Party In the Parking Lot

After seven weeks of being in our new meeting place, I think we are ready to celebrate!
We've had new signs made, bought curtains, projectors, lighting, and more.  And on top of that took the time to figure out the best use of the facility for our students and adults.

I'm excited for this Sunday, September 8th b/c we're having a party in the parking lot after the service:-)  The service will be fun as well with Melissa & I co-teaching & introducing a new message series; my buddy Marcus Creaturo giving a testimony about how Christ has changed his life; Brandon Cruise is back leading worship for us & there are some fun announcements planned. 

Here's the postcard we've been using to invite our friends in the community to the party.  If you're reading this blog, you're invited too:-)

Encounter Church Moves to New Location

After 4 1/2 years of Sunday morning services at Eli Pinney Elementary School, we are changing locations.

Starting this Sunday, July 21st, Encounter's new home for our 10:00am church service is the Radiant Life Activity Building at 7055 Avery Rd. Dublin, Ohio, 43017.

Our office location remains the same:
6160 Riverside Dr. Ste. #103, Dublin, Ohio, 43017  (614) 467-9093  

Honda Pilot on its way to Guatemala

Yesterday I got see part of a six month dream come true:-)
The Honda Pilot Encounter purchased with funds that came in from our November 18, 2012, Day of Generosity offering, was put on a double-decker car carrier headed for Houston, TX.
From there it will be put on a second car carrier and eventually make its way to Guatemala City, Guatemala.
Our friend Rut Chamale, the director of VisonTrust Guatemala, is the recipient.  
Encounter has visited the small village of Cruz Blanca, Guatemala twice in the last 3 1/2 yrs. where our people sponsor 60+ orphans.  We've seen the great need for a reliable vehicle to transport food, medical and craft supplies as well as volunteers to the ministry center.
CLICK HERE to go to Encounter's FB page to see a few pics. of the Pilot being loaded onto the truck.
Something else fun I just found out about was that the Dublin Villager Newspaper printed an article about this story in today's paper. CLICK HERE to be taken to that article.
In all this, we desire to God's name lifted high, not our own.  He is the one choosing to work through us and we count it a privilege.

My Son Bought His First Car!

It's hard to believe but yesterday my son Zach bought his very first car.  He's been stowing away money for over a year now and Melissa and I told him we'd give up to $2,000.00 of matching money to help him out.
The kid ended up with a 2001 Toyota Camry that must have been the one with all the nicest options that year b/c it came with a sweet stereo, keyless entry, a rear spoiler and a sun roof.  
My boy is driving around in style.
Mama and I are loving that he can get himself to work, volleyball practice, church, friends houses and even cart around his little sisters:-)

Movement Church's 1st Sunday Morning Service

I'm so proud of the team of people that started Movement Church.  Their very first service ever was January 13th just a week and half ago.
Their grand opening won't be until March 30th-Easter Sunday, so until then they are getting used setting up and tearing down in the Harmony Artistic Center in Hilliard, OH.

Here's a few pics. of the first service:

Dream Come True

From the first week Encounter had it's pre-launch meetings back in August-December 2008, we spoke about the dream of planting a church ourselves.
That dream became a reality this morning December 30, 2012.
We had Mark & Kristin Artrip and part of their Movement Church launch team in our last church service of the year.
The service began with baptism's and eventually had Mark share about how Encounter partnered with his dream to plant a church in Hilliard, OH.

Our elders had the privilege of praying over the Movement Church team and then we all had lunch together.

Highest Offering in Encounter's Four Year History!

Wow Encounter Church!!! 
Did you ever give above and beyond this morning!
With gifts that came in before and after the Day of Generosity, our offering has totaled out at $20,486.39.
That's simply amazing!
Can't wait to tell Rut and the team down in Guatemala about this:-)  

You're Invited to Christmas Eve @ Encounter Church

There's no Sunday morning church service tomorrow, December 23rd.

But we are looking very forward to 

our 5:00pm Christmas Eve Service.

