“For Zion must increase in beauty, and in holiness; her borders must
be enlarged; her stakes must be strengthened; yea, verily I say unto
you, Zion must arise and put on her beautiful garments.”
D&C 82:14
The Draper Utah Suncrest Stake has roots dating back to the late 1990’s. The Draper South Mountain and Suncrest areas were experiencing significant and rapid growth. The Corner Canyon 13th Ward had over 825 members by the summer of 2003. That ward was split in September 2003, with the resulting newly-created ward in Suncrest called the South Mountain 9th Ward. The first bishop of the ward was Jimmy L. Ryan, with the 1st counselor Scott Standage and the 2nd counselor Douglas Racine. The Suncrest area continued with explosive growth. There were no church buildings in Suncrest, so the ward met in several different buildings in Sandy and Draper until the newly-constructed Suncrest Building was dedicated in December 2006.
As Suncrest continued to grow, the South Mountain 9th Ward was divided into 3 wards on the same day, creating the Suncrest 1st and 2nd Wards, along with the Eagle Crest Ward. The South Mountain 9th Ward had grown from a membership of 425 in 2003 to 925 members in 2006. About half of new move-ins were relocating from other parts of the Wasatch Front and the other half from out of state. The stake was very diverse in background. The South Mountain 9th Ward had students in 6 different high schools located in both Salt Lake and Utah counties.
When the Draper Suncrest Stake was first organized in August 2014, the Eagle Crest Building, which was designated as our stake center, had no stake offices or classrooms. During the first year, the stake presidency and stake leaders had offices and meetings held in classrooms in the Suncrest Building. The first stake presidency of the Draper Utah Suncrest Stake consisted of President Jimmy L. Ryan as president, along with President Eric Helt as 1st counselor and President Roger Adams as 2nd counselor. This presidency remained together throughout the entire first 9 years of the stake’s history.
When the Draper Utah Suncrest Stake was organized, the stake membership was just under 2,500. The growth of the stake has continued and currently is approximately 2,600. The stake initially had 6 wards – the Suncrest 1st, 2nd, and 3rd wards, along with the Eagle Crest 1st, 2nd and 3rd wards. As growth and membership location changes continued, there were a few ward boundary changes in order to accommodate ward needs. The Eagle Crest 2nd Ward experienced significant growth in part due to the development of the Hidden Canyon neighborhood and in February 2023 a seventh ward in the stake was formed – the Eagle Crest 4th Ward.
In a stake conference held in August 2023, Elder William K Jackson and Elder Blaine Maxfield attended to release our original stake presidency after having served valiantly and faithfully for nine years. Ryan Bott was called as the new stake president with Scott McAllister serving as 1st Counselor and Rick Sunderlage as 2nd Counselor.
“Verily I say unto you all: Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the
nations; And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her
stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from
wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth.” D&C 115:5 – 6