By Jim Nieman
An auction bid of $78,750 took home the first John Deere GP tractor ever built and will help pay for renovation of a building shared by Taylorville (Ill.) Christian Church and VisionWay Christian School.
“It turned out great,” lead minister James Jones said. Some church members thought the tractor might go for a little higher price, others thought it would go for less. “It was great as far as I’m concerned.”
Jones did not attend the auction and did not know the name of the winning bidder.
The 1928 general purpose tractor was the first of more than 30,000 John Deere GPs built and sold through the mid-1930s; its distinction as No. 1 was made during an authentication process conducted by Aumann Auctions, Nokomis, Ill.
A church member donated the John Deere tractor as well as a Farmall M, a type of row crop tractor made from 1939 to 1954. The Farmall brought a price of between $4,000 and $5,000, Jones said. All totaled, after fees were taken out, the Taylorville church netted $71,000 from the Fall Harvest Antique Tractor Auction.
The money will be used to pay down the recently completed $1 million building renovation, Jones said. After calculating in the auction profit/donation, the church now owes about $390,000 on that project.
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NEWS BRIEFS
Dave Stone spoke with WDRB.com last week and explained his reasons for deciding to step away from Louisville’s Southeast Christian Church after 30 years there, 13 as senior pastor.
“I’ve seen a lot of church leaders and business CEOs who have stayed longer than they should have,” Stone said.
Stone, 57, said he is taking a cue from his predecessor, Bob Russell. “He chose to step aside because he knew that the way to influence a church, and to help it grow younger, is by having younger leadership,” Stone said.
Stone is turning the reins over to his younger associate pastor, Kyle Idleman, in a few months.
“He’s an incredible preacher,” Stone told the TV station. “He teaches the Bible extremely well. He’s a man of integrity.”
In recent years, Southeast has expanded beyond its main campus on Blankenbaker Lane to six satellite locations.
Stone said he plans to remain in Louisville, but will stay away from Southeast for several months while Idleman is settling in. He also said he isn’t looking forward to his farewell sermon.
“I know it’s going to be a tough one for me,” he said. “But more importantly than any of that, I know it’s the best thing. I know it’s the best thing for the church.”
Click here to watch Stone’s full interview.
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South Louisville (Ky.) Christian Church, which has helped start numerous churches through the years—including Southeast Christian Church—celebrated its 116th anniversary over the weekend, WDRB.com reported. Former Southeast pastor Bob Russell was guest speaker.
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NewThing has planned “Go Further Together,” a free gathering on Nov. 5 in Naperville, Ill., the day before Exponential: Chicago. The day of equipping and encouragement will feature sessions led by Dave Ferguson, Mark Batterson, and others. There will be workshops that provide simple, practical strategies to help churches multiply at every level of ministry. Go to www.newthing.org for more information and to register.
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LifeWell: A Christian Church, Crown Point, Ind., had its “Grand Opening” Oct. 21 in a renovated building that was the former home of Town and Country Christian Church. Danny Cox is the lead planter. The launch team partnered with Ignite Church Planting and The Solomon Foundation to renovate the facilities, hire staff members, and become the church the city needs.
A week earlier, Rise Church in Dyer, Ind., held its first services. There were 186 in attendance. Matt Reece serves as lead planter. Ignite and Solomon also partnered in Rise Church’s launch.
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Whitewater Crossing Christian Church in Cleves, Ohio, recently delivered more than 8 tons of food to Haiti.
“The contribution equates to 110,818 meals,” said WCCC communications director Joe Porter said in a news release. More than 350 church members gathered to pack the food. The church also sent 100 pounds of bilingual educational materials, 360 pairs of new shoes, and 10 clean-water bucket kits.
The supplies will go to a Living Water school in a remote village located three hours north of Port-au-Prince. The school had been suffering from a food shortage, and the church had to gather the food quickly to meet the need.
The church partnered on the project with Living Water Christian Mission, the U.S. Air Force’s Denton program, Children’s Lifeline, and A Child’s Hope International/Hands Against Hunger.
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Abundant Life Church, Damascus, Ore., recently rolled out a new logo, mission statement, and website for the church that serves more than 2,000 in the Portland metro area.
The new mission statement is, “Giving ourselves to make the Gospel good news for others.”
Lead pastor Jeremy Jernigan asked the congregation, in rolling out the new vision for the church, “What if we followed Christianity not because ‘I’m going to get so many perks out of this’? But we knew, ‘This is going to cost me everything. I’m going to have to give myself to this. I’m going to have to sacrifice. I’m going to have to surrender a lot of things to this.’ What kind of a church would that look like?”
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Eugene Peterson, a scholar and Presbyterian pastor who created The Message, a paraphrased version of the Bible, died last week at age 85. The Washington Post and the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review are among the newspapers that published articles reporting on his death and influence.
A few days earlier, H.B. London, who spent two decades with Focus on the Family and championed Pastor Appreciation Month, died. He was known as the “Pastor to Pastors.” Read articles about him in Christianity Today and WND.com
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