Victory Fellowship held its first official service on September 13th, 1983. The meetings were in a small metal building in the countryside one mile west of Emporia under the visionary leadership of Dr. James and Judith Kegin. It was an independent Charismatic church.

The vision of the founders was to lead people to salvation through Jesus Christ, to build them up spiritually, to train them to do the work of the ministry, and to release them into whatever ministry the Lord would call them to. Pastor Kegin always said, “If you send out your best people, God will send you the best people.”

A very big part of the ministry was to take church members on ministry trips to other countries, introduce them to needs and areas of service, and believe God would call some of them to go back there to serve Jesus Christ. Since that time over forty team mission trips have been taken to the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The majority of them were led by Pastor Michael Angell, who served faithfully as associate pastor for 16 years.

That which the Kegins believed has taken place. To date, at least 9 senior pastors went out from this church. Four missionary couples have been sent to the field. Three individuals went to foreign lands on a long-term basis. A number of credentialed ministers got their start here – some still here, as well as others with their own ministries. And an innumerable crowd has participated on short-term trips.

In 1985, a new building was added to the original structure. This provided a larger sanctuary, a Christian school, and room for youth. The Christian school later became Emporia Christian School and moved out independently into the heart of the community.

In 1994, Victory Fellowship joined the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Foursquare represents Jesus Christ as the Savior, the Healer, the Baptizer into the Holy Spirit, and the Soon-coming King. Victory Fellowship has become part of a family of over 66,000 churches in over 145 nations.

In September 2004, Michael and Janice Stubbs were appointed the new senior pastors of Victory Fellowship upon retirement of the Kegins. The mission of Victory Fellowship is to restore people to their purpose in life through Christ Jesus. As of 2010, the salaried pastoral staff consists of the Stubbs’, Rev. Corey Livingston, Rev. Janie Horst, and Rev. Lori Blake. Barbara Johnson serves as our fulltime administrative secretary with retired missionary Mariel Barrett assisting her. Many other paid and non-paid personnel make the ministry of Victory Fellowship possible. We are grateful to each of them changing lives one at a time. Victory Fellowship consists of people from all walks of life in Emporia and the surrounding area.

This page was last updated: December 1, 2011

our history...