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Water Brooks Church joins the SBC

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By Karen L. Willoughby

Baptisms are a frequent occurrence at Water Brooks, where at least 90 have been baptized as of September 1.

MERIDIAN, Idaho – Nobody told Ryan Scheibel invitations to follow Jesus are no longer routinely being given at most churches.

Ever since Scheibel planted Water Brooks Church Easter Sunday in 2021, he has offered an invitation at the close of each service. At least 169 people as of Sept. 1 have made public commitments to Jesus, and 90 so far have followed through with baptism, including 34 this summer in Boise River.

“I baptize my coworkers families, people I’ve gotten to know,” Scheibel told UI Connections. “I baptized seven of our neighbors this last baptism. We had church in the park, and eight accepted Christ that day.

“When I’m sharing the gospel, especially when we’re at the park, I say in the early church, when people first gave their life to Christ one of the first things they would do to show the world they are believers, they would get baptized immediately,” Scheibel continued. “Then I hand them a towel.”

Scheibel’s Christian history might explain his focus on giving gospel invitations.

“I believed in God but wasn’t walking with Him,” Scheibel said. “I was invited to a Greg Laurie crusade and heard how God loves me, how He would transform me into a new creation; that He had forgiven me and wants to use me to reach this lost world for Him, that God gives us purpose.”

Ryan Scheibel and his growing family have established connection with their Treasure Valley neighbors and love serving the people of Idaho.

After that crusade, Scheibel said, he visited Greg Laurie’s church and got prayer from Jonathan Laurie, Greg Laurie’s son.

“When I started following the Lord the youth pastor [at Calvary Chapel San Juan Capistrano] discipled me and gave me opportunities to share my testimony,” the Water Brooks pastor continued. “I went to Calvary Chapel Bible College, took an apologetics class, and I realized how much there was to know. I fell in love with God’s Word. That’s where I felt the call of God to be in ministry my whole life. I want to live my life so other people can find Jesus.”

Scheibel in time was named part-time youth pastor at another church in Aliso Viejo while working in construction at LAX airport. When the youth ministry grew from 30 to 100 and he was injured on the job, he asked the church about going full time into youth ministry, but the church didn’t have the money for that.

“The Lord shut the doors there,” Scheibel said. “We prayed and God started opening doors in Idaho. My wife’s dream was to live in Idaho; It’s one of the fastest growing states in the nation and a great spot to raise a family. God pulled both of our heart strings.”

They moved to Eagle, Idaho, in the summer of 2020. 

Today Scheibel works bivocationally at Micron Technology Inc., which manufactures computer memory and storage products. He runs the Boise-based company’s carpenter strut shop. His wife Shawna Scheibel parents and homeschools the three oldest of their four youngsters: boys ages 8 months, 5 and 7, and a girl, 3.

The couple started a non-denominational Water Brooks Church with a Bible study in their garage in August 2020, but this summer – after Scheibel had completed the North American Mission Board’s assessment protocol – the church requested affiliation with Treasure Valley Baptist Association, the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention, and the national Southern Baptist Convention.

The SBC connection grew out of conversations with Jonathan Laurie. His father Greg Laurie led Harvest Ministries to affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention in 2017. The elder Laurie had said his decision to join in Southern Baptist efforts “merely extends the reach of our fellowship within the Christian world at a time when I feel the American church desperately needs unity and a renewed passion for evangelism,” according to an article on the Christian Post website.

The younger Laurie touted the benefits of being in partnership with the nation’s largest group of evangelical churches. Scheibel also met Southern Baptist leaders in Idaho, including Clint Henry, pastor of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, who is now mentoring Scheibel and four other Idaho church planters. 

Several adult leaders at Water Brooks prepared for Vacation Bible School this past summer where several children experienced Jesus Christ during that week.

Henry introduced Scheibel to Michael Cooper, UISBC’s lead church planting catalyst, who introduced Scheibel to the NAMB assessment process for church planters.   

“I was really encouraged when I went through the NAMB assessment,” Scheibel said. “It was the greatest church planting training I have ever seen. I learned so much!

“I am excited to point other church planters to go through NAMB church planting training,” Scheibel continued. “I love their heart for evangelism, reaching the lost with the gospel. I love how they are all about churches planting churches.” 

Water Brooks Church gathers for Sunday worship in another church’s offices, which aren’t available the rest of the week. This limits the church’s growth and ability to do ministry, Scheibel said. Men, women, and youth all gather in homes and other rented places throughout the week, but still ….

“It’s our prayer and vision to acquire our own church facility by 2028 so we can keep fulfilling the Great Commission,” Scheibel said. “That way we can use the building every day of the week for all our ministries and have a permanent home.”

Scheibel isn’t limiting his time to praying for a building.

“Every time I teach the Bible, I give an invitation for people to give or rededicate their life to Jesus as Lord and Savior,” the church planting pastor said. “Because of all that God has done for me, and the complete miracle He did in transforming my heart and life, I want to live life for Him so that other people can find freedom in Him also.”

