Back in 2009, Gallup published its most recent “State of the States” comparison, showing the most and least religious of the fifty states in the union. As a church planter, I have to confess that it did explain a little bit to see my adopted state of New Hampshire finishing high on the list—of the least religious states! When asked if religion is an important part of their daily life, only 42 percent of Vermonters answered positively, which was the lowest percentage for any state. The Granite Staters of New Hampshire came in next with 46 percent. By comparison, our neighboring states of Maine and Massachusetts seem to be overwhelmed with religious affections, for there a full 48 percent of the population said that religion is important

Pastor Brent Evans of Momence OPC in Momence, Illinois, writes: “Part of my work a while back was to prepare a sermon on Genesis 23. There Abraham confesses, ‘I am an alien and a stranger among you.’ This confession that he makes by faith (Heb. 11:13) helps me as I reflect on where we are as a congregation. God has been establishing us, and yet we need to press on! “We are thankful for the establishment that comes from having a group of families that have enjoyed fellowship together in the Lord for many years. The Lord has further established us by adding six households to the congregation over the past three years. We are thankful for elders and deacons who have served the congregation year after year. We have been further

The other day I saw a prickly pear cactus growing on the roof of a trailer home. That, my friends, is church planting in Arizona. Just when you think the ground is too hard, the sun is too hot, and the drought is too long, God puts a cactus on the roof. In 2008, you would have thought planting an Orthodox Presbyterian church in Tucson, Arizona, was impossible. There was no core group in Tucson, and in all of Arizona there were only two Orthodox Presbyterian pastors and a few ruling elders. This small group was stretched thin, overseeing four different bodies: Calvin Presbyterian Church in Phoenix and Prescott Presbyterian Church in Prescott, as well as two daughter mission works, Verde Valley Reformed Chapel in Cottonwood and Iglesia