Growing up as an athlete in love with sports of all types, he decided to major in education in college and become a PE and health teacher. He went to the University of Cincinnati and then to Northern Kentucky University, where he coached soccer, basketball and track. After graduating in 1998, he continued working as a coach.
“I got married in 2996 before I graduated,” Fussnecker said. “II met my wife Jennifer at a church revival meeting.”
Having grown up in the church, Fussnecker was familiar with pastors but didn’t yet see himself in the role. He and Jennifer moved to Monroe and eventually to Liberty Township and he got his master’s degree in 2002 in school administration.
”I really liked what I did but I’m a lifelong learner and I didn’t want my to get my degree and be done and only teach,” Fussnecker said.
Fussnecker worked for Edgewood City Schools in Trenton and became an administrator, and at Wayne Local Schools in Waynesville then back to Edgewood.
Both Fussnecker and his wife are third generation preachers’ kids, with both fathers and grandfathers having been pastors in the Church of God. Soon Fussnecker felt a strong call to become a pastor himself and, not only that, but to plant a new church entirely.
“Jennifer and I wanted to plant a nondenominational church because we notice growing up that people were becoming disheartened about religion,” Fussnecker said. “People had a perception about church, and we hoped to knock down these barriers.”
Fussnecker always had a desire to influence people for good, and he was feeling a deeper spiritual call to talk to them about God and eventually lead them to Christ. This led to deep discussions with his wife about the idea of planting their own church.
“Jennifer said that if I felt God is calling us, she was on my side for this church,” he said.
In 2009, the couple began welcoming others into their home in Monroe for small group Bible studies. The couples’ oldest daughter Claudia also gathered the children for impromptu Sunday School classes.
“We felt some momentum and felt God was calling us to take it to the next step,” Fussnecker said. “In 2010, we rented facilities from the Edgewood City Schools and in 20111, we started holding weekly services.”
In the early days, Fussnecker said he and his wife were trying to decide “what the church was going to be,” including where it would be permanently located. He felt God leading him to keep the church in Trenton so they continued holding services in the temporary location for another two to three years.
“We leased the space in the schools for almost three years,” Fussnecker said. “We would unpack the trailer every single week and have church. Then we leased an old drug store in Trenton for almost six years.”
Foundation Community Church was officially named in 2014. But the former drug store space didn’t quite feel like home. Fussnecker noticed a building that had been a skating rink throughout the 1980’s when roller skating was still very popular– Trenton Skateway – and decided to contact the owner. Though it was still operating as a skating rink, it didn’t have the business it once enjoyed, though it had closed and reopened as a skating rink twice. It had been completely remodeled in 2011.
“The owner sold us the property in 2020 and we started working to turn it into a worship space,” Fussnecker said.
Locals stop by to see what has happened to this piece of their younger years and Fussnecker said they tell him stories of what this place meant to them. The original wood floor is still intact, and church services are held there. The church team worked to bring it up to code, change the zoning and created a usual space for worship.
In July of last year, Fussnecker retired from his second job as teacher and became a pastor full time, preaching and gathering his flock in the former Trenton Skateway. Though he said he and his wife looked at a lot of different places for a permanent church home, “we realized God sent us to the skating rink because that’s where he wanted us to be!”
“It doesn’t look like a traditional church,” Fussnecker said. “We have a cross out front but it’s not at all intimidating and we think that’s more inviting. People call us the “Skateway to Heaven” and the Holy Rollers and that’s just perfect.
Fussnecker recently published a book – “That’s On You,” which is something he says a lot in sermons, last year and is working on his second book.
“No matter what life throws your way, you can find help in Jesus,” he said.
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