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Idaho carpenter on mission to rebuild churches across Intermountain West

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Idaho carpenter on mission to rebuild churches across Intermountain West


Nathan Harden works at no cost on church buildings and the occasional pastor’s home across the Intermountain West.

He’s been volunteering full-time for 24 years.

“I just felt like the Lord was calling me to do something; I didn’t know what,” Harden recently told the Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention. “He freed me up from debt and stuff in my life, and I think He did it so I’d be free to come out here.”

That was in the year 2000. Harden had traveled from his home near Memphis, Tennessee, on a two-week missions trip to Bountiful, Utah, with others from Tennessee.

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“Bountiful is where the Lord said, ‘This is where I want you to come back to,’” Harden said.

Harden, a Southern Baptist “before he was born,” he said, had worked for 11 years as a service technician for Verizon communications company in the Memphis, Tennessee, area when he determined God wanted him in the West. One of those people with a gift for “fixing things,” he was a natural for a construction mission trip.

‘Kept calling me back’

Harden, then 35, traveled from Bountiful to Salmon, Idaho, to help work on an expansion of Salmon Valley Baptist Church’s building for a couple weeks before returning to Bountiful and then back to Salmon.

“The Lord kept calling me back,” Harden said. “They had plenty of work to do.”

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In the years since, Harden has been as far south as American Samoa and as far north as Calgary, Alberta, in Canada. He’s also worked for the Lord in Colorado, Montana, California and Wyoming.

“We do a lot of remodel and repair, more so than new buildings,” Harden said. “Cornerstone [Church,] the old First Southern [in Salt Lake City] was a remodel (the church now is named Gospel Light in Salt Lake City, a part of the Gospel Family of Churches). They had started demolition on the sanctuary interior. We took it from that demolished state and redid the entire sanctuary.

“At Crossroads [Church] in Sandy, they had a house that had been converted into a church,” Harden continued. “We remodeled their Sunday School [classrooms], bathrooms and entry points.”

He ramrodded the construction in 2012 of a new church building for Lemhi River Cowboy Church in Tendoy, Idaho, a mission of Salmon Valley Baptist Church.

“They wanted simple, a 30×80 [foot] building,” Harden said. “It was all missions teams that built it. I was kind of the foreman, oversaw it all, got material and did the finish work.

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“We were worshipping in it before finishing, four weeks after we started,” Harden continued. “It took seven or eight months to get it all completed. A lot of people from Salmon helped, some on a daily basis. We got help from all over the place.”

Harden estimates he’s worked on at least 80 churches, mostly in Utah and Idaho. He’s never had a major injury. “Mostly stitches, that’s the main thing,” Harden said. “I gave myself a black eye once with a crowbar.”

All in the family

Harden met, worked with and ultimately married Amber Watkins in 2006. “The Lord grew us together,” Harden said. The couple have two daughters.

“I felt a call to missions even before I met him,” Amber Harden said. “I help with construction, homeschool and whatever needs to be done.”

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Before their firstborn, Kelly, married, she “liked to roof, but mostly she loves loves loves meeting people,” Harden said. “She’s got friends all over Utah and Idaho.”

Faith, now 13, “loves to help roof and sometimes she likes to help with flooring,” Harden said. “She’ll paint. She’s getting to do a little bit of everything. She likes it for the most part.”

The Harden family is booked solid for June and July, but August still has some space. He works as a volunteer, but churches need to supply the materials.

“Rob Lee [executive director of the Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention] is good about letting me know what’s going on, and people just call me, and sometimes I hear about a project and call them up,” Harden said.

The state convention fundraised the money in 2008 for Harden to purchase a new Jayco Eagle fifth-wheel trailer, which he uses in his ministry. It has two bedrooms and one bath.

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“It just provides all our needs,” Amber Harden said.

Nathan and Amber Harden became Mission Service Corps self-funded missionaries endorsed by the North American Mission Board in 2010. The designation allows their donors who send them money through NAMB to receive a tax credit for their support of the ministry, which is not limited to construction.

“We help in VBS, camps and cook for the Southeast Idaho Rodeo Bible Camp three weekends out of the year,” Harden said. That’s in Downey the last week in June, Rigby the last week in July and Labor Day weekend in Jerome, Idaho.

