OUR STORY

Redeeming Life Church is the unification of a young church plant in Salt Lake City and an aging but seasoned church in South Davis County. God brought these two faith-families into one—two stories joining at a single point and continuing together. This is our story.

In 1958, the work of missionary named John L. Smith and a couple from Rose Park Baptist Church started a Bible study in Bountiful. With the help of Southern Baptist Church of Clearfield, the Bible study grew and, in 1959, became a mission church led by L. C. Roots. It was known as the Bountiful Baptist Mission. Financial support from other churches in Utah, California, and Texas supported the mission church.

On November 20, 1960, members of the Bountiful Baptist Mission organized First Southern Baptist Church of Bountiful and called Roots as their first Pastor. They met in the American Legion Hall until September 5, 1962 when they began meeting in a building they constructed on land they had purchased. 240 West 1500 South was the address of First Southern Baptist Church until October 8, 2000 when they held their first worship service in a new church building in a new location (696 North 400 East).

Over the years, God has called a variety of men to pastor First Southern Baptist Church. Milton Simmons followed Roots, answering the call in August, 1961. Other pastors include John Dixon (1963-66), Joe Hamilton (1967), Ike Jorgensen (1968-83), David Martin (1984-1992) and Ron Smith (1993-1995). Some served as full-time pastors while others were bi-vocational.

On November 19, 1995, Mike Pless was called to lead FSBC Bountiful as their Pastor. At the time, the position was bi-vocational. It was Pastor Mike who oversaw the move and new construction of the current building. However, Pastor Mike’s full-time employer relocated him and his family to Georgia in September 2000. From November 2000 until January 2006 FSBC Bountiful had several Interim Pastors, including Herb Stoneman, Steve Best, Dan Walker, Bobby Melton, and Jay Edmondson. Bob Pete served as Pastor from September 2001 until September 2002 when he was accepted as a Navy Chaplain.

In January 2006, Mike Pless returned to FSBC, accepting the call as their full-time Pastor. In 2016, First Southern Baptist Church of Bountiful changed their name to Good Shepherd Fellowship.

The desire to reach the lost, make disciples, and gather as the Church in Salt Lake City began in Bryan and Lisa Catherman's heart around 2012. Bryan was on staff at Risen Life Church and served in a variety of ministries as the Elders and leaders developed Bryan for the future role of Lead Pastor and church planter somewhere in the Salt Lake valley or elsewhere in Utah.

In 2014, the vision began to take shape when a Bible study was started in the Catherman home. The Bible study gathered, worshiped, took communion, prayed, and studied the book of Acts together. Over time, the gathering grew as believers came together and unbelievers were reached.

As they continued to grow, they began meeting in the fellowship hall of Risen Life Church in Holiday, Utah.

The Bible study matured and soon enough, the gathered disciples officially self-identified as a local expression of the Church, called themselves Redeeming Life Church, and began meeting in a community center on the west side of Salt Lake City on May 3, 2015.

They spent a lot of time engaging the Rose Park, Fair Park, and Glendale areas of Salt Lake City. North Salt Lake, Woods Cross, West Bountiful, and Bountiful. Every community was prayer-walked, every home received a gospel door hanger, and the church engaged in street evangelism on North Temple. On Easter morning, they hosted a Sunrise service in the park. Teams led Bible studies in public, and began training people to live on mission where they live, work, play, and do business.

By the grace of God, they continued to reach the community and baptized new believers. God continued opening doors for this young church in order to better equip the congregation to be the hands and feet of Jesus in our communities.

In 2016, God provided the church the opportunity to lease a building on Redwood Road for a very affordable price. Mission teams helped them renovate, move walls, paint, and make the space their own. Using this space like a headquarters, they hosted and trained hundreds of missionaries and mission teams who have met with and prayed for over 100,000 households in the area.

But then God did something neither church expected. He unified two churches into one.

Just before the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic started in the US, Pastor Bryan and Pastor Mike met to discuss how these two churches might work together to reach their respective communities. What came next, neither of them expected. God was bringing Redeeming Life Church and Good Shepherd Fellowship together to became one church named Redeeming Life Church, meeting for worship in Bountiful, Utah. Both churches voted and on August 9, 2020, the two churches unified as a single church named Redeeming Life Church. Pastor Bryan was called as the Lead Pastor and Pastor Mike was temporarily called as the Transitional Pastor heading toward his well-deserved retirement.

As the church continued to grow, they brought on Robbie Tschorn to lead our worship and assist the Elders with ministry. In 2021, Pastor Josiah was ordained as an Elder of Redeeming Life Church and brought on to the full-time staff.

Today, the church is growing and seeks to be a spiritually healthy body of believers who serve to glorify God as we love him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength.

If you'd like to learn more about our faith-family, we'd love to meet you and talk with you! Be our guest. We meet for worship on Sunday mornings at 11 AM.