The Rev. Eric Anspaugh has made this leap of faith before.

        A parks supervisor for the city of Kettering, the Rev. Anspaugh felt the call and left his job to serve in a Church of the Brethren congregation in Arcanum, Ohio.

        After 13 years, he heeded the call again. The Rev. Anspaugh and his wife, Bev, packed up and headed to Cincinnati to start the first Brethren congregation in Southwest Ohio. He talked with the Enquirer in April about efforts to establish the church.

        The Southern Ohio Brethren church district would pay his salary for three years, enough time they hoped for a new congregation to become self-sufficient.

        Two years later, about 40 people gather on Sunday mornings, two-thirds the numbers the Rev. Anspaugh estimates the congregation needs to pay its bills. He has faith it will happen.

        “It's a critical time,” he says. “If we're not fully there, our district is not going to pull the plug and say sorry it didn't happen. We'll continue to receive support ... but we want to be at the place where we can say, "Thanks for your support, but we're ready to be on our own.'”

        The congregation met in the cafeteria of Loveland Intermediate School until this summer when renovations forced them to look for another location. The Rev. Anspaugh told a friend, the Rev. Don Crist of Brecon United Methodist Church, of the situation.

        The Rev. Crist and his church quickly responded and opened their fellowship hall for the Brethren congregation to use on Sundays.

        It's still “a worship center on wheels,” the Rev. Anspaugh says. Brethren members have to set up each Sunday morning — but it's not in the same place where fifth-graders ate pizza and fries during the week.

        The fellowship hall is smaller, giving worship a more intimate feel, the Rev. Anspaugh says. Sunday School is held in classrooms instead of a school hallway.

        The two congregations held a joint service in June and plan to work together on a children's Christmas program.

        Not all churches would welcome another congregation, concedes the Rev. Anspaugh. Some might view it as competition.

        “It says a lot about their sense of understanding of biblical hospitality,” he says. “Of providing a place for people who are on the journey.”
       Church of the Brethren meets at 11 a.m. Sundays at Brecon United Methodist, 7388 E. Kemper Road. Information: 742-4316.

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