Meet Our Team

Benny has been pastor of our church since 1998. His goal since becoming pastor of FBC West Yellowstone has been to lead the church to be a welcoming and safe refuge for everyone who comes seeking our Lord. 

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Ed and Brenda began coming to our church in the summer of 2005. They spent the following 6 summers in our church facilitating a ministry to 20 collage students who worked and ministered in Yellowstone National Park. The students came in late May and left in early August. However, each year Ed and Brenda stayed a little later into the season finally leaving just in time to avoid the snow. Finally in 2009 they looked at each other and asked, “If we love this place so much why are we leaving each year?” They went back to their home in Alabama, wrapped up loose ends and returned as permanent residents in January of 2010. The temperature their first night in West Yellowstone was 45 below zero. When they did not leave the next day we knew they were here for the long haul.

 

Ed, a retired Telecommunications Project Manger, plans and directs our music ministry, serves as church treasurer and is our resident handy-man for all things mechanical, structural and digital. Brenda, a retired RN, coordinates our in-house church activities, making sure all the I‛s are dotted and the T‛s are crossed with each event.

 

Ed and Brenda also serve as an on-site support team for our Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Interns who minister in our church and community each summer.

It was a cold Sunday morning in May 2017. A visitor from California had called the church explaining that she would like to come to church but had an elderly dog that she did not feel safe leaving for an extended time. She asked if she could bring the dog into the church during the worship service. “Of course,” we said, “no problem.” This also happened to be Tonya‛s first Sunday to visit our church. She says that after searching for a church where her faith would be challenged and she would be free to grow toward God, the dog in church might be a sign that FBC offered her that opportunity. You never know how God will work!

 

Tonya serves our church in many ways. When the Covid crisis began she introduced us to Zoom. She has work faithfully since to help us learn how to use the digital platform in a meaningful way. When we decided to incorporate Facebook into this mix she was the one who worked out all of the details to make it happen. She assists us in creating multimedia presentations for church ministry programs. She works faithfully every Sunday to be sure the digital ministry outreach is up and runs smoothly. She also assists in planning our worship experience and occasionally brings God‛s word to us in that service.

 

Tonya is an accountant and runs her own business from home. She serves on the Ministry Council for The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and is the Young Baptist Ecosystem Forum representative on the CBF West Coordinating Council. She and her husband live in Island Park, ID where her husband Jeremy is the bear biologist for Idaho Department of Fish and Game.