By Jim Nieman
After 16 years on the board of IDES followed by 19 years as the organization’s executive director, Rick Jett has transitioned out of the latter role and David Stine has been named to succeed him.
Since 2016, Stine has served as director of operations with IDES—International Disaster Emergency Service—a Christian church/church of Christ organization incorporated in 1973 to provide emergency assistance via missionaries who were in or near disaster situations around the world.
“I am honored to continue the legacy of meeting the physical and spiritual needs of suffering people throughout the world in the name of Jesus Christ,” Stine said.
Stine, 37, grew up in Mexico, where his parents served as missionaries in Mexico City. He received a bachelor’s degree from Ozark Christian College, Joplin, Mo., and a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Lincoln (Ill.) Christian University. He served in leadership roles with Christian children’s homes in the Northwest and Southwest before coming to IDES. He and his wife, Nicole, have two sons.
Since 2019, Jett, 64, has battled health issues that have required him to undergo dialysis three times a week. At a board meeting late that year, Jett and his wife, Nancy, executive assistant with IDES, discussed retirement with the board of trustees, ultimately settling on a plan to retire Sept. 3, 2021, according to a letter to supporters of IDES penned by board chairman Mark McGilvrey.
The change in executive director from Jett to Stine became effective Jan. 1, and Jett now serves as executive director emeritus.
In his new role, McGilvrey wrote, “[Jett] will continue to represent IDES to churches/individuals while serving as an adviser and mentor to David during the next nine months to ensure the smoothest of transitions so that God’s great story through IDES will continue.”
IDES was started in the early 1970s by Milton B. Bates, a pattern-maker with Fisher Body who served as an elder in a local church. He and his wife, Janet, initially corresponded with missionaries from their kitchen table in Marion, Ind. Richard Sprague came on board in 1974 as full-time manager/evangelist. In 1984, IDES purchased a building in Kempton, Ind. IDES is now headquartered in Noblesville, Ind.
Under Jett’s leadership since 2002, McGilvrey wrote, “IDES has expanded its role as a relief agency increasing the number of countries served to 127 with over 7,000 projects. We have seen thousands of people baptized into Christ, millions of meals given out, and hundreds of thousands of displaced people provided shelter, food, clean water, and medical supplies. It is hard to imagine where IDES would be without his and Nancy’s leadership and service.” In total, Jett has served 35 years with the organization.
Jett shared via email that IDES’s income during 2020 “was over $5 million. We presently have 12 full-time staff members, not including Nancy and me.”
Its website states, “IDES exists to meet physical and spiritual needs of suffering people throughout the world in the name of Jesus Christ.”
Some of IDES’s most recent projects have included assisting relief efforts during the California and Oregon wildfires; hurricane relief at Lake Charles, La., and Panama City, Fla.; and flood relief in Myanmar, India, and Michigan, Jett shared. “We also helped over 70 different missions with COVID-19 relief (food, medicines, etc.) in 2020.”
For his part, Stine said he is “grateful for the opportunity to lead this incredible team. [I] look forward to the opportunities God’s going to give us to further his kingdom.”
Jim Nieman serves as managing editor of Christian Standard.
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