Updates
Regional Report: May 2026
May 21, 2026
Dear Friends,
It has now been almost a year since I stepped into this new role within the Evangelical Free Church as Regional Catalyst for Utah and Southern Idaho. I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve in this way, and I am passionate about the work God is doing through our churches.
That is significant coming from someone who, during the first 25 years of serving as a Lead Pastor, openly questioned the relevance of denominations. However, during my final ten years at CenterPoint, as we prepared for the transition out of my pastoral role, I came to appreciate how important it was for us to be part of the Evangelical Free movement.
The EFCA is uniquely positioned to play an important role in this region. Four core values define our movement: we are Biblical, Missional, United, and Free.
First, we are Bible people. Our churches are built on the solid foundation of God’s Word. Second, we are deeply missional, committed to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with our neighbors, our communities, and the world. Third, we are united around shared convictions and a common statement of faith. Finally, we are free. Each local church has the freedom to lead and minister according to its unique context. Unity does not require uniformity, and that balance has become one of the great strengths of our movement.
We are seeing influence not only among the dozen or so Evangelical Free Churches in our region, but also within the broader body of Christ as we help foster greater unity among churches. It has truly been an exciting season for ministry here in Utah. Churches throughout the state have experienced growth over the past several years. That growth accelerated following the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk last September in Orem, just two miles from us. I am encouraged to report that the momentum has continued steadily throughout the year.
As a way of supporting and encouraging growth, I have continued coming alongside pastors and churches throughout our region in several important ways:
I have been rewriting my book, Keep Showing Up. The new edition is titled Still Showing Up. I am releasing one chapter at a time on our website, scottandsaramckinney.com, and we are currently on Chapter 7.
I have had multiple opportunities to fill the pulpit in several churches over the past year, encouraging congregations and supporting pastors during important seasons of ministry.
I have spent time counseling and encouraging pastors as they navigate difficult situations within their churches, including significant staff transitions and leadership changes.
Every other month, we host ministry “huddles” where church staffs gather for encouragement, fellowship, and mutual support.
On Thursdays, I regularly meet for lunch with a group of young men—emerging leaders whom I believe God is preparing for significant future ministry in the local church.
We are also seeking to expand our network of churches. One exciting opportunity is in Star, Idaho, a rapidly growing suburb of Boise. Earlier this year, we met Steven Huggins and his wife, Hannah. Steven previously served as a campus pastor at a large church in the Boise area. With deep Evangelical Free roots, Steven has a strong desire to plant an Evangelical Free Church in Star, and there is tremendous momentum already building around this new work.
We saw evidence of that momentum this past Easter. As Steven began sharing with neighbors about the church he hopes to plant, several people in the neighborhood—many of whom were not attending church anywhere—approached him the day before Easter and said, “We hear you’re starting a new church. Why don’t we celebrate Easter right here in the neighborhood?”
Steven’s response was simple: “Why not?”
So they held an Easter service right there in his driveway. Fifty people showed up with lawn chairs to worship together and hear the gospel. What a beautiful picture of how God is opening doors and building His church in simple yet powerful ways.
Most of all, I am grateful to play a role in encouraging pastors, raising up leaders, and planting new congregations throughout Utah and Southern Idaho.
Keep Showing Up!
Scott McKinney
1 Corinthians 15:58
September 2025
September 30, 2025
Dear Friends and Family,
I wanted to give all of you an update on what is going on with us in Utah in this new position as Regional Catalyst for Utah. On September 10 the eyes of the world were on Orem Utah. I was on my way to church at 1 PM on September 10 when I heard the news about the Charlie Kirk shooting at UVU. As I exited the freeway on the University Parkway exit in Orem, police cars were rushing towards the UVU campus, as crowds of people with stunned expressions were walking away from campus. This was not just a news story for us. I live a mile and a half from campus. CenterPoint, the church I served as Lead Pastor for 35 years is only a half mile from campus.
I will often walk from our house to church and when I do I walk through campus. Today as you walk through the UVU campus you will see at the entrance of the school an impromptu memorial where all sorts of flowers, cards, pictures and posters have been left to remember Charlie Kirk. A lot of time and effort has been put into these tributes to Charlie Kirk. People keep adding to this memorial site.
I had a practical thought. At some point all of this is stuff will be taken down and most likely thrown away in the Utah County Dump. My question is what will remain? Maybe they will build some kind of permanent memorial at UVU but in life, all our memories have a way of growing dim. There is one thing that Jesus promised will remain - His Church. Jesus is building it, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. When we talk about the church we are not talking about a building or a bureaucracy. We are talking about a people made up of everyone through the ages that belongs to Jesus by faith wherever they are. We call this the Universal Church.
