31 missionaries in 33 years: Here's how one local church supports missionary efforts across the globe

For many people, April signals the end of the snow and the beginning of blue skies. For members at Grace Baptist Church, April is Missions Month.

Grace Baptist Church was founded by Pastor Jerry Stonehouse in 1983, shortly after Stonehouse and his family moved from southern California to the Beehive State. Within two months of the church’s opening, the congregation was supporting its first missionary. Thirty-three years later, the church’s members still support that same missionary — along with 30 others in more than 20 countries.

“It’s really easy just to be involved with your own life and your own church, and not look beyond your own border, or your own walls, even,” Stonehouse said. “So we do this to challenge people to be mindful of missions. We believe that God answers prayers, so we pray for our missionaries, and then, you know, it takes money to get them there and keep them there.”

Each April, Stonehouse makes a special effort, he said, to get his congregation to turn their focus to the missionaries around the world.

“It’s interesting because you get used to your own world,” said Robin Schallenberger, a member of Grace Baptist Church, “and you think everybody lives like you do unless you’re exposed to those different cultures and that different way of living, and thinking, and approaching things.”

Missionary support efforts will culminate with a missions conference on April 22-24, and will feature Douglas Hounshell, the pastor of Cliffview Chapel Baptist Church in Kanab. Hounshell was able to reconcile the life of a pastor with the work of a missionary, starting two churches in southern Utah with potential plans for another along the Arizona strip.

As the key speaker at the conference, Hounshell plans to address the congregation not only about supporting missionaries abroad, but also in regards to reaching out to their neighbors and acting as a vehicle for change, he said. However, since not every member is able to go on a mission, it is important to support those who can, he said.

“Where we put our resources, our money, is where our heart will often be,” Hounshell said. “Jesus said, ‘Where man put his treasures there will his heart be also.’ It’s always good to help us pull out of our comfort zones, and stretch ourselves, and look outside of ourselves.”

The conference will begin on April 22 at 7 p.m. Additional sessions will be held on April 23 at 6 p.m., and on April 24 at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., and 6 p.m.