Pastor Paul had a very aggressive and fast-growing walnut-size cancerous tumor removed from his pancreas on January 2, 2026. The surgeon said that if he had not had a ‘gallstone incident’ recently where they had to remove his gall bladder, they would never have found the beginning stages of pancreatic cancer until it was out of control and too late. We all know that wasn’t just ‘lucky’ as the surgeon said, but was directly from our God of miracles.

After lots of battling with pain, low oxygen, high blood pressure, etc., PASTOR PAUL WAS DISCHARGED from the hospital in Kalispell on Friday, January 9th but the doctors requested that he and Joy stay more nights at a motel in Kalispell which they did. They needed the rest! They returned home on Monday, January 12th but recovery has been slow and painful.

Then, Pastor Paul went to the ER Thursday, February 12, with chest pains thinking it was probably a side effect of the chemo he started on Tuesday. While he was in the ER he had a heart attack which was immediately treated with by scoping his arteries and placing a stint. He went home today and is doing really well. He is very glad he went to the ER when he did.

The reason for the chemo treatment is because during the surgery, several lymph nodes were removed and sent to the lab for testing. The results came back showing some cancer cells in some of the lymph nodes.

A visit with the oncologist reassured Pastor Paul that the chemo treatment will be mainly to eliminate intestine or colon cancer (where the cancer actually started) instead of pancreatic cancer (which has a much better success rate).

(Wednesday, February 18, 2026) Pastor Paul had a stress test on his heart yesterday and they told him his heart was extremely strong and that he’d live a long time. We all agree with that and proclaim healing and total health both in regards to his heart and cancer diagnosis. He is getting stronger every day and plans to be back with us at church soon. When he does return, we all just need to remember to let him become our coach and not our quarterback. WE are his team.

While Pastor Paul is taking some time off to recovery please don’t bother him or Joy by calling or texting them (they have plenty on their plate right now and have asked for no visitors). Instead, we will keep any updates or changes posted here so you are able to know what is going on and know what to pray for. You may also text or call Steve Allen at 406-465-2881 for updates. Or, if you’d like, you may send cards to the church address, 6145 N. Montana Ave. Helena, MT 59602 and we will make sure they get to the McElroys.

Thank you for your prayers! They make a huge difference! They kept Joy alive a few years back and now they will do the same for our Pastor Paul.