Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension

of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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Introducing Ben Ward – Naples’ New Intern Starting this Fall

In September 2018, Ben (and Tiffany) Ward will begin his internship at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Naples, Florida. Ben has a great testimony that Home Missions shares now as both an encouragement to your faith and a reminder to pray for him as he begins his internship and discerns his calling to ministry. Ben writes, "My upbringing was in a traditional middle class family in small-town New Jersey.  My parents lived moral lives, we were members of a theologically Liberal PCUSA church, and personal fulfillment was a central part of our upbringing.  It was a great upbringing actually, my parents loved me very much and I never wanted for anything materially or in the affections of my family.  However, I was always a fairly

Loving Our Refugee Neighbors

Do you remember the question asked in Luke 10 by the lawyer to test our Lord Jesus Christ? He asked, “Who is my neighbor?” but he was not re­ally searching for his neighbor’s identity. The parable Jesus told in response uncovered the fact that the lawyer was having a problem discerning the depth and the breadth and the width of God’s love for his people. In July 2017, the congregation of Redeemer OPC in At­lanta, Georgia, began a ministry that caused them to probe the depth and breadth and width of God’s love as they endeavored to shine forth Christ to their new refugee neighbors. Redeemer OPC’s pastor, Zecharias Weldeyesus, is him­self—along with his wife and five children—a political asylee from Eritrea. Under his leadership,

Coffeeshop Apologetics

The aroma of freshly brewed coffee fills the air. Like their own form of music, the bubbling of milk frothing and friendly chatter play in the background. It’s December 2016, and Armando Maese Jr. is sitting at a table in a local coffee shop expectantly waiting for the start of his new apologetics study. Armando, or “AJ” as he likes to be called, is a member of San Antonio Reformed Church, a mission work of the OPC. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, he is focused on something eternal. AJ is halfway through his online master’s studies in apologetics at Biola University and is looking for an opportunity to put the things he’s learning into practice. He posts an invite to an apologetics study group on Meetup.com and

Not-So-Radical Hospitality

Being a part of a church plant comes with a long job description for both church planter and members. The ministry involved can include everything from hauling hymnals, to park evangelism, to Sunday evening Bible studies. According to Mark Sumpter, regional home missionary in Houston, Texas, “We are seeing that a big, big umbrella under ministry is hospitality.” One member of Sumpter’s Bible study in Houston, David Blecher, and his wife, Kindra, were able to show extreme hospitality to their neighbors in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. When Harvey hit Houston on Saturday, September 2, the Blechers began bailing the immense amounts of water coming down on their home. Unlike most of the homes in their old, inner-city neighborhood, the

Announcing the Birth of Resurrection OPC

By Sean Gregg Oshkosh: for many, the word stirs up images of little children playing in denim overalls. But the session and members of nearby Apple Valley Presbyterian Church in Neenah, Wisconsin, see a mid-sized city of that name with no NAPARC presence. Or, at least, they did. Their daughter, Resurrection Presbyterian Church, is due to be born there in December. Oshkosh, the eighth-largest city in the state, is southwest of Neenah, twenty-five minutes down newly designated Interstate 41. Unlike some mid-sized Midwestern cities, the economy and population of Oshkosh are stable. The population of about 65,000 has good demographic diversity. The city grew up around the lumber and paper industries. The famous overalls are no longer