Outpost Stories
2025 Senior Girls
As we get close to the end of this school year, our mailboxes fill with graduation announcements, and we wanted to highlight a few of our Outpost seniors! These three girls have all been a part of Outpost since its humble beginnings in the Rec Center hallway, and now they are ready to launch from our midst. Take a moment to read the three vignettes and share in the joy of young hearts determined to seek the Lord as they head on to various post-graduation adventures!
Read the full story
If Katie Dewey had written her own story, it probably would not have included the loss of an older brother whom she never met, or her parents’ divorce, or the presence of a cancer gene that traced a frightening line of disease through her family tree. And yet, without those chapters of her story, Katie wouldn’t have learned to trust God with her whole heart. Read her story to see how God met Katie in the middle of her “mess” and transformed her into a girl whose feet are firmly planted in His truth.
Katie: I grew up in Cody. My parents were Christians, and I attended a private Chrisitan school in my late elementary years. There, I started to equate Bible reading with my homework – something I had to check off my to-do list. It wasn’t something I did because I loved the Lord or wanted to know Him better. Two years later, I started attending public school, where I made friends who influenced me in negative ways. Eventually, I began to act a lot like those friends. I still attended church and youth group, but that identity was a façade. It wasn’t who I really was. I never shared my struggles with anyone; I didn’t have friends who were encouraging me to seek God.
Around that time, Katie’s parents began to fight. Her mother had decided to pursue a relationship with a woman – a decision that confused and hurt Katie. The friends Katie had surrounded herself with didn’t share her anguish or understand how serious the situation was. Loneliness crept in as Katie navigated the murky waters of her family’s rift.
Katie: We started attending Outpost. For the first time I really began to understand the Bible and to open my heart to God. I went to the youth group and was amazed at how comfortable people were sharing their hurts and struggles with each other. I made friends whom I could trust and share my life with.
Katie’s mom moved to Utah, while Katie and her brother stayed in Cody with their father. That season was challenging and bewildering. Katie felt hurt and angry because of her mom’s choices, but also ached for missing her. Then, Katie’s brother was diagnosed with bone cancer. This was the second Dewey son to battle cancer; a cancerous brain tumor had taken older brother Dustin’s life at the age of six.
Katie: To have cancer reoccur in our family was really devastating. It brought up old hurts and trauma. Keith had to go to Salt Lake for treatment. My dad was traveling back and forth to be with him, and my mom was struggling with so much grief and fear. Keith was alone at times fighting cancer. All of us were separated and just struggling in our own ways.
For Katie, that period felt lonely and helpless. But she continued to lean on her friends from youth group. As she learned more about God’s unfathomable love, she drew near to Him, asking Him to be Lord of her life. She began to trust God with her brokenness and fear.
Katie: I learned to trust God and give Him my burdens. I found a few verses that really spoke to me during that time. John 13:7 says, “Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.’” In context, He’s talking to Peter about washing his feet, but the message felt so personal to me. I couldn’t understand God’s plan at the time, but He was working, and I trusted Him.
Katie also drew strength from Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” As she laid her burdens at the feet of Jesus, He gave her peace.
Katie: This is my testimony. I could choose to be angry about divorce, or cancer, or the things that have happened in my family, but I look back and realize I wouldn’t have sought God without those things. You can’t predict what God is doing. I don’t have to be torn down by the bad things, but I can use those hurts to help others.
Katie is headed to University of Wyoming in the fall, where she intends to study counseling. Eventually, she hopes to become a family counselor, working with children in crisis. She is also eager to take action on campus, sharing her faith with fellow students and giving an account for the hope she has found in Jesus.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
On the December day when Kaitlin Ennist gave her life to Jesus Christ, she didn’t grasp that Her Savior wanted not just access to her heart, but her WHOLE heart. It took wading through challenging circumstances, confronting sin patterns, and restructuring her sense of identity for Kaitlin to fully surrender to the Lord of her life. Read her story to see how God revealed Himself as the “one good thing” Kaitlin needed.
Kaitlin: I wasn’t raised in a family that was pursuing Christ together. My parents had stopped going to church before I can remember, even though they are professing Christians. It wasn’t until 5th grade that I really began to hear about Jesus. Rather, my growing-up years revolved around seeking perfection in school and sports, and desiring approval from the adults in my life. It wasn’t until my older sister Allie started attending youth group that I really heard the Gospel for the first time.
As a 6th grader, Kaitlin had the opportunity to join Allie at youth group, and her life began to change. At a Christmas party at the church, youth pastor Greg shared the Gospel. He challenged the students to search their hearts, and to stand and declare “God is good!” if they believed that Jesus was Lord. Kaitlin’s heart pounded within her.
Kaitlin: My soul was just longing for this unwavering love that Greg was preaching about. I stood up and said “God is good!” That night, I prayed at the foot of my bed and accepted Jesus Christ into my heart. That summer I was baptized, and, for about a year, I was on a spiritual high.