Scheibel wrote 30 Days at the Water Brook: Revive and refresh your soul, which was published in 2019 by Brook of Life Publishing. In addition to 30 scripture-based ways of coping with life’s challenges, the book includes a dozen situation-specific scripture memory verses, and a “One year through the Bible reading plan.” The book is available in paperback for $10 at Amazon.com.



Karen Willoughby

National correspondent for Baptist Press

and other state Baptist newspapers

Merger brings new building space, momentum to Utah church plant

Merger brings new building space, momentum to Utah church plant

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By Karen Willoughby for Baptist Press and UI Connections

This story originally appeared in the May 9 issue of Baptist Press

King’s Cross Church in Fruit Heights, Utah, began worshiping in their newly renovated worship center. The three-year-old Southern Baptist church plant, located 20 miles north of Salt Lake City, recently merged with another congregation, acquiring a building as part of the merger. Photo courtesy of Sarah Henderson

FRUIT HEIGHTS, Utah – It’s getting increasingly difficult for church plants across the nation to find a suitable, low-cost place to meet on Sunday mornings. But King’s Cross Church had one handed to it in Davis County, a growing northern suburb of Salt Lake City.

The building belonged to a declining church and came complete with a congregation, one of two that have joined with the three-year-old church plant that plans to plant two additional churches over the next two years. 

“God’s grace. It’s humbling,” Pastor Austin Glenn told UI Connections. “It’s crazy to think of God’s kindness towards us.”

What the Glenn couple – and now the church – have done could be called “relationship-building on steroids.”

Sent in 2021 by Church at the Cross in Grapevine, Texas, the Glenn family (that today includes five homeschooled youngsters between 2 and 10) went through Send Network’s assessment process after spending a year at a church previously started by Church at the Cross in Grapevine. Send Network is the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) church planting arm.

Care for the community, their mission field, is at the heart of King’s Cross Church. One of the ministries KCC continued (that was started by LifePoint church before them) is water distribution at Farmington Festival Days.

Then they moved to Farmington, in Davis County, Utah, north of Salt Lake City, and started First Friday Grill and Chill at their home. They built a launch team that met for Bible study and became involved in various service projects to become known in the community: backpack drive, park cleanups, gift bags for the 1,000 teachers and staff members in Farmington, and free water bottles during the town’s Festival Days. 

“We adopted LifePoint Church, another small Southern Baptist church in Farmington,” Glenn recounted. “It was basically five families. The church had been going about eight years and hadn’t gotten a lot of traction. After a year of semi-regular lunches, the pastor [Brent Van Sickle] asked me, ‘What do you think about us joining you?’ Brent now serves as pastor for outreach and missions at King’s Cross.” 

LifePoint, which closed in December 2022, had participated in pre-launch meetings for King’s Cross, which launched on March 5, 2023, with 25 adults and 24 youngsters. The new church plant met Sundays at Ascent Academy charter school.

“We wanted to do youth activities, women’s groups, men’s breakfasts and the like when the Academy wasn’t available. We reached out to Mountain Road Church – it was about seven minutes away – to ask if we could rent their building,” Glenn said. “They said, ‘It’s not for rent, but you can borrow it.’ We started including them in the different things we were doing.”

Mountain Road Church, which had started in 1982, gave its property and joined King’s Cross Church in December 2024. Then came fundraising for the renovations King’s Cross wanted to make, including expanding the 150-seat worship center to its current 280-seat capacity. About $750,000 was quickly pledged “by internal and external sources,” Glenn said.

Every inch of the church building in Fruit Heights was impacted by the massive reconstruction project that took many months.

“We gave the whole place a facelift,” the pastor said. “Literally everything was touched. A big expense was fire sprinklers: $250,000 for that alone.”

Josh Gardner, King’s Cross Church’s director of discipleship and development, also is a NAMB-endorsed church planting apprentice who anticipates planting a church in North Salt Lake in February 2027. At this time, he is developing a launch team and raising support. King’s Cross anticipates being the sending church.

King’s Cross also plans to launch Ukrainian Living Hope Church in August 2026 with Oleh Kamanov serving as the planter. He recently completed the NAMB assessment process. The Ukrainian group moved their Bible studies from people’s homes to the church once renovations were completed in early March. One man who recently started attending the weekly Bible study is an experienced worship leader.

On the Saturday before Easter, April 4, about 50 children and their parents heard a clear Gospel message by Pastor Oleh, along with a puppet show in Ukrainian that told the story of two pirates who are moved by the true story of Easter. A family Easter egg hunt came next. At least 60 Ukrainians participated in the event. 

These two congregations are the focus of King’s Cross Church’s Easter Renewal Offering where the majority of funds raised Easter through Pentecost Sundays are to be allocated between the two new church plants to help with start up costs that are not covered by outside partnerships. The rest of the offering is to be given to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions to assist church planting across the country.

