Eighth Article in 90 Days of Praise Series

On June 11, 1963, the trustees met to sign the construction contract with Cumberland Inc., which signaled the beginning of great things for Stones River Baptist.   The contract was for $29,650, less furnishings which Cumberland promised to provide for an additional $3,100.   This meeting was filled with joy.   There was a wonderful feeling that God's will had been accomplished by His church.

Now, it was time to look to the future, for with new buildings always comes growth.   Realizing that more seating capacity meant a greater need for literature and additional classes, it was decided that we needed a teacher training course.   This class was established on Monday evenings from 6:00 - 8:00 PM, and would be taught for a 4 week period.   Three people showed up on that first Monday night.   On the second Monday night, our number had grown to 8, and by the fourth class there were 16 teachers trained and ready to teach the word of God when our new facilities came on line.

In addition to classes, we were in great need of hymnals.   Realizing the great expense that the church was now encumbered with, a gentleman in our community, who asked to remain anonymous, called the pastor one morning and said that God had told him that we needed hymnals, and he would like to provide 300 brand new hymnals to be placed in our sanctuary on Dedication Sunday.

Then, there was the matter of musical instruments.   Our piano was in fair condition, but the church had never owned an organ.   There was much discussion about the possibility of purchasing one before Dedication Sunday.   Yet, it seemed that every organ we looked at was far too expensive.   Then a call was received by one of our members that a church in Murfreesboro was about to buy a new organ, and the organ in their sanctuary was only 4 years old.   They would be willing to sell it to Stones River for $1,600, if we were interested.   We certainly were interested, but $1,600 was like one million to us at that time, for our budget was already stretched to and beyond the breaking point.

That's when God began to move once more.   Three non-resident members had sent substantial gifts to be used for building expenses.   Since these expenses had been covered by our loan from the Tennessee Baptist Convention, a motion was made that the Pastor contact these members and ask if it would be acceptable to use their gifts toward the purchase of our church's first organ.   In addition, the Smyrna Church of God had offered to buy our old primary building if we would allow them to make payments of $25 - $30 per month.   We agreed, and voted to apply those payments toward a new organ.   But as God had done so many times before, He did once more.   Not only did the three non-resident members approve using their gifts to puchase the organ, but several other substantial gifts were received, and through God's awesome provisions, we purchased our first organ for the sum of $1,600.   In fact, the church was so blessed by the hand of God, that we gave the primary building to the Smyrna Church of God if they would pay to have it removed from our property.

God has always known our needs before they became needs, and when the time came, His hand had made ready the means for us to move forward to even greater service and ministry.   God's hand has been so marvelously evident from that first meeting and even more so today, as He leads us every step of the way to greater victories as we continue to publish the Good News that Jesus Christ is Lord!
~ Brother Ross ~