Rural Evangelism and Discipleship Summit encourages Arizona church leaders

After Larry Whitney, pastor of Mustang Mountain Cowboy Church, and Mike Bishop, pastor of Harvest Church Anthem, attended a rural ministry conference in Montana, they immediately agreed Arizona needed something similar. 

That was in 2023, when they attended the conference along with Eddy Pearson, the Arizona Mission Network’s evangelism and discipleship director. 

In 2024, Pearson and Mike Stallcup, associational mission strategist for the Cochise Baptist Association, met with Kyle Bueermann, rural specialist of the North American Mission Board. 

And then this August 20-21, after two years of planning, 62 church leaders from 21 churches finally gathered at Mustang Mountain Cowboy Church in Huachuca City for Arizona’s first Rural Evangelism and Discipleship Summit. 

Funded by the Arizona Mission Network and supplied by NAMB, attendees were greatly encouraged by seminars, break-out sessions and free materials. While speakers fed the soul, Whitney’s church fed the body with plates heaped with mouth-watering barbecue. 

Attendees at the Rural Evangelism and Discipleship Summit enjoy barbecue for lunch. (Photo courtesy Eddy Pearson)

“I’m glad I came because of the encouragement to stay the course,” said Billy Tallas, pastor of Many Farms Bible Church. “This reminded me that I get to sit on my Father’s knees!”

NAMB provides four different themes for these summits: Vocational identity, hopelessness, limited resources and isolation. Arizona’s first summit focused on isolation.

The main sessions were taught by Andy Addis, pastor of CrossPoint Church in Hutchinson, Kansas, and Bueermann, both with the North American Mission Board. Matt MacNaughton, pastor of Grace Life Church in rural Middleburg, Florida, also spoke.  

Addis set the stage for the summit by recounting recent statistics showing that 65% of pastors felt unusually lonely in the two months prior to the survey, compared to 42% in 2015. Additionally, 43% of pastors cited loneliness as the primary reason they occasionally considered leaving the ministry. 

Addis taught two of the main sessions. In the first, “The Reality of Isolation,” he used God’s promises to the Apostle Paul during Paul’s period of loneliness to encourage pastors to choose re-signing themselves up for the task of ministry rather than resigning out of discouragement. 

In “Gratefulness Despite Isolation,” Addis looked at Jesus’ responses to an outcast, the woman who had suffered from a bleeding disorder for twelve years, and the community darling, the synagogue leader’s 12-year-old daughter. Outcast or darling, Jesus showed Himself willing and capable of caring for the needs of both in their times of difficulty. 

From left to right: Eddy Pearson, Kyle Bueermann, Mike Stallcup, Larry Whitney and Mike Bishop worked together to bring the Rural Evangelism and Discipleship Summit to Arizona. (Photo by Fred Harris)

Bueermann spoke on “Conflict and Isolation.” He taught that conflict was inevitable, yet it doesn’t have to be ruinous. Through God’s grace and our humility, addressing it rather than ignoring it can be restorative.  

Bueermann also spoke about “Isolation and Partnerships.” Using Paul’s relationship with Silas and their ordeal in prison, Bueermann challenged the audience to find a faithful partner in ministry besides their spouse whom they could call during their times of discouragement. 

In a similar vein, MacNaughton taught about “Isolation and Friendships.” Describing the characteristics of healthy and unhealthy friendships, he encouraged attendees to both seek the right kind of friendships and strive to be the right kind of friend for others—selflessly committed, not counterfeit. 

“This summit has done what it promised and a whole lot more,” said Tim Pruit, pastor of Pinal County Cowboy Church. “It addressed the realities of isolation by giving practical and preachable tools for rural church ministry.”

Eric Woods, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church Overgaard and associational mission strategist for Desert Pines Baptist Association, agreed. 

“This was long overdue,” he said. “I was encouraged, and I’ll be looking for ways to get other churches to come if they do it again.”