Greetings,
The year 2016 has been quite eventful for my family and me. Since 2013, my wife and I had been working at Anchor Baptist Church in Salt Lake City, Utah. I filled the position of Assistant Pastor under the guidance and leadership of Pastor Randy Love. We enjoyed three fruitful years of ministry working with the youth and overseeing many other ministries in the church and school.
In June of this year, I was voted in as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Frackville, Pennsylvania. Our way of thinking and living drastically changed as we left the fast-paced city life of Salt Lake to move to the laid-back rural living of hilly Pennsylvania. In Salt Lake City, we were in the heart of Mormonism. In Frackville, we are in the heart of Catholicism.
After many hours of packing, driving, and unloading, we have finally settled into our new home and church. September 4th was our first Sunday at Calvary Baptist Church. Being a small church in a small borough, news got out quickly that there was a new pastor in town. Since then we have been blessed with many visitors from near and far to “check out” the new pastor. The church is currently averaging in the fifties on Sunday morning. There is much excitement among God’s people here, and there is much work to be done.
Calvary Baptist Church has been in existence for over 75 years and is the only Baptist church in Frackville. There is also a Greek Orthodox church, a Lutheran church, and many Catholic churches that have been here for over 100 years. Satan has successfully blinded this area with religion. But my prayer is that God would use my family and me to spiritually strengthen and equip His people at Calvary Baptist Church so that we can take “the light of the glorious gospel of Christ” out into the community and make a difference here in the heart of the coal region.
In Christ,
The Hughes Family
Joshua, Brittany, Brian, and Bennett