Prime Mover Too • Johnny Linnehan
Johnny Linnehan • Prime Mover Too
Johnny Linnehan
Answering a New and
Higher Calling
John Linnehan is pretty much a
household name in the Ellsworth
area and if it isn’t in your house,
it is likely to be in your garage on
the back of your car or truck.
W
Just like his antique
license plate, which now
reads, “sxy sxty”, here are
a couple “sexy sixty’s”!
A 1960 Corvette and 64
year old Johnny
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• M a i n e S e n i o r s • Summer 2013
hen you hear Linnehan you think cars and
trucks. Ford, Chrysler, Plymouth, and
Dodge are just some of the manufacturers
that accompanied the Linnehan name on towering
signs, lighting up the lots full of new and used vehicles.
Johnny Linnehan, Jr. has been in the car business
for over 40 years, following in his father’s footsteps,
owning and managing multiple car dealerships in the
Hancock and Penobscot County areas. Today, at the age
of 64, he is still “selling”, or more accurately still “telling”.
He is “telling” people about something that will outlast
By Cathy Genthner
any vehicle warrantee in the world – that is eternal
life in Heaven through salvation in Jesus Christ. His
communication and people skills on the car lot and
in the showroom have prepared him well for his new
calling as evangelist, educator, pastor and philanthropist.
Linnehan is a hometown success story. He was born
in Ellsworth on August 21, 1948 and has lived in the
coastal town his entire life except when he attended
college. He graduated from Ellsworth High School
in 1966 with a list of accomplishments for his young
life including starting guard on the school’s last state
championship basketball team, as well as, member of
the National Honor Society. With good grades and
ambition, he attended the University o f Maine at Orono
from 1966 to 1970 and majored in Business Administration.
“It was a time in my life when I lacked direction and
purpose. I had no goals, did not attend classes and did
not try to learn,” said Linnehan. “I could easily go back
and take a course or two to say that I was a college
graduate, but in my own mind, I wouldn’t deserve it.”
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Prime Mover Too • Johnny Linnehan
Johnny Linnehan • Prime Mover Too
This page: The first Linnehan
Ellsworth dealerships as they
evolved through the ages in
the 60’s and the 70’s.
Johnny with his professional partner Elizabeth
Pouwels as they tied
for First Place in The
Grand’s “Dancing With
The Stars” competition.
coordinator. He experienced great financial and
personal success. In the late seventies, after tasting
and enjoying incredible success, he unexplainably felt
disillusioned and unfulfilled.
“At that time, I went through a period of soul-searching
and I wasn’t paying attention to the business in the
manner that I had been. Consequently, business went
downhill a little bit,” said Linnehan. “I was searching to
find out what I really wanted to do with my life and
what my purpose in life really was. I had a lot of the
‘trappings’ that being financially successful can give you.
I had new cars, new boats, new houses. I had a fantastic
wife and two young sons but I didn’t really have true
happiness. I knew there was something missing.”
Instead of finishing his degree, he returned to Ellsworth
and began selling vehicles at the new Chrysler/
Plymouth dealership that belonged to his father, who
that year bought a Ford dealership as well. He married
his high school sweetheart, Heather Ashmore, whom
he has been with for almost 44 years and has two sons
and seven grandchildren. John has worked in just about
every job at a car dealership, such as; new and used
car salesman, used car manager, used car buyer, sales
manager, general manager as well as parts and service
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• M a i n e S e n i o r s • Summer 2013
That something was a personal relationship with Jesus
Christ. Linnehan had attended a local Baptist church
when he was a boy and he heard the Gospel presented,
but for one reason or another, the message didn’t stay
with him – or did it? One Sunday morning during
his period of soul searching, Johnny got up and went
to church. He was a 26-year- old man, but heard the
message of salvation with the ears of a newborn.
“That day I made a decision to accept Jesus Christ as
my personal savior,” said Linnehan. “I can honestly say
that it has been the best decision of my entire life. It
has been a growing and maturing experience during
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Prime Mover Too • Johnny Linnehan
Johnny Linnehan • Prime Mover Too
Johnny leading a youth
hotdog eating contest
However, things were about to change dramatically, not
because of success or failure, or personal struggles or
health, but because of that still, soft voice.