In 8th grade, Kaitlin’s fledgling faith was tested through unexpected family challenges. Her mom became ill and was hospitalized – first in Cody, then Billings, and then Denver – as doctors tried to discern the cause of her sickness and treat her symptoms through multiple surgeries. The emotional challenges of being separated, the financial challenges of a long-term illness, and the day-to-day struggles of figuring out normal life when life wasn’t normal took their toll on the family. In the midst of those struggles, they also grew closer, especially Kaitlin and Allie.
Kaitlin: I was struggling in a lot of ways. I was hiding an addiction to masturbation. I was holding onto my pride in grades and athletic achievement and was consumed by getting straight A’s and being good at basketball. I was arrogant and prideful at school, though I played the part of a good, Christian girl at youth group. I became depressed and anxious. I questioned my faith and wondered why God had allowed my mom to be so sick.
Around that time, Allie and Katie began attending Outpost. Though Kaitlin was still holding onto her deeply personal sin struggles, she found herself in an environment where people who whole-heartedly loved Jesus were seeking to walk faithfully by confessing their sins to each other, turning from them, and holding one another accountable. It didn’t take long for Kaitlin to follow suit.
Kaitlin: I started to turn away from my sins and confessed them to my youth group one night. I learned that others shared my struggles and found that we could hold each other up in those things. When we were placed into a community group, it was initially a struggle to meld cliques. But we started to dive into ReGen together, and that drew us closer. I realized I was still struggling with depression, anger, anxiety and pride, making grades and sports an idol. ReGen helped me come face to face with my sin, learn the value of devoting daily, start praying without ceasing, and relying on my community to admonish and hold me accountable.
As Kaitlin grew in her faith and continued to peel back layers of her heart and life to surrender to Jesus, she found that basketball was a sticky layer. It was the one thing she couldn’t quite surrender, an idol that stole her focus away from Christ. Then, a strange health issue cropped up, leaving Kaitlin exhausted and shaky when she tried to play. Depression and anxiety overwhelmed her heart, but she sought the Lord, stuck with her community, and continued working through the steps of ReGen.
Kaitlin: I remember a specific week where we were talking about surrendering everything to God. I prayed and fully surrendered basketball to the Lord. I told my group I was done playing basketball. I had to be broken so that God could piece me back together.
That summer, Kaitlin decided to jump into faith with both feet – to trust God fully and live in surrender to Him. She began to study her Bible daily and to apply its Truth to her life as a student, an athlete, and an ambassador for Christ. As she moved through her junior and senior years, she learned to apply both Colossians 3:23 (“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”) and Psalm 16:2 (“I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’”) to sports and scholarship. She was able to reorient her heart to seek God first and foremost, which allowed her to participate in soccer and to pursue academic excellence without making idols of those things.
Kaitlin: My senior year ended up being kind of a whirlwind. My sister had gotten married, and I really missed her. We are even closer now, but it was hard. I faced depression again. The Lord continues to meet me where I am, to show me how loving and good He is. I have learned to lament the hard things while clinging to trust in the Lord and experiencing His joy. My story isn’t about me; it’s about the Savior of the world who knows each of us by name and died to give us life. I am learning to be rooted and established in Christ, as it says in Colossians 2:7.
In the fall, Kaitlin will be joining Restoring Hope International in Welkon, South Africa, for a six month mission. The Lord turned her heart towards Africa, and is directing her one step at a time as she seeks to follow Him and serve Him with her fully-surrendered life.
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and build up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."
Colossians 2:7
Shifting back and forth between homes and families left young Maighan Motsch confused, emotional, and dependent on others for her sense of security. While both sets of her parents were Christians, Maighan didn’t recognize or understand that Christ’s love could sustain her or comfort her during hard times. And, even after she gave her life to Jesus, long-held patterns of codependency led her to seek security and belonging in the wrong places. Read her story to see how the Lord slowly stripped away her false dependencies and showed her that He alone is the One who can fill her heart, hold her up, and give her lasting peace.
Maighan: My parents divorced when I was three. Both of my parents remarried a few years later, and there was a lot of back and forth between homes. The shuffling between families was hard on my sisters and me in different ways. For me, it introduced early issues with codependency, as I was emotional and things often felt unstable. My parents were Christians, but I didn’t have my own relationship with God. I didn’t realize or understand that God could offer me comfort.
Maighan saw Christianity as merely one thread of life – something to “do” on Sunday mornings, not THE thread that could hold her life together.
In middle school, after learning the basics of anatomy, Maighan decided to test her newfound knowledge against the “truth” on the Internet. This led to an exposure and then an addiction to pornography, as well as experimentation with masturbation.
Maighan: A few things happened simultaneously to help me break those patterns. One was that Covid hit, and we were doing school at home. That meant I had more accountability, more restrictions around using the computer. That helped. I also confessed to my parents, and I ended up staying at home to do online school after things reopened. I started going to youth group, and I was beginning to sense that having a relationship with God could actually mean more than Sunday church attendance. It could actually be everything, a whole way of life.
