January 2026 U&I Together: Stories from churches
We started U&I in UI Connections to give a place where churches can promote upcoming events or celebrate what God has been doing in and through our churches. Send your submissions to State Missionary Jason McNair at jmcnair@uisbc.org.
January 2026
Annual Sportsman's Banquet in Hyrum, UT
Emmanuel Baptist in Hyrum, Utah, hosted its annual sportsman’s banquet with help from a UISBC evangelism grant: “This was one of our best years yet. Brother Gavin Roberts shared a powerful gospel message. We had the best attendance yet, even though this is even during the county fair and rodeo. We are building relationships with many of these people as quite a few have come nearly every year. This was our sixth event. We are so thankful for your [evangelism grant] help!” Pastor Dan Woody reports 160 attended; the church anticipated 120.
South Fork in Rigby, ID takes the gospel to the community through sports camp
Mega Sports Camp at South Fork Outdoorsmen Church in Rigby, Idaho, received financial support from a UISBC evangelism grant, reported Sherri Haynes:
“Mega Sports Camp happens over a four-day period, July 14-17, ending with a family dinner on the last day. So it’s not simple numbers. We had 96 kids registered, our highest day of attendance was 78 and our lowest was 72. The gospel message was shared every day, but very specifically on the last day of camp.
“The gospel message was also shared at the dinner on Thursday night in which many families were in attendance. While there are no solid numbers on salvations, we do know every single one of those people heard the salvation message. As most of our camp attendees are active LDS or former LDS, we know we will not see many salvations. But we will continue to plant the seed and give them a place to go if they ever decide to give their lives to Christ.
“We do dinners Monday through Wednesday during Maga Sports Camp as a church body. At Wednesday night’s dinner, one of the young adults brought her friend who is LDS. Pastor Scott Plath and another pastor here from Tennessee were able to sit with her and answer a lot of questions and share the gospel with her. We continue to pray for her salvation.
“Another great thing we saw during the week was our teenagers stepping up and serving these kiddos at sports camp in a way we have never seen before. Seven teenage boys ages 12-17 showed up every day ready to serve in whatever way they were asked, and they were excited to do so.”
Good News Club helps Canyons Church in Cottonwood Heights, UT reach their community
Evangelism grant recipient Canyons Church in Cottonwood Heights, a Salt Lake City suburb, hosts a Child Evangelism Fellowship monthly Good News Club for the 200-plus children living at the Midvale Road Home Shelter, reports Sonya Tharrington. “Because of the shelter’s funding, we cannot teach Jesus at the shelter, so we bus them to Canyons. This club meets on the second Monday of each month from 4 to 7 p.m. We play games, sing songs, learn a memory verse, Bible lesson, crafts, and feed them dinner before returning them to the shelter. Last month, 45 children attended, 19 made professions of faith, and 16 children requested Bibles.
“I cannot describe the joy on the bus ride back to the shelter as children read out loud from their Bibles and then watching them march back into a government-run shelter that will not allow Jesus to be preached, but now some of them were indwelt with the Holy Spirit, and 16 were literally carrying the sword of the Spirit in hand,” the leader reported. “Last week, a parent approached me and asked what we had done to her daughter, Skye because she was calmer, kinder, and they are now reading her Bible every day.”
“The children are all so hungry for the Word and have had many wonderful, thoughtful, meaningful questions. We invited the children and their families to our Fall Festival and asked them to invite their friends. Our Fall Festival attendance was in the hundreds, with many attendees commenting that they had heard about the event from families who attend the Good News Club. Praise God!”
Reaching the Next Generation
Sola Gracia Church in Salt Lake City, where Issac Garza is pastor, hosted a Gen4C Christmas event Dec. 19 that 40 people attended from five churches.
“Though we had less people than expected, and even less than our first gathering, we had four new churches represented, which means the word is spreading,” the pastor wrote. “We unfortunately had various people reported sick. But praise God I preached the Word, the Gospel was preached and connections were made with this second-generation population.”
Garza reported two gospel conversations took place.
Joy in the Journey - Ogden Women's Event
Redemption Church in Ogden, where Bobby Wood is pastor, hosted a “Joy in the Journey” women’s event November 7th that 106 attended, reported Janna Savage.
“We walked through the book of Philippians with our speaker, Christy Galkin,” Savage wrote. “This conference was a time of renewal for many, but also evangelistic as the Gospel was presented explicitly. We had a beautiful time worshipping together in music, prayer, and in study of the God’s Word. There were also some unbelievers who were in attendance who heard the true Gospel. We are praying those seeds that were sown will flourish!”
Savage reported 11 gospel conversations took place.
Collegiate ministry uses Tabling Ministry to open doors to conversations
Aaron Marshall directs the Ratio Christi chapter at Utah Valley University. He wrote in December about the “Tabling ministry” Ratio Christi does at UVU.
“This Fall we continued our tabling evangelism at UVU four days a week,” Marshall wrote. “Each day we would have at least two staff members at the table along with at least one student. We had two whiteboards set up with questions for the day. Each question would usually pertain to whatever we were talking about at the meeting that week.
“These conversations were especially good this semester. I would say that every day we had at least one really good conversation with a non-Christian. We had a lot of students that would come by very consistently to give their input on the questions we would pose and get into a conversation on the topic. We are now known all over the UVU campus for our tabling evangelism and we have built a good reputation for having respectful conversations with people we disagree with.
“In fact a student from the Ethics Center on campus talked to me a few weeks ago about leading a session at a symposium they are having next semester on having good conversations with people you disagree with. Please keep praying for our evangelism ministry on campus.”
