Showing Grace, Reaping Redemption
One reckless moment could have derailed what God continues accomplishing through them. “I thought it was the end of the world for us, Jay Smith, 47, says. “God had called me to pastoral ministry in my middle school years, and I thought it was over.”
The couple’s history travels back to church nursery days when their toddler ties shifted into high school sweethearts and post-college marriage plans.
Sandy recalls Jay a cute little blond boy. Growing up, they liked each other and were active in CPC’s youth group. “I noticed Jay treated everybody with respect, even the non-cool kids,” she says.
Expecting to pursue degrees at Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington, their interwoven future appeared rock-solid. Sandy’s father Joseph Fuiten, was CPC’s pastor at the time and Jay’s father, a deacon and board member.
But Sandy’s surprise extramarital pregnancy torched their storybook plans. “The weight of expecting a baby at 18 was overwhelming,” Sandy, 47, says. But choosing life for their child was the only option for the young couple.
Three weeks later, Sandy’s father married them on the family’s back porch before 20-30 guests.
Sandy dropped out of NWU after the first semester, preparing for the birth of their daughter Talia. Jay was forced to grow up fast. He enrolled at NWU majoring in biblical literature. As a fulltime student he worked summers and nights doing various jobs to support his new family.
“I was overwhelmed and embarrassed as a teenage husband and father to be,” Smith says. “But God would not allow us to run from that moment of sin. We humbled ourselves.”
While traveling with the CPC youth group to Portland Metro Church in Oregon, Sandy experienced a life-changing encounter with Christ.
Responding to a youth leader’s sermon, she went forward for prayer, kneeling and shaking at the altar. She needed inner healing for the lingering shame surrounding her past choices.
“Someone prayed for me with a hand on my shoulder that felt like I was struck by a lightning bolt from heaven,” she says. “I buried my nose in the carpet and spent the next hour or more crying before the Lord,” she says. “I was never the same after that as I understood the grace of God.”
Early on, the couple had set a low profile by attending church regularly but not participating in any formal ministry. Restoration took a slow walk.
As they began to humbly seek the Lord, Jay and Sandy found a community that reached out with the arms of Jesus and repentance, forgiveness, and God’s mercy prevailed. Slowly CPC church members discovered the details of their relationship, showing grace instead of judgement. This show of love, support, and mentorship by the congregation towards the new parents forever impacted their lives and, years later, would even impact the DNA of the church.
Family friends and older church couples also reached out, offering counseling and providing practical advice. Some admitted, “We are here for you because we had a similar story.”
In 1999 CPC’s youth pastor invited Jay Smith to join the youth program as a ministry assistant, which led to subsequent appointments and branch pastor of the Kenmore church campus in 2009. In 2015 he was elected senior pastor of CPC’s family of churches.
Today, CPC’s 10 branch campuses cover Seattle’s greater metropolitan area, ministering to an estimated 2,000 or more congregants weekly. The church also oversees Cedar Park Christian Schools (K-12) at four campuses teaching 2,400 students.
Gradually over 10 years, Jay and Sandy’s story had unfolded in individual and group counseling sessions and large gatherings at CPC and other venues. They share their testimony at the National Sanctity of Human Life Sunday service at CPC every January. Audiences appreciate their transparency.
Jay and Sandy’s testimony has influenced CPC’s strong pro-life convictions, illustrated by its original 2019 challenge of state law that forces abortion coverage in employee health insurance plans.
On April 24, 2025, 18 states and multiple religious freedom advocates filed friend-of-the-court briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit supporting CPC, reports the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) organization.
The church, represented by ADF attorneys, is asking the full court to review a decision by a split three-judge panel in Cedar Park Assembly of God v. Kreidler that forces CPC to violate its constitutionally protected, pro-life religious beliefs and instead follow the state’s requirement that most Washington employers provide abortion coverage for employees.
“Our suit is a natural extension of our convictions,” Smith says. “No church should ever be forced to pay for abortions that go against God’s commandments in the Bible.”