“We talk a lot about being a people sent on mission, and I think our people really embody that culture of evangelism,” Glenn said of King’s Cross Church. “We’re pretty traditional. We have communion every Sunday. We don’t have a rock band. 

Baptisms have become a frequent occurrence at King’s Cross Church, many of whom have recently left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

“We do have a commitment to Gospel centrality in preaching and preach 40- to 60-minute sermons,” the pastor continued. “We dive deeply into the text. Our folks seem to like it. They really want to know what the Bible says.”

March 1, the first service in the renovated 13,000-square-foot building on four acres of land a bit northeast of Farmington, drew a near-maximum 252 people. Easter Sunday five weeks later drew 347 people total to two services and included three baptisms, all recent believers who left Mormonism and are being discipled through ministries at King’s Cross Church. 

“As Henry Blackaby told Southern Baptists, ‘Find out where God is moving and join Him in the work,’” Glenn said. “That’s Utah. In ways like never before, God is drawing people unto Himself here, and it is a joy to partner with Him in the work.”



Karen Willoughby

National correspondent for Baptist Press

and other state Baptist newspapers

Warner Family

Church planting sparkles in Utah and Idaho

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Idaho church planter, Cameron, along with his wife, Amanda, and their four children celebrate a candid moment together (Photo Credit: The Focus, TVSBA Newsletter)

By Karen L. Willoughby

Cameron and Amanda Warner (and their four children) are probably the newest church planter family in Utah and Idaho.

With the help of ministry partners, the Warners are establishing Beacon Church, a Southern Baptist church plant in Southeast Boise.

“We relish your prayers for the people of Boise,” the couple said in an article in the Treasure Valley Baptist Association’s February newsletter. “Pray that the Beacon Church would be a guiding light toward Jesus Christ and that we would send out beacons of hope from Boise to the ends of the earth.”

The newsletter continues: “They’ve served faithfully in churches in Nevada and Idaho, even contributing to a church plant team in 2021. This cumulative experience has ignited a clear vision: to establish a vibrant spiritual community that not only illuminates Boise with the light of Jesus but also actively raises up and dispatches the next generation of Christian leaders and missionaries to the ends of the earth.”

With this new church planting family in Boise, and with March 21 being “Church Planting Sunday” on the Southern Baptist Convention’s calendar, it seems to be a good time to look at church planting in our two states.

Michael Cooper serves as lead catalyst for church planting across Utah and Idaho and is a church planter himself.

“At the present, we have several church planters active in their [first] five-year windows,” Michael Cooper told UI Connections. Cooper is the lead church planting catalyst for the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention. “Some are pre-launch, some ongoing, others [potential planters] are not yet assessed.”

Twenty-five church plants are growing in Utah and Idaho, Cooper said. He gave one example from Idaho and one from Utah.

Calvary Fruitland is a replant started last spring by Calvary Nampa, which itself is a replant of Nampa First Southern Baptist, Cooper said. Anders Snyder was with Calvary Englewood, in a Denver suburb, when in 2017 he felt God’s call to start a church in Idaho.

Calvary Englewood itself was a revitalization, so it made sense to Snyder to start a replant, he told UI Connections last year. Five years after Calvary Nampa started regular weekly worship services, it started a replant of the former First Southern Baptist Church of Fruitland, with Justin Ridgway as planter.

“Sadly it’s common for churches to be in decline,” Ridgway told UI Connections. “But it’s not common to say, ‘We want help,’ and take a posture of humility. In a replant, the church lays everything at the feet of Jesus and surrenders their own preferences and agenda to follow whatever God’s plan is for them to make Jesus known.”

Calvary Fruitland “is going really well,” Cooper said.

“Whenever we’re starting churches that are starting churches, we see those churches as a significant success: a healthy new church starting a healthy even-newer church,” Cooper said. “I believe starting churches is then in their DNA from the beginning. They’re more likely to continue starting churches.”

Cooper spoke of King’s Cross Church as a good church planting story in Utah.

King’s Cross moved on its March 1 third-year anniversary into its own building in Fruit Heights, Davis County, which serves 351,000 people between Ogden and Salt Lake City.

“We see ourselves more as a regional church than just Fruit Heights,” Austin Glenn told UI Connections.

King’s Cross was planted in March 2023 – with Glenn as church planting pastor – by Church at the Cross in Grapevine, Texas.

After meeting in its early years at a charter school and growing a relationship with a Presbyterian church – joint men’s breakfasts, VBS, and more – King’s Cross was asked in December 2024 “if we would consider adopting them,” Glenn said, and the aging 13,000 square-foot building on four acres.

The building required about $1 million in renovations, about $700,000 of which came “from internal and external sources,” Glenn said.

Seven men are going for church planter assessment in Denver in March: a Hispanic, a Burmese, and five Anglos. A Portuguese church planter in St. George also is being processed.

