What a Great Day!

This was one full day.
First we got the family to church by 9:30am to catch the last 15 minutes of Pastor Rick's first service message. Then he had Melissa and I with the kids come up onto the stage. He and I both said a few things and then he read the names of the 13 launch team families. He then invited the congregation to surround the families where they were and lay hands on them while he prayed. It was a very meaningful moment. Here's a pic. of the group of us. There are just four people missing. Including them, there are 61 individuals on the Encounter Church launch team with a baby set to be born any day. What a blessed pastor I am!
Then after the two services eight of the families headed to Liberty Park for a picnic under a shelter house. That was a time for the group to get re-acquainted since some of these families hardly know each other.
After a few hours at the park we headed straight for the Dublin South pool until we got totally rained out.
We were home for less than an hour when we turned right around and headed back to the church for what will probably be our last communion with our mother church. It was a very special time.
In two days I head off to Ontario, Canada where I'm from. I plan on visiting most of my familiy members and old homes I lived in throughout my youth. There are also a bunch of friends I'll see along the way too. I hope to at least get one post in while I'm there.

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

Sunday June 29, 2008 will be a day that lives in history for the Spoelstra family. Tomorrow morning, with twelve other families, we will stand before the congregation to be named and prayed over.
Ten years of ministering at Grace Church in Powell, OH with such a dedicated group of families has been our pleasure. We've learned so much and are now to be sent out with our mother churches blessing and support. It's awesome!
And the team that's being sent is first class. These men and women are an experienced, faithful and hard working bunch. I look so forward to praying and dreaming with them about how God may use us as a team to reach people in the Dublin-Jerome area.

Here is our churches name, vision statement and core values:


ENCOUNTER CHURCH
"Seeking HIS Kingdom First"
Celebrate--Grow--Serve--Multiply


I will speak about each of those words in future blogs.
Look forward to some pics. from tomorrows service in my next entry.

We're A Team

There we are, my sweetheart and I, working hard together on a project given to us by the boot camp leaders. Our time has been relational, encouraging and practical. Especially when it comes to laying down more detailed time lines on what needs to be accomplish when.

In the next entry I intend to share about the church name, vision statement and core values so you'll have a better understanding of who we are and what we're about.

Great Time W/ Old Friends!

The night before Melissa & I went to the boot camp we met up with six of my old Bible college friends who live near York, PA. We all recently reconnected on Facebook and just had to get together once we knew how close we'd all be. It was crazy fun to reminisce about old times as we poured over yearbooks and photo albums. From left to right the couples are Julie & DJ Mahoney, Melissa & I, Jen & Dave Kaminkow, and Jody & John Kray. They joked about all getting in their RV's to attend Encounter Churches launch service.

One More Sunday

Today was the last Sunday to attend Grace Church before heading out to the church planters boot camp in York, PA tomorrow. Next Sunday's sermon title is, "A Families Call". The main application for the message will be the introduction of the Encounter Church launch team of 13 families to the congregation for the first time. We are so blessed to have that many families willing to pioneer a new work for the Lord. I'll be sure to post pictures and maybe some video. I hope to post you an update this week of our time at boot camp.

10 More Days

It's Friday afternoon June 20, 2008 and I am on staff at Grace Church in Powell, Oh for just 10 more days. I've been on staff since June 1st, 1998. That's right, 10 years have gone by and it's been the greatest experiences of my life...so far. Because in 10 days I become a "church planter". I have the great privilege of being sent by a loving Mother-church who is providing me close to a dozen of her finest people and my entire salary and benefits for this first year.
About a month ago we had our first "launch team" meeting on May 22 with my Sr. Pastor, Rick Nuzum, there at my side. He allowed me to cast vision for this group of families committed to reaching the Dublin-Jerome area for Christ. Here's a few pics. from that night.

For my sweetheart Melissa and I, this has been almost a two year journey living out God's will for our lives. I gotta tell ya, I am a very blessed man to have this woman stand beside me these 13 years of marriage. She is totally for doing this new ministry. This next week we will be attending a boot camp for church planters in York, PA. It should give us some real meat-n-potatoes on how to move ahead with this team of people.