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What's God Doing in the Life of Legacy?
PRESENT: We give praise to God for how He has worked to assemble the Senior Pastor Search Team. This team has been prayerfully assembled and includes members from all of Legacy’s campuses representing a great diversity of age, gender, backgrounds, and race. This group of individuals, led by elders Mike Shelton and Joel DeBoer, are deeply committed to discerning God’s will for our church and serving all of Legacy’s campuses with a unified purpose. The Search Team will conduct an extensive search to identify ideal candidates who align with Legacy’s vision and mission and will approach this process of finding a new Senior Pastor with much care and patience. We ask each of you for your help by diligently praying as we seek God’s will.
COMING NOVEMBER: We are excited to announce that Randy Gariss will be Legacy’s Interim Pastor! Randy started preaching the last week of November, and he will continue to preach most Sundays until a new Senior Pastor is hired. Randy is a solid man of God who is gifted in both leadership and teaching. It is exciting to see how God has orchestrated His perfect plan and prepared our church to embrace Randy as our Interim Pastor. We praise God for working out the details to open the door for Randy and his wife Julie to join our Biblical Community Living the Word.
Throughout Pastor Reggie’s health journey, God prepared the way with an incredible group of pastors from Legacy’s staff team who were ready to step in, serve in the pulpit, and minister to the church. Legacy is committed to faithfully supplying the pulpit with teachers who are committed to preaching God’s Word. We thank God for His provision as we continue through this season of transition.
In 2022, Pastor Reggie was diagnosed with two rare forms of cancer. While at the helm of leading Legacy, he passed away on July 6, 2023 after a determined and courageous battle. Legacy Christian Church stands strong as a result of the Holy Spirit’s hand through the faithful labor and leadership of Pastor Reggie. During his tenure at Legacy, Pastor Reggie obtained his Doctorate in Church Leadership, through which he developed a Church Leadership Training Program to equip the church, and Legacy specifically, to carry God’s mission forward for generations to come. As the Senior Pastor of Legacy, Reggie led by example, inspiring others to deepen their faith and live out their beliefs. His fierce competitive spirit and dedication to building churches committed to honoring the authority of God’s Word will continue to inspire those he touched. Pastor Reggie’s memory will live on in the hearts of all who knew and loved him. You can learn more about his journey here.
With five campuses and thousands of lives transformed over the years, Legacy Christian Church celebrated 50 years of ministry. The 50th anniversary weekend was filled with opportunities to celebrate God’s work, engage in fellowship, learn about Legacy’s story, and be inspired by examples of faith. There was a unique “Building a Legacy” program that emphasized the great multi-generational impact of Legacy Christian Church.
Legacy is built on the firm foundation of God’s goodness and the humble servanthood of faithful leaders. After 32 years of dedicated service to Johnson County Christian Church, Pastor Ronnie Epps passed the torch of leadership to new Senior Pastor Reggie Epps. Pastor Reggie, together with his wife, Shara Epps and their children, Angie, Abigail, and Zach came “home” to Kansas in 2001. Pastor Reggie approached life and leadership with determination and passion. Under his leadership the vision to become a multi-site church was forged and would be realized in the years to come. A name change to Legacy Christian Church would come with the new multi-site model. With God’s help, Legacy has grown to a church of over 2000 in weekly attendance striving to be a biblical community living the Word.
Over the years, Legacy continued to grow and live on mission to make disciples. With objectives to implement more space for spiritually forming people, the lower level of the Overland Park Campus beneath the sanctuary was finished with multiple Sunday school rooms, large group meeting spaces, and the gym. These venues provided room for activities (like Men’s basketball) that were catalytic for connecting people to biblical community. Children’s and youth ministers were added to the staff, and support for local and global missions continued to grow as our church raised up Timothies for disciple-making.
Another building program resulted in the current sanctuary and gym of the Overland Park Campus, with unfinished space on the lower level of the sanctuary. Worship began in the new facility in the fall of 1979.
The original core of 47 attenders grew rapidly, so visionary leaders began the work of acquiring property and building a new church home. Pictured is Pastor Ronnie Epps, Darlene Epps, and their children Reggie, Jack, and Renee at the groundbreaking for the new church building in Overland Park. Great financial sacrifice and lots of hard labor by the part of members went into the construction of the original chapel, with Sunday school rooms on the basement level. Dedication of that first building at our present location was in September 1971.
“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 2:18). There was no lack of vision on the part of the dedicated Christians who met in the basement of a doughnut shop in March of 1969. Forty-seven of those visionaries, under the leadership of founding Pastor Ronnie Epps and his wife Darlene, formed the nucleus of Johnson County Christian Church (now known as Legacy Christian Church). In the words of Pastor Ronnie, “We were committed to teach the Bible and lift up the simple New Testament pattern for the church. We wanted to win people to Christ and see our Lord raise up a great church that would dream great dreams for Him. May we never lose that passion for our Lord!” Pastor Ronnie’s heart to seek and save the lost fueled the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the early days of the church.