A 30-year-old Kansas woman was teaching others about Christ’s promise of heaven on Thursday morning only to die in a highway crash that afternoon.
Caylee Dugger, the youth director at First Baptist Church North Kansas City and a divinity student at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, devoted Thursday’s lesson at the Women Missionary Union to God’s promise of heaven as described in the book of Revelation.
“They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence,” reads the passage she was explaining. “Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them, nor any scorching heat.”
“For the Lamb at the center of the throne. He will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes,” it proceeds.
Later in the day Dugger was killed in a three-car crash near Bluejacket, Oklahoma, as she was heading to Texas to visit a nephew.
Mike Parrett, Associate Pastor at First Baptist Church North Kansas City, underscored the aptness of Dugger’s passing on that day.
“Caylee is at the throne of the Lord. And He is there with her and she with Him and she is worshipping Him and He is loving her,” Parrett said.
“As we grieve together, we [do not] grieve as those that do not have hope; we do have hope. We are ones that have hope, this hope that Caylee reminded us of, this Scripture that she taught from. We do have hope,” he said.
Dugger had openly professed her faith to all and sundry, writing an open testament of her belief in a blog post last June. She intended to pursue a master of divinity degree in international church planting following graduation.
“I’m a Christian. I’m a follower of Jesus who holds the Bible as the infallible Word of God and who believes that I am saved by grace through faith in Christ alone,” she wrote.
“The Holy Spirit is at work in my life making me more like Jesus every day (even when I fail and mess up, He is still faithful) and at the end of all things, when I’m worshiping the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the only title that’s going to matter is ‘Redeemed,’” she added.
Seminary president Jason Allen bore witness to Dugger’s important contribution to the faith community.
“The entire seminary community mourns the passing of Caylee Dugger,” he said. “She was a delightful young woman, devoted to seeing others come to faith in Christ. Even as we grieve, we grieve not as those without hope. Our hope is in Christ – as was Caylee’s.”
“I was deeply saddened to learn this morning of Caylee’s tragic car wreck yesterday afternoon,” said Allen’s wife Karen, director of the Midwestern Women’s Institute. “To know Caylee was to love Caylee. Her deep passion for the nations was evident, and I know the ladies in Midwestern Women’s Institute will greatly miss her, as will I.”
Likewise, faculty member Christy Allen said Dugger “was a joy to have as a student, mentee, and friend.”
“She had a passion for the Gospel and a heart for the world. She will be dearly missed,” she said.
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