140 Years of Jesus in Idaho Falls

  How has Jesus’ Great Commission motivated men and women who were called to Idaho Falls and sent from Idaho Falls to other nations?   How have pastors challenged the church in Idaho Falls to respond to Jesus’ Great Commission? The rich history of missions to Eagle Rock, Southeast Idaho and Idaho Falls began with Rebecca Mitchell. [1]   Soon after attending the first session of the Missionary Training School in Chicago the winter of 1880-1881, she came west to Eagle Rock and never returned to her home state of Illinois.   While she did not need to learn a new language or the ways of a foreign culture, she was an example of fulfilling a missionary calling in numerous other ways.   She sought the good of the community; she got to know people and families; she learned and wrote about the history of Eagle Rock and southeastern Idaho.   The people of Eagle Rock became her family and her home.   She saw the needs of Eagle Rock and Idaho and addressing thos...

  From the Idaho Falls Post Register, October 4, 1974, p. A-8: Lausanne, Switzerland – The International Congress on World Evangelization with over 3,000 participants from 152 nations meeting here recently reaffirmed the need for more missionaries throughout the world than ever before if the task of world evangelization is to be completed in this century.   Dr. Billy Graham, in a keynote address, pointed out that great multitudes of people are cut off from their Christian neighbors by deep linguistic, political and cultural chasms.   “For Christians to build evangelistic strategies on ‘near neighbor’ evangelism alone would shut out at least one billion individuals from hearing about Jesus Christ,” he said.   “Churches from every land,” Dr. Graham emphasized “must deliberately send out missionaries and evangelist to master other languages, learn of other cultures and perhaps live there for life.”… Malcom Muggeridge, noted English humorist, writer and observer o...

On Friday evening, August 30, 2024, believers in Idaho Falls met to worship and to hear Naghmeh Pahani and Eugene Bach share about their lives and ministries. The focus of their presentations was the persecuted and growing church in places like Iran and Afghanistan.  Naghmeh, who was born to Muslim parents and spent the first nine years of her life in Iran, framed her presentation with how God answered  prayers from her childhood.  Born two years before the Islamic Revolution, she and her brother, having seen nothing but war, destruction and chaos around them, were curious about God.  They caught a portion of a radio broadcast in which they heard, "God loves you.  All you need to do is speak to Him from your heart.  He can hear your prayers.  If you would like to know Him more, you can ask Him to reveal Himself to you."  So they prayed and began looking for this God who they had heard loved them.  After coming to America, Naghmeh's brother ha...

  From The Idaho Falls Times, Thursday, July 4, 1895, page 1: The Fires of patriotism were again replenished yesterday and they burned as brightly as ever. One of the most enjoyable celebrations the town of Idaho Falls has ever had was participated in by a large crowd of patriotic citizens.   The weather up to noon was all that could be wished for.   In the afternoon the wind commenced to blow and gradually increased until nearly sundown.   Dust and sand filled the air but the enthusiasm of the crowd was little affected.   It is said that one can get used to every hardship, and as the clouds of sand and dirt filled the air sifting gently into the ears and down the backs of the necks of the celebrators, the truth of the aphorism was accentuated, as all was enjoyment and none retreated before the blinding clouds of dust that filled the eyes and seemed to permeate everything but the impervious patriotism of the people. The program of the day was elaborate and was c...

  In 2021 and 2022, Todd Wood and I compiled statements of what Jesus had done in Idaho Falls from 1882 to 2022, and posted them at https://jiif140yrs.blogspot.com/2021/11/statements-1882-jesus-sent-48-year-old.html .   That list contains 221 statements followed by names, sources and supplemental information. While we haven’t added to the list since late 2022, we would like to expand it and invite you to send us more statements. And here are a few I’ve recently come across. Statements 1977 Jesus brought His church in Idaho Falls together to worship Him in a 7-hour music festival at Tautphaus Park. 1981   Jesus began to bring Christian leaders together to establish a radio station in Idaho Falls that would broadcast Christian programming, teaching and encouraging the body of Christ and presenting the gospel to southeastern Idaho. 1984   Jesus focused the church of Idaho Falls on reaching all nations with the gospel when missionary and author Elizabeth Elli...