Buchanan Christian Church to welcome new pastor
Published 10:21 pm Thursday, June 23, 2011
Barry Thornton and his wife, Janet, will be coming to serve in the ministry at Buchanan Christian Church, Buchanan.
Barry and Janet Thorton
They will be making their home at 117 South Detroit St., Buchanan. Thorton’s first worship service will be Sunday, July 17 at 10:30 a.m.
Thorton has been in the ministry for 33 years. His first senior ministry position was from 1980 to 1985 at the Montezuma Church of Christ in Montezuma, Ohio. That church quadrupled in attendance during his ministry.
From 1985 to 1993 he was senior minister of the First Christian Church of Chesterton, Ind. During that time the church grew from under 100 to about 425 in attendance and they went through a building program.
Thorton then became senior minister at Jerome Christian Church in Greentown, Ind., where the church went through a building program and grew to more than 500 in a small community.
He then moved to Arizona to become senior minister of the Paseo Verde Christian Church in the Phoenix area. That church grew to more than 400 and went through a $5 million building program during his ministry.
Then in 2007 the Chesterton church called him back to lead them through a transition. The church there outgrew and sold its building and is now meeting in the YMCA with plans to build a new building on a plot of land it owns.
Thorton has written for a number of publications, including Christian Standard and Restoration Herald. He wrote the cover article for the Restoration Herald issue of February this year.
He organized Family Camp West in Arizona patterning it after the Hillsboro Family Camp in Hillsboro, Ohio, directed by Kerry Allen, a former minister of BCC.
Thorton received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cincinnati Christian University and his doctorate from Master’s International School of Divinity in Evansville, Ind.
Thorton, 55, and has been married to Janet for 32 years.They have no children.
In addition to reading and writing, Thorton enjoys playing softball and golf, and singing quartet music. Janet enjoys gardening.
BCC is located at 112 West Third St., Buchanan. For directions to the church, call the church office, 695-6621 or go to www.buchananchurch.org.