The Motsch family was one of the first families to join Outpost when the church launched in late 2020. For Maighan, the teaching on whole-hearted devotion and the idea that worship was intended to be more than a once-a-week occurrence was mind-boggling. She believed in her heart that Jesus was her Savior, took the step of baptism, and began to study her Bible on her own. She wanted to know and be known, to truly be a part of a vibrant and Christ-centered community.
Maighan: I was placed in a community group. At first it was hard. We were made up of little cliques, and it took a while for the whole group to open up and get close to each other. We did share our testimonies, and learned that our sin struggles were common. That helped all of us. We went through Regen as a group, and that really drew us closer. I went back to public school my sophomore year. It wasn’t perfect; our community still had differences and didn’t always perfectly mesh. But those girls were becoming my “people.” I was growing. We were all growing, and learning to be authentic as we walked with God together.
The summer before Maighan’s junior year, she and younger sister Mia spent a month with their mom in Washington. At the end of the visit, Mia decided to stay indefinitely while Maighan returned to Cody.
Maighan: I hadn’t realized how much I depended on Mia. We had always shared a room, and I found that I couldn’t sleep without her. I was exhausted and became depressed and anxious. I felt isolated from my community group; I had convinced myself that they had grown closer and left me behind while I was in Washington.
In that fog of sleepless loneliness, Maighan drew inward instead of finding comfort in God’s unchanging love. The months were dark and shadowy, depression clouding the light. Instead of reminding herself of biblical Truth, Megan rehearsed lies. Convinced she needed a human to be close to, Maighan sought the attention of boys – one boy, in particular. She drew closer to him, pushing away both her God and the friends who wanted to turn her back towards Him.
Late night emails turned to a dating relationship, and, eventually, to clandestine meetings in the boy’s bedroom where Maighan’s ideals of purity were cast aside.
Maighan: I was stressed and sad and disgusted with myself. I knew that this relationship wasn’t love, but I felt stuck because of what I had given to him. I was searching for wholeness in all the wrong places. I started avoided people, missing youth group, just staying away from my friends… because I felt so ashamed. I needed Jesus so badly, but I refused to turn back to Him. I could feel His presence, at times, trying to give me a way out, trying to turn me away from my sin. He was relentless and kind in His pursuit of me, but I was too stubborn to turn to Him. The darkness continued for a while. I kept pulling away from my friends; I contemplated suicide. When the boy eventually broke up with me in May, I felt so broken and covered with shame.
In His kindness, the Lord used others to speak truth into Maighan’s life. Her parents encouraged her to read devotions on the way to school. Kaitlin invited her to read the Bible together in the mornings. And Maighan slowly began to read the Bible again herself.
Maighan: I drew so close to the Lord. I read and journaled and prayed. When I really confessed and opened up to my friends, their forgiveness and love helped me to also experience God’s. I do know now that I am forgiven and loved. For a while, I felt like I couldn’t apologize enough times to make things right, but I know Jesus’ sacrifice is enough to cover my sins. That time was terrible because of the choices I made and the hurt I went through. But it was also good, because the Lord used it to help me learn to depend on Him for my identity and belonging instead of being dependent on other people.
As Maighan continues to seek rootedness in Christ, she has found solace in Philippians 4:6-7, which says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” God’s perfect peace can guard her heart from sin, and anxiety, and the lies that seek to tangle her thoughts.
In the fall, Maighan will begin pursuing a nursing degree from Northwest College, while continuing to grow her relationship with the Lord, and learning to depend on Him alone.
Outpost Stories
2025 Senior Girls
As we get close to the end of this school year, our mailboxes fill with graduation announcements, and we wanted to highlight a few of our Outpost seniors! These three girls have all been a part of Outpost since its humble beginnings in the Rec Center hallway, and now they are ready to launch from our midst. Take a moment to read the three vignettes and share in the joy of young hearts determined to seek the Lord as they head on to various post-graduation adventures!
Read the full story
If Katie Dewey had written her own story, it probably would not have included the loss of an older brother whom she never met, or her parents’ divorce, or the presence of a cancer gene that traced a frightening line of disease through her family tree. And yet, without those chapters of her story, Katie wouldn’t have learned to trust God with her whole heart. Read her story to see how God met Katie in the middle of her “mess” and transformed her into a girl whose feet are firmly planted in His truth.
Katie: I grew up in Cody. My parents were Christians, and I attended a private Chrisitan school in my late elementary years. There, I started to equate Bible reading with my homework – something I had to check off my to-do list. It wasn’t something I did because I loved the Lord or wanted to know Him better. Two years later, I started attending public school, where I made friends who influenced me in negative ways. Eventually, I began to act a lot like those friends. I still attended church and youth group, but that identity was a façade. It wasn’t who I really was. I never shared my struggles with anyone; I didn’t have friends who were encouraging me to seek God.
Around that time, Katie’s parents began to fight. Her mother had decided to pursue a relationship with a woman – a decision that confused and hurt Katie. The friends Katie had surrounded herself with didn’t share her anguish or understand how serious the situation was. Loneliness crept in as Katie navigated the murky waters of her family’s rift.
