History
New Churches of Christ was founded by Virgil Felton in the 1950’s. Virgil was a great leader in the arena of new church work. For over four decades he dedicated himself to the development of new church work. The churches that were begun under his direction were primarily started in MI, but several outside of our state were planted as well–including the state of FL. Virgil was an enthusiastic leader for the cause of Christ and had an impact on other leaders nation wide.
The ministry of NCCE was led by Ron Scott following Virgil’s tenure. Ron led NCCE for 23 years before “retiring” and joining the staff of the Southpoint Community Christian Church in Trenton. Ron helped to plant the Southpoint church in 1992 and then joined them as they continued reaching people for Christ in the downriver area. Ron and his wife, Mikie, have enjoyed traveling and ministering to both new and existing churches in our region for the past two plus decades. Recently, Ron “retired” once again and joined the team at NCCE. He will be serving as a field representative and using his valuable experience in the new church area once again.
When Ron Scott joined the Southpoint Community Christian Church team, Randy Penwell joined NCCE as its director. Prior to joining NCCE, Randy spent many years in MI serving as a minister with the local church. Randy led NCCE for four years and during his ministry he had a great impact in helping to plant the 242 Community Church in Brighton. This congregation has grown to over 1000 and continues impacting both Brighton and Ann Arbor for Christ. Randy moved to Tennessee and became the senior minister at a church outside of Knoxville and is currently enjoying this aspect of ministry.
Dozens of churches have been planted during the past 50 years under the leadership of Virgil, Ron, and Randy. Together, working as an extension of the ministry of many churches in the Great Lakes area, 1000’s of lives have been changed eternally. The current director at NCCE is Steve Larson. Steve has been involved in church planting both as a church planter and a director of church planting with East 91st Street Christian Church. He hopes to lead NCCE well into the 21st Century and see church planting make great strides in our region.