Rev. Kevin Wade

Family

Jessica Wade, wife of 8 years

Gabrielle "Gabbie" Lynn Wade, daughter

Isabella Page Wade, daughter

Education

McLaurin Attendance Center, Graduated 1997

Mississippi College, 1997 to 1999

Belhaven College, 2000 to 2003, Graduated with Bachelor of Science in Business Management

Ordained to the Ministry by Mt. Zion Baptist Church Florence, Mississippi, 2003

Salvation Testimony

I accepted Christ as my Savior and Lord when I was only nine years of age. I sat in the rear of the church and remember the long tear-filled walk to the front to meet the pastor. I was convicted of my sin and I knew that I was a sinner. I still have a visual memory of that awesome experience when my name was written in the Lamb's book of life.

Call to the Ministry

God called me to his ministry at an early age. In Jr. High, our youth group attended the Mississippi Baptist Youth Night held annually at the Jackson Coliseum. It was there that the Lord called me. I went down with hundreds of other youth when the invitation was given. I remember telling the counselor that God wants me to work for him, but I am not sure how. I told him that I just wanted to make sure the Lord knew I was willing to do what he asks.

Passion in Ministry

I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God and is completely without error. My philosophy is to work under the leadership of the Holy Spirit with other adult leaders as a Christ-centered team to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and radically impact students for Christ. Reaching lost students can be difficult. This is why it is crucial for youth ministries to adapt its ministry and methods to reach the culture in which they live. While Jesus, the Bible, and Divine Principles will always be with us and do not change; many other things are in a constant state of flux. Worship styles, technology, outreach methods, teaching styles, and much more, should always be adapted to reach those who are un-churched, as well as to disciple those who are already Christ followers. Jesus preached from a boat on the Sea of Galilee, creating a natural amphitheatre. Now I use a lapel mike. Paul wrote on papyrus with quill & ink, this week I used Microsoft Word and PowerPoint on a Dell Laptop. The early church studied from the scrolls and parchments, we have dozens of translations bound together in our choice of bindings and colors, and Bibles on computer where we can look up Scripture in milliseconds.

Paul became as a Jew to the Jews, that is, to those who were under the law. When Paul was ministering to the Jews, he went along with their customs and laws just as long as nothing violated his walk in Christ. His standard was Christ, not the law. But he placed himself under the law when ministering to the Jews in order to get next to them and win their confidence and trust so he could witness to them.

Paul became a non-religionist to those who did not observe the law. But note a critical fact: he does not mean he became lawless and immoral. He still obeyed the law of God; that is, he was always under the law to Christ. He still obeyed the will of Christ, which actually includes the commandments of God and more. Paul lived as a Gentile when among them in order to get next to them and win them to Christ.

Paul became weak to the weak Christians. That is, he went along with their petty rules and regulations. He refrained from doing some things that were perfectly legitimate. He conformed to their ideas and opinions just to have an open door to help them grow in Christ. He laid his personal liberty and rights aside in order to reach the new and weak Christians. He would not dare become a stumbling block to them, nor would he cause them to shut him out of their lives by offending them and thereby lose his opportunity to help them. In a crazy way he became as one of them in order to win them.

Paul clearly states his purpose for conforming to the customs and opinions of men: "I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some." Paul is declaring that he went to the extreme when necessary in order to reach people for Christ. What mattered in life was not him and his rights, but the gospel. The gospel was the consuming passion of his life. Why? He wanted to do whatever he could to win people to Christ.

My ministry style is certainly outside the box. Traditional youth ministry methods, though successful in the past, are in most cases missing the target. Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is a movement of dreamers and visionaries. Christianity totally consumes the life of a person. It lights a flame that burns so bright it blinds some folks. My goal is nothing less than leading a student ministry filled with passionate followers of the WAY. Students who are so spiritually contagious, it begins the revolution that actually impacts the world. It is my philosophy of ministry and how a student ministry should live in the church.

Favorite Verse

Matthew 16:24-25
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. (NIV)