Current SG Footprint — 8 Established Churches + 2 Exploratory Works
The state of the MW/NW region as of April 2026. Eight established churches, two exploratory works, and a geographic isolation problem that isn't theoretical.
The current churches
| Church | City | State | Pastor / Notes | Closest SG Church (driving mi) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cross of Grace | Chaska | MN | TBD | Cornerstone, Burnsville (~19 mi) |
| Cornerstone | Burnsville | MN | Rick Gamache | Exploratory, North Mpls (~17 mi) |
| Providence Church | Lenexa | KS | Chris Oswald | Grace Life, Hastings NE (~270 mi) |
| Emmaus Road | Sioux Falls | SD | Ryan Chase | Cross of Grace, Chaska MN (~220 mi) |
| Grace Life Church | Hastings | NE | Chad Haygood — includes a school | Emmaus Road, Sioux Falls (~266 mi) |
| Emmaus Road | Bozeman | MT | Ron Boomsma | Exploratory, Kalispell (~291 mi) |
| Center Church | Star | ID | Jeff Palen — recently planted | Emmaus Road, Bozeman (~454 mi) |
| Covenant Fellowship | Roseburg | OR | Dave York | Center Church, Star ID (~484 mi) |
| Exploratory Work | Kalispell | MT | TBD | Emmaus Road, Bozeman (~291 mi) |
| Exploratory Work | North Minneapolis | MN | Brandon Porter | Cornerstone, Burnsville (~17 mi) |
Distances are approximate driving miles. Verified figures: Sioux Falls–Twin Cities, Bozeman–Kalispell, Star–Bozeman, Star–Roseburg. Other figures are reasonable estimates from coordinates.
What the table shows at a glance
The Twin Cities cluster has 2 churches inside ~20 miles of each other.
Beyond that, the closest neighbor for every other church is hours away:
- Sioux Falls — 220 miles from its nearest SG church
- Hastings — 266 miles
- Providence (Lenexa) — 270 miles
In the Mountain West, the gaps blow out:
- Bozeman to Kalispell — nearly 5 hours (291 mi)
- Star to Bozeman — 7–8 hours (454 mi)
- Roseburg's nearest SG church — 484 miles away in Star, ID
The geographic isolation problem isn't theoretical
A pastor in Roseburg cannot drive to a peer SG pastor's church in less than seven hours. A pastor in Star cannot drive to Bozeman in less than seven. A pastor in Bozeman cannot drive to Kalispell in less than five — even though they're in the same state.
This is what unviable region looks like in operational terms. Pulpit supply and mutual visiting is rare and expensive. New pastors arrive into geographic isolation. Wives and families have no peer congregation within driving distance.
The best way to fix this is not to split the region — it's to plant the gap closed between the existing churches before splitting. Which is the entire premise of the proposed map and the committee charter.
What the table doesn't show
- The relational density of the Twin Cities cluster masks the rest of the region's isolation in the regional-level conversation. Twin Cities pastors see each other often; everyone else doesn't.
- The Mountain West's three churches are not a network. They're three isolated points. There is no current mechanism by which Roseburg, Bozeman, and Star regularly act in concert.
- Center Church is brand new. It planted in 2025 from Sovereign Grace Church (Gilbert, AZ) and is actively figuring out its own footing. Treating it as if it's an established Mountain West anchor is premature.
See also
- 01 — Proposed Map — the two-region plan that this footprint motivates
- 02 — Growth Data — where the field is actually growing relative to where SG presently sits
- 08 — Key Players — the people behind the church names in this table
- 00 — Index — back to the landing page