update on Southeast in So. IN

An update from J.D. Williams in today's C-J on Southeast's So. Indiana campus-to-be...

The interior of Southeast Christian Church's new Jeffersonville facility was covered with mounds of dirt and pebbles yesterday.

Tractors and bulldozers moved in and out through the church's open front hauling debris away. Men with hardhats and blow-torches walked the undefined halls as the 86,000-square-foot project moves closer to completion.

"Inclement weather got us in the spring, so we're a little bit behind," said Kenny Fritz, the project superintendent. "But we're going to try to make up as much ground as possible."

Fritz said the new church, an extension of the Louisville megachurch, is about 20 percent complete and his team of more than 30 workers is pushing to be finished in December.

Southeast Christian, meanwhile, is already getting involved in the local community. Members of the church who live in Indiana have started small study and fellowship groups in their homes....

Rusty Russell, the son of retired Southeast Christian pastor Bob Russell, will be the Indiana campus pastor.

The younger Russell, 41, said building in Southern Indiana became an obligation after a study of the area found that more than 35,000 people were not involved in church. The new campus at U.S. 31 and New Albany-Charlestown Pike, off Interstate 65 at Exit 4, will seat 1,400....