This is John Schindelck.
It was by chance that I met him. I just moved from Grand Rapids and started going to a youth group close to wear I live. It was a small gathering of people; however, when our youth leader moved on so did the church group. Shortly before this, most of my youth group started going to John's. He was a smart youth leader, scheduling his youth group meeting time on Thursday instead of the normal Wednesday. So when our youth leader left we just started going to John's.
I connected right away with John. He took a liking to me, as I him. So I started hanging out with John extracurricularly, mostly going to lunch with him. First to talk about one of my event ideas, but soon just to hang out and sometimes talk about God, the Church and the church. There was a group of us that would meet with him and we all became quite close. Addison, Taylor, Chase, and Nate had been in the church a long time. Soon added were Mel, and Terra. Then, me. And later on Kellie and Emily.
The summer after my sophomore year of high school John, Addison, Chase, Terra, Colby, and I went to the Cornerstone Music Festival 2007 in Bushnell, Illinois. We camped out of the church van and trailer, set up canopies, brought couches, and set up a kitchen all for a week of shows. It was fantastic! John cooked us our meals, usually from something he hunted and we all loved him dearly. I don't know when the others had enough experience with him for him to become more then a youthleader and more of a friend and mentor. But for me, it was during this week at the Psalter's concert.
So much has happened since then. Please., Thanksgiving, hunting, chickens, painting, and more! Words cannot explain the adventures, wisdom and love he has bestowed upon me. He is a spectacular man and I am amazingly lucky to have him in my life.
