The founder of Victory Fellowship Foursquare Church, The Rev. James LeRoy Kegin, has died at 68.
Kegin started the church in 1983 at Road 190 and Road G. He died Wednesday at his home in Emporia.
Kegin retired from the church in 2004, handing the leadership over to The Revs. Jannie and Michael Stubbs. Kegin is Jannie Stubbs’ father.
“We’re examples of how they empower the next generation,” Jannie Stubbs said in a 2004 article in the Gazette. “Our story is multiplied over and over.”
According to the article, the church began in Kegin’s living room. When membership got up to 75 and members were filling the stairs, the dining room and the porch outside, it was time to find a building. The church moved into the building on Road 190. The building had been a motorcycle shop and an electrician’s shop. The building was purchased for $65,000 and on the first Sunday it saw a congregation of more than 200 people with a steady attendance of 180.
Kegin’s beliefs were strong and he took his message far.
“All healing, I believe, comes from God,” Kegin said in a 1983 article in the Gazette. “A lot of people don’t know how to pray for their own healing. A lot of people use God as Santa Claus.”
Victory Fellowship rapidly saw the need for more space beyond what the building offered. In 1984, the building was expanded, according to a November 1984 article in the Gazette. The addition was 125-by-120 foot addition and included a sanctuary that could accommodate more than 800 people.
“We would be, I’m sure, termed charismatic...” Kegin said in the 1983 article. “I’ve seen this in my spirit — I’ve had this drawn out for years. ... People are so afraid (of the gift); I was for many years. I thought at best it was stupid and at worst it was the work of the Devil.”
Kegin didn’t stop with his church in Emporia. In 1992, he was interviewed by the Gazette after returning from a nine-day mission trip in Russia and Estonia. Kegin said in the article that he experienced culture shock while there and there was little hope in the people.
“It is startling,” he said in 1992. “It seems like the whole place is dead...”
Still, Kegin left his mark. On that mission trip, Kegin said he, along with two other people, were able to start a new church and put a person in charge of it. By the time they left there were between 50 and 100 members committed to the church, the article stated.
Kegin was born on Sept. 30, 1940, in Oklahoma City, graduating from A.A. Central College in McPherson in 1960. He received a bachelor’s degree from Greenville College, Greenville, Ill., in 1962; a master of divinity from Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., in 1970; and a doctorate of ministry from Oral Roberts University in 1991.
Kegin was a pastor for 40 years and served many other churches besides the one in Emporia. He also served in East St. Louis, Ill., Kansas City, Mo. Capay, Calif., and Pomona, Calif. He also owned Arcadia Reading Clinic and served on the board of several organizations and was the founder of Victory Christian Academy.
Services for Kegin will be at 11 a.m. Monday at the Victory Fellowship Foursquare Church. Private interment will be at the Hartford Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at the church.
Memorial contributions may be made to Victory Fellowship Foursquare Church and sent in care of Jones VanArsdale Funeral Home, P.O. Box 43, Lebo, KS 66856.