“We also do work on pastors’ homes, and that’s mostly remodel and repair,” Harden continued. “We’ll work with mission teams on community projects like handicap ramps, and well, so many different things.”

Harden works year-round in construction on everything — framing, drywall, siding, roofing, flooring, paint, finish carpentry, concrete — except plumbing and electrical since he’s not licensed for them.

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“I’m going to keep doing what the Lord tells me to do,” Harden said. “I’m not going to change until He tells me to change.”

 

Note – This article was originally published by the Utah Idaho Southern Baptist Convention. Feature photo courtesy of UISBC.



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University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders

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University of Idaho professor awarded M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders


A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.

A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”

Ashley Guillard posted TikTok videos falsely linking a University of Idaho professor to the Idaho college murders, leading to a defamation lawsuit. TikTok/ashleyisinthebookoflife4

“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.

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“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”

Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.

Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.

The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.

Idaho murder victims Madison Mogen, 21, top left, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, bottom left, Ethan Chapin, 20, center, and Xana Kernodle, 20, right, and their two surviving roommates.

Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.

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Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”

The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.

Bryan Kohberger pleaded guilty to the savage slayings in July 2025 in a plea deal that took the death penalty off the table. AP

Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.

In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.

During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.

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The off-campus home where four University of Idaho students were stabbed to death on Nov. 17, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho. James Keivom

However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.

She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.

It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.

The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.

With Post wires

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Gas prices expected to exceed $3 as the Iran conflict prompts supply shortages

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Gas prices expected to exceed  as the Iran conflict prompts supply shortages


BOISE, Idaho — AAA is warning Idaho gas consumers that pump prices will likely rise as the conflict in Iran disrupts oil and gas supply chains worldwide.

The ongoing turmoil in the Middle East will likely push the price for a gallon of regular gasoline past the $3 mark over the coming days.

“On one hand, the crude oil market had time to account for some financial risk in the Middle East as forces mobilized, but a supply shortage somewhere affects the global picture,” says AAA Idaho public affairs director Matthew Conde. “If tankers can’t move products through the region, there could be ripple effects.”

On Monday, March 2, the average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is $2.97, reports AAA, which is 12 cents more expensive than it was a month ago but 20 cents less than this time last year.

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State / Price: 1 gallon of regular gasoline

  • Washington / $4.37
  • Oregon / $3.92
  • Nevada / $3.70
  • Idaho / $2.97
  • Colorado / $2.89
  • Montana / $2.82
  • Utah / $2.74
  • Wyoming / $2.73

In terms of the most expensive fuel in the nation, Idaho currently ranks #14. However, buying a gallon of regular gas in neighboring states such as Oregon and Washington could cost a whole dollar more. In contrast, gas prices in Utah, Montana, and Wyoming are anywhere between 15 to 24 cents cheaper than fuel in the Gem State.





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Idaho Lottery results: See winning numbers for Pick 3, Pick 4 on March 1, 2026

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The results are in for the Idaho Lottery’s draw games on Sunday, March 1, 2026.

Here’s a look at winning numbers for each game on March 1.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from March 1 drawing

Day: 7-2-3

Night: 2-7-6

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Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from March 1 drawing

Day: 4-7-9-3

Night: 8-7-7-3

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Idaho Cash numbers from March 1 drawing

03-06-07-33-41

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Check Idaho Cash payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Millionaire for Life numbers from March 1 drawing

10-11-12-35-56, Bonus: 04

Check Millionaire for Life payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the Idaho Lottery drawings held ?

  • Powerball: 8:59 p.m. MT Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • Mega Millions: 9 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Pick 3: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
  • Pick 4: 1:59 p.m. (Day) and 7:59 p.m. (Night) MT daily.
  • Lucky For Life: 8:35 p.m. MT Monday and Thursday.
  • Lotto America: 9 p.m. MT on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
  • 5 Star Draw: 8 p.m. MT on Tuesday and Friday.
  • Idaho Cash: 8 p.m. MT daily.
  • Millionaire for Life: 9:15 p.m. MT daily.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.



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