GYPSUM, Colo. (BP) – Ministry in the Rocky Mountains has its built-in benefits. Chief among them, you get to live in the Rocky Mountains. But while the physical landscape is like no other, the pastoral one includes many challenges common to church leaders throughout the country.
The countryside stretches between the congregations in High Country and Grand Valley associations, where Jeff Bachman serves as associational missions strategist. Combined, they cover over 30,000 square miles. That’s a lot of space for one guy to minister among 318 churches in an area essentially the size of South Carolina.
It is also the reason Bachman points to partnerships are the lifeblood of ministry.
“So many of the areas that I’m in are very rural,” he said. “Because places like Yampa and Granby and Dinosaur are literally out in the middle of nowhere, partnerships become really important because it gives camaraderie. It gives them people to pray with and to kind of walk through the struggles of ministry with.”
Bachman moved to the state 20 years ago and is also familiar with the struggles many have adjusting to Colorado.
The cost of living can be higher than expected. Snow is pretty in December, but you’re kind of tired of it in May. The political landscape may not be as friendly to conservative Christians as it is in other places.
“Loneliness can … just burn you out real quick. And so, we’ve got a lot of guys who, once they hear of opportunities to partner with other people, it’s exciting. They hear what’s going on across the associations and that men are praying for them, men who are linking arms with us.”
Partnerships lead to fellowship, but also ministry steps like becoming sending churches for replants, helping conduct Vacation Bible School, sharing discipleship strategies and periodically stepping in for pulpit supply. A leadership development institute seeks to build up native Coloradans for ministry.
“We’ve learned that if we can raise up guys who live here, who know the political climate, know the social climate, know even the weather climate … those guys that already live here” are better positioned for long-term ministry.
Over two years, institute participants go through classes that include systematic theology, pastoral care, preaching and leadership development. It is designed to resemble a seminary class, with various textbooks, reading and writing assignments and discussion boards. The state convention and association assist greatly with financial backing.
“Some of these guys will be pastors. Some will be leaders in the local church,” said Bachman. Through the training, he added, there are usually six to eight men available to step in and preach on a Sunday morning.
Mike Proud joined Colorado Baptists in the fall of 2021. Soon thereafter, the former California associational director began laying the foundation for a statewide strategy that leaned heavily into partnerships.
God blessed those efforts. Since 2022, Colorado has added 15 churches. Baptisms have essentially tripled to 1,649. So has weekly attendance, from 10,638 to 29,173, and small group attendance, 6,387 to 18,071.
“It’s about collaboration, a vision the Lord gave me for this out of my associational experience,” Proud told BP last summer.
“In many ways, the associational leaders and regional directors are extensions of our convention, and our conventions is partners with our associations,” he said. “In every sense of the term, we are collaborative.”
Bachman has seen how partnerships, even if informal, work.
In 2023, his daughter needed a transplant, which would take place in Pittsburgh. Connections to the area missionary helped secure a house for a month while she recovered. A NAMB Send City missionary placed them with a church.
“We saw everyone working together and God’s timing,” said Bachman. “We’re in a really good place.”
Colorado’s state motto is “Nil sine Numine.” It’s Latin and commonly translated as “Nothing without God” or “Nothing without Providence.” The basics of that are true, but so is the need to work with others.
“I tell the guys in the classes that I know I’m repeating myself,” Bachman said. “But seeing partnerships start and grow excites me. We’re better together.”
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