Getting to Know a New Lead Pastor

Crossway Network churches are committed to training and raising up pastors and team leaders through discipleship among our own. However, we also see God working in all different ways to get his appointed leaders in place. This last year, Mountain View Community Bozeman saw the fruit of a long time relationship between its planting pastor, Ashley Denton, and our brother who is now its new lead pastor, Grant Gubser. Enjoy Grant’s story posted here and be sure to pray for Mountain View Bozeman as they grow in 2022. Welcome to the Gubser family!

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Dear Crossway Network Family, 

It’s such an honor to have the opportunity to introduce myself along with my wife Brittany of 14 years, and four kids, Lively (8), Felicity (7), Bravery (5) and Gloria (3). Being born into a large Christian family, it was when I was only 5 years old that I chose to give my life to Jesus Christ. With my father an engineer, my mother a kitchen and bath designer, and three older sisters who were all equally talented in their own ways, I found myself seeking ways to stand out and please God with my life, but struggling knowing how to do so. My father has always been an amazing spiritual leader in our family, and led our family with the conviction that we were always on mission for the Lord, regardless of where we lived. This was important, as we moved to five different states before I went to college. Moving so frequently gave me the opportunity to hold on to Jesus as my constant, diving deep into church ministry whenever we moved to a new city. 

In my early teens, I found a love for worshiping Jesus and leading others to do the same. In middle school, a new youth pastor of mine introduced me to leading Bible studies, and helped me start one with two friends from my school. This was incredibly rewarding, as I saw a brotherhood form, and our walks with Christ being refined. That summer, I went to a summer camp where I received a clear calling into full time ministry. From that point in my life, I’ve never looked back. 

Throughout high school I was deeply involved in ministry at my church, including outreach events, mission trips, and Christian ministries within the public school system. While traveling with a Christian Speaker the summer before my senior year of High School, I met Brittany. She was one of the first Christian girls I knew who had a true love for Jesus and a desire to pursue full-time ministry, and then we found out we had already committed to the same Christian university, Ouachita Baptist University! We dated long distance our senior year, and then married halfway through college. 

Following graduation, we moved to Denver Colorado where I attended Denver Seminary to pursue a Master of Divinity degree. There I met Ashley Denton as one of my Outdoor Leadership professors, and I got involved in Mountain View Community Church’s Mountain View Backcountry ministry. For the three years of Denver Seminary, I volunteered as a trail guide for the church in Fort Collins, and fell in love with outdoor ministry. I also worked part time as a Lifegroups pastor at the church we attended at the time, Wellspring Colorado. 

Upon graduation at Denver Seminary, Brittany and I pursued an unexpected call to youth ministry in Virginia Beach, VA. My brother-in-law worked as a worship pastor at Trinity Church, and called me to come serve as the youth pastor. At Trinity, I served the youth group for seven years, seeing the 6th graders graduate from High School. During that time, our church grew rapidly, planting five new campuses. The elders asked me to lead one of the campuses, and so I stepped into that new leadership role. All the while, my relationship with Ashley Denton continued as we kept in touch and prayed for one another periodically. 

Brittany and I had our four kids in Virginia, and my love for pastoral ministry grew. We had a growing desire to plant a new campus, as starting a new congregation is one of the best ways to reach unbelievers. Simultaneously, I began pursuing a Doctorate in international church planting, and so our focus began to shift toward potentially planting a church campus in Spain. Those plans screeched to a halt once COVID hit, and so Brittany and I went back to the drawing board in prayer. We began to fast and pray for the Lord to clarify our next calling. On the last day of our fast around Easter of 2021, I received a message from Ashley asking if I would be interested in serving the church plant in Bozeman, MT. Normally, I would have politely declined the invitation, but due to the unique timing, I leaned into the question. 

From there things snowballed, and instead of moving east toward Spain, the Lord made it clear that we needed to move west to Montana! It has been such a wild ride, learning a new culture, exploring the core values of Crossway, and getting our family settled in a new city. We moved to Montana late July of 2021, and have been digging in ever since. We are so excited to join the church, reach the city for Christ, and help start new churches in the Western Region and around the world! Our prayer is that there will be a revival on Montana State University’s campus, as well as in our city. We want to see our Lifegroups live missionally in their unique locations. We want to see college students come to faith in Christ and be sent all over the world on mission for him. We want to see God’s kingdom come, God’s will be done, on earth as it is in heaven! 

Thank you for your support in every way, we look forward to getting to know everyone in the network even more, and serving the Lord faithfully together. Please don’t hesitate to reach out as I would love to connect with others in the network more! 

All for Jesus, 

Grant Gubser