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RENDEZVOUS

Father and Son Make a Dynamic Team

by Brenda Fawcett, Potomac Bible Church

Meet Roy and Jason Wills from Potomac, Montana. You can find Potomac on a Montana map. It’s 16 miles east of Bonner on Highway 200 going east from Missoula. If you write a letter, it’s Bonner, not Potomac, as Potomac lost its post office after Roy’s mother retired as postmistress. Roy has lived in Potomac all his life (Jason, too).

Roy is chairman of the Potomac Bible Church and one of its charter members. He is quiet, gently easy going, and hard working. Pastor and friend Steve Fawcett often reflects on how Roy listens intently to all sides of a story, then speaks in few words, stating wisdom for the situation.

Roy’s grandfather bought the ranch where he grew up. He recalls the days of high school when the three kids from the Potomac and Greenough area caught the bus in Bonner into Missoula.

Roy came to know Christ in his thirties through the help of a man who worked for him. He discovered "There was more to Christianity than going to church each Sunday and listening to a sermon you didn’t understand." Shortly after that Glen Eickmeyer started a church in Potomac. Roy grew through Glen’s great Bible teaching. The first church services were held in the hallway of the school, later in the Potomac/Greenough Community Center.

Roy later donated the church land to build on, but there wasn’t enough money for building materials. A "Lord’s Builder" letter was sent out to interested people throughout the Rocky Mountain Bible Mission. Enough money was raised to start. Teams of men from various Mission churches came one Saturday and worked under the direction of Ken Lake. They built the shell of the church in one day. The women brought food and had to go back home to get more as so many men had shown up to help.

Roy’s son Jason received Christ in his junior year of high school. He has helped to build on the new Camp Utmost site. Along with his dad, he graded the ground for the kitchen-dining hall and hauled a lot of gravel for the road and construction.

Jason’s favorite job was planning and building the waterslide. This last summer he broke his leg on that waterslide. How? "I broke my own rule: Don’t go down with sandals on." One sandal caught, and his leg snapped and broke. He had three screws put in his leg and ankle. Two will stay in permanently.

When asked what has changed in the Potomac Valley since his childhood, Roy said "There are a lot more people. I used to know everyone, now I don’t even know a hundredth. Land used to sell for two dollars an acre, now it sells for four to five thousand." "Kids today have AWANA and youth group to learn about God, to show them the truth, we didn’t have that."

Jason is currently attending the UM School of Technology in Missoula, studying diesel mechanics. He is helping in both AWANA and youth group, plus counseling at camp at least one week in the summer. His future plans are to stay in Potomac.

Folks like the Wills are the backbone of our rural churches and communities.