“In this next year we could see as many as 12 to 13 new planters,” Cooper said. “This is the result of decades of work, good partnerships with churches outside of Utah and Idaho, and our local churches taking responsibility for starting new churches.

“The majority of our sending churches are local Utah Idaho churches,” Cooper continued. “Our established churches are getting stronger and taking responsibility to plant, and churches started in the last five to ten years are getting healthy enough to plant churches.

“It feels like we might be in the early stages of one of those significant movements of God,” the lead church planting catalyst said. “It’s hard to measure it until it’s past, but it looks and feels like we are in [the] beginnings of something that could get exciting.

“We are seeing churches started with more people, healthier plants than we’ve ever seen before. When I got here 11 years ago it was common to get to 100 people eventually, but now we’re seeing that within the first two years, especially in Utah. We’re sitting in a different spiritual environment these days. People are hungry for the gospel and hungry for gospel-preaching churches. We just don’t have enough churches.”



Karen Willoughby

National correspondent for Baptist Press

and other state Baptist newspapers

Idaho Mike Palmer Baptism

Church planting thrives across Utah and Idaho

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By Karen L. Willoughby

North American Mission Board Missionary, Michael Cooper and his school teacher wife, Devon, not only catalyze church planting across Utah and Idaho, the Coopers have helped plant ValleyLight Church in West Valley City.

MERIDIAN, Idaho – More churches in Utah and Idaho (rather than from outside the two states) are becoming “sending” churches, Michael Cooper told attendees to UISBC’s recent annual meeting.

“Sending churches are those that “take responsibility for a church plant by sending them and ensuring they get the preparation, coaching and care they need,” according to Send Network Mobilization

“We are starting to see a shift,” Cooper said. “It’s becoming a trend.”

Church planting in Utah and Idaho is booming, with interest building among churches to help start churches and among men hearing a call to plant a church.

Utah

“God is raising up leaders and sending new churches into strategic areas around Utah,” Cooper’s report read, followed by a listing of nine church plants anticipated at this time for 2026.

Those areas are in Tremonton, Saratoga Springs, three in Salt Lake County, two in Utah County, and one each in Davis and Washington counties.

“Short-term teams is a great way for us to mobilize in Utah,” Cooper’s report read. “Will Galkin, the Send City Missionary for Salt Lake, and the Gospel Family of Churches use Plant Camp to do that.”

ValleyLight Church serves the most ethnically diverse area of Utah and their congregation reflects that diversity.

Plant Camp this year involved 29 churches and one college ministry – 483 participants – in serving nine churches.

Bobby Wood oversees the GenSend program, an 8-week summer thrust that includes college students from across the nation.

About 650 Plant Camp and GenSend participants distributed 43,000 door hangers, washed 220 cars, handed out 8,000 water bottles, handed out 1,500 surveys, helped with 250 camps and carnivals as they reached out to 140,650 people, an average of 217 people each.

Idaho

This year brought six church plants and churches that decided to affiliate with UISBC. Two Idaho men attended NAMB’s assessment retreat; they anticipate planting in 2026.

“It is exciting to share that next spring, 2026, I already have five planter candidates,” reported Richard Dugger, the Idaho church planter catalyst. One of them, Cameron Warner, is being sent by The Falls Church in Ammon. It’s to be The Falls Church’s first time to be a sending church.

Please visit the Reach Idaho website for more information on how they seek to reach some of the least evangelical counties in North America.

“The Church Planter Residency Program continues to expand across southern Idaho,” Dugger continued, heaping praise upon Mike Palmer for his multiple efforts, among which are leading two churches, sponsoring a “Preachers’ School,” installing a year-long internship at Salmon Valley Baptist Church, and coordinating Reach Idaho. Visit the Reach Idaho website to learn more about Reach Idaho and how your churches and leaders can partner with them to expand their reach through local church planting.

Clint Henry, pastor of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, is a church-based catalyst, Dugger reported. “His expertise and commitment to seeing Treasure Valley have more gospel-centered, Bible preaching and Bible teaching new churches is inspiring.”

The Hispanic Church Planter Residency program was highlighted in last month’s UI Connections.

Henry hosts Idaho’s new Church Planting Residency Program in Spanish, an arm of Send Network En Espanol, which has seven students and two auditors. The church also hosts a new Hispanic church plant meeting at Central Valley.     

Three new church plants have begun since the 2024 annual meeting, for a total of five plants in Idaho. Three potential planters were assessed in September; four more are to be assessed next Spring.

Dugger learned while on a “friend-raising” trip the week before the annual meeting that his (and probably others) position with NAMB was eliminated in a restructure.



Karen Willoughby

National correspondent for Baptist Press

and other state Baptist newspapers

20250812_221213

Residencia hispana abre en el suroeste de Idaho

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An English version of this article can be read here

Students in the Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español for the Treasure Valley listen to Leonardo Lopez teaching.