Katie: We started attending Outpost. For the first time I really began to understand the Bible and to open my heart to God. I went to the youth group and was amazed at how comfortable people were sharing their hurts and struggles with each other. I made friends whom I could trust and share my life with.
Katie’s mom moved to Utah, while Katie and her brother stayed in Cody with their father. That season was challenging and bewildering. Katie felt hurt and angry because of her mom’s choices, but also ached for missing her. Then, Katie’s brother was diagnosed with bone cancer. This was the second Dewey son to battle cancer; a cancerous brain tumor had taken older brother Dustin’s life at the age of six.
Katie: To have cancer reoccur in our family was really devastating. It brought up old hurts and trauma. Keith had to go to Salt Lake for treatment. My dad was traveling back and forth to be with him, and my mom was struggling with so much grief and fear. Keith was alone at times fighting cancer. All of us were separated and just struggling in our own ways.
For Katie, that period felt lonely and helpless. But she continued to lean on her friends from youth group. As she learned more about God’s unfathomable love, she drew near to Him, asking Him to be Lord of her life. She began to trust God with her brokenness and fear.
Katie: I learned to trust God and give Him my burdens. I found a few verses that really spoke to me during that time. John 13:7 says, “Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.’” In context, He’s talking to Peter about washing his feet, but the message felt so personal to me. I couldn’t understand God’s plan at the time, but He was working, and I trusted Him.
Katie also drew strength from Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” As she laid her burdens at the feet of Jesus, He gave her peace.
Katie: This is my testimony. I could choose to be angry about divorce, or cancer, or the things that have happened in my family, but I look back and realize I wouldn’t have sought God without those things. You can’t predict what God is doing. I don’t have to be torn down by the bad things, but I can use those hurts to help others.
Katie is headed to University of Wyoming in the fall, where she intends to study counseling. Eventually, she hopes to become a family counselor, working with children in crisis. She is also eager to take action on campus, sharing her faith with fellow students and giving an account for the hope she has found in Jesus.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
On the December day when Kaitlin Ennist gave her life to Jesus Christ, she didn’t grasp that Her Savior wanted not just access to her heart, but her WHOLE heart. It took wading through challenging circumstances, confronting sin patterns, and restructuring her sense of identity for Kaitlin to fully surrender to the Lord of her life. Read her story to see how God revealed Himself as the “one good thing” Kaitlin needed.
Kaitlin: I wasn’t raised in a family that was pursuing Christ together. My parents had stopped going to church before I can remember, even though they are professing Christians. It wasn’t until 5th grade that I really began to hear about Jesus. Rather, my growing-up years revolved around seeking perfection in school and sports, and desiring approval from the adults in my life. It wasn’t until my older sister Allie started attending youth group that I really heard the Gospel for the first time.
As a 6th grader, Kaitlin had the opportunity to join Allie at youth group, and her life began to change. At a Christmas party at the church, youth pastor Greg shared the Gospel. He challenged the students to search their hearts, and to stand and declare “God is good!” if they believed that Jesus was Lord. Kaitlin’s heart pounded within her.
Kaitlin: My soul was just longing for this unwavering love that Greg was preaching about. I stood up and said “God is good!” That night, I prayed at the foot of my bed and accepted Jesus Christ into my heart. That summer I was baptized, and, for about a year, I was on a spiritual high.
In 8th grade, Kaitlin’s fledgling faith was tested through unexpected family challenges. Her mom became ill and was hospitalized – first in Cody, then Billings, and then Denver – as doctors tried to discern the cause of her sickness and treat her symptoms through multiple surgeries. The emotional challenges of being separated, the financial challenges of a long-term illness, and the day-to-day struggles of figuring out normal life when life wasn’t normal took their toll on the family. In the midst of those struggles, they also grew closer, especially Kaitlin and Allie.
Kaitlin: I was struggling in a lot of ways. I was hiding an addiction to masturbation. I was holding onto my pride in grades and athletic achievement and was consumed by getting straight A’s and being good at basketball. I was arrogant and prideful at school, though I played the part of a good, Christian girl at youth group. I became depressed and anxious. I questioned my faith and wondered why God had allowed my mom to be so sick.
Around that time, Allie and Katie began attending Outpost. Though Kaitlin was still holding onto her deeply personal sin struggles, she found herself in an environment where people who whole-heartedly loved Jesus were seeking to walk faithfully by confessing their sins to each other, turning from them, and holding one another accountable. It didn’t take long for Kaitlin to follow suit.
Kaitlin: I started to turn away from my sins and confessed them to my youth group one night. I learned that others shared my struggles and found that we could hold each other up in those things. When we were placed into a community group, it was initially a struggle to meld cliques. But we started to dive into ReGen together, and that drew us closer. I realized I was still struggling with depression, anger, anxiety and pride, making grades and sports an idol. ReGen helped me come face to face with my sin, learn the value of devoting daily, start praying without ceasing, and relying on my community to admonish and hold me accountable.
