Jerry Stoltzfus 

Jerry has the amazing opportunity to plant churches for people who gave up on church. His ministry came up in an interesting way. He grew up Amish and went to the church. He would invite his friends to come to church with him. One day, someone asked him, Why do you keep inviting your friends here? He responded, so they could experience the love of Christ. The man told him to take his friends where they were loved! Because of this, he took his friends to the Pentecostal church across town. 

When Jerry left the church, 15 young people people came with him. When they came to the church, he didn't particularly love the church, but he loved the idea of being loved!! The music was loud, people spoke in tongues, the service was long...but the people there loved him! They talked to him in ways that no one else ever had.

There was a hefty price he had to pay for his salvation - his family and the Amish community had unofficially kicked him out.  His family never came outright and told him he was not welcome, but he was excluded from invitations to family events, etc. When he was 16, he got his call into ministry. He came to VFCC as a commuter while working at the church. He and his wife Julie have been married since the time he started college here. Before that, his introduction to ministry included helping the pastor at the church by mowing lawns, etc. 

Jerry had a long winding road ahead of him after Bible college. By the time he was 29, he was prepared to lead a church, but that was taken from him quickly - instead of being offered the position of senior pastor, he was actually fired from the church. About 5 years after this, he began seriously exploring the idea of planting a church. His first church plant was in the Gettysburg Area, where God spoke to him about where they would live and that they should plant the church in this area. 

A really important concept that we discussed was the way churches have become - churches put up walls to keep people out. Churches have these rules and regulations to keep people out, instead of being "user friendly." I totally agree with what he said. I think it is true that churches have come so far from the way Christ was when he came. It is cool to know that there are people out there who have a desire and passion to show people the love of Christ, regardless of who, where, and what they are!