Spirit of Service was founded in 1991 by David Ross, Presbyterian, Bob Miller, Catholic, and Al Hagemann, Lutheran. Their mission was to promote volunteerism for community service within the Christian community. New technologies were implemented to reduce operational costs and promote programs. Rev. Roger Kube was appointed Executive Director in 2000; during this time, he founded the “Interfaith Ministries Network.” The goal of this initiative was to create inter-congregational cooperation among 1,300 congregations in the greater Kansas City area. A database was built containing 2,300 congregations, across eleven counties in the region. Unfortunately, the project was unable to proceed due to lack of funding,[1] arisen, from what some consider costly misunderstandings of the support congregations would offer to a central electronic service.[2]

References

[1] Guillot, Lawrence, interview by Geneva Blackmer. 2016. Interfaith History in Kansas City (February 15).

[2] Barnet, Vern, interview by Geneva Blackmer. 2019. Spirit of Service. (February 18).