IDAHO – Idaho is among the least evangelized states in the nation, but that state’s Southern Baptists have a plan. It’s called Reach Idaho.
“There are 16 counties in the United States where less than 1 percent of the population identify as Evangelical Christian, and four of them are in Idaho,” Mike Palmer told Baptist Press. Palmer, pastor for 29 years of Salmon Valley Baptist Church and planting pastor of Lemhi River Cowboy Church, (which Salmon Valley Baptist started in 2007,) also is director of Reach Idaho – reachidaho.org – which recently incorporated as a nonprofit organization.
“What a tragedy that, within the borders of the United States, we have a state that includes a lost population at a higher level than many third-world countries,” Palmer continued. “Four Idaho counties are less than 1 percent evangelical Christian. Four additional counties are less than 2 percent Christian.
“Of the counties in the United States where 5 percent or less of the population identifies as evangelical Christian, 10 of those are in Eastern Idaho,” Palmer continued. “My heart is to make Jesus known and people in Idaho come to know Christ and to have a church near them where they can have the opportunity to know Christ.”
With a four-person board of directors, three volunteers and one paid staff member, Reach Idaho works with interested other individuals, churches, associations and state conventions to plant churches in Idaho, strengthen Idaho churches, and train the next generation of Christian pastors and leaders to serve in the Rocky Mountain West.
“Reach Idaho is led by those who love Idaho, live in Idaho, and want to see Idaho reached with the gospel through healthy churches and church plants,” Rob Lee told Baptist Press. Lee is executive director of the Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention. “It is Idaho Southern Baptist churches reaching their mission field with the gospel in a contextually relevant strategy.
“It’s a blessing to see new partners joining us in praying, coming on mission trips, and giving to see Idaho reached with the gospel,” Lee continued. “Reach Idaho is propelling the gospel impact in Idaho with at least five new plants this year. Join us in praying to the Lord of the harvest to raise up and bring in more laborers to join us in sharing the gospel with all who live and come to recreate in Idaho each year.”
As the first full-time employee of Reach Idaho, Richard Dugger, who retired last fall as NAMB’s church-planting catalyst in Idaho, said he is hopeful to continue and expand the work he has done in Idaho, Canada, and India over the last 27 years. In this early season of Reach Idaho, the nonprofit is building Dugger’s salary on the fly. He is only funded through June of this year.
“We want to continue all the progress the Lord has made over the last 15 years in Idaho,” Dugger told Baptist Press. “We have just shy of 100 churches at this point. We had 60 churches a decade ago. It would be great to have 125 or more active, solid and connected cooperating Southern Baptist churches in Idaho over the next five to seven years.”
Dugger and Palmer already have heard from at least six non-Idaho churches or associations that want to “come and see” Idaho this spring, summer and fall.
“Some of the established churches that come here will connect with one of our pastors,” Dugger said. “We have pastors all over Idaho who need someone to come alongside them. Some churches could adopt a town, could say, ‘We want to see God start a church in this little town.’ In a perfect world, someone from that church would plant and pastor a church in the town, but if not, we work to locate someone who says, ‘I’ve got a heart for that town,’ and connect them to that sending church.”
Reach Idaho partners with the Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention, where Michael Cooper is the NAMB-appointed lead church planting catalyst for both states.
The premise for Reach Idaho began with Rexburg in Madison County, Idaho, where less than 0.05 percent of residents have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
“We decided the most lost county in America needed more than what it had: one nondenominational Christian church,” Palmer said. “It [Reach Idaho] blew up from there. Now across the state we’re finding partnerships with a lot of ‘Bible Belt’ states and churches.”
The second leg of Reach Idaho is support for existing churches. At least 75 percent of pastors in Idaho serve bivocationally in everything from driving a school bus to farming potatoes and sugar beets to at-home computer programming jobs.
“We also have several retired military service members who have either planted a new church or taken the helm of an existing work,” Dugger said. The Mountain Home Air Force Base is in southern Idaho, as is the Gowan Field Air National Guard Base. The Idaho National Guard operates across nearly two dozen locations in Idaho, including the Navy’s Acoustic Research Detachment and the Army National Guard.
Equally important: raising the next generation of church leaders by bringing them on as apprentices or interns. Central Valley Baptist in Meridian, Waters Edge Church in Burley and Salmon Valley Baptist already have hosted college and seminary students over the summer or a year, focusing the NextGen Southern Baptist on moving them ahead in their spiritual growth, understanding and applying ministry skills, cross-cultural adaptability, and observing their ministry call, all while assuring them of a positive experience that better equips them for Christian service anywhere, but particularly in the Intermountain West.
The goal for Reach Idaho, Dugger said, “is at least one strong evangelistic SBC-connected church in every village, every town, every city that does not have an evangelical presence today. We’re very engaged in Southern Baptists’ success in Idaho, and there’s a significant number of churches that want to partner with us and what we’re praying the Lord will allow us to do.”
Reach Idaho grew out of a several-year relationship Palmer had with two associations in Florida. He started talking with them about the needs in the least-evangelized southeastern Idaho in September 2024, and in April 2025 churches from eight states came to Rexburg for an evangelistic thrust including prayer walking and community engagement.
“The goal is to expand the Kingdom of God in Idaho,” Palmer said. “The first big goal? A Southern Baptist church in every county in Idaho. We’ve got ninecounties without a Southern Baptist church and many more counties with an extremely small Christian presence.
“In church strengthening, we want to connect with churches that have a heart for a nearby community,” Palmer continued. “We’re just trying to reach unreached people. That’s all there is to it.”
When asked about current needs, Palmer responded, “The need at this time? We need people to pray, give, and go, all three.”
Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.
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