In that time, attendance at the northwest Albany house of worship has increased significantly.
“When we first came, there were about 45 people here,” Spears said in a recent interview at Providence.
Today, that number has almost tripled.
“We average about 130,” Spears said.
So what’s the secret to attracting so many new participants?
“Just reaching out and loving people,” Spears said.
One way the 31-year-old reaches out is by delving into the community and talking to people in comfortable settings.
“I have no problem just going into someplace like Starbucks and striking up a conversation with somebody,” Spears said.
The majority of those conversations, he’s noticed, tend to have the same tone.
“Nine out of 10 conversations I have, people say, ‘I used to go to church,’ ” Spears said.
But the pastor believes the key to turning such statements into the present tense is for its members to be genuine.
“We want to be a place where they can just be who they are,” Spears said. “We feel like our heart and our mission is to be a refuge for people.”
To bring that about, Providence takes a departure from more formal, traditional worship. Instead, the contemporary atmosphere reflects the generation that makes up the church body.
“We are a young church,” Spears said, “and the people who might not be as young as me might think young.”
That attitude could be inspired by Providence’s growing youth program, which draws more than 40 teenagers on Sunday nights.
Or it could be that Providence is actively involved in such community programs as the Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity.
“On Thanksgiving, our church delivered meal baskets,” Spears said. “We delivered enough to feed 350 people.”
Although Spears hasn’t been at Providence long, he’s been involved in ministry for more than a decade.
It was praying at a youth service at age 17 that would put Spears on a path he had previously resisted.
“I had been running from God,” he said.
But at that youth service, Spears stopped running. Instead, he went on to serve as a youth pastor while attending Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn.
From there, the father of three served as a youth pastor in South Carolina and a school administrator at First Assembly of God in Griffin.
The ministry at Providence Church is almost twice as old as Spears’ own, with an Albany couple establishing the church in the late 1980s.
“It was started in Dr. Bill and Mrs. Jo Lawson’s house,” Spears said.
He and wife Lisa came to Providence after spending several years just south of Atlanta.
“The church had been without a pastor for eight months,” Spears said.
Now that they’ve settled in, the couple are looking to utilize Lisa’s counseling skills within the community.
“We want to start a counseling center at the church,” Spears said, explaining that plans are under way to start the program within the next few months.
It’s a program that will open another avenue for Providence to put its principles to work.
“Our covenant is not giving up on people,” Spears said. “We just embrace everybody.”
Faces of Faith are generally nominated by members of the community. If you know of a Southwest Georgian of faith who you think should be profiled, e-mail your nominee, their contact information and reasons they’d make a good profile to SouthView at southview@.at.albanyherald.com.
• PASTOR: Jason Spears
• CHURCH: Providence Church
• ESTABLISHED: Late 1980’s
• ADDRESS: 2504 Archwood Drive, Albany
• CHURCH SERVICES: Sunday service at 10:30 a.m., youth meet at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, small groups meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday
• FOR MORE INFORMATION: Call (229) 888-8055 or visit www.providencepraise.com