Johnny exercising
his 2nd Amendment
rights in church
“In 2010, I felt God’s call on my life to leave the
business world and go into a full-time, Bible-based,
soul- winning ministry. My personal goal and prayer
is for God to use me to save many souls in Hancock
County where I was born and still live,” said Linnehan.
“I am recognized as a dedicated, passionate, committed
follower of Jesus Christ. My only priority now is to
personally fulfill the’ Great Commission.”
“The Great Commission” is contained in Matthew
28:18-20, which instructs Christians to spread the
Good News. “Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
these past 38 years. I’m not perfect – far from it – but
I try to live a life that is pleasing to God and to base
my daily living upon the Principles as taught in God’s
word – the Bible.”
Linnehan wasn’t finished with his searching and
through much prayer and Bible study, was convinced
that God’s will for his life was to remain in the automobile business – at least for a while.
“I’m not the type of person who does something halfway.
Either I do it or I don’t. It is either right or wrong,” said
Linnehan. “Once I had that peace and knew what God
wanted me to do, I decided that I would become the
best I could be.”
And that is what he did, building up the family
business in Ellsworth and in 1983 acquiring the
Ford franchise in Bangor, building it from a bankrupt
building with no employees, no cars, no trucks, and no
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• M a i n e S e n i o r s • Summer 2013
furniture. In 1987, the dealerships in Ellsworth and
Bangor had combined sales of $36 million. At around
that time, Linnehan began and owned 75 percent
of Maine Wide Trucks, a Ford heavy duty truck and
equipment sales operation and the business expanded
to include Nissan trucks as well. In 1991, he expanded
into several other counties in Maine by opening
Credit Now! Auto Company, which quickly became
the #1 volume used car sales leader in Maine. In 1992
he founded Atlantic Acceptance Corporation, which
also quickly became the largest privately owned used
car finance company in Maine.
“That was probably the most exciting, exhilarating and
rewarding time in my entire life,” said Linnehan.
John was recently elected into the NABD, National
Alliance of Buy Here, Pay Here Dealers, Used Car
Dealers Hall of Fame at their Las Vegas national
convention in May.
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I
have commanded you. And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age’” (NIV).
Linnehan has obeyed the “Great Commission” and
founded The Good News Center, a 50,000 square foot
building on the Bar Harbor Road in Trenton. The center
is a beehive of activity, education and evangelism aimed
at people of all ages. The building houses Acadia
Christian Academy, which includes grades kindergarten
through high school. There are many youth-oriented
activities and festivals aimed at helping children in their
faith walk, while having fun and making new friends.
He has also created “Youth Nation”- a group for
Junior and Senior high school age students that meets
Wednesday and Saturday evenings, as well as, a special
Sunday morning worship time, all designed to meet
kids where they are in their lives. He has started a new
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Prime Mover Too • Johnny Linnehan
church called The Good News Fellowship over the past
year and a half. He hopes to have a second and a third
church started before the end of this year. One will be
on Mount Desert Island and one will be in the Blue
Hill area. He preaches, leads crusades, and has a wealth
of information on the web (including Bible studies,
videos of conferences and preaching) for people who
are interested in turning their lives around through a
personal relationship with Jesus Christ. His ministry
is not only for children, but for people of all ages and
stages of life, whether they are successful or struggling
for answers. Johnny considers himself Blessed to know
God’s purpose for his life. He is on the move seven days
a week and puts in 12-15 hour days for the Lord.
“I thank God for saving my spirit and my soul when
I was 26 years old. That Spiritual experience literally
turned my life around and gave me the answers to life’s
two big questions: (1) “Where am I going to go when
I die?” (2) “Why am I here, what’s my purpose in life?”
said Linnehan. “I want to tell as many people as possible how they can know 100 percent for sure that when
their body dies physically here on this earth, their spirit
and soul will go immediately to Heaven to live with
God for all eternity.”
For more information visit www.JohnLinnehan.com
or www.thegoodnewscenter.com 
Rev. Dr. Cathy Genthner is a freelance writer and an
ordained minister. A registered Maine Guide, she lives in
Gorham. She has been a journalist for over 30 years.
John and Heather at this year’s
Valentines Dance celebrating when
they were engaged 44 years earlier.
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