As we read the Bible, we see that the church is not just Universal, it is local. The church gathers. We do so in order to fulfill the Great Commandment (to love God and love one another), and the Great Commission (To go and make disciples of all nations). The local church is made up of real people getting together in real places in the name of Jesus. I led such a church here in Orem for 35 years. Today I am playing a different role in the church. Many of you received a letter last summer detailing the new position I have taken as Regional Catalyst for the Evangelical Free Churches here in Utah. In this role I am working with churches throughout the state to encourage pastors and church leaders to be churches that reach people in this unique spiritual environment in which we live.
The events of the last few weeks have brought clarity for me as to why I am in this ministry. Local churches in Utah (and really throughout America) are seeing people flood through the doors. I will use CenterPoint as an example because I have the data for it. Before 9/10 CenterPoint was averaging around 1750 people with 3 services on Sunday mornings. CenterPoint was full and planning on opening a new campus 20 miles South in Payson. To me this was amazing.
Over the last few weeks (since the Charlie Kirk assassination), on Sunday mornings there has been an average of 2500 people. There is standing room only in all 3 services. There is a 4th service in the works. Again, throughout the state, churches are experiencing unprecedented attendance. We are in a critical moment at a critical time. The question is what will come of all of it?
On Monday 9/15 I talked with Noah, a 19-year-old Sophomore at UVU. Noah has an interesting story. Going to UVU had not been Noah’s plan. He graduated from American Fork High School as a nationally ranked track athlete. He received a scholarship from Notre Dame. After one semester he realized that Notre Dame was not for him. He put his name in the transfer portal. 4 minutes later BYU (one of the top track programs in the country) reached out to him and offered him a scholarship. Noah accepted the scholarship and began to train with the team.
In July, we had the privilege of baptizing Noah’s family in the Provo River. Like the majority of people, at CenterPoint, his family had come out of the LDS Church. In August just before he was about to begin classes at BYU, someone in admissions discovered that Noah had been baptized at the age of 8 into the LDS Church. Noah was told that people that have been baptized into the LDS Church and leave it cannot attend BYU. BYU will admit non-Mormons, but it will not admit “apostate” Mormons.
I will admit that I got worked up over that and wanted to respond by pointing out to the community the injustice of this situation. I did not do that. Here is something I can tell you after almost 4 decades in interacting with the LDS Church and BYU: You try and play the public relations game here and you get nowhere. They have too much money and too much clout. I have also learned that God had a different plan.
God has a way of working in these situations. Suddenly, Noah was a student athlete without a school. He had only one option - Utah Valley University (3 miles away from BYU) also has a track team. He went over to UVU, met with the coaches and they found a place for him. Noah was going to UVU for bigger reasons than to run track. God wanted Noah at UVU. Noah was there at the Charlie Kirk event. What he saw was horrific. He went home, stayed to himself, but on Sunday he was compelled to be with his church family at CenterPoint.
The next day Noah went to the Charlie Kirk memorial at the entrance of UVU. He was wearing a CenterPoint Church t-shirt. A group of students went up to Noah and one of them said, “Hey I went to CenterPoint for the first time yesterday and it meant so much to me- would you pray for us”. Here is a picture of the impromptu memorial (Noah praying).
That picture has the answer to the question- “What remains when all of this stuff is gone?” The church remains. The church has to be led. I have an opportunity/ responsibility to build into the lives of those people who will lead the church in this next generation. What does that look like? One of the things that I am doing is meeting regularly with Noah, along with Garrison and TJ. Garrison is a 5th years senior football player at BYU. I have known Garrison his entire life (so much so that he calls me “Uncle Scott”). TJ was a lacrosse player at the University of Utah. I met him at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) event, gave him my book, he read it. He got excited about ministry and now TJ is beginning the Utah Valley FCA Chapter for BYU and UVU.
The reason I am meeting with these guys and others is simple. As Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2 – “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” This is how the faith has lasted over the last 2000 years. I am spending the time I have left not just encouraging these guys but churches throughout the state.
That involves things like:
Going out and preaching at different churches.
Helping churches resolve conflict. Whenever God is working, the devil does what he can to put a stop to it and there is no better way to do that but to bring about conflict.
Reaching out to pastors that need encouragement.
One way that we do that is to create a focal point where leaders actually come together and “huddle” every other month. My desire as we meet is to bring encouragement to these leaders. We met back on September 16 and had 36 church leaders show up. Part of what we did was to talk about our response to the moment we are in here as leaders of local churches in Utah.
As we left, I shared with them something I want to share with you. I told them how Sara would often say how she would love to see God work in a way that could only be explained by his presence. There were so many times when it seemed like nothing was happening. We kept showing up. Now we are living in a time where God is doing something here. After church on 9/14, where we saw so many people flooding into our church with this spiritual hunger, Sara looked at me and said, “This is why we kept showing up all those years ago.” We are getting to see God work in ways we never thought possible. We are so grateful for your prayers and support for what God is doing here in this place.
Scott McKinney