Time to move on

Originally from Lewisburg, Aurand had been involved in prison and youth ministries and also played a role in forming four to five other churches. Formerly a United Methodist minister, he later became a chaplain with the Bureau of Prisons in Allenwood, until, he said, “I felt it was time to move on to pastoral ministry.”

Now seeing in hindsight, it was all “God’s training process for when he called us to do our own,” he said.

He and his wife Lynn then purchased a house in Shamokin Dam. “We felt like we were supposed to be used down here somehow,” he said.

He continued to pray, asking God to send him people who were willing to help, because he knew he couldn’t do it alone.

That’s when he and his wife, Lynn, met Tim and Cindy Moyer. Their sons played basketball together.

The Moyers shared the same vision and calling — to plant a church in eastern Snyder County. “We became very interested, together,” Aurand said.

“We tested that call by meeting together and praying about it, and seeing if others were hearing the same thing and getting others to join us,” he added.

Ten months later, after they made a deal with the Selinsgrove borough to conduct services at the Pump House, the doors to Wellspring Church opened for its first Sunday in October 2007.

The Aurands have three children, their oldest a recent graduate of Selinsgrove High School.

More information about the church is available by calling Aurand at (570) 884-3011.