As Kaitlin grew in her faith and continued to peel back layers of her heart and life to surrender to Jesus, she found that basketball was a sticky layer. It was the one thing she couldn’t quite surrender, an idol that stole her focus away from Christ. Then, a strange health issue cropped up, leaving Kaitlin exhausted and shaky when she tried to play. Depression and anxiety overwhelmed her heart, but she sought the Lord, stuck with her community, and continued working through the steps of ReGen.
Kaitlin: I remember a specific week where we were talking about surrendering everything to God. I prayed and fully surrendered basketball to the Lord. I told my group I was done playing basketball. I had to be broken so that God could piece me back together.
That summer, Kaitlin decided to jump into faith with both feet – to trust God fully and live in surrender to Him. She began to study her Bible daily and to apply its Truth to her life as a student, an athlete, and an ambassador for Christ. As she moved through her junior and senior years, she learned to apply both Colossians 3:23 (“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”) and Psalm 16:2 (“I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’”) to sports and scholarship. She was able to reorient her heart to seek God first and foremost, which allowed her to participate in soccer and to pursue academic excellence without making idols of those things.
Kaitlin: My senior year ended up being kind of a whirlwind. My sister had gotten married, and I really missed her. We are even closer now, but it was hard. I faced depression again. The Lord continues to meet me where I am, to show me how loving and good He is. I have learned to lament the hard things while clinging to trust in the Lord and experiencing His joy. My story isn’t about me; it’s about the Savior of the world who knows each of us by name and died to give us life. I am learning to be rooted and established in Christ, as it says in Colossians 2:7.
In the fall, Kaitlin will be joining Restoring Hope International in Welkon, South Africa, for a six month mission. The Lord turned her heart towards Africa, and is directing her one step at a time as she seeks to follow Him and serve Him with her fully-surrendered life.
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and build up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."
Colossians 2:7
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
Shifting back and forth between homes and families left young Maighan Motsch confused, emotional, and dependent on others for her sense of security. While both sets of her parents were Christians, Maighan didn’t recognize or understand that Christ’s love could sustain her or comfort her during hard times. And, even after she gave her life to Jesus, long-held patterns of codependency led her to seek security and belonging in the wrong places. Read her story to see how the Lord slowly stripped away her false dependencies and showed her that He alone is the One who can fill her heart, hold her up, and give her lasting peace.
Maighan: My parents divorced when I was three. Both of my parents remarried a few years later, and there was a lot of back and forth between homes. The shuffling between families was hard on my sisters and me in different ways. For me, it introduced early issues with codependency, as I was emotional and things often felt unstable. My parents were Christians, but I didn’t have my own relationship with God. I didn’t realize or understand that God could offer me comfort.
Maighan saw Christianity as merely one thread of life – something to “do” on Sunday mornings, not THE thread that could hold her life together.
In middle school, after learning the basics of anatomy, Maighan decided to test her newfound knowledge against the “truth” on the Internet. This led to an exposure and then an addiction to pornography, as well as experimentation with masturbation.
Maighan: A few things happened simultaneously to help me break those patterns. One was that Covid hit, and we were doing school at home. That meant I had more accountability, more restrictions around using the computer. That helped. I also confessed to my parents, and I ended up staying at home to do online school after things reopened. I started going to youth group, and I was beginning to sense that having a relationship with God could actually mean more than Sunday church attendance. It could actually be everything, a whole way of life.
The Motsch family was one of the first families to join Outpost when the church launched in late 2020. For Maighan, the teaching on whole-hearted devotion and the idea that worship was intended to be more than a once-a-week occurrence was mind-boggling. She believed in her heart that Jesus was her Savior, took the step of baptism, and began to study her Bible on her own. She wanted to know and be known, to truly be a part of a vibrant and Christ-centered community.
Maighan: I was placed in a community group. At first it was hard. We were made up of little cliques, and it took a while for the whole group to open up and get close to each other. We did share our testimonies, and learned that our sin struggles were common. That helped all of us. We went through Regen as a group, and that really drew us closer. I went back to public school my sophomore year. It wasn’t perfect; our community still had differences and didn’t always perfectly mesh. But those girls were becoming my “people.” I was growing. We were all growing, and learning to be authentic as we walked with God together.
The summer before Maighan’s junior year, she and younger sister Mia spent a month with their mom in Washington. At the end of the visit, Mia decided to stay indefinitely while Maighan returned to Cody.
Maighan: I hadn’t realized how much I depended on Mia. We had always shared a room, and I found that I couldn’t sleep without her. I was exhausted and became depressed and anxious. I felt isolated from my community group; I had convinced myself that they had grown closer and left me behind while I was in Washington.
In that fog of sleepless loneliness, Maighan drew inward instead of finding comfort in God’s unchanging love. The months were dark and shadowy, depression clouding the light. Instead of reminding herself of biblical Truth, Megan rehearsed lies. Convinced she needed a human to be close to, Maighan sought the attention of boys – one boy, in particular. She drew closer to him, pushing away both her God and the friends who wanted to turn her back towards Him.
Late night emails turned to a dating relationship, and, eventually, to clandestine meetings in the boy’s bedroom where Maighan’s ideals of purity were cast aside.
