Leadership

Michael Waldrop, a native of Randolph, MS, is a graduate of Belmont University (Nashville, TN) and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (Cordova, TN). He has served in several church ministry positions, including Minister of Music (Neely’s Bend Baptist Church, Madison, TN), Associate Pastor (Randolph Baptist Church, Randolph, MS), and Pastor (Pittsboro First Baptist Church, Pittsboro, MS). Just prior to moving to Utah in 2011, he served from 2006-2011 as the Director of Missions for the Calhoun Baptist Association in Mississippi, leading an association of 47 churches in cooperative missions and ministry. In 2011, Michael and his family moved to Utah for the purpose of working toward a church for God’s glory being planted in St. George. Through this effort involving many people and multiple churches, by the grace and purpose of God, Desert Ridge Baptist Church was constituted on March 31, 2013! 

Raised in a Christian home, Michael was saved in 1979, led to the Lord by his parents, Gerald and Sammie Jo. During his teenage years, he began to sense God’s call to serve the church, which eventually led to Michael’s ordination as a gospel preacher in 1993. As he continued to seek the Lord’s will, he became more and more involved in missions, evangelism, and preaching/teaching the Word of God. 

Michael’s mission trips have included ministry in Canada, the Dominican Republic, Peru, Honduras, Nepal, and Russia. He has written articles published in The Great Commission Research Journal and the Journal of Evangelism and Missions. Studying the Bible and helping others to understand its redemptive message is a passion of Pastor Waldrop. 

Interests and hobbies include travel, reading, hiking (especially in the beautiful country around St. George!), and cheering on the Detroit Tigers and the Mississippi State Bulldogs. His best friend is his bride since 1994, Hope, and the couple has been blessed with three children, Whit, Jack, and Zoe. 

Jason Harris was born in Meridian, Mississippi, where he spent much of his early childhood before moving to Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is a graduate of Clark’s Summit University with a Bachelor of Science in Bible and The Expositor’s Seminary with a Master of Divinity. Jason spent ten years working in the emergency services field, however, after being saved as an adult, the Lord changed the trajectory of his life. In 2013, he began serving as a law enforcement chaplain, and in 2016 surrendered to full-time ministry. Jason then served as a revitalization Pastor in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, where he ministered in a rural church restart effort. After completing his responsibilities in Pennsylvania, Jason relocated back to North Carolina to complete seminary. He then began working with a Christian missions organization while also serving in the college and career ministry at Twin City Bible Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

In 2022, Jason came to Desert Ridge Baptist Church with a desire to see biblically sound, disciple-making churches planted in Utah. He currently serves as Associate Pastor with primary responsibilities in church planting/missions. Jason is also a counselor with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors and provides Scripture-based counseling services through the ministry of DRBC. 

Jason has been married to his wonderful wife, Christine, since 2007, and they have two boys, Macon and Weston. They enjoy spending time together in the great outdoors, camping, mountain biking, and beholding God’s majesty through His creation.