Emery Polelonema preaches at his ordination service at First Baptist Church in Centerfield, Utah (First Photo)

(First Photo by Rob Lee)

Emery and Lillie Polelonema posing for a photo (Second Photo)

(Second Photo by Anonymous)

RICHFIELD, Utah (BP) – In 1983 Emery and Lillie Polelonema were members of First Baptist Church when they became involved in a ministry for the Hmong, who had settled in the area as refugees following the Vietnam War. Emery didn’t know it at the time, but it would provide a strong example of discipleship that would eventually lead him to the pulpit as a layman.

An Arizona native, Emery had moved to central Utah years earlier after getting a job as an engineer with the Bureau of Land Management. At work, he became friends with Ken Kuhlman, a member of First Baptist (since renamed Sevier Valley Baptist Church) who eventually led Polelonema to Christ. Kuhlman and another church leader, Toy Rathashack, mentored Polelonema in the ministry as their wives did for Lillie.

Those lessons weren’t very sophisticated, Polelonema said, but nevertheless impactful in leading him to eventually enter the ministry.

“They walked the talk. It was just about helping people and telling them about Jesus,” he remembered. “I was there mainly to drive people around, but I watched. Ken and Martha would eat in others’ homes and sit on the floor with them. Ken taught me how to eat with them and even learn their language.”

Polelonema also saw different cultures engage around the gospel. He’s from the Hopi tribe; Lillie is Navajo. Rathashack was Laotian.

Excerpt from "No More Sitting Back, Utah Layman Answers the Call" by Scott Barkley. Created on March 4, 2022.