Finding Our Destiny by Sandra Bontrager, Founder
We have seen so many changes and so much growth since opening our doors in 1998. Originally, SPA was opened under the name “Repairer of Broken Walls,” a name inspired by Isaiah 58, under the joint leadership of Linda Conrad and myself. Because this was so new to us, the home was birthed with a lot of prayers and Godly counsel. In 2002, we changed our name to SPA (Spiritual and Personal Adjustments) Women’s Ministry Homes, and I took sole leadership. In 2004, I worked with the advisory board, began forming a working board, and applied for our 501(c)3 non-profit status. With our ministry growing and our finances needing to be in order, Rachel Campbell volunteered to take on our finances. God is always pleased when we do things decently and in order. We began to grow and Rachel eventually became our bookkeeper and Board Treasurer.
Our program began as a three-month term. However, we noticed that the ladies who chose to stay longer had higher success rates, and we lengthened our program to four months, six months, and presently we are at a yearlong program. Until 2010, I was living in the home with the ladies and was on call 24/7. As the ministry grew, there was a need for help. The volunteer staff was built from our graduates who believed God called them to give back and those who stayed connected because of the changes experienced by a family member through the program. As time passed and additional churches and community members became involved, we were able to begin hiring those who had volunteered for years.
SPA House received its Special Use permit in 2003 which allowed us to house up to sixteen residents. We chose to keep this number under twelve to provide the women coming into the program the best treatment possible. We began a remodeling/restructuring phase, which increased our capacity to sixteen women and provided the space needed by 2008.
In 2008, we purchased another house known as “Faith House,” which housed up to four women. It was used to transition SPA program graduates back into the community. We continued to work with these ladies on accountability, establishing healthy relationships, work ethics, and budgeting skills while walking out their new relationships with God. The Faith House was founded on Acts 1:32, “By faith they prayed and sent them out.” The ladies stayed at Faith House for six to twelve months. We sold this property to a graduate of the program in 2017.
In 2010 we were given a duplex on Riverside in Elkhart. We used one side for staff housing while renting the second side to a SPA graduate for five years. In 2015 the entire house was used for our second phase. During this phase the ladies are able to have overnight visits with their children and begin to establish family stability.
In October 2011 we worked with Transitional Ministries and opened a second phase in Goshen. The design of the house was perfect for what we wanted to do, however, the location didn’t accommodate our needs. The majority of the women in our program do not drive and thus need to be on a bus route and close to their support team. We closed the doors to this particular site in 2012 because the location was impractical.
In 2015, with a waiting list of women, the staff and board began to talk about a building project. We did not waste any time and in 2016 we began a monthly prayer walk around the property asking God for His divine will and direction. During one of the prayer walks God spoke through one of the participants and told us to go east. We had no idea what that meant. We already had four acres and plenty of room to grow.
August 2017 the house east of us came up for sale and we were able to purchase the property. The ladies moved in the week before Thanksgiving. The excitement was unbelievable. It didn't take long and we had the first set of blueprints for our new building and we were on our way. God knew exactly what we needed because in May 2019 we broke gound on our new facility for Phase 1.
Once the ladies had moved to our new location we began remodeling the original house for office space. The original SPA House now has seven offices, a board/conference room, and a clothing boutique which was built and designed by the Leadership Academy from the Elkhart Chamber of Commerce. The administrative department moved into the new offices in May of 2018. Our Executive Team was now able to be onsite and available for all building questions and design details, while the ladies were being ministered to next door and did not have to suffer through the construction period.
In May of 2020 (right in the middle of COVID) we opened the doors to our new facility and the ladies took residence. In September 2020 we were able to move our transition house into the house on the east side of the property that had become empty. As 2020 closes we have our administrative offices, SPA Home, and our transitional living home, Hope House, all on one campus.
It is our goal that these women walk through new doors and discover who they are in Christ as they take the steps necessary to walk out the plans God has for their lives. We are working on building a new volunteer team to work with mothers and children. It is a privilege to be a part of what God is doing.
