Community involvement is strong here—local churches are vital, and organizations regularly host food banks, offer free breakfast to children on non-school days, and provide services like Meals on Wheels. Still, poverty and spiritual brokenness remain major concerns. After recognizing the depth of those needs, Randy and Rhonda stepped into full-time ministry through InFaith more than twenty years ago.
Randy, known as “Chaplain Randy” to some and “Pastor Randy” to many, pastors what he affectionately calls “a church nobody wants to come to and everyone wants to leave”—the Orange Church of Yavapai County, composed of incarcerated men and women at the Yavapai County Jail and Juvenile Detention Facility. As the only full-time volunteer chaplain for the county jail system, Randy makes the 110-mile round trip two or three times a week—sometimes more—to offer spiritual care to inmates and staff across both Camp Verde and Prescott locations.
“I serve in what is most often a spiritually hostile, extremely vulgar, and very harsh and brutal environment,” Randy writes. “I engage the enemy in spiritual battle on his turf. The battle is intense, exhausting, furious, and relentless—but God continues to gain victory after victory.”
In his role as Detention Chaplain for YCSO, Randy facilitates around 45–50 Bible studies each month, organizes in-person religious services, provides one-on-one counseling, distributes Bibles and religious literature, and responds to requests from inmates of all backgrounds—including Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Asatru, and others. He estimates face-to-face interaction with approximately 8,000 men and women each year.
Currently, Randy leads a team of 25 in-person volunteers, two additional teams of 25 letter-writers each, and oversees two assistant chaplains. This growing jail ministry regularly sees more than 600 Bible studies conducted annually, over 1,200 handwritten letters sent to inmates, and nearly 1,200 personal Bibles distributed. In an average year, roughly 800 men and women come to faith in Christ through this outreach. In 2023 alone, Randy logged about 2,600 volunteer hours and drove over 26,000 miles in service to the incarcerated.
Randy and Rhonda also care for their adopted granddaughter, MacKenna, a “freshmore” (freshman/sophomore) at Camp Verde High School. They remain open to God’s daily leading and maintain a posture of flexibility in their ministry. In 2015, they moved to their current home to be closer to their primary ministry locations.
“We have thankful hearts for the privilege of serving the Lord daily with our lives,” Randy says.
The Elliotts have served with InFaith since 2003.