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
Not Your Traditional RHM
On September 1, 2016, after serving for thirty-five years as pastor of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Franklin Square, Long Island, New York, I began my new ministerial labors as regional home missionary (RHM) of the Presbytery of Connecticut and Southern New York. The preparation for the call to this work and the call itself came after much thought, discussion with others, and prayer. Through the presbytery itself and through the generous support of the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension, God made provision for most of the funding (see below) for a five-year trial period of RHM work in the presbytery that covers the largest portion of the population of the United States (with the Presbytery of Southern California coming
Boardwalk Chapel: Recap and Plans
This past summer, the Lord blessed the outreach efforts of the Boardwalk Chapel in Wildwood, New Jersey, in several key areas. As we look back on 2016 and look forward to what 2017 will hold, we are thankful to the Lord for his continued and steadfast faithfulness to us. We also are assured that as we remain devoted to serving Jesus, he will keep working through us to build his church. First, in 2016, the Chapel had an expanded slate of staff leaders and volunteers to help organize and lead nightly evangelistic programs from the week after Father’s Day through the Saturday before Labor Day. The staff dormitory was the fullest it has ever been, with twenty-seven full-time summer residents under the discipleship of house parents Cal and