By Marissa Soto
The Master’s University (TMU) alumni and adjunct professor, Mark Spansel, set in motion to establish a new church plant earlier this semester in the Santa Clarita Valley alongside his family and other partners in ministry.
“The burden really started in Waldock 101 when I was a student here [at Master’s]. My roommate Steve Balentine and I dreamt and prayed about planting a church at some point. That was back in 1992,” Spansel said.
Spansel graduated from TMU (then, The Master’s College) in 1993 and later, The Master’s Seminary (TMS) in 1997 with his master’s of divinity. Additionally, he attended Westminster Theological Seminary and graduated with his doctorate of ministry.
While at The Master’s College (TMC), Spansel served as ASB president as he pursued his undergraduate education. Spansel also worked at TMC as the dean of student life. Since then, Spansel has served many years in ministry in a pastoral role in several different churches: two in southern California and one in northeastern Ohio.
More recently, Spansel has served for nearly four years on the pastoral staff at Crossroads Community Church in Santa Clarita. At Crossroads, Spansel was the overseer of the different discipleship ministries within the church body, including the adult small groups and the Elevate junior and senior high ministries.
Spansel is married and has seven children, one of which is a current TMU student. Emily Spansel, senior, is a communication major. Emily serves to walk alongside leadership, engage with the body and takes pictures for the church plant’s social media.
“Master’s foremost has helped develop my knowledge and depth of the gospel. While being here, the Lord has and continues to work within my life and grow me,” Emily Spansel said.
Emily was part of the Spring 2022 IBEX group, and attributes that semester studying in Israel to a further adoration for the Lord and for ministry.
“Israel opened my eyes to the beauty of the land, His heart for His people and ultimately His undeserved graciousness to us,” she said.
Mark’s church plant is set to be located in Canyon Country by the 14 freeway and has been given the name “Redeemer Church.” The church has three definitive ideals for their mission, which are to worship Christ, walk together and work for the good of the city. The Spansel family hosts bimonthly “Redeemer Distinctive” meetings at their home, providing a meal and a time of information as well as fellowship for those interested in learning more about the new church. The Redeemer Distinctive meetings cover five different distinctives, which range from a Christ-centered ministry to being on mission together as a body of believers.
The first meeting was held Oct. 29 and saw much interest from the community. The next Redeemer Distinctive gathering is set for Dec. 10 to go over Redeemer Distinctive #4: “Building Our Story.”
“I learned church and the Word and relationship here when I was a student at Master’s and when I worked here at Master’s. Like the Redeemer Distinctives for example, we would talk about the Master’s distinctives to students that came in when I was in Student Life. They’re different, but even just the term has the same idea,” Mark said.
The new church is partnering with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) and the Send Network in upholding theology and reaching out to nonbelievers within the community. Mark and his wife, Michelle, attended a church planting retreat in Riverside, Calif., hosted by the Send Network. As a result, they fell in love with the ministry, their mission and decidedly chose to partner with them for the formation of Redeemer Church.
“We fell in love with this group of people and their spirit for hospitality, generosity, church planting, multiplication, healthy churches and that was our first introduction to the Send Network,” Mark said.
The Send Network is a ministry through the SBC that focuses on church planting within North America. The ministry has over 47,600 partner churches and over 10,000 church plants since 2010, per their website.
Not only are the Spansels partnering with the SBC, but they are also working alongside friends, brothers and sisters in the faith. John and Ramie Book, longtime missionaries through Campus Crusade for Christ ministries at USC and UCLA, are also a large part in the planting of Redeemer. The Books come from a church-planting background with the now 17-year-old church Crossroads, the same church where the Spansels did ministry in the Santa Clarita Valley. The Send Network’s own LA city director Shane Critser and western region director Will Browning are both part of Redeemer Church specifically.
“No new Kingdom work gets started without people committed to trusting the Lord and investing their lives and gifts in the cause!” Emily said.
Redeemer Church is planning a soft launch Feb. 4. For more information on meetings and updates, follow @redeemerscv on Instagram or visit redeemerscv.org.
“I want to see just another Gospel-centered fruitful local church in Santa Clarita that is going to multiply and produce other churches. I want to see disciples made, a joyful congregation that loves each other and sees the church as their family,” Mark said.
The TMU Mane 