Maighan: I was stressed and sad and disgusted with myself. I knew that this relationship wasn’t love, but I felt stuck because of what I had given to him. I was searching for wholeness in all the wrong places. I started avoided people, missing youth group, just staying away from my friends… because I felt so ashamed. I needed Jesus so badly, but I refused to turn back to Him. I could feel His presence, at times, trying to give me a way out, trying to turn me away from my sin. He was relentless and kind in His pursuit of me, but I was too stubborn to turn to Him. The darkness continued for a while. I kept pulling away from my friends; I contemplated suicide. When the boy eventually broke up with me in May, I felt so broken and covered with shame.
In His kindness, the Lord used others to speak truth into Maighan’s life. Her parents encouraged her to read devotions on the way to school. Kaitlin invited her to read the Bible together in the mornings. And Maighan slowly began to read the Bible again herself.
Maighan: I drew so close to the Lord. I read and journaled and prayed. When I really confessed and opened up to my friends, their forgiveness and love helped me to also experience God’s. I do know now that I am forgiven and loved. For a while, I felt like I couldn’t apologize enough times to make things right, but I know Jesus’ sacrifice is enough to cover my sins. That time was terrible because of the choices I made and the hurt I went through. But it was also good, because the Lord used it to help me learn to depend on Him for my identity and belonging instead of being dependent on other people.
As Maighan continues to seek rootedness in Christ, she has found solace in Philippians 4:6-7, which says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” God’s perfect peace can guard her heart from sin, and anxiety, and the lies that seek to tangle her thoughts.
In the fall, Maighan will begin pursuing a nursing degree from Northwest College, while continuing to grow her relationship with the Lord, and learning to depend on Him alone.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
Outpost Stories
2025 Senior Girls
As we get close to the end of this school year, our mailboxes fill with graduation announcements, and we wanted to highlight a few of our Outpost seniors! These three girls have all been a part of Outpost since its humble beginnings in the Rec Center hallway, and now they are ready to launch from our midst. Take a moment to read the three vignettes and share in the joy of young hearts determined to seek the Lord as they head on to various post-graduation adventures!
Read the full story
If Katie Dewey had written her own story, it probably would not have included the loss of an older brother whom she never met, or her parents’ divorce, or the presence of a cancer gene that traced a frightening line of disease through her family tree. And yet, without those chapters of her story, Katie wouldn’t have learned to trust God with her whole heart. Read her story to see how God met Katie in the middle of her “mess” and transformed her into a girl whose feet are firmly planted in His truth.
Katie: I grew up in Cody. My parents were Christians, and I attended a private Chrisitan school in my late elementary years. There, I started to equate Bible reading with my homework – something I had to check off my to-do list. It wasn’t something I did because I loved the Lord or wanted to know Him better. Two years later, I started attending public school, where I made friends who influenced me in negative ways. Eventually, I began to act a lot like those friends. I still attended church and youth group, but that identity was a façade. It wasn’t who I really was. I never shared my struggles with anyone; I didn’t have friends who were encouraging me to seek God.
Around that time, Katie’s parents began to fight. Her mother had decided to pursue a relationship with a woman – a decision that confused and hurt Katie. The friends Katie had surrounded herself with didn’t share her anguish or understand how serious the situation was. Loneliness crept in as Katie navigated the murky waters of her family’s rift.
Katie: We started attending Outpost. For the first time I really began to understand the Bible and to open my heart to God. I went to the youth group and was amazed at how comfortable people were sharing their hurts and struggles with each other. I made friends whom I could trust and share my life with.
Katie’s mom moved to Utah, while Katie and her brother stayed in Cody with their father. That season was challenging and bewildering. Katie felt hurt and angry because of her mom’s choices, but also ached for missing her. Then, Katie’s brother was diagnosed with bone cancer. This was the second Dewey son to battle cancer; a cancerous brain tumor had taken older brother Dustin’s life at the age of six.
Katie: To have cancer reoccur in our family was really devastating. It brought up old hurts and trauma. Keith had to go to Salt Lake for treatment. My dad was traveling back and forth to be with him, and my mom was struggling with so much grief and fear. Keith was alone at times fighting cancer. All of us were separated and just struggling in our own ways.
For Katie, that period felt lonely and helpless. But she continued to lean on her friends from youth group. As she learned more about God’s unfathomable love, she drew near to Him, asking Him to be Lord of her life. She began to trust God with her brokenness and fear.
Katie: I learned to trust God and give Him my burdens. I found a few verses that really spoke to me during that time. John 13:7 says, “Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.’” In context, He’s talking to Peter about washing his feet, but the message felt so personal to me. I couldn’t understand God’s plan at the time, but He was working, and I trusted Him.
Katie also drew strength from Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” As she laid her burdens at the feet of Jesus, He gave her peace.
Katie: This is my testimony. I could choose to be angry about divorce, or cancer, or the things that have happened in my family, but I look back and realize I wouldn’t have sought God without those things. You can’t predict what God is doing. I don’t have to be torn down by the bad things, but I can use those hurts to help others.
