about us | Our Staff
Daniel Schilling,Campus Pastor
Hi everyone! I am Daniel and I was born and raised in the great state of Minnesota. I attended and was confirmed in an ELCA Lutheran Church. I grew up knowing and loving Jesus and I always knew God had something great in store for me. After high school I joined the Marine Corp and served for six years, moved back to MN and then work took me out to Oregon. It was in Oregon where I met Brienne, who is now my wife. She was headed back to Utah and told me if I wanted to keep dating her and see what God has planned for our relationship I could follow her…So to Utah I did go.
There were many phases in my life when I would put God on the side lines, but as I look back, it’s amazing to see His hand guiding me back to Him. In the fall of 2010, through prayer and encouragement I discovered what it was that God wanted me to do: to become a pastor.
I have had the salient opportunity of learning what it means to give myself to God and trust in His direction for my life. I believe it is experiences like this that really help us understand what it means to submit to and trust in God.
My background involves numerous jobs/activities that have helped me develop into the person I am today. All these life lessons have helped build me to be able to take on a roll such as the one that God has chosen for me. I feel truly blessed that He trusts and believes in me enough to allow me to be one of His disciples. I couldn’t be happier to be here!!
- Daniel is an avid water-skier and wake boarder. You can find him cutting up Pineview Reservoir during the summer in the evenings and on his days off.
- Daniel met and married Brienne (what she saw in me I still wonder) and they are blessed to have a daughter as beautiful and wonderful as Emersyn.
- Daniel has a B.S. in Business Administration from Weber State University.
- Daniel loves sports: watching and competing. Favorite teams include the MN Vikings, Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 in NASCAR and the Utah Jazz.
If you would like to contact Daniel, please contact him at daniel.s@theheightscommunity.org
Matt Francis, Children/Student Ministry Director
I was born and raised in Ogden, UT. My parents educated my brother and I at home and steeped our lives with the riches of God’s Love. I was brought up in Washington Heights Church and enjoyed the community there. I asked Jesus to come into my heart while on a mission trip to inner-city Ogden in Jr. High. After I graduated high school, God revealed that he wanted me to pursue ministering to students full time.
So I did the only reasonable thing to do when one receives the Call. I went to film school. I moved to Florida and attend university there. I resisted God’s call because I was afraid that it would mean that I couldn’t “have fun” anymore and put God on the back-burner.
Graduation day came and I realized that I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I journeyed back to Utah and reconnected with my old church family at Washington Heights. Chad Holladay asked me to intern for him in the Junior High ministry and my heart was again stirred for students. After a year-long stint with Chad and Convergent, I decided to follow God’s call and enter into His ministry full-time.
God gave me a great home here at Bountiful Heights Church and serving Him is the most fun I’ve had in my life.
- Matt is a camera enthusiast and has a collection of vintage cameras, motion and still. He finds peace and solitude with God while on photo-trips through Utah’s wilderness.
- Matt unlike many guys his age has absolutely no interest in watching sports. He does, however, enjoy playing many sports: golf, disc golf, snowboarding and skiing, wheelchair basketball, paintball, soccer and assorted video games.
- Matt earned a B.S. in Film from Full Sail University in 2008.
- Matt loves a good pun.
If you would like to contact Matt, please contact him at matt.f@theheightscommunity.org
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Cindy Huntress
• Connection
• Worship
If you would like to contact Cindy, please contact her at cindy.h@theheightscommunity.org
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The Heights Community Teaching Team
Roy Gruber, Lead Pastor
I was born and raised in northern New Jersey. I grew up attending church, but it was just something I did and something I planned to give up once I was old enough to make my own decisions about church. God changed that when I was 16 as He made Himself real, personal and extended His grace to me. As I experienced God, Jesus became more than a name, and His death on the cross was not only something to be known but embraced personally.
This experience impacted me to have a great passion and deep conviction to share God’s desire for a relationship with all people, whether those folks have never attended a church or grew up in one. This experience also helped me realize that church is not for the purpose of “going through the motions” or merely being spiritual but rather it is about the thrill-ride that is the love and the power of God that transforms lives, families and communities.
- Roy received a Bachelor’s degree in Biblical Literature from Northeastern Bible College and a Master’s Degree from Biblical Theological Seminary.
- Roy married out of his league in 1988 to Sally. They have two children: Chelsey and Ryan.
- He enjoys snowboarding, coaching youth soccer and running and hopes to one day run the Boston Marathon.
If you would like to contact Roy, please contact his assistant Michel Vigil at michel.v@theheightscommunity.org
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Benjer McVeigh, Student Pastor (WHC campus), Grades 9-12
I was born in Iowa and raised in Colorado. In fact, I spent most of my middle school and high school years wandering the beautiful Colorado Mountains. Being curious about my best friend’s faith, I started attending church services and an InterVarsity Bible study during my first semester in college. During that semester, I encountered Jesus and trusted in Him for the first time. This experience has given me a passion for sharing Christ with people who do not yet know Him, especially teenagers. I know firsthand that through Jesus our deepest needs are met.
- Benjer is married to Jennifer, the best companion for the Journey he could ever ask for. They met working together with youth and fell in love while leading a ministry to young adults in south Denver. Together they have two beautiful daughters, Bethany and Samantha.
- Benjer received a bachelor’s degree from Colorado College studying mathematics, and a master of divinity degree from Denver Seminary with an emphasis in youth ministry. He loves spending time with his family, playing the piano, reading, and coaching youth sports.
If you would like to contact Benjer, please contact his assistant Angie Mood at angie.m@theheightscommunity.org
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Jimi Pitts, Connection and Mission Pastor (WHC campus)
Hi I’m Jimi. Where did I grow up? Well that’s a loaded question since I moved from one coast to the other during the first 18 years of life; from California to North Carolina feeling like a gypsy not sure where to plant my feet. It was during my families’ earlier gypsy travels that God chased me into His arms. As a young boy I found myself in a hospital for over a month in traction, due to a car accident. It was here that I truly began to live life with meaning and purpose. . .
So how did I end up in Utah? Family. I moved to Utah in 1991 and have been here ever since. By God’s grace I’ve been a part of the Washington Heights for 15 years in various roles and positions. At Washington Heights, I have experienced true community and church family.
- I’ve had the great opportunity to “marry up” to my beautiful wife Shelby and we have three beautiful daughters; Tessa, Ariel, and Talia.
- My favorite place to travel – the place I haven’t been
- Most exotic foods I’ve eaten – bat, tarantula, dog, rotten fish soup and blended cow
- My hobbies – hanging out with my wife, kids, and hiking
- My passions – God, the lost and the poor
If you would like to contact Jimi, please contact his assistant Jan Bowser at jan.b@theheightscommunity.org
