church leaders singing on sunday morning

Meet Our Church's Leadership Team

Robert and Debbie Kaps - Lead Pastors

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, NM 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 in 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 finances were tight as there were not a lot of opportunities available to support our family. 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 our next door neighbors, an old Baptist preacher 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 for a crew that was 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 six 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.

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 overcomers 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.

Our Ministry Leadership Team

Silas Arnold

Assistant Pastor

My name is Silas Arnold and I'm the Assistant Pastor at Heart of God Fellowship. I've been at Heart of God since before I can remember and I love this church. I preach the midweek service on Thursday night and I am the lead musician/administrative assistant for the Worship Team. I'm happy to be the second banana for the ministries I'm involved in. I'm married to my wonderful wife, Charity. We have one daughter that keeps me on my toes all the time. I love getting to be a part of Heart of God Fellowship and seeing the ways God uses the church to reach the lost and turn hearts and minds to Jesus through preaching and teaching the Bible.

Angela Kaps

Worship Leader

Angela is the daughter of Pastor Kaps and has been in the church since it began. Most of our church members remember her growing up. Angela has been singing since she was a little girl, and took over the worship ministry at Heart of God Fellowship a few years ago. Angela leads worship at our 10:30 am service. Angela has one daughter, who also serves in different roles in the church, and focuses on loving people through ministry.

Erin Willyard

Youth Leader

Erin Willyard here! I’m the youth leader here at Heart of God and have been since 2016. I started coming to Heart of God when the church was being built and we were having youth group at Pastor Kaps’s house. I graduated from high school in 2010 and began volunteering with the youth instead of being one. The impact that this youth group and the leaders made for me had such an impact I wanted a part in continuing that. I’m also work full time as a dialysis nurse so it makes me a very busy woman, but I love it. I’m always looking for ideas, advice, opinions and support in making this youth group the best it can be and making the biggest impact it can make. These 4:12 youth have a purpose and message to share and I want to help them achieve all that God has for them.

Martha Davis

Children’s Ministry Leader

Martha has a passion for teaching our children about the love of God. She has been teaching the kids at Heart of God for many years, and is excited to get to spend every Sunday morning and Thursday night with your kids. Her desire is that the kids that enter the church feel loved and learn about the sacrifice that Jesus made to connect with each of them on a personal level.

Join Us at Church

Sunday Mornings at 8:00 AM or 10:30 AM
Thursday Night Worship at 7:00 PM

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