Greetings FCAP Family! My name is Toby Spencer and I am the Partnership Coordinator for FCAP! I am married to my lovely wife Amy and have three children. Two of my children hope to become pilots once they graduate and are currently members of the Civil Air Patrol. Aside from my role at FCAP, I am a middle school teacher (7th Grade) and interim pastor at a small local church. I live in Fayetteville, Georgia, a city just south of the World’s Busiest Airport, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. My passion for aviation began as a child with stories that my grandfather would share from his time as a captain for Eastern Airlines. Then after I took my first flight on a Cessna as a child I was hooked as a life-long aviation enthusiast!
I love to study the history of commercial aviation and am a member of many historical aviation groups. I also volunteered at the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta, where you could almost always find me sharing the history of the Spirit of Delta with visitors. With my teaching background I have a passion for equipping and working with the next generation. I am very passionate about my role at FCAP to help build new partnerships and relationships especially within the colleges and schools with aviation programs. I feel it is very important to form connections early and build strong foundations.
I was raised in a small rural town with parents of differing faiths. Thus, I did not grow up going to church as a kid. I knew the basics of Christianity, but without a strong foundation I spent much of my teenage years questioning and seeking what I “should” believe. It wasn’t until my late teenage years that one of my coworkers began inviting me to church that I actually attended any religious services. After probably the tenth invitation, I finally accepted and took him up on his offer. Within three months, I came to accept Christ and be baptized! Since that moment, I have always remembered the importance of inviting others. Without that invitation, I would probably still be lost. And, as with everything in God, He has perfect timing. This perfect timing helped me survive one of the greatest “storms” that I would ever face as a young man.
My storm as a teenager and young adult was watching my father bravely battle cancer and eventually succumb after years of fighting the good fight. After he died, my family nearly lost everything and was living day to day to survive. As a result, when I was younger, I struggled with worrying and anxiety. Through God’s blessing I found hope in Matthew 6:26-27, “Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” True to this scripture, God took care of me and my family and to this day when I feel stressed or worried, I look to the sky and see how God takes care of the birds.