CALHOUN CHURCH HISTORY
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The Calhoun Seventh-day Adventist Church was organized September 30, 1939, in the home of B.F. Tucker on the Hurlbutt Farm, which is the present site of Georgia-Cumberland Academy . There were seventeen charter members. Meetings were held in the Boy Scout Hall in Calhoun and Hurlbutt Farm Chapel.
January 11, 1945, the Calhoun Church was reorganized at Scott Sanitarium at Reeves Station. Elder William Grother held tent meetings in Calhoun in 1946 and a little group of believers began to worship in town. Two of that early group are still in Calhoun; Dr. Dennis Steele and Estelle Roberts. |
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At a church board meeting on January 31, 1947, it was voted to borrow $1,000 from the conference office and build a church out of cement block and plaster. Lincoln and Roy Silvers were in charge of construction. The building was constructed on South 41. The church cost $8,000 to build and the monthly payments were $40.00. In 1949 a surprise dedication service was held when Mr. Starkey of Starkey Printing in Chattanooga sent $700 to make the final payment on the debt. |
Four acres of land were purchased in 1972 in a special arrangement between Dr. Joe Bishop and the Conference Association on Hwy. 53 as a future site for a new church. By 1974 it was necessary to conduct two worship services to hold the membership. On January 25, 1975, Mr. Arthur Brown, Building Committee Chairman, presented the basic floor plan and exterior sketch of a proposed building. Ground breaking for the new construction was held on April 17, 1975. |
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December 27, 1975 was a thrilling day as the first service was held in the new church. The old church was sold to the Episcopalians for $46,000.00. The new church was built for a cost of $350,000.00 and the monthly payments were $3,500.00. At the church service on November 6, 1982, it was announced that the church mortgage was paid off and the church was dedicated on December 11, 1982. The congregation of 650 members, with three worship services, brought about the need for a larger church. May 10, 1998, ground was broken on the site of the former Brown farm on Highway 53. The existing church was sold to North Georgia National Bank and the property adjacent to the church sold to Ryan’s Family Steakhouse. The church met in the Belmont Baptist Church while the new facility was being built. The 32,000 square feet building seats 500 and includes a chapel, audio-visual console, nursery, library, offices, classrooms, food pantry, kitchen and fellowship room.
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| Calhoun church pastors have included:
Milton Reiber (1945-1946) Gene Cherry (1946-1955) A.C. Rawson (1955-1963) E.L. Pingenot (1963-1964) Bob Thrower (1964-1965) C.L. White (1965-1966) Bob Burroughs (1966) Vernon Harris (1966-1967) Jim Boyle (1967-1969) John Strickland (1969-1972) Paul Bornhauser (1972) Bill Tol (1972-1973) Roger Bothwell (1973-1976) Henry Uhl (1976-1978) |
Andy McDonald - Intern Bob DeForest – Senior (1985-1993) B.J. Boles – Associate/ Youth Ministries Stan Patterson - Senior (1993-1994) Wilma Zalabak – Associate Paul Hoover - Senior (1994-2002) Jeff Wood – Associate/Youth Moisés Guerrero – Associate Hispanic Brennon Kirstein – Associate/Youth (1998-2005) Andrew Caban – Associate Hispanic Aaron Payne – Associate Neftaly Ortiz – Associate Hispanic Dave Smith – Associate Phil White – Senior (2003-present) Jan White - Associate (2003-present) |
