Power Team Athlete Starts Victory Church Campus In Bentonville

Last updated Friday, February 1, 2008 6:33 PM CST in Religion

By Bettina Lehovec
THE MORNING NEWS

The 44-year-old came to that realization as a teen. He'd grown up unchurched in Hermiston, Ore., and was dabbling with a party oriented lifestyle when a wrestling coach told him there was another way.

"He led me to God on the mat," Kopta said. "From that point on, I got planted." The high school wrestler and football player spent six months with Youth With A Mission after he graduated. He returned to his hometown and enrolled in a community college, planning to become a teacher and coach.

Then The Power Team came to town.

The team uses feats of strength to evangelize for Christ. Team members bring a secular version of their crusade to schools across the nation, speaking out against drugs and alcohol and addressing teen suicide and self-esteem. They invite students and their families to return to a church-sponsored demonstration in the evening, adding their message of salvation at that time.

The mission is to reach people who might otherwise never set foot in a church, Kopta said.

"People are drawn to the spectacular. ... With young people, if you can get their attention, you can get into their hearts."

Attention-getting gimmicks include breaking 12-foot blocks of ice, crushing concrete walls, bending horsehoes and steel bars and tearing phone books in half. Team members -- all ordained ministers as well as athletes -- share testimonials and preach God's word. The evening ends with an invitation to come forward and accept Christ in one's heart.

Enthralled by what he saw, the young Kopta followed the team to its next crusade in Portland, Ore. A member of the team was sick and Kopta stepped in to perform. The chemistry between him and the work was a perfect fit. Power Team founders sent him to Southern Bible College in Baton Rouge, La., for a year. When he finished, he joined the team full time.

"I always wanted to use my athletic abilities to reach people for Christ," the pastor said. "God gives us all kinds of talents and abilities. Our gift back to God is how we use them.'"

Kopta traveled with the team full time for nearly eight years. He met his wife, Raelynn, Miss Oklahoma Teen 1987, during a tour. The two married a year later and continued to travel, even after daughter Destinee was born.

By the time their second child, Whitnee, came along, the logistics of living on the road were daunting. The family settled in Northwest Arkansas, where Raelynn's parents, the Rev. Billy and Jeanne Coffman, had started Victory Church, then called Victory Family Worship Center.

The Koptas' youngest child, Alexee, was born shortly after.

Kopta has continued working with The Power Team part time, traveling and performing one week each month. He's visited every state in the union, as well as Australia, South Africa, Europe and Central America.

The original team of six has grown to 21. They do about 80 crusades a year, reaching some one million students and another one million family members. About 73,000 people answered the Billy Graham-style altar call last year, Kopta said.

He is the most senior member of the team. He's served as a board member and vice president since 2003.

"It's the best of both worlds -- the opportunity to pastor a church and then, once a month, go out and do evangelism in schools."

The Power To Change

Kopta doesn't plan to break bricks at Victory Church North, but he hopes to keep things lively in a variety of ways.

"If there was an 11th commandment, it would be 'Thou shall not bore people with the gospel of Jesus Christ.'"

His aim is to keep his message relevant, addressing the real issues in people's lives. His Feb. 17 sermon will focus on change, for example. Studies show that most New Year's resolutions are broken by Feb. 1, Kopta said. How can God help make lasting changes?

Other touchstones are passionate worship and a casual atmosphere. Kopta will preach in blue jeans. Chris Abbot, a worship leader at Guts Church in Tulsa, Okla., will lead worship on acoustic guitar. A full band is planned eventually.

Billy Coffman, senior pastor at Victory Church, said the Bentonville campus will likely be more non-traditional than the already casual Springdale one. The targeted demographic is families in their 20s, 30s and 40s. He and Kopta expect to start with 30 or 40 people, including 5 or 6 families from the Springdale church, and grow to at least 100 people within four or five months.

Coffman plans to start several other satellite campuses within the next few years.

"It's 'God time' to expand," he said. The shrinking economy is increasing pressure on area families. They no longer want to spend gas money to attend church in another town.

"The time is right for us to spread out and involve ourselves with people struggling in other communities, people who have the need for a message of hope."

Victory Church has concerned itself with that message from the beginning, Coffman said. The church advocates a practical approach to ministry, giving people tools that will help them help themselves. It has sponsored nutrition classes and financial seminars, for example. Its Restoration Center feeds 100 families a month. As a first responder for disaster relief, the Team Victory portable kitchen has served more than 400,000 hot meals, including many to hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast.

"Our desire is to take people who have no hope and give them hope."

His son-in-law is the perfect person to take the church mission further afield, Coffman said.

"John's one of those guys who's never met a stranger. He always treats people correctly. He has a wonderful pastoral attitude and a real call to ministry."

Kim Terrell, crusade and marketing director for The Power Team, agreed. He watched Kopta assume a leadership role within the team during a time of major restructure five years ago.

"He conducts himself as a gracious human being ... with real integrity and commitment. He always does whatever he says he's going to do. I've rarely seen him fail. When he succeeds, he doesn't take the glory for himself. He gives thanks to God.

"He's (also) very teachable. He doesn't feel like he's already arrived."

Kopta's goal with the new church is identical to his mission with The Power Team: "My No. 1 goal is to introduce people who don't know Christ to Christ."

He envisions reaching the entire family -- parents, teenagers and younger children -- with a message that resonates for each member.

"Success begins on Sunday" is one of his catch phrases. He hopes to make church so compelling that people wouldn't dream of starting the week without it.

"I've seen it all. I've heard it all," he said, referring to the youth he's met on his crusades. "I tell them 'It's not how you start, it's how you finish.'

"God's a loving God. ... You may not know the answer, but God can help you change."

At A Glance

Victory Church North

Service Time: 10 a.m. Sunday

Venue: Ruth Hale Barker Middle School, 18th and 'C' St., Bentonville

Mission: "Reach up in worship, reach out in evangelism, reach within in discipleship"

Information: www.victorychurchnwa.com, 751-7926

Source: Staff Report

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