About Us
Our church began as a small group Bible study in 1950. The American Sunday School Union supplied preachers during the 1960’s for meetings held in the local school house. Our first building was completed in 1975, and in 1984, we began receiving full-time pastoral leadership from Village Missions, an organization which specializes in rural church ministry across North America.
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In 1994, we were given a little over an acre of land located right along the highway, so we sold the old property to another church and began construction on the new site in 1998. We constructed another facility in 2002 and converted the previous building into the parsonage and office.
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Yet it wasn’t long before we outgrew that 50-seat building. So we doubled our seating capacity with a new sanctuary in 2009, and we converted the previous building into classrooms. Then a number of years later, we added a larger building for classrooms, and the smaller classroom building became our fellowship hall in 2020. In all these projects, the Lord was so gracious to meet all our construction needs without any debt. Now, we continue to pray and look to God for more years of faithfulness.
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Tonto Basin Bible Church is affiliated with Village Missions (VM). VM was founded in 1948 to provide assistance for rural churches throughout the United States and Canada. They currently serve about 200 rural mission fields. VM helps these communities by providing a full-time pastor to local churches that could not otherwise afford one. Through VM, the pastor and his family are guaranteed a minimum base salary, a health-plan, and a parsonage. VM is an independent, non-denominational ministry organization. They do not exercise any governmental control over the churches they serve, so the local churches function as independent community fellowships.
Meet Our Pastor
Robert Melotti graduated with a Master of Divinity Degree from Talbot School of Theology in Los Angeles, California.
His wife Stephanie graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Child Development from Cal State Fullerton. In March of 2010, they adopted Annelise as a newborn.
The Melotti’s have been serving Tonto Basin Bible Church since 2001.
Our Doctrine
We Believe...
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The supernatural and plenary inspiration of the Scriptures—that they are inerrant and that their teaching and authority are absolute, supreme, final and complete;
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The trinity of the Godhead—One God in three Persons; God, the Father; God, the Son; and God, the Holy Spirit;
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The personality of God; the personality, sinlessness and deity of Jesus Christ, begotten of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, very God and very Man; the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit;
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The resurrection of Jesus Christ—that His body was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that He ascended into Heaven and sits on the right hand of God as the believer's Advocate;
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The sinfulness of man—that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, are totally depraved and need a Savior from sin;
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The Atonement—that Jesus Christ became the sinner's propitiating substitute sacrifice for sin through His death on the cross and that this perfect and completed cross-work of Christ is freely offered to the whole world;
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The necessity of the new birth—salvation is by grace through faith and not of works; saving faith will maintain good works in the life of the believer;
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The literal resurrection of the body, both of the just and of the unjust;
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The everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the everlasting punishment of the lost;
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The evangelization of the world—the supreme mission of the church in this age is to preach the gospel to every creature;
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The literal second coming of Christ back to earth according to Scripture.
Church Life Distinctives
Preaching & Scripture: We are committed to an expository style of preaching where messages are drawn straight from specific passages of Scripture. We consistently read, study, meditate on, and obey the Bible as our highest rule of faith and practice.
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Worship: We are committed to the worship of God through music and song. Our style is a mixture of both traditional and contemporary.
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Prayer: We are committed to teaching and practicing regular prayer, and this includes praying as a church body, praying in small groups, and individual praying at the personal level. We respect others who differ with us, but we do not pray in tongues.
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Christian Education: We are committed to Christian Education through our Sunday School and Small Group Bible study program. We believe these are essential for the growth and maturing of people’s faith in Christ.
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Ministry: We are committed to involving as many people as possible in ministry and service to Christ. The Bible expects all believers to be serving and using their spiritual gifts in the body of Christ. We are committed to training believers how to effectively serve in various ministries inside and outside the church.
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Outreach & Missions: We are committed to evangelism within our local community, and we strive to schedule regular outreach events. We also train and encourage members to engage in personal peer-to-peer evangelism. Our church is also committed to missions, both domestically and overseas. Missions is part of our annual budget as we provide monthly support to specific missionaries.
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Fellowship: We are committed to biblical fellowship and schedule regular gatherings of the church family throughout each year in order to stimulate the deepening of relationships.
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Family & Marriage: We are committed to serving the entire family (dads, moms & children), and we believe that Scripture defines marriage as between one man and one woman for life. We also believe there are only two genders (male & female), permanently assigned by God at conception.