Katie is headed to University of Wyoming in the fall, where she intends to study counseling. Eventually, she hopes to become a family counselor, working with children in crisis. She is also eager to take action on campus, sharing her faith with fellow students and giving an account for the hope she has found in Jesus.
On the December day when Kaitlin Ennist gave her life to Jesus Christ, she didn’t grasp that Her Savior wanted not just access to her heart, but her WHOLE heart. It took wading through challenging circumstances, confronting sin patterns, and restructuring her sense of identity for Kaitlin to fully surrender to the Lord of her life. Read her story to see how God revealed Himself as the “one good thing” Kaitlin needed.
Kaitlin: I wasn’t raised in a family that was pursuing Christ together. My parents had stopped going to church before I can remember, even though they are professing Christians. It wasn’t until 5th grade that I really began to hear about Jesus. Rather, my growing-up years revolved around seeking perfection in school and sports, and desiring approval from the adults in my life. It wasn’t until my older sister Allie started attending youth group that I really heard the Gospel for the first time.
As a 6th grader, Kaitlin had the opportunity to join Allie at youth group, and her life began to change. At a Christmas party at the church, youth pastor Greg shared the Gospel. He challenged the students to search their hearts, and to stand and declare “God is good!” if they believed that Jesus was Lord. Kaitlin’s heart pounded within her.
Kaitlin: My soul was just longing for this unwavering love that Greg was preaching about. I stood up and said “God is good!” That night, I prayed at the foot of my bed and accepted Jesus Christ into my heart. That summer I was baptized, and, for about a year, I was on a spiritual high.
In 8th grade, Kaitlin’s fledgling faith was tested through unexpected family challenges. Her mom became ill and was hospitalized – first in Cody, then Billings, and then Denver – as doctors tried to discern the cause of her sickness and treat her symptoms through multiple surgeries. The emotional challenges of being separated, the financial challenges of a long-term illness, and the day-to-day struggles of figuring out normal life when life wasn’t normal took their toll on the family. In the midst of those struggles, they also grew closer, especially Kaitlin and Allie.
Kaitlin: I was struggling in a lot of ways. I was hiding an addiction to masturbation. I was holding onto my pride in grades and athletic achievement and was consumed by getting straight A’s and being good at basketball. I was arrogant and prideful at school, though I played the part of a good, Christian girl at youth group. I became depressed and anxious. I questioned my faith and wondered why God had allowed my mom to be so sick.
Around that time, Allie and Katie began attending Outpost. Though Kaitlin was still holding onto her deeply personal sin struggles, she found herself in an environment where people who whole-heartedly loved Jesus were seeking to walk faithfully by confessing their sins to each other, turning from them, and holding one another accountable. It didn’t take long for Kaitlin to follow suit.
Kaitlin: I started to turn away from my sins and confessed them to my youth group one night. I learned that others shared my struggles and found that we could hold each other up in those things. When we were placed into a community group, it was initially a struggle to meld cliques. But we started to dive into ReGen together, and that drew us closer. I realized I was still struggling with depression, anger, anxiety and pride, making grades and sports an idol. ReGen helped me come face to face with my sin, learn the value of devoting daily, start praying without ceasing, and relying on my community to admonish and hold me accountable.
As Kaitlin grew in her faith and continued to peel back layers of her heart and life to surrender to Jesus, she found that basketball was a sticky layer. It was the one thing she couldn’t quite surrender, an idol that stole her focus away from Christ. Then, a strange health issue cropped up, leaving Kaitlin exhausted and shaky when she tried to play. Depression and anxiety overwhelmed her heart, but she sought the Lord, stuck with her community, and continued working through the steps of ReGen.
Kaitlin: I remember a specific week where we were talking about surrendering everything to God. I prayed and fully surrendered basketball to the Lord. I told my group I was done playing basketball. I had to be broken so that God could piece me back together.
That summer, Kaitlin decided to jump into faith with both feet – to trust God fully and live in surrender to Him. She began to study her Bible daily and to apply its Truth to her life as a student, an athlete, and an ambassador for Christ. As she moved through her junior and senior years, she learned to apply both Colossians 3:23 (“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”) and Psalm 16:2 (“I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.’”) to sports and scholarship. She was able to reorient her heart to seek God first and foremost, which allowed her to participate in soccer and to pursue academic excellence without making idols of those things.
Kaitlin: My senior year ended up being kind of a whirlwind. My sister had gotten married, and I really missed her. We are even closer now, but it was hard. I faced depression again. The Lord continues to meet me where I am, to show me how loving and good He is. I have learned to lament the hard things while clinging to trust in the Lord and experiencing His joy. My story isn’t about me; it’s about the Savior of the world who knows each of us by name and died to give us life. I am learning to be rooted and established in Christ, as it says in Colossians 2:7.
In the fall, Kaitlin will be joining Restoring Hope International in Welkon, South Africa, for a six month mission. The Lord turned her heart towards Africa, and is directing her one step at a time as she seeks to follow Him and serve Him with her fully-surrendered life.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest."
Matthew 11:28
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and build up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."
