We’re Brendon and Julie Scoggin. Help us strengthen a healthy local church and share the gospel through First Baptist Church of Provo.
ILLUSTRATIVE COMPARISON
See the Need
An Unreached Mission Field
Swipe to explore · scroll down anytimeFeel the weight of the gospel need in Provo. Gold represents Christian and blue-gray represents Non-Christian in this illustration, using an evangelical definition. Provo’s five per thousand is an assumption, not a measured total. Touch the people and drag your finger to the left. On a computer, slide two fingers left on your trackpad or use Next. Scroll down at any time. Keyboard users can focus the people and use Left and Right arrow keys, or the Back and Next buttons.
Texas PanhandleA Bible Belt example
Provo–Orem, UT
199 figures before this witnessThe first gold Provo figure is number 200.
Feel the weight of the gospel need in Provo.
Gold · Christian
Blue-gray · Non-Christian
Swipe left across the people.Slide two fingers left on your trackpad, or choose Next below.
01 / PROVO · KEEP SWIPING
You haven’t reached a Christian witness in the Provo row yet.
Swipe left across the people. Look for the first gold figure in Provo. Notice how often gold figures appear in the Bible Belt row, and give thanks for that gospel witness.
Christian
Non-Christian
Christian uses an evangelical definition here. Provo’s 5/1,000 is an illustrative assumption, not a measured total.
Swipe left across the people. Swipe up again to continue down the page.
This illustration shows 441 Christian figures per 1,000 for the Texas Panhandle and an assumed 5 per 1,000 for Provo–Orem. Christian uses an evangelical definition. It is not a measured Christian/non-Christian population split.
Sources and how to read these figures
The number of people who are truly born again is likely lower than church-affiliation figures suggest. Being counted as an adherent does not, by itself, establish saving faith or meaningful involvement in a local church.
The census does not measure regeneration, and missing congregational reports may also leave believers uncounted.
The graphic is an illustration using an evangelical definition of Christian, not a census classification of individual faith. Its five Provo Christian figures are an assumed illustration chosen for this campaign, not a researched total. The Non-Christian figures are the remainder of that illustrative model. The source data below measure reported evangelical adherents and cannot establish a Christian/non-Christian split or saving faith.
Source context comes from the 2020 U.S. Religion Census via ARDA. The Texas Panhandle comprises 26 counties; Provo–Orem is a metro area. These source figures use the same census year and all-ages measure. The Panhandle illustration uses its reported evangelical share as a reference. Provo’s displayed 5/1,000 is assumed; its reported share rounds to 4/1,000, as shown below.
Texas Panhandle
191,394 reported adherents ÷ 434,358 residents 44.0637% · rounded to 441 per 1,000
Provo–Orem
2,519 reported adherents ÷ 671,185 residents 0.3753% · rounded to 4 per 1,000
For the Panhandle, we summed ARDA’s evangelical adherent and population totals across all 26 counties, then divided the totals. This is not an average of county percentages. Provo uses ARDA’s metro report. Missing counts are not verified zeros. Both denominators include the full 2020 population of each area, including all ages. Adherents can include members, children, and regular participants. These figures are not adult self-identification or the likelihood of knowing a Christian.
The five illustrative Provo markers appear at 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000. Their positions do not represent addresses, neighborhoods, actual encounters, or the probability of knowing a Christian.
We want our neighbors to hear of Christ and encounter a church family living in his light. Romans 10:14–15 connects faith with hearing the gospel, and hearing with people sent to proclaim it.
This is why we must preach and pray, love and stay. Staying begins with obedience to go to those who need the gospel, make our home among them, and faithfully make Christ known. The gospel must advance to the unreached places of the world for the salvation of sinners unto the glory of Christ.
Provo–Orem ranked as the least-reached U.S. metro area by evangelical percentage in J. D. Payne’s 2023 analysis of the 2020 data. This reported estimate is distinct from the five-per-thousand illustration above.
Will you partner with us?
2026 YEAR-END CAMPAIGN · SUPPORTING 2027
As missionaries, we depend on the generosity of kingdom-minded churches and individual Christians. Your year-end support helps fund the 2027 ministry year, providing for our family and sustaining pastoral ministry, discipleship, hospitality, and gospel witness through FBC Provo.
