Pastor Banner Kidd
First Love Outreach Fellowship, Inc. – Noble County
Banner and his wife of 45 years, Karen, raised four children, one of whom passed on to be with Jesus in June of 2020. They have three grandsons. Banner and Karen were raised and have lived in the tri-county area of Noble, Steuben and Lagrange Counties before moving to Auburn, in Dekalb County in September of 20201. Banner was born in Floyd County, in Eastern Kentucky, before being moved to Kendallville, Indiana with his family in 1965, where he was raised.
Banner has served in worship ministry since 1988, after being born again in November of 1987. With a history in the music industry in a working band that wrote and recorded their own songs, his experience includes many years as a key player in the Sweetwater Studios recording team, where Banner wrote jingles, co-produced many records, was a published and recorded songwriter. Banner was prolific in songwriting and jingle writing in between stints at Sweetwater as wells as after leaving in 2015 to form Broadcast My Brand, co-writing full length songs to become music videos on nightly newscast for ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox and CW affiliates through Sinclair Network.
From 2000-2007, Banner was manager of WQKO and WCVM radio stations, Banner worked at times directly under Pastor Chuck Smith’s son, Jeff Smith, who was the vice president of CSN International at the time, training new station managers and helping to get new station builds on the air. Banner was the morning drive announcer on WQKO and hosted a Sunday morning talk show entitled, “Did God Really Say?”
Having studied in the late 90’s and into 2000 with Calvary Chapel Bible College, Banner completed his seminary training with Christian Leaders Institute, which is the organization supporting The Fort Wayne School of Ministry. Banner took the required training and after an interview with Brian DeCook, elder at Harvest Fellowship and board member with CLI, acquired the green light to become a Soul Center in Indiana. Banner is ordained by CLI, as well as a laying on of hands by the leadership at Harvest and is the pastor of a new start up church in Noble County called First Love Outreach Fellowship. Banner was endorsed by several Noble County Area pastors and is also the newest member of Seeds of Change, a consortium of pastors of small churches who support one another in disicipleship.
Banner served most recently with Inspiration Ministries in pastoral care of the men in the program, and then as a lead case manager, program supervisor and development director. Inspiration is one of the largest residential Christ centered recovery programs in Northeast Indiana. Banner is a Certified Recovery Specialist, a Community Health Worker, and ANSA certified along with several more certifications.
Prior to being asked to serve with Inspiration Banner and Karen and their family began attending Maranatha Christian Fellowship in Brighton, Indiana in 1993. Not long before that Maranatha had been led by Pastor Paul Mowery, who had moved on, being called to plant Harvest Fellowship in Fort Wayne, leaving the role of lead pastor to Ron Hyre, who had been his assistant pastor. After Pastor Paul, left there had been a huge split under the leadership of Ron Hyre. Banner and his family entered the scene after the split and without any knowledge of it at the time.
While at the fellowship it had an attendance in the hundreds, growing at one time to around six hundred. During his time there Banner served as worship leader, children’s ministry teacher, outreach leader, elder, vice president of the board, and led the broadcast ministry.
Over time Banner noticed that people came and went from the fellowship quite regularly. There was a problem with leadership that slowly began to come to surface. As the decisions seemed to become reactionary, Maranatha became Calvary Christian Fellowship, and not long after that the pastor began a study on the “Myths and Fables” practiced by traditional Christianity. That study found it’s natural path to believing that the “law of Moses” was the destination. It finally devolved into a form of The Hebrew Roots Movement. In those early years, people were lined up after each service with questions and complaints and they were summarily shot down and they finally left.
In 2007 the church changed its name to Messiah Fellowship and began meeting on Saturday as the delusion of being “torah observant” was like a siren call to the pride, insecurity, and bitterness of leadership. At the time, Banner was one of them.
Banner began leading worship in 1994 at Maranatha and was named an elder in 2003 after it had been renamed Calvary Christian Fellowship. Being brought more into the inner circle was an eye-opener. Dealing with his own baggage and insecurities Banner was easy prey at the time as it would later be seen clearly that the board of elders were to be “yes men” for Pastor Ron, who always made sure it came around to what he wanted all along. Of the elders in place at the time Banner came on board; all had left by 2008, and he was the last of that group standing. A fellowship once numbering around six hundred was decimated. At the time God called him out of it in June of 2020, the attendance was probably around fifty souls, children included.
The time spent in what became a cult was very hard for Banner’s family, and many others. Many still struggle with the damage that was done as families were divided in the morass of man’s changing doctrine based on private interpretation and personal “revelation”. It became peer driven from the top, with fear and doubt fueled by gaslighting through all of that so-called “revelation.” It was said, “We just got to the place of practicing this new change, and you’ve changed it again already!” There seemed to be no place to stand firmly on solid ground. The Solid Rock of faith in Jesus was pushed aside, and in its place was the sinking sand of man’s changing religious doctrine.
“Having been in that fellowship for twenty seven years, I saw a lot. A lot that is probably better left unsaid. But a lot that must be said. The Spirit has shown me the demonically inspired error of man’s religion in all aspects, but in particular in The Hebrew Roots Movement, regardless of whatever form it takes. I believe He has given me the Scriptural knowledge to refute all of that demonically inspired gaslighting that has left far too many people questioning what they know for a fact to be true, in their born again heart.” -Banner Kidd
Banner is available for any opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ, that faith in Him alone brings grace apart from any works of the law, including an understanding of what the law contained in Scripture was given for and to whom it was given. He is available for one on one meetings, small groups, or large groups as time allows. Banner has a podcast and more information available at WWW.BANNERKIDD.COM. Banner is pastor of First Love Outreach Fellowship, Inc., dedicated to ministering to those who have been hurt in man’s legalistic religion of any form, and for those who are the marginalized of society, dealing with addictions, hurts, habits and hangups, many of whom don’t feel welcome in church. He is a part of a leadership team with a goal of planting Celebrate Recovery programs in the area. Banner can be contacted at 260-336-4106 or at bannerkidd55@gmail.com.
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