Community Bible Church

History of the Ministry

Community Bible Church in St. Regis is one of the oldest member churches of the RMBM. The work began, ironically, with a youth group 15 miles down the road at Westend (DeBorgia). The Westend youth group was so popular that it attracted kids from St. Regis, who eventually asked the Mission for a group of their own. From that youth work an adult Bible study was begun, and later a church was established.

St. Regis is almost exclusively a timber industry town, peopled by loggers, mill workers and some railroaders. The town of about 700 inhabitants is situated at the junction of the St. Regis and Clark Fork Rivers, about 75 miles west of Missoula on Interstate 90.

Ray and Jennie Calentine served Community Bible Church beginning in 1986, and had also been ministering to the small Westend congregation since 1984. When the Calentines moved to Sheridan, Wyoming in the spring of 1998, Sid and Linda Bartell took up the St. Regis and Westend congregations. A retired Montana Air National Guard technician, Sid is our first graduate of the Bible Training Center for Pastors to enter pastoral work. Youth group has recently been resurrected in St. Regis, where Sid and Linda combine Bible teaching with basic living skills for the benefit of local young people.