Colossians 2:7
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:6-7
Shifting back and forth between homes and families left young Maighan Motsch confused, emotional, and dependent on others for her sense of security. While both sets of her parents were Christians, Maighan didn’t recognize or understand that Christ’s love could sustain her or comfort her during hard times. And, even after she gave her life to Jesus, long-held patterns of codependency led her to seek security and belonging in the wrong places. Read her story to see how the Lord slowly stripped away her false dependencies and showed her that He alone is the One who can fill her heart, hold her up, and give her lasting peace.
Maighan: My parents divorced when I was three. Both of my parents remarried a few years later, and there was a lot of back and forth between homes. The shuffling between families was hard on my sisters and me in different ways. For me, it introduced early issues with codependency, as I was emotional and things often felt unstable. My parents were Christians, but I didn’t have my own relationship with God. I didn’t realize or understand that God could offer me comfort.
Maighan saw Christianity as merely one thread of life – something to “do” on Sunday mornings, not THE thread that could hold her life together.
In middle school, after learning the basics of anatomy, Maighan decided to test her newfound knowledge against the “truth” on the Internet. This led to an exposure and then an addiction to pornography, as well as experimentation with masturbation.
Maighan: A few things happened simultaneously to help me break those patterns. One was that Covid hit, and we were doing school at home. That meant I had more accountability, more restrictions around using the computer. That helped. I also confessed to my parents, and I ended up staying at home to do online school after things reopened. I started going to youth group, and I was beginning to sense that having a relationship with God could actually mean more than Sunday church attendance. It could actually be everything, a whole way of life.
The Motsch family was one of the first families to join Outpost when the church launched in late 2020. For Maighan, the teaching on whole-hearted devotion and the idea that worship was intended to be more than a once-a-week occurrence was mind-boggling. She believed in her heart that Jesus was her Savior, took the step of baptism, and began to study her Bible on her own. She wanted to know and be known, to truly be a part of a vibrant and Christ-centered community.
Maighan: I was placed in a community group. At first it was hard. We were made up of little cliques, and it took a while for the whole group to open up and get close to each other. We did share our testimonies, and learned that our sin struggles were common. That helped all of us. We went through Regen as a group, and that really drew us closer. I went back to public school my sophomore year. It wasn’t perfect; our community still had differences and didn’t always perfectly mesh. But those girls were becoming my “people.” I was growing. We were all growing, and learning to be authentic as we walked with God together.
The summer before Maighan’s junior year, she and younger sister Mia spent a month with their mom in Washington. At the end of the visit, Mia decided to stay indefinitely while Maighan returned to Cody.
Maighan: I hadn’t realized how much I depended on Mia. We had always shared a room, and I found that I couldn’t sleep without her. I was exhausted and became depressed and anxious. I felt isolated from my community group; I had convinced myself that they had grown closer and left me behind while I was in Washington.
In that fog of sleepless loneliness, Maighan drew inward instead of finding comfort in God’s unchanging love. The months were dark and shadowy, depression clouding the light. Instead of reminding herself of biblical Truth, Megan rehearsed lies. Convinced she needed a human to be close to, Maighan sought the attention of boys – one boy, in particular. She drew closer to him, pushing away both her God and the friends who wanted to turn her back towards Him.
Late night emails turned to a dating relationship, and, eventually, to clandestine meetings in the boy’s bedroom where Maighan’s ideals of purity were cast aside.
Maighan: I was stressed and sad and disgusted with myself. I knew that this relationship wasn’t love, but I felt stuck because of what I had given to him. I was searching for wholeness in all the wrong places. I started avoided people, missing youth group, just staying away from my friends… because I felt so ashamed. I needed Jesus so badly, but I refused to turn back to Him. I could feel His presence, at times, trying to give me a way out, trying to turn me away from my sin. He was relentless and kind in His pursuit of me, but I was too stubborn to turn to Him. The darkness continued for a while. I kept pulling away from my friends; I contemplated suicide. When the boy eventually broke up with me in May, I felt so broken and covered with shame.
In His kindness, the Lord used others to speak truth into Maighan’s life. Her parents encouraged her to read devotions on the way to school. Kaitlin invited her to read the Bible together in the mornings. And Maighan slowly began to read the Bible again herself.
Maighan: I drew so close to the Lord. I read and journaled and prayed. When I really confessed and opened up to my friends, their forgiveness and love helped me to also experience God’s. I do know now that I am forgiven and loved. For a while, I felt like I couldn’t apologize enough times to make things right, but I know Jesus’ sacrifice is enough to cover my sins. That time was terrible because of the choices I made and the hurt I went through. But it was also good, because the Lord used it to help me learn to depend on Him for my identity and belonging instead of being dependent on other people.
As Maighan continues to seek rootedness in Christ, she has found solace in Philippians 4:6-7, which says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” God’s perfect peace can guard her heart from sin, and anxiety, and the lies that seek to tangle her thoughts.
In the fall, Maighan will begin pursuing a nursing degree from Northwest College, while continuing to grow her relationship with the Lord, and learning to depend on Him alone.