Spencerville has a long history as a church in Silver Spring, Maryland. Though it was planted by a group from the Hyattsville church in the Potomac Conference, the church was formed as an affiliate congregation of the Chesapeake Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
There are several interesting statistics that stand out in our records: the first associate pastor position was added in 1976-1977. The longest-serving pastor has been Jerry Lutz (18 years), followed by Rob Vandeman (12 years). The longest-serving associate pastor has been Steve Willsey (14 years). The first woman to serve on staff was Bonita Shields, who began her service under Rob Vandeman’s leadership. In all, there have been a total of six women to serve as associate pastors here at Spencerville.
Presently, we have a total of five pastors—one senior pastor, and four associate pastors. The current staff is noted in bold.
Pastor’s Name, Years of Service
Walter R. Riston, 1941-1942
Hans Kotz, 1942
Lester Coon, 1942-1944
H. Ray Doyle, 1944-1945
Grant Hosford, 1945-1948
Ralph Wallace, 1948
Charles Teel, 1948-1952
Darrell Smith, 1952-1958
Kenneth Livesay, 1958-1961
Glenn Smith, 1961-1965
Raymond Spencer, 1965-1967
John Cameron, 1967-1969
Tom Mostert, 1969-1974
Jim Hoehn, 1974-1976
George Digel, 1976-1978 (senior pastor)
Alger Keogh, 1977
Ronel Ray, 1977
J. Fred Hughes, 1978-1981
Jim Coffin,* 1981-1982
William Lehman, 1981-1983 (senior pastor)
George Digel,* 1982-1984
Rob Vandeman, 1984-1996 (senior pastor)
Hans Varmer,* 1985-1990
Steve Willsey,* 1991-2005
Mike Stevenson,* 1992-1995
Bonita Shields, 1995-2002
Stephen Eastwood, 1996-2000
Jerry Lutz, 1996-2014 (senior pastor)
Brendon Prutzman,* 2000-2003
Charlotte McClure, 2002-2009
Jason Brooks,* 2004-2007
Will Eva,* 2005-2008
Patrick Morrison,* 2008-2014
Shawn Paris,* 2009-2013
Marilyn Scott, 2010-2016
Stephen Finney,* 2013-2016
Chad Stuart, 2014-present (senior pastor)
Jason Lombard, 2015-present
Andrea Jakobsons*, 2016-2020
Lerone Carson, 2017-present
Gaspar Colon,* 2017-2020
Kandace Zollman*, 2019-present
Matthew Piersanti*, 2020-present
Crystal E. Ward, 2022-present
*ordained/commissioned full-time associate pastors
A special thank you to members Merle Poirier and Rick Blondo for their assistance in gathering and maintaining the historical data for Spencerville Church.