By Karen Willoughby, translated from English

BOISE, Idaho – Una residencia acreditada y gratuita para hispanos comenzó este otoño en la Asociación Bautista de Treasure Valley.

Sigue el modelo de una residencia que comenzó hace cinco años en Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Los hispanos vienen a los Estados Unidos donde hay muchas, muchas iglesias que predican el evangelio, pero muy, muy pocas de ellas lo hacen en español”, dijo Tim Martin a UI Connections. Él está plantando la Iglesia Gracia y Verdad en Boise, Idaho y es codirector de la Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español de Send Network Español (SNE).

“En áreas del país como Idaho, donde los recursos bautistas son limitados y el reclutamiento desde fuera es muy difícil, parece que la única manera realista de alcanzar a esta comunidad de hispanos es preparar pastores bivocacionales que hablan el idioma y que surjan desde dentro y sean capacitados para guiar estas nuevas obras”, continuó Martin.

“Tenemos que entrenarlos y enviarlos, y no pedirles que dejen su trabajo, sino que acepten el llamado a un ministerio bivocacional. Luego emparejarlos con otro pastor bivocacional capacitado para compartir el trabajo.

“No pretendemos que una sola persona haga todo eso”, dijo Martin, hablando de iniciar, nutrir y hacer crecer una iglesia. “Es demasiado, pero dos personas trabajando y haciendo el ministerio juntos es sostenible”.

Resulta que Martin no fue el primer bautista del Sur en tener la idea.

Hispanic Residency for the Treasure Valley is led by Roy Vargas, Leonardo Lopez, Tim Martin, and Ignacio Mireles

Durante los últimos cuatro años, Send Network Español de la Junta de Misiones Norteamericanas ha estado trabajando con convenciones estatales, asociaciones y seminarios en 37 lugares en todo el país para establecer un programa de Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias hispanas.

La de Salt Lake City comenzó en agosto de 2022, dirigida por Leonardo Lopez, pastor fundador de Sola Gracia Iglesia Bautista en West Jordan, Utah. Fue la sexta Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias hispana de Send Network Español en la nación. Desde que comenzó la Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español de Utah, Sola Gracia también ha iniciado otras seis iglesias hispanas, incluyendo Iglesia Gracia y Verdad en Boise.

El programa de Residencia de Plantación de iglesias hispanas de Treasure Valley anticipa resultados similares. Pero para comenzar desde el principio…

Martin y su familia fueron misioneros en Panamá, donde aprendieron español. Cuando se mudaron a Idaho, notó la escasez de iglesias hispanas que predican el evangelio.

Hay alrededor de 100,000 hispanos en Treasure Valley y para el 75 por ciento, el español es su primer y principal idioma. La población total del área metropolitana de Boise distribuida en sus cinco condados en el suroeste de Idaho es de aproximadamente 850,000.

“Le damos gracias a Dios porque hay un número creciente de iglesias que predican el evangelio en el valle en inglés”, continuó Martin. “¿El número de iglesias que predican el evangelio en español? Cuatro o cinco, y todas son pequeñas. En términos de acceso al evangelio, hay necesidad de más iglesias en español”.

David Godoy es el líder regional del Oeste para Send Network Español. Conoció a Martin y Roy Vargas este verano en una reunión asociativa.

Martin con el copastor Ignacio Mireles comenzó un estudio bíblico en casa en enero del 2024 que creció hasta convertirse en Iglesia Gracia y Verdad. Vargas se había conectado a través de un amigo mutuo en América Latina con Clint Henry, pastor de Central Valley Baptist Church en Meridian, Idaho. Este verano, Vargas comenzó un estudio bíblico que ahora cuenta con 16 personas, como primer paso hacia la formación de Central Valley Español.

Classes take place in different churches across the Treasure Valley

“Espero que Dios me dé hombres para discipular y más que eso”, dijo Vargas. “La visión es que el valle tenga hombres bilingües, hispanos, predicando la Biblia basados en una doctrina sólida, construyendo iglesias dispuestas a cuidar de aquellas personas lejos de Dios pero cerca de nosotros.

“Tendemos a romantizar a los misioneros”, continuó Vargas. “Pero la Biblia dice: ‘Cuando el Espíritu Santo venga Él te dará poder’, y eso es justo donde estás. Tal vez no estamos siendo llamados a la India pero ¿Qué estás haciendo en tu contexto local? Esa es la mentalidad que necesitamos entrenar para que estos estudiantes avancen el reino de Dios justo donde están”.

Godoy, interesado en un programa de Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias hispanas en Idaho, le preguntó a Martin y Vargas si estarían dispuestos a comprometerse a compartir la noticia sobre una reunión informativa.

“Cuando David habló, diciendo ‘Tenemos todo el material’, tocó mi corazón”, dijo Martin. “Fue una respuesta tan precisa a mis oraciones. Es lo que necesitamos. Nos estaba dando los recursos para que pudiéramos ser estratégicos aquí en el avance del Reino de Dios especialmente entre los hispanos.

