Pastor Bob Kaps and his wife, Debbie

Pastor Bob Kaps

I was born in Oakland, California on June 4th, 1953 at the naval hospital. My father, Robert Kaps, Sr. worked as a journeyman carpenter and moved us from town to town our entire childhood. Not being able to plant roots in any one town made for a very difficult upbringing; as we were never able to develop any lasting friendships. In 1971 we were living in Roswell, New Mexico and we were there just long enough that I was able to graduate from Goddard High School.

After finishing high school I started to live my life the same way I had seen my father live his. I became a construction worker and moved from town to town, never staying one place too long. The entire time that I was moving around my mom continued to pray for God’s protection over my life. To this day I know that God answered her prayers. After spending most of my late teens and early twenties running from everyone and everything in my life I felt like something was missing. In 1982, I married my current wife Debbie. I brought my son from a previous marriage into our family and she brought her 2 children to make us a family of five. Shortly after we were married we had a child of our own, which made us a very blended family of six. We were living in Oklahoma at the time and there were not a lot of opportunities available to support our family of six. One day we did not have any food in our house and all of the sudden there was a knock on the door. It was the old Baptist preacher that lived next door and his family bringing us food. Later on that day I went over to his house to thank him again for his kindness and when I walked in, they were eating boiled turnips. I glanced through some of the cabinets and noticed that there was nothing left, which is when I realized that his family had given us all of their food. That spoke volumes about what God’s love was truly about. I quickly realized that God and His amazing sacrificial love were missing from my life so in 1982 I converted to Christianity.

Soon after that we decided the best thing to do was to move to Kansas City, where I took a job as a foreman in the field of laying natural gas pipeline. I decided that I did not want my kids to go through some of the things that I had gone through, so we planted roots in Kansas City. I am happy to say that to this day all of my kids and my three grandchildren all live in Kansas City. I consider raising my children my greatest achievement in life.

In 1990 I completed the Word of Faith School of Ministry. After finishing schooling I began performing musically and preaching as an evangelist in prisons, churches, and at motorcycle rallies. In 1993, my wife and I started a home fellowship at our house in Wellington, MO. on Thursday nights. We prayed about it and decided to call “our” church Heart of God Fellowship. Over time the small bible study grew into full-on church services held in our living room with as many as 20 or 30 people in attendance. Even after God called me to move my family from Wellington to Buckner in the fall of 1996, the strong group of loyal attendees continued meeting in our new home. Eventually, we outgrew our living room and I started looking for a place to hold our Thursday night meetings. I approached the small Baptist church that was pretty much directly behind our house and asked to use their sanctuary. It turned out that they had no pastor and only two members. We prayed about it and in 1997, that small church became our first church building. God has blessed us numerous times over the years and we are growing at a rapid rate. Right now we have three church buildings and a women’s shelter. God has given me the vision that we will plant another two churches and shelters in the Kansas City area in the near future.

Presently, I am working on my Masters of Theology. I am also the district director for the International Convention of Faith Ministers (ICFM). We are firmly planted in our community and we continue to do all that we can to serve them in any way possible. God directs me in such a way that I teach relevant messages about his love for us and how to enjoy life God’s way. I want my congregation to be over comers in all areas of their lives. I want them to develop the right relationship with God and their families. I stress living a balanced life: business, home, social, physical, mental, and spiritual. It is my belief that God will continue to bless us and add to our church daily.