as often as these kids keep showing up.) Thank you.  God Bless you. And we will miss each of you more than you will ever know.   

Here is the Steve & Sam Kagy Version of Philemon’s greeting:

We will always thank our God as we remember you in our prayers, because we know about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. We pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given us great joy and encouragement, because you, brothers & sisters, have refreshed the hearts of the Kagy’s. (Philemon 4-7 - S&SKV)