Hope you can make it:-)

November 18, Day of Generosity

As I mentioned in my last blog post, the focus for our November 18th, Day of Generosity was announced last Sunday. (scroll down on the link to see past Day of Generosity focuses) 
Each year Encounter takes a Sunday morning offering in November and gives 100% of it away.  It is promoted weeks ahead of time and usually is the largest offering of the entire year.
This year's focus is the purchase and delivery of an SUV for our ministry partners down in Cruz Blanca, Guatemala working with orphans through the ministry of Vision Trust International.
On Sunday I had some fun showing the congregation "potential" vehicles the elders considered.  Most of them were quite silly. But after talking with Matt Storer, president of Vision Trust and another couple at Encounter who also had this project on their hearts, it was decided the vehicle would be a Honda Pilot.
The hope is that it would be five years or younger with really low mileage. It will need to be a four wheel drive version and the plan right now is to drive it down instead of shipping it.  It's approximately 2,800 miles, in case you were wondering:-).
As I said above, 100% of the November 18th offering will go towards the vehicle and its delivery, though people are encouraged to send support money into the church office prior to that date as well (Encounter church, 6160 Riverside Dr., Ste. #103, Dublin, OH, 43017). 
More details will be discussed this coming Sunday in the service.

October 14th was a great Sunday!

This morning had a number of amazing church body life moments.  It started off with three great worship songs led by our worship band.  Then we had two people baptized: Jean Griffith and Ted Dresnek. They both spoke about their journey coming back to God and now wanting to go public with their faith.

Then Kyle Mielke, shared about an opportunity he has to go to India to see a former workmates wedding and also amazingly visit the child their family sponsors through Vision Trust.

Then finally, before the the message, I shared about our upcoming Day of Generosity. The Sunday where we give away 100% of our mornings offering to a specific need.  The date is November 18th and it is the fourth time Encounter has has it.  Check out my next blog entry for details:-)

My Wife...the Writer and Speaker

From knowing my sweetheart as far back as our college days at Moody Bible Institute, I've known she likes to write.  If I have to admit it, she may have helped me on a paper or two or three:-)  I remember her actually signing up for the classes where she knew the profs assigned large essay papers.  And I wonder why we hardly had class together but came out with the same Bible Theology degree.

Throughout the years there have been small opportunities for her to use this gift for writing, but lately I see more and more larger ones presenting themselves.
Within the last two years she's written for our fellowship of churches women's magazine Spectrum, Jill Briscoe's magazine for women: Just Between Us, and most recently for Life Way's ParentLife Magazine.  This last one is the most exciting because it came through her sending the publishers at Life Way the manuscript she wrote for a women's Bible study in the book of Jeremiah.  You might ask yourself, how is the book of Jeremiah relevant in the life of a woman in 2012?  You'd be amazed how many practical applications can be made!  If you ask Melissa, she'd tell you Jeremiah is the book for our time.  
So one of Life's Way's top editors got his hands on Melissa's Jeremiah study and a dialogue between them began.  It's been almost two years now and she has written and re-written the entire study, tweaking, sharpening and making it more applicable to the reader.  
What's newer in her life is speaking; specifically to groups of women.  Now I've always known her to lead women's Bible studies, teach in Sunday school classes and large groups of students.  She's especially passionate about speaking to middle schoolers.  But through her research, writing, and leading a women's Bible study in the book of Jeremiah, a desire to publicly speak has emerged.  
After receiving her Jeremiah study, Life Way asked Melissa to send them a video of her teaching the material.  At first she wasn't excited to do this but after a few weeks of prayer and an amazing connection made with a video production company, she decided to move ahead.  Sending an e-mail to friends and neighbors back in January of this year, she took her first major step in speaking the message God placed in her heart.  85 women were there in the basement of the church that sent us to plant Encounter.

It was so fun for me to see her in action.  I even got to be one of the three cameramen in the room:-)  To view a 10 minute YouTube clip from her message CLICK HERE.
So now while we wait to see what Life Way will do with her Jeremiah study, over 2,800 people have viewed her video and she has a dozen speaking engagements lined up over the next 12 months. 
Only God knows how He will use the message He's placed in my wife's life out of the book of Jeremiah, but this husband is excited about the possibilities!

That Time Of Year...

Ahhh, Fall.  The time of year you take the children to a fruit farm to pick apples...whether they want to go or not:-)
This has been a tradition for the Spoelstra family for years and years.  Beyond the few sibling squabbles, it really is an enjoyable time.

This year we bumped into our long time friends from Grace Church, the Bowers, whose twin girls were born one week after ours.

So far the apples have been used for five homemade apple pies. Yum!  Melissa is sooo good at making them.

