America's new commander in chief missed Utah's ski season on his campaign stops here last year. But if he ever returns to try Utah powder, he can join other Southern Baptists for worship services on the slopes at Park City.
The Rev. Kevin Sigsby administers the Wasatch Area Resort Ministries project through the Southern Baptist Church. A home missionary and ski chaplain, the Rev. Sigsby conducts services at 1:30 p.m. Sundays at Park City Ski Area. During the summer he coordinates ministries at Wasatch Mountain State Park.He coordinates groups that visit from out of state and supports singles groups, youth groups and college students "who are looking for a mission experience."
At a "ski chapel" on the Park City slopes, "we try to share a Biblical truth. I love my work. I never know how many people are going to be there, but we always have a good cross-section of people from throughout the country."
The Rev. Sigsby said he has found that many skiers are "happy to stop and worship on the mountain. We don't have a big pipe organ. We don't have a big choir. We don't take up an offering, but what we do is worship God in a very unique setting. People are expecting something a little different and they receive it . . . they mingle, talk and share experiences."
For Southern Baptists, most of whom meet in more traditional settings, the "church is at the top. All the rest of the organizations come under the local church," says C. Clyde Billingsley, executive director/treasurer of the Utah-Idaho Southern Baptist Con-ven-tion.
Local churches have freedom to "make choices. The thing that holds us together is our commitment to missions and evangelism," said Billingsley, who was named to head the convention three years ago last September.
The convention, which has headquarters in Sandy, includes 22,000 members in about 150 churches and missions in Utah and Idaho. Southern Baptists number about 14 million nationwide in 38,000 organized churches, with about 10,000 Utah members living in the area that stretches from Brigham City to Spanish Fork.
Originally part of the Northern Baptists Convention, the Southern Baptists had their beginning when a group broke off from the mother organization and formed an organization in Augusta, Ga., in 1845. The Northern Baptists were the forerunners of the American Baptists, which are now known as American Baptist Churches/ U.S.A.
Seven churches in Utah are affiliated with the latter group, according to the Rev. Stanley Smith of the First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City.
The first Southern Baptist Church in Utah was founded in 1945 in Roosevelt. The Southern Baptists Convention was formed 28 years ago last October in Utah in what now is the First Southern Baptist Church, 1175 W. 600 North. The Rev. Eric Frye is the pastor.
Southern Baptist churches are divided into associations (geographical areas), with Utah and Idaho comprising 11 such groups. Each association is headed by a director of missions. Dr. A. Kenneth Chadwick is the mission director for the Salt Lake Baptist Association.
There are approximately 30 to 50 different Baptist denominations in the United States alone, but most Baptist groups generally adhere to fairly similar basic beliefs, Billingsley said.
Central to the position of Southern Baptists is a belief that the Bible is "our sole authority, with Jesus Christ as the center of all our faith, doctrine and belief. We are very evangelistic (missionary-minded). Of all the people baptized into evangelical churches in the United States, we baptize about half of them (approximately 400,000 annually). Because of that we try to reach out and share Christ," Billingsley said.
The son of a Southern Baptist preacher, a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and an ordained minister, Bil-lings-ley said he and six other program directors in the convention have no authority over local Southern Baptist churches. The churches retain autonomy in deciding, for example, how much money collected from tithing (generally a tenth of one's income and strictly a voluntary offering) and other funds is channeled on to the state and national conventions.
Southern Baptist churches hire their own ministers and retain autonomy by vote of the local congregation.
In the Salt Lake area, the Southern Baptists operate a Concern Center, which works, for example, to alleviate the needs of the poor and to involve children. The center is housed at Glendale Baptist Church, 1235 California Ave. In addition, the convention has a strong missionary program and operates a food pantry program at the First Baptist Church of Kearns, 4445 W. 5175 South.