It’s a big week for CrystalRock Cathedral and the Spradling family. Pastors Dr. Walt Spradling and Veronica Spradling are celebrating 45 years at the church as well as Dr. Spradling’s 79th birthday and their 59th wedding anniversary.
Dr. Spradling is originally from Southeast Oklahoma, and Veronica is originally from the state of Washington. They met when her uncle was pastor at his family’s church.
He shared the story of how he got into the ministry,
“I was going to college in Durant, and that’s where I got saved and became a Christian,” he said. “Her uncle was the pastor at our little church in Pickens, and he asked me to be the youth pastor. I started with a total of four or five in my group. We started fellowshipping and praying together and it grew to 50 or 60. Then we got married and started pastoring, and we’ve been pastoring ever since.”
Veronica said they became the pastors at a church in Wright City where they spent 13 years. They enjoyed their time there and grew the congregation from 27 to close to 400. They even started a fund to build a new auditorium, but then one Sunday morning, the board from CrystalRock came looking for a new pastor.
“I told them I was happy where I was and wasn’t interested,” Walt said. “But I said that I would come and speak for one weekend, and I would pray about it see what the Lord directs.
“I did, and at the end of the service we talked and prayed some more with the board here. I said to present my name to the congregation and see how it goes.”
The congregation voted and decided to bring the Spradlings to Ardmore. The duo came in 1980 when the church was located on 7th Avenue Northwest. They immediately started a building fund to build their present location.
“We raised funds for two years, and at that time we had $750,000,” Walt said. “We decided to start building. Then we built for two years, and were able to move in in 1985.”
Veronica pointed out how well the church fits in with all the infrastructure and new businesses that came many years later.
“It’s funny how when we moved in in 1985, it was all cow pastures on this side of the street,” she said. “Rockford didn’t go all the way through, and there wasn’t an exit on the interstate into 12th Street. Now the church just fits right in with all the new development.”
The couple shared some of their favorite memories from over the years.
“Last year we held water baptisms at the Red River,” Walt said. “We normally have it here in the baptistry, but we had one young man who was about 18 or 19 years old who wanted to get baptized at the river.”
“It grew so much that we had 162 people and baptized around 60,” Veronica said. “So we set up some big tents and had a shrimp boil and fish fry. It was really neat, and we had the most wonderful time.”
They also shared a memorable occasion from 2022.
“We’ve had so many ministers who got their spiritual callings here at the church,” Walt said. “A lot of them have served with us here in the ministry. So we had what we called a homecoming. I called them all up and asked them to set aside one Sunday to come up. We ended up with 72 ministers and their wives, and we ended up with all of them on the platform with us.”
The Spradlings said they have immensely enjoyed their time at CrystalRock.
“God has been so gracious to us here to allow us to minister to all the wonderful people,” Walt said. “I’ve done I don’t know how many weddings, baby dedications and funerals over the years. I’ve actually dedicated babies who are now on the platform playing instruments, and now I’m dedicating their babies.”
They don’t plan on stopping any time soon, but they do have some help.
“Now we’ve got our son Kevan and his wife Toni, and our daughter Kim (Keith) and her husband Jamie helping us in the ministry,” Walt said. “And we have so many volunteers. We couldn’t do what we do without them.”
