Director’s profile
Kappus’ passion: Bible study, teaching
By Edward Terry, The Layman, Posted Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Of all his life experiences, retired leadership consultant Ed Kappus deems the recent years of adult Bible study and teaching the most important.
While working for technology giant IBM, Kappus spent much of his time traveling and wasn’t able to focus on Bible study. Later in his career, when he was more in control of his time as a private consultant, he finally was able to pursue his passion and his time in the Word has had a tremendous impact on his faith and life.
“You learn so much when you prepare to teach,” he said. “I love to teach, somewhat selfishly, because it pushes me into Scripture in a somewhat deeper level than I would be perhaps if were just reading. I know I read differently when I prepare to teach.”
Deepening his personal relationship with the Lord is much more significant, he confesses, than his many accomplishments in the corporate and non-profit worlds.
Raising his hand high above his head to make his point, Kappus said “The faith journey is way up here somewhere compared to that stuff.”
Yet “that stuff” has helped Kappus apply his leadership expertise, along with his love of teaching, for Kingdom purposes, and build a lasting legacy for the many lives God has impacted through the churches and national community service organizations where Kappus has invested himself.
A life-changing epiphany
Kappus grew up in Eau Claire, Wis., worshipping in a Lutheran church and in his 20s he tried Methodism. But Kappus admits, he just wasn’t “getting it.” It was his time at a “Bible preaching Congregational church” in Minneapolis, where he was introduced to Billy Graham conferences and crusades, when the light finally came on.
“As Rick Warren has since so eloquently put it, it wasn’t about me,” Kappus said. “It was and is all about God. I came to understand His unmerited favor, my need for the Holy Spirit to help me read Scripture with fresh eyes and understand it with a new heart. I committed my life to Jesus. The walk has been exhilarating, challenging, defeating, rebounding, uplifting, growing and filled with love and hope.”
Kappus credits the role of his wife Elisabeth in his faith journey.
“I have been awesomely blessed in my walk with a very special wife, whose faith is deep and strong,” he said.
Strong lay leadership is necessary
Kappus, who joined the PLC board of directors in early 2010, has always appreciated the ministry’s role in the PCUSA. He views the information provided through The Layman as essential to the development of lay leadership.
“Without information, effective leadership is not possible,” he said. “It is also not possible without the desire on the part of laity to lead in the face of many clergy who want strong lay leadership only to the extent it is willing to endorse and execute the clergy’s ideas and programs.”
And if there’s one thing that Kappus really knows about, it’s leadership.
He spent 21 years with IBM, including time in executive and management development and as special assistant to the chairman. For 29 years, Kappus led a consulting firm that specialized in organizational effectiveness and executive leadership.
Kappus also used that expertise to help nonprofit organizations, including Junior Achievement, where he served as a volunteer vice president for three years, and Boy Scouts of America, where for 16 years he was a member of the Professional Development Committee of its National Council.
Through that experience, he’s found that leadership skills are transferrable.
“A lot of the principles of leadership are the same, whether you are in a corporation or a not-for-profit or a church,” he said. “How you apply them is very, very different.”
It starts with Biblical knowledge
A Presbyterian elder since 1967, Kappus views strong lay leadership as essential to the Church.
He believes that many disputes in the church arise from a widespread failure to take the Bible seriously and study it carefully. Christian leaders, he said, must be well grounded in Scripture.
“Lay leaders have to know their Scripture well enough to know when they are hearing error; they have to understand the principles of Biblical interpretation so they can deal with interpretation issues,” Kappus said. “We need lay leaders to be able to understand, to be Biblically knowledgeable to the point they can teach, and to be Biblically knowledgeable to the point that they can recognize error and heresy, and be comfortable naming it for what it is.”
Among his favorite Bible study tools are Logos Bible Software and the online Reformed theology resource Monergism. Kappus said he also enjoys books and resources by R.C. Sproul.
His activities in the PCUSA have included serving on sessions and nominating committees, as well as commissioner to many presbytery meetings. He has attended the PCUSA General Assembly as an observer and several New Wineskins Initiative national meetings.
Kappus currently is a member of First Presbyterian Church of Roanoke, Va. He recently moved from Hilton Head, S.C. to Roanoke where he hopes to continue his involvement in Bible study, teaching and leadership development.