Pastor Chad Biar, arrived in Fallon from Phoenix Arizona amid the Corona virus pandemic to be the new Pastor for St. John's Lutheran Church. What an environment to start as a new Pastor in. But he did bring with him an upbeat attitude and a sense of humor, along with his family.
St. John's was without a Pastor for about two months before Biar arrived. Pastor Alan Hilton, his predecessor, retired in June but before he did, he started the process to bring in a new pastor to ensure continued leadership in the Church. Biar moved to Fallon as the Pastor for St. Johns's in July of 2020, bringing with him his wife, Magdalena whom he met while at the Seminary. They recently had a daughter, Lydia, who just turned seven weeks old.
Biar looks to the future for St. John's, and growing the congregation is a high priority for him recognizing that the congregation is aging. To increase interest, the Church is offering weekly chapels for youths, and Biar is trying to restart the youth Cross Explorers program. The Church also held Vacation Bible School this summer for three- to five-year old children and had about 30 attendees. He also started a youth group that meets the first two Saturdays of each month where they have pizza and watch a movie during the first week, then do a formal bible study on the themes of the movie during the second week. Biar refers to himself as a “cinephile” saying, “I love films and storytelling. The hypothesis is that Christ's death and resurrection is the most important event in history, and it ripples throughout our culture. So, whether consciously or not, the themes of Christ's sacrificial love make their way into our culture and into our movies. So we analyze movies, and find a lot of Christian imagery to discuss. And the pizza helps to keep them engaged too.”
Fallon is Biar's first Pastor assignment. For him, Fallon can be a lifetime assignment if he and the congregation concur. He said, “I am basically here until I retire, do something scandalous enough to get myself defrocked, or another church calls me and I accept that call.”
When asked what he thought about Fallon as a small town, especially compared to Phoenix, he said, “I'm still getting used to the small town stuff. In the Phoenix area, there are five different cities merged into one. You can drive on the freeway there for two hours and never leave the city limits.”
A little more prodding into his background revealed that he considers himself a huge geek. He said, “Before going into the Seminary, I started a Dungeons and Dragons club at my church. I like comic books , fantasy, sci-fi, and I watch the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy as a New Year's Eve tradition.” He also says he's somewhat of a musician. He said his mom made him take six years of piano in high school and he was still terrible at it. He did sing in choirs in high school and college, and also played hand bells in a band called Desert Bells International which brought them all all around the globe to play - Australia. Chine, Prague, Hungary, and Austria. - and with the Phoenix Symphony's Christmas concerts. He also plays bagpipes, although he admits that finding a place to practice these days is a challenge. Chuckling he said, “I have a seven-week-old daughter in the house now, so loud noises are not something you want happening at home. But maybe in the Sanctuary, when it's not in use.”
St John's Lutheran Church is located at 1170 South Taylor Street, on the corner of Merton Street, offering Sunday worship services, devotions and bible studies, as well as child, youth, adult, music and women's ministries. Adult bible studies are held on Sundays at 8:30 a.m., followed by Sunday services at 10:00 a.m. Services are also offered on Wednesdays.
St. John's Lutheran Church was originally chartered in 1918, starting in a small building located on the corner of Schurz Highway and Lone Tree Road until 1986 when it broke ground on the new building in its current location. St. John's Room to Grow Child Care Center was added in 1993, offering early childhood development programs in a Christian care setting.
St. John's is a member of the California-Nevada-Hawaii (CNH) District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). The Church office can be reached at 775-423-4146. Their website is https://www.stjohnsfallon.org/home
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