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78 years of gospel witnessOne congregation. Generations of faithfulness.The story continues
THE CONVICTIONCHURCH-BASED MISSIONS
Preach and Pray, Love and Stay
We believe the biblical way to impact a lost place is to build a strong, healthy local church that can multiply more strong, healthy churches. God builds his church through the ordinary means of grace.
Brendon serves as a pastor, preaching, shepherding, and equipping the saints. Julie and the children serve as faithful church members. Our distinct callings are rooted in the same local church.
Jesus promises that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. That promise shapes the ordinary work we return to each week…
Week by week, we hear his Word, persist in prayer, and gather around baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These ordinary means shape a congregation that depends on Christ.
Baptism publicly identifies disciples with Christ and his people. In the Lord’s Supper, we remember Christ’s death and proclaim it until he comes. The Word, prayer, and these ordinances shape our worship, fellowship, hospitality, and witness.
First Baptist Church of Provo begins with 18 charter members in downtown Provo’s Odd Fellows Hall. Before the year ends, the congregation has purchased its first pastorium and moved its meetings to another downtown building.
1951
Making room for a growing church.
With 30 members, the congregation purchases a large home at 885 North 500 West and remodels it into a church building. The church’s typed history calls it “a big step for a small group.”
1950–1958
The gospel goes beyond Provo.
Even in these early years, the congregation starts missions in Salt Lake City in 1950, Cedar City in 1951, Ely, Nevada, in 1952, Richfield in 1953, Pleasant Grove in 1955, and Spanish Fork in 1958.
1962
A home on Columbia Lane.
In January, the congregation acquires the former Grandview Ward building with help from the Home Mission Board. The first services are held there on January 14. This is the church home where we serve today.
THE YEARS BETWEEN
A congregation worth strengthening.
The church’s history includes modest resources, pastoral transitions, and continued life together on Columbia Lane. Strengthening an established congregation matters alongside planting new churches. Its people, relationships, and history are part of the gospel work in this city.
2021 TO TODAY
Joining a story already underway.
Brendon becomes Pastor of Preaching and Vision in April 2021. Our family moves from Texas to Provo that September. He serves as a pastor, and Julie and the children serve as church members. Together, we are thankful to share in this congregation’s life and witness.
Historical sources include the congregation’s typed Church History and Churches of Provo, pages 173–174. Our family’s arrival is part of our own ministry story.
BRENDON, JULIE, ADELYN, ANNIE, ELLA, OWEN & ARLO
04 / YOUR MISSIONARIES
A family putting down roots.
Brendon was born and raised in Amarillo, Texas. Jesus saved him as a teenager during a summer camp with his church. Soon after, God began to place in his heart a desire to preach the gospel and to shepherd God’s people.
After graduating from Amarillo High School, Brendon moved to Louisville, Kentucky to attend Boyce College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Biblical and Theological Studies. During that time he met his wife, Julie, while serving together at a summer camp in North Carolina. He later earned an Advanced Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. During seminary he participated in a pastoral apprenticeship at Immanuel Baptist Church and worked as a manager for The North Face.
When Brendon finished seminary, the Lord called the Scoggins to Canyon, Texas, where he served as Student Pastor at First Baptist Canyon. During those years the Lord opened a ministry partnership with First Baptist Church of Provo, Utah. Through that partnership, God made it clear that He was calling the Scoggin family to Provo. In April 2021, Brendon became the Pastor of Preaching and Vision at First Baptist Church of Provo. The Scoggin family raised missionary support and moved to Utah in September 2021, where they continue to serve today.
Brendon and Julie are joyfully married and are thankful for the children God has blessed them with: Adelyn, Annie, Ella, Owen, and Arlo. Their home is often filled with conversation, laughter, and discipleship around the table. They love Provo and are committed to seeing the gospel take deep root in this city through the ordinary, faithful work of the local church.
Brendon’s pastoral calling is his own. Julie and the children serve the Lord as faithful members of the church, sharing in its worship, fellowship, and witness.
