Hello, this is Pastor Mitch, I just wanted you to know a bit about me and I hope to meet you personally. Without boring you with all the details, I’ll just say that as a teenager, I got into a lot of terrible things by doing what, “everybody else” was doing. The path I was on was filled with drugs, alcohol, and dangerous times. Although to some it looked like I was having a good time, in my heart I was empty, heartbroken and looking for something that would fill the void within. In 1981 a friend that I used to do drugs with got saved and began talking to me about the love of Jesus.
After putting him off for a while, I finally gave in and visited a church. Jesus touched my heart that day and I came forward to receive Christ into my life. Because his church was two hours from my home I knew I would have to find a dynamic church closer to home or I’d never make it in this newfound faith. A good friend from my childhood came to my house and began to tell me he had given his heart to God and was going to church now, Hmmm quite a coincidence! He talked to me about being baptized in Jesus name and showed it to me in the Bible. Even as a new Christian, I new I could trust the word of God, so I went to church with him that week and was baptized. I walked into a little Spirit filled church in West Utica that day and my life was never the same. Not only was I baptized in Jesus name, but I also received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost evidenced by speaking in other tongues just as the people in the Bible had received.
My life from that day on took a blessed and radical change. I had no more need for drugs or alcohol; I had found what I was missing! The void within had been filled. Through Bible study and prayer I grew in the knowledge of God’s word and in relationship with God’s people. The Lord brought a wonderful young lady (Rose), into my life and after falling in love and prayerful consideration we were married. Rose and I, although from much different backgrounds, had the same salvation experience and wanted to serve God with all our hearts. In that little church of about sixty people, we began teaching Sunday school, working in the youth ministry, teaching Bible studies and doing what ever else needed to be done. Five years into our marriage, the Lord blessed us with a baby girl and four years later another baby girl.
After years of ministry in the Utica area, the Lord began dealing with me about starting a church in the Oneonta area and in 1992 God’s call became a reality as we moved to Otsego county and started Spirit and Truth Christian Assembly. With my wife Rose and our daughters Sarah and Rebekah we began holding services in our living room and in a small building on our property. From those humble beginnings the Lord has blessed us and added to the church and we now pastor a wonderful group of people in a beautiful facility in West Oneonta. I hope that you’ll stop by for a visit and meet us in person! The blessings of the Lord are waiting for you!
My name is Sam Judd. In 2013 I was radically saved by the powerful love of an awesome Savior! My life was a sin-cursed wreck, but thank God, Jesus thought I was worth saving! I began attending Spirit and Truth Ministries a couple months prior to giving my heart to God. There was something powerful happening in these services that kept a sinner like me coming back. I finally made a decision at 23 years old to release my grip on a defective, destructive, distorted way of life and begin clinging to the cross of Christ, the only source of forgiveness and newness of life! Suddenly, EVERYTHING CHANGED! My desires changed, my worldview changed, my hope changed, my eternity changed! I went from shame and fear to joy-filled freedom like I had never known! Jesus became the center of my life. For quite some time there had been this certain knowledge within me that I was made for the eternal, yet I was living for the temporary. For quite some time I had this knowledge within me that I was on my way to a judgement day of terror, yet I continued in sin which leads to death. I knew I was doing it all wrong. I knew I needed to be born again! I couldn’t seem to let go of this life I had spent so long building, but then came Jesus! Then came Jesus with a long and sturdy rope- He threw it into the pit I had dug which I fell into, and He said, “Just hold on!” He pulled me out with power and when I arrived at the surface I was met with grace in abundance! Since then I have felt a strong need to tell the world of this message of good news! I couldn’t keep silent! I had a new mission: Preach the Gospel! Share this message of hope with a dying world! Tell of the good news that God was manifest in the flesh, that Jesus Christ came to save sinners and do so through dying a death we deserved, paying a price we couldn’t pay, and doing it for the joy set before Him, the joy of seeing hell-bound sinners recreated into citizens of heaven!
Since 2013 I have been growing in God, being transformed from glory to glory, maturing in the word, and developing in my ability to preach God’s word through the grace and the anointing of Jesus Christ. In 2022 I left my secular job to pursue becoming an associate pastor of Spirit and Truth Ministries. I was ordained on May 1st, 2022 and this same year I also received a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication from SUNY Oneonta. Leaving my secular job has opened the door for Spirit and Truth to participate in outreach events in Oneonta which is one of the primary desires of our heart here at this church: JESUS TO THE MASSES, yet also Jesus to the one.
I am so thankful for Pastor Mitch Spring and his wife Rose Spring for all that they have done to feed me the word of God over the years. I would not be who I am today without their wisdom and their nurture. Pastor Spring’s zeal for God’s word and the name of Jesus has inspired me, shaped me, and filled me with the same flame! Whether it be his love for the lost, his great appreciation for the cross, his devotion to his Savior, or his care for the Shepherd’s flock, he truly is a man after God’s own heart. I also would not be who I am today without my incredible wife, Rebekah Judd. Leaving my secular job was a leap into the unknown, yet she supported me and believed in me. I am able to do what I do today because we work as one. I am so blessed to be a part of the family here at Spirit and Truth Ministries and I would be thrilled to have you come be a part of the family as well! Come visit us and experience an encounter with Jesus Christ, the Living God!