“Le dije: ‘Invitaré a tantos como pueda’, y al final tuvimos 45”, dijo Martin.

“En los Estados Unidos tenemos más de 65 millones de hispanos”, dijo Godoy a UI Connections. “Aunque los latinos son el 19.5 por ciento de la población, no representan el 19.5 por ciento del cuerpo de Cristo en este país.

“Necesitamos involucrar ciudades, hacer discípulos y plantar iglesias para alcanzar a la población hispana en constante crecimiento”, continuó Godoy. “Un tercio habla solo español”.

Students attending a class meeting at Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho.

Melvin Oliva, que trabaja como conserje en dos lugares en Boise, es miembro de Iglesia Gracia y Verdad en Boise. Decidió ingresar al programa de residencia porque, “Es una oportunidad brillante y excelente para cualquier miembro de una congregación cristiana de sana doctrina que quiera servir al Señor con su corazón en diferentes áreas del ministerio”, dijo Oliver.

“También es nuestro deber como creyentes llevar la evangelización de la salvación a otros”, continuó el guatemalteco. “Es un enorme esfuerzo personal tener que hacer tiempo para mi familia, trabajar más de 12 horas al día, toda la semana, leer libros y preparar tareas. Suena estresante, pero este sacrificio realmente vale la pena, y Cristo nos da la fuerza para hacerlo todo”, refiriéndose a Filipenses 4:13. “Tim Martin e Ignacio Mireles son un gran apoyo, especialmente para mi crecimiento espiritual y el de mi familia”.

Para el 12 de agosto, Oliva estaba entre siete estudiantes “muy fieles” registrados y haciendo el trabajo para un certificado de 13 horas de crédito del Seminario Gateway de la Convención Bautista del Sur. “Al menos otros cuatro no lo están haciendo por crédito, pero no son tan regulares”, dijo Martin.

Las clases se reúnen durante tres horas cada semana. Hasta ahora ha habido tres semanas (9 horas de clase cada una) dedicadas a las disciplinas espirituales, la plantación de iglesias y el llamado al ministerio. En noviembre, la sesión sobre “Matrimonio y Familia” incluirá una conferencia familiar de seis horas abierta a todas las iglesias hispanas.

El programa de un año de la Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español consiste en 12 asignaturas, 25 libros (la mitad de los cuales requieren informes escritos; la mitad, presentaciones orales) durante 36 semanas seguidas de 15 semanas sobre predicación expositiva.

Send Network Español proporciona todas las presentaciones de PowerPoint y el plan de estudios. Martin, Mireles y Vargas dirigen las clases. También se ha invitado a varios pastores y plantadores de iglesias hispanas de la región para dirigir clases.

“Leonardo [López de Sola Gracia en West Jordan, Utah] ha sido un gran mentor en todo esto”, dijo Martin. “También [el Líder Regional de Send Network Español David] Godoy”.

Vargas pasó por la Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español en Carolina del Norte; Martin lo hizo en Utah.

“Ignacio [Mireles] también nos está ayudando”, dijo Martin. “Informes, calificaciones, responsabilidad. Hay mucho que hacer.

“Hace una semana comencé toda una sesión con: ‘Satanás no está feliz de que estemos haciendo esto’. Nos dividimos en parejas y oramos unos por otros. Varios dijeron: ‘Sí, lo estoy sintiendo’, la opresión espiritual.

Send Español hosted a dinner for participants recently.

“Uno de los estudiantes, que asiste a una iglesia no Bautista del Sur, dijo que su pastor que había estado allí por 10 años o más se estaba jubilando y la iglesia básicamente está cerrando, pero este hombre [el estudiante] no está listo para ser pastor. Esta es otra evidencia de cuán necesario es este programa”.

La Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español de Send Network comenzó el 4 de agosto con una orientación para los estudiantes y sus esposas. Desde entonces, el líder del tema decide dónde se llevará a cabo la clase cada martes. Café y bocadillos o quizás algo más sustancial es proporcionado por los estudiantes que se inscriben para ser el organizador de esa noche.

“Esta no es una Residencia de una sola iglesia sino un esfuerzo de toda el área que sirve a todas las iglesias afiliadas con la Asociación Bautista de Treasure Valley”, dijo Martin. “Cada tres semanas vamos a diferentes iglesias, en parte para ayudar a estas iglesias a sentirse conectadas con nosotros, y nosotros con ellas.

“Esta semana estamos comenzando a hacer algo con las esposas para tratar de construir en ellas también, porque la plantación de iglesias es un asunto familiar”, continuó Martin a finales de septiembre.

“Utah tuvo siete que pasaron por la residencia el año pasado, así que Dios está formando equipos de plantación de iglesias con nosotros y estos estudiantes que están pasando por el programa allí”, dijo Martin. “Está pasando mucho.

