John Shaw gives us a “mini” podcast episode of just 6 minutes with various surprising updates about how life went for church plants during the quarantine. And he gives one very important encouragement for every church and every individual as churches get back to worship in person. Listen here or search for “Outward OPC” in […]
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On The Frontlines: Brad Peppo – Part 5
In Part 5, Brad talks about cultivating an outreach mindset among the congregation and how to implement it in church life. He also talks about having this mentality in the core group of a church plant. (These are all stand alone videos, but if you’ve missed the previous installments you can find them here: Peppo Series) […]
On The Frontlines: Brad Peppo – Part 4
It’s been a little while since we started this series with Brad Peppo, church planter in Dayton, Ohio. As we resume, each video is stand alone, but if you want to refresh or review, earlier installments are here: Peppo Series In Part 4, Brad talks about how a church and a session can more effectively make […]
Recap, Regroup, & Moving Forward
In recent months we’ve focused our posts on ministry and outreach during the two dominating themes of the year: the pandemic and the racial unrest throughout our country. For a review or to dig into those posts, you can go here: 1) Pandemic: Evangelism & Ministry During Pandemic Probably the most popular post from that […]
Racial Unrest & The Church Part 2 (Watkins & Dickerson)
Last week, we shared part of this podcast with Eric Watkins & Tarence Dickerson–pastor and ruling elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in St. Augustine, FL. Here is Part 2. Important Note: This is part 2 of 1 conversation. Please do not take one comment or thought about a cultural hot topic out of context of […]
Racial Unrest & The Church (Watkins & Dickerson)
Given the events in our nation over the past few weeks, Eric Watkins and Tarence Dickerson were willing to join us for a podcast episode to talk about ways they’ve been able to minister during this time, and how they deal with this issue as individuals, with their families, and in the church. We are […]
What Are You Doing? OPC Pastors and The Current Events
As the last few months have been dominated by the pandemic and the racial unrest in our country, we’ve sought to give you updates on how God is at work and what our churches are doing with such unusually demanding and pervasive “current events.” We asked several pastors what they and their churches were doing […]
OPC Pastor Prayers For Time of Racial Unrest
Last week, the OPC Facebook page shared some prayers from 5 OPC pastors about the racial unrest in our country. We thought they may be helpful to our audience, so we gathered them in one pdf file linked below. They may be helpful in your own prayer life, or in sharing (or maybe praying) with […]
An Opportunity to Listen (by John Shaw)
Last week, I shared an article by Sam Allberry, where he reflects on three lessons he learned from Ravi Zacharias. All three lessons help us learn how to listen well, and how to speak rightly, in a world where sin and its painful, poisonous fruits bring great pain. This week, I am sharing another article […]
What Ravi Taught Us…Even For This Exact Moment (by John Shaw)
Two weeks ago, the church mourned the death of one of the more effective and well-known gospel communicators of his generation – Ravi Zacharias. A gift to the church, he worked tirelessly to help Christians learn how to share the gospel with all sorts of people all over the globe. We can give thanks for […]
Stories From the (Virtual) Field: Webinar in TX
Carl Miller, OPC church planter in New Braunfels, TX recently hosted a free webinar on “Grief & Perseverance in Suffering.” He did the same presentation twice at different times of day to accommodate peoples’ schedules. He used ZOOM which allowed him to give a presentation, including PowerPoint slides, and a Q&A after with those who […]
Stories From the (Virtual Field): Angels Rejoice!
This story relayed to us through an elder in the OPC… We rejoice in the Lord to hear that a young college aged woman living in the home of an OPC family has recently come to faith during this pandemic. Two notes of encouragement we may glean from this as we seek to be more […]
Small Efforts Can Make Huge Kingdom Impact
John Shaw talks about a couple of examples of how small, faithful efforts with people can grow into eternal fruit. It’s often not the big, extravagant plans but rather the small, simple acts of faithfulness that change peoples’ lives. These are the kinds of opportunities we may notice in particular during this time of restricted […]
Stories From the (Virtual) Field: Stories To Inspire Neighbors
Pastor Ralph Rebandt in Oakland Hills, MI recently started creating short videos on “Inspirational Real Life Stories.” As we write, he has done 3 episodes. Ralph says that these videos are not intended to be theologically deep, but like the parables to reach people who may not have otherwise thought about spiritual things. The videos […]
Stories From the (Virtual) Field: Daily Videos in SoCal
Pastor Andrew Canavan in Corona, CA has been doing short, daily videos for his congregation for a few weeks. The videos are no frills, about 3-4 minutes, and covering a wide range of topics. Andrew just uses his smartphone, no lighting or mics and talks about good books, movies, music and hymns, church history and […]
Difficult Times: Fruitfulness In Your Neighborhood
We’ve been sharing excerpts from a video series by John Shaw on “Evangelism in Difficult Times.” This is the final installment and we want to share the whole video. It is worth your time. We’d encourage you to watch or bookmark it and watch on a Sunday…maybe as a household. It is filled with useful, […]
Difficult Times: Expectation in Prayer
In a time when we are trying to figure out what we should do about this, that, and 100 things on our minds, we should pray. We are prone to think–of course we should pray, but what should we do?! Another excerpt from John Shaw on the role of prayer in evangelism and loving our […]
Difficult Times: Gospel Fruitfulness At Home
Continuing from last week, John Shaw talks about how the gospel in our homes during this time of isolation fosters and fuels evangelism of the future. This is an excerpt from a longer video. John had a conference scheduled on evangelism for his home church that got canceled. They created a series of videos […]
Difficult Times: The Gospel For You & Your Neighbor
John Shaw, just a few days ago, recorded a video on “Evangelism in Difficult Times.” Here is a short excerpt where he talks about how the unchanging gospel is BOTH what you need and your neighbor needs right now. This is an excerpt from a longer video. John had a conference scheduled on evangelism […]
A Simple Note To Neighbors
Here is a simple example of loving our neighbors in this crisis shared by Al Tricarico: The present crisis provides unique opportunities to touch people in our neighborhoods—in a “distancing” kind of way. For the last few years, my wife, Laurie, and I have focused on eighteen homes that are nearest to us and sought […]