MONTICELLO, Utah – A small Utah church scored an evangelistic coup that spread to two states in late April.
Youth director Erin Barry at First Baptist Church of Monticello, southeastern Utah, knows a world champion extreme snowboarder-turned-evangelist, and invited him to speak to students April 19-24. Tom Gillis accepted and brought three-time Olympic Gold Medalist (in softball) and motivational speaker Leah Amico with him.
“Tom had an encounter with God at my dad’s church in Lake Tahoe in 2003, and was saved soon after,” Barry told Baptist Press. “We saw each other last fall and I asked him. We’ve been planning this since October. We have been seeing God move throughout our area recently. In Dove Creek, [Colo.,] a third of the middle/high school students are attending FCA [Fellowship of Christian athletes] at times on Tuesday for lunch and a Bible lesson.
“We want to see more kids come to Christ,” continued Barry, bivocational as the volleyball coach at Dove Creek High School. “Tom and Leah have a great passion for evangelism and can reach kids through sports. We spent the week traveling to local schools, doing assemblies, meeting with softball teams and FCA Huddles.”
Those schools are in Monticello and Blanding, Utah, and in Dove Creek, Dolores and Durango, Colo. Monticello’s population: 1,722; Blanding: 3,280; Durango: 19,811; Dolores: 958; and Dove Creek, 676.
“Tom told his stories, how God changed his life, and Leah, how overcoming adversity led her to three gold medals,” Barry said.
Gilles holds the world’s record for extreme snowboarding’s quarter-pipe drop-in. While a straight-arrow athlete in high school, his life took a turn when he got into professional snowboarding. He began drinking and using drugs.
The Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention [UISBC] gave a “substantial grant” to the project, Barry said, adding that his church covered the rest.
“First Baptist Church of Monticello could not do ‘The Gold Standard and Rad Assemblies’ without outside assistance from the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Convention and the [North American Mission Board] evangelism grant,” said Rob Lee, executive director of the UISBC. “The beauty of partnering is that the church could do far more than it could on its own and capitalize on the Winter Olympics in February.
“The church runs around 40 to 60 on most Sundays and has always had a big vision to engage its community with the Gospel,” Lee continued. “They started a radio station many years ago under the leadership of their former pastor, John Williams, which ended up broadcasting the high school sports events for the community, opening the church’s doors to the school.”
Over the last 18 months, First Monticello has helped restart another church in Gideon Baptist Association, “so I know their passion for making a kingdom impact in their region,” Lee continued. “Without our partnership, many of these God-sized events would not have been possible at the level their church leaders had dreamed of.”
Gilles and Amico spoke to 760 students throughout the week, who because of their location probably had never before heard an evangelistic message from top athletes, Dove Creek FCA leader Donella Fury told Baptist Press. At least 160 of the students indicated they had “some sort of encounter with God,” Barry said.
The First Monticello youth first met with Gilles Sunday night at youth group.
“I encouraged them to be expectant and by Friday night they got more and more excited,” Gilles told Baptist Press. “The fact they were sharing their faith was really cool. [It was] Faith in action. The really cool thing is how excited they were to see God move!”
Gilles spoke Tuesday in Dove Creek, Colo., at an FCA Huddle and at an all-school assembly. Wednesday Gilles spoke with 120 students at the Durango, Colo., FCA Huddle, where “When Tom gave an altar call, every student went forward,” Barry said. Later that day, Gilles and Amico spoke at a night of worship and prayer with members of First Monticello.
“Thursday morning, they spoke to all the elementary, middle school and high school students in Dolores, and then traveled to Monticello where they spoke at an all-school assembly at the high school,” Barry said. “Leah went to softball practice and spoke with Monticello’s team. Then she went to softball practice in Blanding and spoke with their team.
“On Friday night we hosted a worship and story event where Leah and Tom shared their stories and presented the Gospel to more than 100 students and parents,” the Monticello youth director continued. “Throughout the week we had the opportunity to pray with atheists, Muslims, Mormons and everyone in between. They weren’t making professions of faith, but they heard truth and that affected them.”
Gilles said, “I saw kids super hungry for God’s Word but not experiencing it. … They just want the raw truth and they need it. When truth hits them, they react.”
Fury described the events in Dove Creek school for those in grades 6-12.
“At lunch it was definitely Scripture-based and Christ-focused,” Fury said. “We prayed for the assembly and [Gilles] asked each of the kids to pray for one person specifically. At the assembly he kept it very politically correct. He didn’t come out and say Jesus was the reason for the changes in his life but he quoted Bible verses [without their scriptural addresses]. He was just talking about kids’ choices, suggesting good choices in friends, in habits, in everything they do, and don’t compromise!”
Gilles was the “Rad” part of the week’s title. Amico, the “Gold standard.”
“I challenge students to take ownership of their future by following the best MAP for success: Mindset: Believing in yourself and embracing challenges as opportunities; Action: Taking intentional steps toward your goals every single day; and People: Surrounding yourself with those who push you to be your best,” Amico says on her website.
“At assembly, my and the students’ favorite part was the connection [Gilles] made with them. He said he told them his story and wanted theirs,” Fury said. “He passed out paper and told them to write their name and grade, and one thing they were dealing with, and said he would read all the papers before he left the school.
“It was so neat to watch the kids write and write and write. Some took 10 to 15 minutes writing,” Fury continued. “There was not a single student who did not take their paper down front. It was so touching, really amazing to see. We’ve never had anything like this before.”
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