“Leo [Leonardo López] tiene una visión súper grandiosa para la plantación de iglesias y la está implementando. Tienen 70 personas [asistiendo a Sola Gracia West Jordan] pero están avanzando, comenzando iglesias”.

Yocksan Santoyo, un trabajador de construcción y estudiante en la Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español de Send Network Español, es miembro de la Iglesia Bautista Nueva Esperanza en Ontario, Oregón, que se afilia con la Convención Bautista del Sur de Utah Idaho.

Se convirtió en estudiante, “Para ayudar a mi iglesia porque ahora mismo necesita un nuevo pastor”, dijo Santoyo. “El que teníamos tuvo que ir a México hace tres años y no puede regresar. Lo estoy ayudando, abriendo el servicio, orando, y predicando de vez en cuando.

“Me gusta el programa porque me está ayudando a crecer como cristiano y a ayudar a más personas”, dijo el hispano en un inglés fluido. “Si me convierto en pastor después, alabado sea el Señor. Ahora mismo lo tomamos con calma”.



Karen Willoughby

National correspondent for Baptist Press

and other state Baptist newspapers

20250812_184428

Hispanic Residency opens in southwest Idaho

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Haga clic aquí para una versión de este artículo en español

Students in the Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español for the Treasure Valley listen to Leonardo Lopez teaching.

By Karen L. Willoughby 

BOISE, Idaho – An accredited and no-cost church planting residency for Spanish-speakers started this fall in Treasure Valley Baptist Association. 

It follows one started in Salt Lake City five years ago.  

“Hispanics come to the United States where there are many many gospel-preaching churches, but very, very few of them are in Spanish,” Tim Martin told UI Connections. He’s planting Grace and Truth Church – Iglesia Gracia y Verdad – in Boise and is co-director of Send Network Espanol’s Church Planting Residency in Spanish, Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español. 

“In areas of the country like Idaho, where Baptist resources are limited and recruitment from outside is very difficult, it seems the only realistic way to reach this community of Spanish speakers is to prepare bivocational native Spanish speaking pastors who are raised up from within and trained to lead these new works,” Martin continued.  

“We’ve got to train them and send them, and not ask them to quit their job, but to embrace the calling to bivocational ministry. Then team them up with another trained bivocational pastor to share the work. 

“You don’t try to get one guy to do that,” Martin said, speaking of starting, nurturing and growing a church. “It’s too much, but two guys working and doing ministry together is sustainable.” 

Turns out Martin wasn’t the first Southern Baptist to have the idea. 

Hispanic Residency for the Treasure Valley is led by Roy Vargas, Leonardo Lopez, Tim Martin, and Ignacio Mireles

For the last four years, The North American Mission Board’s Send Network Español (SNE) has been working with state conventions, associations and seminaries in 37 locations across the nation to have a church planting residency program for Spanish-speakers. 

Salt Lake City’s began in August 2022, led by Leonardo Lopez, founding pastor of Sola Gracia Iglesia Bautista in West Jordan. It was Send Network Español’s sixth Hispanic church planting residency in the nation. Since starting Utah’s Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español, Sola Gracia also has started six other Hispanic churches, including Iglesia Gracia y Verdad in Boise. 

Treasure Valley’s Hispanic church planting residency program anticipates similar results. But to start at the beginning … 

Martin and his homeschooled family were faith missionaries in Panama, where they learned Spanish. When they moved to Idaho, he noticed the dearth of gospel-preaching churches in Spanish. 

There are about 100,000 Hispanics in Treasure Valley and for 75 percent, Spanish is their first and primary language. Metro Boise’s total population spread across its five-county area in southwestern Idaho is about 850,000. 

“We praise God that there are a growing number of gospel-preaching churches in the valley in English,” Martin continued. “The number of gospel-preaching churches in Spanish? Four or five, and they’re all small. In terms of access to the gospel, there’s a need for a lot more churches in Spanish.” 

David Godoy is the West’s regional leader for Send Network Español. He met Martin and Roy Vargas this summer at an associational meeting. 

Martin with co-pastor Ignacio Mireles started a home Bible study in January 2024 that grew into Iglesia Gracia y Verdad. Vargas had connected through a mutual friend in Latin America with Clint Henry, pastor of Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho. This summer Vargas started a Bible study that now numbers 16, as the first step toward becoming Central Valley Español. 

“I hope God will give me men to disciple and more than that,” Vargas said. “The vision is for the valley to have bilingual, Hispanic, men preaching the Bible based on sound doctrine, building churches willing to care for those people far from God but close to us. 

Classes take place in different churches across the Treasure Valley

“We tend to romanticize missionaries,” Vargas continued. “But the Bible says, ‘When the Holy Spirit comes, He will give you power,’ and that’s right where you are. Maybe you’re not being called to India. What are you doing in your local context? That’s the mindset we need to train for these students to advance God’s kingdom right where they are.” 

