Shirley Bane

The Lord has a very special plan for your life.”

(Excerpt from an interview with Kirk Bane, Businessman, spiritual leader, Proud family man)
Florida, USA

The biggest and most influential quality of my mom was her FAITH.

At age 15, I started to attend a church and became part of a youth group. It was then that I learned what it meant to have a relationship with the Lord. That was the greatest day of my life, as I am sure it was also for my mom. 

Shortly after that, when I graduated from high school, I ended up going to a Bible college (a Christian University).  I remember looking at the possibility of going to other schools for my education.  I had university scholarship offers for swimming, and my dad wanted me to go that route and become a dentist.  But I knew in my heart I wanted to go to a Bible College because my faith was the most important part of my life then and I wanted to be grounded in my faith. I wanted to have Bible knowledge so that every decision that I made in my life was based upon biblical principles.

My mom was so excited when I chose to go to a Christian University for Ministry.

And I can say as I look back, every single one of the decisions I've made business-wise, family-wise, who I chose to marry, where we chose to live, every single one of the businesses that I've been a part of was because of my faith. The Lord led me to each and every individual who became part of my life.  It really has affected every area of my life.  And my children have embraced their faith, and grew up in church with us as well.

I feel very fortunate and blessed to have what I call “favor” with some pretty key people. As a teenager, it was the favor I found with my pastor and the church and the leaders that were there.  Then it was the favor that I found in college, my senior year I was elected as the student body president of the University so I hung out with some pretty cool people.

I found favor with these friends who were starting a new church in Orlando, we ended up doing it together. Then I met a gentleman that had the largest Christian publishing company out of Lake Mary. We were on a plane ride coming back from a Promise Keepers event and he said I'm going to start creating a publication for Promise Keepers which at that time was just a small Christian men's thing. Then he invited me to be part of the team even without any background in publication. The magazine grew to be one of the largest Christian magazines in the world for the next 5 years and it was just amazing to be a part of that whole thing starting it from nothing. After that, there was a theme park that opened here in town called The Holy Land Experience and they hired me to run all their sales and marketing and some other aspects of their Ministry as well.  There have just always been some pretty cool things and cool people in my life because of my faith.

My wife, whom I met at the same Christian University, and I have had key roles in the growth of several churches. And we still assist and help churches today.  Some churches we were actively involved in were the Shadow Hills Church in Georgia,  a Baptist Church in Orlando Florida, and the Discovery Church. 

I am also a Minister at weddings.  In fact my wife said I've performed 1,500 wedding ceremonies over the past 30 years.  I enjoy spending time with the couples, and helping them prepare for marriage by going through essential topics with them.

So yes, my mom was right. The Lord has a special purpose and calling for my life.

All these years, her voice to me was that of a big encourager.  She always assured me that I was smart, I was important, and gifted.  And interestingly enough, most people today say that I am a big encourager too.  I definitely got that from my mother.

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Mom,

Thank you for being such an ENCOURAGER through all these years.
I don't really take any of that lightly. You were that and more for me.  Thank you for always being interested, for always asking me about what I am up to and for praying for me.

I especially acknowledge you for your faith, that led me to my faith -
and always believing in me and everything I do. 

  • KIRK BANE

Faith, CareerLeah Milan