Mission and Vision

Our Mission

Our mission is to help people Know Christ, Grow in Christ, and Share Christ with the world. A healthy disciple is someone who prioritizes three essential relationships: with God, with other disciples, and with those who do not yet believe. Our goal is to help people encounter Jesus, grow in spiritual maturity within community, and live generously and sacrificially to serve a world in need.

Our Vision

Our vision is to multiply healthy disciples and thriving churches who pursue gospel-transformation in Reno, Sparks and beyond. Vision is the better future we are aiming for. We long to see cities transformed by peace, justice, and beauty. We believe that the way to make this a reality is through multiplying disciples who make disciples and churches that plant churches.

Leadership

Staff

Glen Baeckel

Lead Pastor

Glen is a Southern California native who has been in ministry for over 20 years and joined Sierra Bible Church in 2019, stepping into the role of Lead Pastor in 2024. He and his wife Jessica have four kids, two in college and two in high school, who keep life interesting. Glen enjoys exploring God’s creation behind the wheel of his Jeep, always looking for the next great offroad adventure, and he still manages to hold on to his love for the New England Patriots.

René González

Pastor of Family Ministries

Originally from Guatemala, René was called to Sierra Bible Church from the Bay Area in August 2022. His ministry experience includes serving in Guatemala, Texas, California, and now, Nevada. Aside from his love for Jesus, his wife Ginny, and their kids, René enjoys mountain biking and just about anything that takes place outside.

Cassidy Hastings

Pastor of Ministry Development

Cassidy moved to Reno from Tennessee in 2005. He has been serving as a pastor at Sierra Bible Church since April 2007. One of his greatest loves is embarking on outdoor adventures with his family.

Angie Parker

Office Manager

Angie grew up in Reno and, after many moves with her military husband, returned in 2020 back to Nevada and her home church, Sierra Bible. She became Office Manager in 2025 after serving as administrator at The King’s Academy for four years. Angie loves spending time outdoors with her family and keeping up with her three boys.

Elders

Kyle Anderson
Glen Baeckel
René González
Mike Guersch
Cassidy Hastings
Brandon Stewart
Scott Wallace

Deacons

Steve & Heidi Timm

Deacons of Hospitality

Dani Hermle

Deacon of Music Ministry

Nina Anderson

Deacon of Women’s Ministry

Megan Wallace

Deacon of Kids’ Ministry

Christy Cronk

Deacon of AWANA

Darcy O’Loughlin

Deacon of Care

Aaron & Angie Parker

Deacons of Facilities

Jeff Cronk

Deacon of Finance

Our Beliefs

Sierra Bible Church is a part of the EFCA

The Evangelical Free Church of America is an association of autonomous churches that aligns itself with the same Statement of Faith.

For more information about the EFCA, click here.

We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.

The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men and the Divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.

We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel’s promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.

We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.

We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.

We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace.