Jim Osman was born in May of 1972 and has lived in Sandpoint since he was three. He achieved his life’s ambition by graduating from Sandpoint High School in 1990. Jim came to know Christ through the ministry of Cocolalla Lake Bible Camp. Kootenai Community Church has always been his home church, attending Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Youth Group.

After graduating from High School, he attended Millar College of the Bible in Pambrun, Saskatchewan. It was at Bible College that Jim met his wife-to-be, Diedre, who was also enrolled as a student. Jim graduated with a three-year diploma in April 1993 and married Diedre in August of that same year. He returned to Millar to further his education in September 1994 and graduated from the Fourth Year Internship Program with a Bachelor of Arts in Strategic Ministries in April 1995.

Jim and Diedre returned to Sandpoint, where Jim began working in construction and as a Roofing Materials Application Specialist (roofer) until he was asked to take over as the Preaching Elder of Kootenai Community Church in December 1996. Now, he counts it as his greatest privilege to be involved in ministering in the Church that has ministered to him for so many years. It has been a great adventure!

Jim is the author of Truth or Territory: A Biblical Approach to Spiritual Warfare, Selling the Stairway to Heaven, The Prosperity of the Wicked: A Study of Psalm 73, God Doesn’t Whisper, and his latest book, God Doesn’t Try, which he co-wrote with co-elder Dave Rich. Jim and Diedre have four children: Taryn, Shepley, Ayden, and Liam.

Dave Rich was born in Libby, Montana, and grew up in southern Idaho. He attended college at the University of Idaho and graduate school at the University of Washington. Dave came to Christ as a freshman at the University of Idaho in 1984. He married his wife Diane in 1986.

Dave began working with youth as a youth leader and Sunday School teacher in 1988 in Seattle’s Tabernacle Baptist Church and has been working with youth ever since. Dave helped start a youth group in Seattle, Washington, and Columbus, Ohio’s Bethesda Baptist Church.

Dave moved to Sandpoint in 1999 with wife Diane and three daughters: Megan, Jamie, and Kellie. They have attended Kootenai Community Church since 1999. Dave is the co-author of God Doesn’t Try, which he wrote with co-elder Jim Osman. Dave and Diane are active in teaching Sunday School. Dave has been an elder at Kootenai Church since September 2001.

Though not raised in a Christian home, Jeff came to faith in Christ as a young man and committed his life to the Lordship and service of his Savior. He was trained and employed in public health as a clinical microbiologist and later worked in the building industry. He met his wife, Penny, in college, and they were married for 35 years. They were blessed with three children they raised in the fear and admonition of the Lord. Penny went home to her Savior in 2007 after a long, brave battle with cancer.

Jeff’s greatest joy is serving Christ’s church by studying and teaching God’s Word. Given the myriad fads and doctrinal aberrations plaguing the contemporary evangelical landscape, he is particularly concerned that local churches return to a high view of Scripture to be grounded in sound theology and practice. Jeff enjoys family activities, cycling, woodworking, and the four seasons and outdoor life of North Idaho. He is a graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. Jeff has been an elder at Kootenai Church since July 2024.