After 35 years as pastor of Franklin Square OPC, Bill Shishko is now leading a new church plant on Long Island (website: The Haven). In this new work, Bill is giving a lot of thought and effort to how this new church might reach people–unchurched or those with only a passing familiarity with the church. […]
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When You Are at the Front Door & God Uses the Side
Have you caught an update in Home Missions Today or on Facebook about what’s happening at Grace Fellowship OPC in Huron, Ohio with church planter Larry Oldaker? After an extended season of discouragement, God is bringing another congregation in the area to join and be a part of Grace Fellowship. They have 21 people in […]
Rosaria Butterfield on Community & The Lord’s Day
We’ve featured Rosaria Butterfield here before (and will again), and John Shaw has talked about her book “The Gospel Comes With a House Key” on a podcast. Below is an article that is a short excerpt from part of that book. It is a thought-provoking and heart-stirring approach to living in community on the Lord’s […]
An OPC RHM (Home Missionary) Hits the Road To Grow & Learn
Recently, Mark Sumpter (RHM – Presbytery of the Southwest) shared a story with us about an opportunity he had to learn about church planting from outside of OPC circles. Mark has a friend from Houston who is taking a church planting class at RTS Jackson. Mark was invited to tag along to a full day […]
Podcast Ep. #7: Bradney Lopez (Puerto Rico)
Bradney Lopez is the OPC church planter in Puerto Rico. On the podcast he discusses life in Puerto Rico, the spiritual culture of the people, and what it is like church planting in his own home town. Enjoy! ———————————————————————————————- Tools & Help with Podcasts Podcasts are basically just audio files. You will always be able […]
Who Will Attend Your Church This Sunday?
82% of unchurched people said they were “somewhat likely” to attend church if they were invited. 21% of active churchgoers have invited anyone to church in the course of a year. (And the number that invite an unchurched person is more like 2%!) Evangelistic Accelerant: This Sunday is arguably the day that an unchurched person […]
A Welcoming Congregation – Part 3 (by Shane Lems)
Shane (Covenant OPC, Hammond, WI) has taken us on a thorough journey of how to be a welcoming church, including the role of the pastor and the congregation (Series Posts). We are thankful for his work and thoughts from someone who is on the field trying to implement these things! This week he closes with […]
A Welcoming Congregation – Part 2 (Practical Action)
Last week, OPC Pastor Shane Lems gave us some great illustrations of how to think about welcoming visitors to our church (Part 1). Now, it’s time to take action. Shane gives 10 practical ways church members can welcome visitors. Maybe you could discuss these as a family, or an outreach committee could use them to […]
A Welcoming Congregation (by Shane Lems) – Part 1
Here’s a multiple choice question to get us thinking about visitors in church: When you see a visitor on Sunday, what do you usually do? A) I try not to stare. B) Visitors? I never notice visitors. C) Nothing. I’m afraid to talk to new people. D) I try to at least say hello and […]
Stories From the Field: Sharing Christ in a Coffee House
Here is a great example of loving your neighbor for the sake of the of the gospel in everyday, “simple” life. We love this example: —————————————————————————————————— While working as a coffee house barista, I gradually learned an important lesson: a barista is more than just a barista. Often, you are the individual that people look […]
Stories From the Field: San Antonio – True Love Sunday
Last month, Pastor Andrew Moody and San Antonio Reformed took the opportunity to have an intentional outreach for their worship service on the Sunday before Valentine’s Day. They called it “True Love Sunday.” The description on the Facebook event page first caught our eye: They provided members with a card to invite people: Members invited […]
Welcoming Pastor (by Shane Lems) – Part 3
Last week, Shane Lems explored some insightful thoughts on being a welcoming pastor in leading worship and preaching (Welcoming Pastor – Part 2). Here’s Shane continuing to look at the pastor’s interaction with visitors: Love in Conversation Another angle of being a welcoming pastor is that we show love in conversations. Whether we talk to […]
Welcoming Pastor (by Shane Lems) – Part 2
Last week Shane explored the biblical background and role of a pastor in leading the way in being welcoming (Part 1). Now, he digs into the practical ways to implement those principles. Here’s Shane: Practical: Love in Leading Worship & Preaching In many ways, the pastor sets the tone for worship. In Reformed churches we […]
The Welcoming Pastor (by Shane Lems) – Part 1
In the first part of this series, Shane Lems took us through a 3-part approach to being a welcoming church: biblical, balanced, and a missionary bent. You can read those posts here: (Welcoming Church). Later in the series Shane will focus on the congregation, but in this second part he focuses on the pastor. Over […]
What People Leave Behind When Becoming Reformed
Recently, Covenant OPC in St. Augustine hosted a conference about reforming race relationships in the church. One of the speakers was Alicia Williams, a member of Christ Church in Charleston, SC (PCA – Pastor Jon Payne). Alicia gives her testimony of what it was like to come from a very non-Reformed background into a Reformed […]
John Shaw @ Church Planters’ Conference
Last week at the Church Planter Training Conference, John Shaw spent an extended time with the church planters discussing evangelism. A particular segment of that time warrants a summary here for a brief refreshment, encouragement, and direction in this important task for our churches. John opened with a quote from a 19th century minister named […]
An OPC Pastor’s Facebook Video
Before you watch this video and read this post: STOP for just a moment and think about one thing: Have you heard the objection from Christians who are against having creeds and/or confessions? “No Creed but Christ” is a common contemporary way to put it. How have you heard that objection answered? Maybe you yourself […]
Welcoming Church (Shane Lems): Part 2 – A Missionary Bent
In this series so far, Shane has set up a three-pronged approach to being a welcoming church. Last week, we considered the first two: Biblical & Balanced (Part 1: Biblical & Balanced). Now, the third: A Missionary Bent….Here is Shanes’s post: A Missionary Bent When I was a church planter, I necessarily had a “church […]
Being A Welcoming Church: Part 1 (Shane Lems)
Last week, we introduced and previewed a new series by OPC Pastor Shane Lems (Covenant Presbyterian in Hammond, WI). (More about Shane and last week’s post). Now, we will start to dig into the full articles. Below is the portion on being biblical and balanced as a welcoming church. Next week, the third prong: a […]
Shane Lems: Being A Welcoming Church – Introduction
We begin 2019 with a new series about being a welcoming church written by OPC Pastor Shane Lems. Shane is the pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Hammond, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Lisa, have 4 kids. Prior to ministry, Shane was in the US Army Reserves for 6 years and worked in the auto […]