Godoy, interested in a Hispanic church planting residency program in Idaho, asked Martin and Vargas if they would be willing to commit to spreading the word about an informational meeting. 

“When David spoke, saying ‘We’ve got all the material,’ it touched my heart,” Martin said. “It was such a precise answer to my prayers. It’s what we need. It was giving us the resources so we could be strategic here in advancing the Kingdom of God especially among Spanish-speakers. 

“I told him, ‘I will invite as many as I can,’ and in the end we had 45,” Martin said. 

“In the United States we have more than 65 million Hispanics,” Godoy told UI Connections. “Even though Latinos are 19.5 percent of the population they do not represent 19.5 percent of the body of Christ in this country. 

“We need to engage cities, make disciples and plant churches to reach the ever-growing Spanish-speaking population,” Godoy continued. “One-third speak Spanish only.” 

Students attending a class meeting at Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho.

Melvin Oliva, who works as a janitor at two places in Boise, is a member of Iglesia Gracia y Verdad in Boise. He decided to enter the residency program because, “It is a brilliant and excellent opportunity for any member of a Christian congregation of sound doctrine who wants to serve the Lord with their heart in different areas of ministry,” Oliver said.  

“It is also our duty as believers to bring the evangelization of salvation to others,” the Guatemalan continued. “It is a huge personal effort to have to make time for my family, work more than 12 hours a day all week, read books, and prepare homework. It sounds stressful, but this sacrifice is truly worth it and Christ allows us to do all of this with His strength,” referring to Philippians 4:13. “Tim Martin and Ignacio Mireles are a great support, especially for my spiritual growth and that of my family.”  

By August 12, Oliva was among seven “very faithful” students registered and doing the work toward a 13-credit hour certificate from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Gateway Seminary. “At least four others are not doing it for credit, but they’re not as regular,” Martin said. 

Classes meet for three hours each week. So far there have been three weeks (9 in-class hours each) spent on spiritual disciplines, church planting and a call to the ministry. In November the session on “Marriage and Family” is to include a six-hour family conference open to all Spanish-speaking churches. 

The year-long Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español program consists of 12 subjects, 25 books (half of which require written reports; half, oral presentations) for 36 weeks followed by 15 weeks on expository preaching.  

Send Network Espanol provides all the Power Point presentations and the curriculum. Martin, Mireles and Vargas lead classes. A number of Hispanic pastors and planters from the region also have been invited to lead classes. 

“Leonardo [Lopez of Sola Gracia in West Jordan, Utah] has been a great mentor in all this,” Martin said. “Also [Regional Leader of Send Network Español David] Godoy.” 

Vargas went through the Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español in North Carolina; Martin did so in Utah. 

“Ignacio [Mireles] is helping us too,” Martin said. “Reports, grading, accountability. Theres a lot to do. 

“A week ago I started a whole session with, ‘Satan is not happy we’re doing this.’ We broke up into pairs and prayed for each other. They were like, ‘Yeah; I’m feeling it,’ the spiritual oppression.  

Send Español hosted a celebration dinner for participants and their families recently.

“One of the students, who attends a non-Southern Baptist church, said the pastor there for 10 years or more is retiring and church is basically closing, but this man [the student] isn’t ready to be pastor. This is another bit of evidence how needed this program is.”  

SNE’s Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español started this Aug. 4 with an orientation for the students and their wives. Since then, the subject’s leader decides where the class is to take place each Tuesday. Coffee and snacks or perhaps something more substantial is provided by students who sign up to be that evening’s host. 

“This isn’t a residency of one church but an area-wide effort serving all the churches affiliated with Treasure Valley Baptist Association,” Martin said. “Every three weeks we’re going to different churches, partly to help these churches feel connected to us, and the guys to them. 

“This week we’re starting to do something with the wives to try to build into them too, because church planting is a family affair.” Martin continued in late September. 

“Utah had seven go through the residency last year, so God is putting together church planting teams from us and these guys going through the program there,” Martin said. “There’s a lot going on.

“Leo [Leonardo Lopez] has got a super great vision for church planting and he’s implementing it. They have 70 people [attending Sola Gracia West Jordan] but they’re going, starting churches.” 

Yocksan Santoyo, a construction worker and a student at SNE’s Residencia de Plantación de Iglesias en español, is a member of Iglesia Bautista Nueva Esperanza  in Ontario, Ore., which affiliates with the Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention. 

He became a student, “To help my church because right now it’s needing a new pastor,” Santoyo said. “The one we had, had to go to Mexico three years ago and can’t get back. I’m helping him, opening the service, praying, a little preaching.  

“I like the program because it’s helping me grow as a Christian and to help more people,” the Spanish-speaker said in fluent English. “If I become a pastor after, praise the Lord. Right now we take it slow.” 

A Spanish language version of this article is available here



Karen Willoughby

National correspondent for Baptist Press

and other state Baptist newspapers

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