Karson Kopea Becomes Bishop
Forum
Monrovia, Liberia
Distributed by
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
October 5, 2004
Saturday, 2 October 2004, marked an ecclesiastical enrichment for the Faith Fellowship Mission in Liberia when three American prelates consecrated its first bishop.
Amidst joy from the congregation and family members, Karson Nathaniel Kopea, was ordained as a first Bishop of FFM ministry in Liberia and Africa at the Gates of Heaven Church in Monrovia.
Prior to the consecration of Bishop Kopea, Bishop Wilbert William, presiding overseer of African Chapter of the ministry in the United States, preached his sermon on the theme: “Preach the Word,” taking his text from the Book of II Timothy 2: 4. Bishop William said like Paul urged Timothy to preach the gospel of Christ, people of God must always be ready to preach the word and save lives.
He told the congregation that God has called and given the new bishop a mandate to preach his word. He urged Bishop Kopea to preach the word of God to his family, community and everywhere.
Bishop Kopea was formally consecrated by Bishops Rodwell Buckley, Joseph Taylor and Wilbert William, making him the first bishop of FFM in Africa to be consecrated.
Speaking further, Bishop Taylor said they (the three bishops) along with former Liberian Ambassador to the US, Eugenia Stevenson, met the State Department and appealed for the US government’s intervention in the Liberian crisis. He said few weeks later, God answered their prayer, which resulted to the intervention by the international community in the crisis.
Bishop Taylor, prelate in charge of FFMI based in Washington, described Karson Kopea as one of the finest men he has seen over the years, said the UN cannot stay in Liberia forever, adding that the people of God must rise up and begin to use the power of the word of God.
For his part, the newly consecrated bishop thanked the visiting prelates for their good work and admonished his fellow pastors to be grass roots preachers, saying that God is not interested in Cathedral but the hearts of the people.
He encouraged them to do their work because, as he put it, “Jesus Christ was a grass roots preacher”, adding, “For too long, bishops in Liberia have been waiting on the tables. We need to move around and preach the gospel.”
