WEEK OF PRAYER: The real Jesus in a city of counterfeits

This year’s Week of Prayer for North American Missions is March 2 – March 9 and is focused on the theme: Step into the Story (“For they have gone out for the sake of the name. … Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.” 3 John 1:7-8, ESV). The emphasis spotlights the spiritual needs and ministry taking place on the North American mission field leading up to the annual Annie Armstrong Easter Offering (AAEO) for North American Missions. All gifts given to the offering go to support missionaries and resources on the mission field. The AAEO provides half of the annual funding for the North American Mission Board. Gifts to the Annie offering can be given through local Southern Baptist churches or online at give.anniearmstrong.com. This year’s goal is $78 million.

PROVO, Utah – In Provo, appearances can be deceiving.

“This is a beautiful community,” says David Gaskins. “Our nickname is Happy Valley. Every lawn is perfect. Every home is immaculate. But that’s the wild thing – Happy Valley is a sarcastic nickname because almost nobody is happy here.”

“It’s lonely being a Christian here.” That’s one of the first lessons David and Sara Gaskins learned when they moved to Provo, Utah. Southern Baptists giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering helped the Gaskins plant what’s now one of the only evangelical churches in all of Provo. “Now, we know we’re not alone,” David says. “And now, we’re able to share the real Gospel with people here – all because of Annie Armstrong.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins

David and Sara Gaskins are church planting missionaries in Provo, a town David describes as “the heartbeat and hub of the Mormon church.” In this city of 130,000 where only 0.5 percent of the population is evangelical Christian, everything revolves around the Mormon, or Latter-day Saint (LDS) church.

“Their system of belief is essentially legalism on steroids,” David says. “They believe every single aspect of your life needs to be perfect before you can earn the love of God and that attitude of perfectionism influences everything here. Your marriage needs to be perfect; your kids need to be perfect; your career needs to be perfect. But behind all these people trying so hard to be perfect is pervasive lostness and sadness. This is a dark, dark city where the joy of the true Gospel is not present.”

In what might be the most statistically unchurched city in all North America, it was fortunate for David and Sara that when they came here in 2019 to plant a church, they didn’t come alone.

“We knew it was going to be a tall order,” David says. “That’s why we’re such a fan of really healthy sending churches. We were sent here by Calvary Church in Englewood, Colo., and for them, being a Sending Church was about so much more than just signing a piece of paper. They’ve been with us every step of the way. They invested in us before we came; they send mission teams out here all the time. I can call and text the pastors there anytime I need to. They’ve just been an amazing support to us. I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like trying to plant a church in Provo without their support.”

When they first arrived, the Gaskins did indeed have their work cut out for them.

“This church is all many of these people have.” That’s how David Gaskins describes Mosaic Church, the congregation he and his wife Sara planted in Provo, Utah. Since Provo is, according to David, the “heartbeat and hub of the Mormon Church,” following the real Jesus meant many people at Mosaic had to make the costly decision to leave their Mormon faith behind. “Some of them have lost jobs, been cut off from their family, gotten kicked out of school. I’ve not lost half as much as some of these people have by coming to Christ.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins

In Provo, there are almost 400 Mormon churches compared to only five evangelical churches. And their adopted hometown is not only home to Brigham Young University’s overwhelmingly Mormon population of 35,000 students, but also the location of the Mormon church’s missionary training center.

“Every single Mormon missionary you see knocking on doors and wanting to tell you about the Book of Mormon was trained here in Provo for six to eight weeks before they were sent to your hometown,” David says.

What eventually became Mosaic Church started, understandably, small and slow.

“In lots of other places, a new church can come together in one or two years,” Sara says. “But a church plant doesn’t just magically come together in Provo. The average time it takes someone to really leave the LDS church is seven years. And even if they start coming to our church and decided to follow Christ, still they’re baby Christians and they need help learning about the Bible. So what we have now is beautiful and wonderful, but it definitely didn’t happen fast.”

Mosaic Church grew slowly but surely because as it turns out, people who know the real Jesus stand out in Provo.

Nothing happens quickly when you’re planting an evangelical church in the Mormon stronghold of Provo, Utah. So Southern Baptists giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering have provided church planting missionaries David and Sara Gaskins with the one thing they need most – time. “It takes an average of seven years for someone to leave the Mormon Church,” Sara says. “That means so many people in our new church need long-term discipleship. Annie Armstrong has given us the time we need to pour into new believers.” NAMB photo by Ben Rollins

“When we just displayed the fruit of the Spirit, whether that was joy, peace or kindness, that was incredibly attractive to this community because all they’d ever seen was fake.” David says. “But when people here started coming in contact with somebody who’d been actually transformed by the Holy Spirit, it would truly stop them in their tracks.”

That’s how Mosaic Church grew to be a congregation that’s now made up largely of young Provo residents who made the very costly decision to leave the Mormon church.

“When someone leaves the Mormon church here, it’s a really big deal,” David says. “It’s less about leaving a religion and more about leaving a community, and when you walk away from that community, you walk away from everything. We’ve had people get cut off from their family. We’ve had people lose their jobs. We’ve had people get kicked out of school. For me, it’s truly humbling. I’ve not lost half as much as some of the people at Mosaic have by coming to Christ.”

Now, David says, “this church is all many of these young people have.” Perhaps that’s why he and Sara say Mosaic’s Sunday morning worship feels different than anywhere else they’ve ever been.

“In this congregation, there’s just this passion I’ve not experienced at other places,” Sara says. “Every Sunday when I hear them sing, I cry because the Spirit is overflowing in that room. It’s almost like in the book of Acts when it talks about the early church. There’s such a hunger and a desire to know and worship the real Jesus. It’s incredible to see.”