22 YEARS!
OWEN VALLEY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, the church I have been the pastor of since November of 2005, celebrates her 22nd anniversary this coming Sunday, the 25th. To say we have been anticipating this Sunday would be an understatement. The church was started in October of 2004 when a group of folks, tired of the old way of doing things and watching missions take a backseat, met to discuss starting something new. A starting date was set and for the first few meetings various venues were used. Then the Owen Valley Sports Complex was contacted and they were more than happy to rent it to us. They hired the former pastor of the other church (who was booted) and soon hired the youth pastor of that former church who also booted. Around January of 2005 the former pastor informed them that he was stepping out and moving away to another town and another type of ministry. So for the next almost 9 months they filled the pulpit with guest speakers, all while searching for a pastor.
Enter me. Jo knew I was unhappy where I was. The people I loved. They loved me. But the medium age was close to 60 with not much hope of improving things, especially the music. However, I continued to minister to those folks. My mom passed away in March of 2004 and I was close enough to drive the 4-4 1/2 hour drive weekly for 6 weeks. She then went to be with Jesus. My daughter got married for the first time in May of 2004 and we were close enough to be in the planning (although we did stay out of it except for the reception meal). But in the summer of 2005 Jo knew I was getting itchy. I was only 51 and still felt I had a lot to offer a church wanting to be actively serving and eager to learn new insights and approaches to ministry. So Jo started looking. Me? I prayed and continued to stay focused where I was. One day she said, “I think I found a church you might be interested in. It is in Spencer, In.” We were familiar with Spencer having lived in Terre Haute and making trips through the little town. She said, “I think you ought to look into it.” I said, “Okay” but let it ride. About 2 weeks later she asked me if I had looked into the church and I said, “No.” Again: “I think you ought to.” Another week or so went by when she wouldn’t let me off the hook. So, I made a call to the former pastor, got his take, and sent in my resume. They sent a questionnaire and I responded very candidly, figuring if it scared them off then “No harm no foul.” It didn’t and so began a series of phone calls with one of the men. They wanted an interview and they called on a Saturday night. I had Jo on the other phone and it lasted a grand total of 15 minutes. We hung up and I said, “Well, I think we can write that off.” The next evening they called asking me to come for some face-to-face meetings with people. We set it up; we went; had about 3-4 of the meetings, and they asked me to come. I preached on 9/11/05 and received an almost unanimous vote. The two no votes were from two brothers who were voting for the first time and wanted to be ornery. To this day, they have basically written me off. 🙁 Long story short, Jo and I moved in November of 2005. People have asked me if I started the church. I tell them No but I sure feel like it. 🙂
We met in the Sports Complex and once made a move to the Middle School. After about 4-6 months the school board had a change of heart and we were homeless. So we went back to the Sports Complex. In 2008 the mother of all floods (they called it the “100 Year Flood”) hit Spencer and we were out of the Sports Complex for 4 months so they could clean up. But the school board graciously let us use the school for the emergency. In 2010, after looking at multiple sites, we bought the current building, knowing it was too small. But we made due. Our people made the best of a crazy situation. In January of 2011 I found out we had been embezzled to the tune of $200k+. We forgave her and asked for the slate to be wiped clean and complete forgiveness given. The court wouldn’t allow it but I am convinced we followed what Jesus would have done. I missed one paycheck and it was made up the next pay. We missed no mission giving. In 2012 we needed more space and turned down building a huge building and going into more debt. The day the elders made that decision we found out sewer would be going out in front of the church property. To be even more dramatic, the new building or adding one square inch to our current one would have cost us a new sewer mound to the tune of $125k. Yeah, I’d say God was good. So we remodeled our building. In 2013 we hired Ryan to be our full-time youth pastor. He had been volunteering, worked at a Credit Union, but had a heart for ministry. In 2018 we added a youth addition after toying with adding on to the adult worship area. Wise move. Oh, someone left us an inheritance that allowed us to put 10% in Missions, pay off the mortgage, and build the addition debt free. Left over funds were put into a Building Fund with the goal of adding on an adult worship area. We are in the midst of that and doing it debt free. Is that hard to wait for? You bet! But it wise and we believe God-led.
This Sunday we will be meeting in the new addition-construction dust and all. It has been painted and there is heat. We still have much to do. The bathrooms are unfinished. The nursery is unfinished. The electricity is unfinished (usable but not finished). The media is unfinished. The stage is unfinished. But the auditorium is usable for an occasional celebration, like Sunday. I’d like to invite you to join us at 10:00 either in person of via live stream. Go to ovcf.org. and the main page will tell you how to follow the live stream either on Facebook or YouTube.
Can you tell I’m excited?
