Page 160 - Grace150 Devotional

The church had temporary pulpit supplies for the first
six years. They had a difficult time finding a permanent
pastor, but in 1874 the Rev. W. W. Faris accepted the
call to be Grace’s first pastor. That was the same year
that the congregation built its first proper church
building at the corner of Wayne and Madison, just a
block north of St. Mary’s Cathedral. It was a wood-
frame building, and in 1890 it caught fire on a Sunday
morning just before the congregants began arriving
for morning services. It was a total loss. A new, brick
building was erected in its place within a year, and it
remained until the church moved to Forrest Hill and Fire destroyed the church
Knoxville nearly seventy years later. at Wayne and Madison
By the early 1930s, church attendance and finances had fallen very low, and the
future of the church was in doubt. There were talks of merging with another church
or possibly dissolving the church completely. By a slim margin, the congregation
decided to try calling one more pastor who might help the church grow.
In May 1933, Albert Lindsey, Jr., accepted the call to be
Grace’s pastor. At the time, money for the church was raised
by doing an annual canvass of the membership. Each family
would pledge a certain amount to the finances of the church.
Lindsey did away with this method of fundraising, and instead
emphasized the blessings of tithing. Using examples from the
Scriptures, he persuaded many of the regular givers to take
Albert Lindsey
part, and then challenged the entire congregation to try it as
well. Church finances were improved dramatically.
The church then began several efforts to reach the community for Christ.
Evangelistic meetings were held, special weekly programs
for children and youth were provided, daily Vacation Bible
School was inaugurated during the summer, and in the fall
of 1939, Grace’s morning worship services were broadcast
over radio for the first time on local radio station WMBD.
Dr. Bruce W. Dunn was called as pastor of Grace on May 9,
1951. At that time, radio stations in Peoria would broadcast
a church’s services on Sunday mornings for a month, then Dr. Bruce W. Dunn

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