Six elders have led First Baptist Church Monticello, Utah, southwest of Moab, since February 2022. All were ordained to pastoral ministry this February and serve jointly to pastor the church where about 40 people attend Sunday morning worship services.
“I wouldn’t say we have a plan,” Russell Schafer told UI Connections, the online newspaper for Southern Baptists across Idaho and Utah. “We feel like we want to be led by the Holy Spirit every minute, and oftentimes that doesn’t equal a plan as such.
“In the very beginning we said we wanted to be led by the Spirit,” Schafer continued. He’s the owner of Schafer Auto Clinic in Monticello and one of the six elders. “We want to be followers of Christ. We’re pretty adamant about that.”
John Williams retired after serving as pastor of FBC Monticello for nearly 30 years. He was followed a while after by Richard Collins, who was pastor for seven years until he felt called back to a ministry he had operated for the previous nine years with the Navajo Nation.
Working together
When the men of the church met to discuss the formation of a pastor search committee, they decided not to pursue calling one from outside the area. Beginning in February 2022 the six men have ensured that one of them is preaching every Sunday, and they work together to handle the pastoral duties.
In addition to Schafer, the elders are Allen Barry, a farmer in irrigation sales; Reid Sifford, teacher of the visually impaired; Paul Plemons, fuels technician for the U.S. Forest Service; Joe Harris, plumber and recreational vehicle park owner; and Rhett Sifford, radio broadcaster, newspaper writer and editor.
“The church, like many others, faces the challenge of mediocracy,” Schafer stated. “One of the biggest things we ask God for is to lead us away from that. We pray about that quite a bit.
“We want to see the church baptizing many people,” the elder continued. “The church has been in this small Mormon community since 1955, and it’s been difficult over the years, though it’s gotten better.
“We’re seeing 20- to 40-year-olds are unhappy with the Mormon church,” Schafer said.
“We’re trying to evangelize them. It’s very difficult because they don’t trust religion. We let them know we’re not about religion but about Jesus Christ, and He’s a different Jesus than they’ve ever known.”
Sunday School at FBC Monticello begins at 9:45 a.m. for all ages, and Sunday morning worship follows at 11. The church has a time of fellowship with a potluck on the first Sunday of every month, a tradition that goes back decades.
The men of the church meet every Wednesday morning for a prayer breakfast. The women meet at 11 a.m. on Wednesdays for lunch and a Bible study.
The junior high and high school youth group meets Wednesday evenings at 6:30, led by the wife of one of the six elders.
“Every time we meet, Wednesday and Sunday, we feel we’re providing discipleship and the possibility for someone to know Christ,” Schafer said. “We have [The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints] folks coming to our prayer breakfasts. We evangelize as much as possible and provide as much discipleship as we can to every person.
“Things are changing,” the elder continued. “I think we see lots of new and good things happening. More Mormon people are coming all the time, people looking for truth.”
Reaching out to others
FBC Monticello allocates up to 10% of its budget for missions — including 2% through the Cooperative Program — and also helps support the Arches New Hope Pregnancy Center in Moab and a missionary family serving in the Dominican Republic.
The church also raises extra funds each year to help support a small village in Zimbabwe where Collins ministered for a number of years. It also directly supports in several ways the former pastor’s ministry among people in the Navajo Nation.
Every Christmas season several teams from FBC Monticello work with Richard Collins’ ministry to deliver about 1,500 gift boxes to children there. It’s similar to the Operation Christmas Child shoebox program, and the church participates in that program as well. Collins’ partners in Kentucky supply the filled shoeboxes for the work on the reservation.
“This is something Richard Collins started 10 or more years ago through his ministry, Great Commission Fellowship Ministries,” Schafer said. “We go house to house, trailer to trailer, in different locations (on the reservation).
“We stop at trading posts, set out our stuff, and people just start showing up. They know what’s going on when they see us.”
Ministry in ‘shrinking’ community
FBC Monticello contributes food items such as flour and beans. Members also donate hygiene items like toothbrushes, toothpaste and soap.
“This community is shrinking,” Schafer said of the town the church calls home. About 1,750 people live in Monticello now, which is down from 1,952 in 2010.
“There’s a fair bit of financial difficulty in our community so that’s a challenge, but our obligation to Jesus is to reach those who are here.
“Every day in my business God puts someone there for me to talk with or not,” Schafer continued. “In our community it’s 100 percent about relationships.”
‘Moving forward’
The six elders meet once a month for about three hours to encourage each other, pray together and discuss the needs of the church body.
“I think for the most part the people feel like the church is moving forward,” Schafer said. “We’re unified.”