My Twin Girls

So this Fall my daughters tried out for their middle school volleyball team and didn't make it. A sad day to be sure. Then we signed them up for our communities volleyball league, Dublin Youth Athletics (DYA) and who gets to be their coach?...yep! Me. Then the next week they, at their mother's prodding, try out for the tennis team...and make it.  Hilarious!
Here's a pic of them this morning in their tennis warm-ups.  Abby's on the left and Sara on the right.

Studying for a new message series

Today I've been studying for a new message series titled: ICNU.

It's going to look at six biblical characters especially selected by God.  The series will show us that God hasn't only chosen these famous individuals for His work, but that we are also selected to do great things for His name and His glory. 
In order the messages will look at Abraham, Moses, Jonah, Joseph, Esther and David.

Week #2 of "Getting Out & Staying Out"

So we're in a three week message series on getting out and staying out of debt.  Last Sunday was more about the "getting out".  But I also spoke about something even more burdensome than being in debt: being personally enslaved to money.  We read Jesus' words in Matthew 6:24, "You can't serve both God and money."  It's like Jesus is saying the number one thing that will keep you from loving and serving God is being a servant or slave to money. Whether we're in debt to it or greedy for it, loving money is a killer to our relationship to God.
This week we'll be talking about the "staying out" of debt and the love for money.  You see, it's one thing to get out of something, it's another to stay out.  We'll explore what it looks like to be content with what we have.  And in studying for the message I was hit hard by this statement: 

To be more content with what I have, 

I have to become more and more discontent

 with what other people don’t have.

What a great phrase!  It's like saying I've got to become more satisfied with the "needs" God has taken care of in my life and then instead of using the excess for my "wants", I'm positioned to fill the needs of those He puts in my path.

Hope you can make it this Sunday.  

Click on the series logo below to hear last weeks message.

Tough workout @ Shred!

This morning was one of the toughest workouts ever at Shred Fitness. It's Labor Day Monday and 24 of us showed up to be put through the ringer. Often our workout time is under 20 minutes but this one took over an hour! The workout was called "Small" and Marcus, our trainer, partnered us up with a workout buddy.

Excited about a new three week message series

Tomorrow I'm beginning a short message series about money. It's titled:

God's Word speaks so much about money and our finances that it would be odd to not speak about it in our church services. 
I understand the awkwardness for some folks because of the tone TV preachers have and how the "health and wealth" movement presents the topic.
But the correlation between one's spiritual growth and how they spend their money cannot be denied. Take a peek at Matthew 6:24 and 33 to get a hint of what we'll be talking about.

A Very Special Service

After three and a half years of services, Encounter proudly introduced and commissioned a new church plant to be birthed in January 2013 in Hilliard, Ohio: Movement Church.

From the very first pre-launch meeting of Encounter Church in September of 2008, planting a church out of ourselves was one of our dreams. Tens of thousands of dollars, hundreds of hours of praying and planning over the years now sees a five month journey for the Movement Church launch team until they begin holding church services of their own.
This morning I had the privilege of briefly explaining this journey and then allowed Mark Artrip to express his excitement and appreciation.

Rob Dubois and I prayed for the Movement Church launch team as next week begins their weekly pre-launch meetings where they will pray, dream, teach, plan and visit other local churches for the next five months.
We want to see them succeed in every way and are gifting them people resources as well as financial and prayer support.
Only God knows for sure what will become of this decision but we hope it will be the beginning of a mission to multiply churches over and over again for HIS Kingdoms sake.
To God Be The Glory!

The picnic was awesome!

More than 20 families came to the picnic after our church service today. The food was great and it was so fun to see all the relational connecting going on.
The tug-of-war competitions were a real hit too:-)
Click on this link to Encounter's FB page to see all the fun that was had: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.10151096284909350&type=1

Encounter Church Picnic

Can't believe summer is almost over!
For some of our families school starts this week others the week after. As a fun way to end the summer we're having an all church picnic Sunday, August 19th.
Burgers, dawgs, salads, sides and desserts - yum! 
And for your entertainment there is horseshoes, a fishing pond, volleyball, basketball, corn hole and a classic tug-of-war competition:-)
These are such fun and easy times for us as the Body of Christ to connect relationally and spiritually all the while having a blast.
Hope you can make it:-)