Oregon Couple Travels to Spencerville To Be Baptized

Story by Evan Knott

A faith journey that began online recently culminated at Chesapeake Conference's Spencerville church in Silver Spring, Md., as Catherine Hillerman and Jarrett Hendricks, a married couple from Oregon, flew across the country to be baptized at the church that helped lead them to Christ during the pandemic.

The couple, who go by the names Cat and Jett, had dabbled in various faith traditions and New Age spirituality, but during the pandemic, Cat felt a sudden urge to read the Bible, despite not even owning one at the time. As she read the Bible more, she searched for additional resources online, eventually leading them to the Spencerville church’s online worship broadcasts. They quickly became regular viewers and began to feel part of the Spencerville church community, even from thousands of miles away.

When Chad Stuart, senior pastor of Spencerville, began promoting Connect Groups during his messages, the couple believed God was urging them to take this next step. To their delight, they discovered a hybrid Sabbath School class that enabled them to participate in a weekly Bible study through Zoom. The couple joined the group and quickly developed friendships with the other members.

As the pandemic restrictions subsided, the couple began looking for a local church in Oregon they could attend in person. They started attending the Sandy church and decided that they wanted to become members. However, the couple felt a deep desire to return to where their spiritual journey began, so they trekked across the United States to Spencerville where Kandace Zollman, Spencerville pastor for Nurture and Visitation, baptized them, with members of their hybrid Sabbath School class occupying the front row. 

“Online ministry is real ministry,” says Jason Lombard, Spencerville pastor for Media and Communication. “We’re thankful that Spencerville church had the privilege of being a part of Cat and Jett’s spiritual journey!”