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 […]
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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 […]
Lessons in Leadership – Part 5 (Jonathan Landry Cruse)
A reminder about this series: We are seeking to always cultivate leadership that is effective and displays the compassion of our Lord. We asked pastors to choose a book that has influenced their leadership and tell us how they use it. These are not book reviews, and therefore the men will not qualify what is […]
Lessons in Leadership – Part 4 (Jody Morris)
A reminder about this series: We are seeking to always cultivate leadership that is effective and displays the compassion of our Lord. We asked pastors to choose a book that has influenced their leadership and tell us how they use it. These are not book reviews, and therefore the men will not qualify what is […]
On The Frontlines: Brad Peppo – Part 3
In Part 3, Brad talks about how building relationships requires patience and what to look for in fruit over time in your evangelism. (These are all stand alone videos, but if you’ve missed the first two installments you can find them here: Peppo Series) Questions for Thought or Discussion: 1) Brad talks about the patience needed […]
On The Frontlines: Brad Peppo – Part 2
Here is Part 2 of our interview with Brad Peppo. If you are new to Outward OPC or missed last week’s email, here is: Part 1. In this installment we discuss Brad’s particular evangelism to thoughtful, atheist activists. Questions for Thought or Discussion: 1) While Brad’s particular strengths and weaknesses lead to his particular […]
On The Frontlines: Church Planting DNA -Brad Peppo
We sat down with Brad Peppo, pastor of First Street Reformed Fellowship (OPC) in Dayton, OH, to talk about a wide range of topics related to outreach and evangelism. Topics in this series will include: evangelism of thoughtful atheists, outward focused churches, building relationships with unbelievers, serial church planting, and several others. We look forward […]
Lessons in Leadership – Part 3 (Christopher Chelpka)
A reminder about this series: We are seeking to always cultivate leadership that is effective and displays the compassion of our Lord. We asked pastors to choose a book that has influenced their leadership and tell us how they use it. These are not book reviews, and therefore the men will not qualify what is […]
Lessons in Leadership – Part 2 (Jeremiah Montgomery)
A reminder about this series: We are seeking to always cultivate leadership that is effective and displays the compassion of our Lord. We asked pastors to choose a book that has influenced their leadership and tell us how they use it. These are not book reviews, and therefore the men will not qualify what is […]
Lessons in Leadership – Part 1 (Jeff Landis)
Leadership is the source of much conflict in the world and unfortunately also in the church. Poor leadership can harm those inside the church, and bring a scar to our witness to those outside the church. We always want to be cultivating leadership that is effective and displays the compassion and servant manner of our […]
Hospitality & Evangelism Discussion
Last week at the Church Planter Training Conference, Al & Laurie Tricarico gave a presentation on Hospitality & Evangelism from which we pull a couple of highlights that should encourage each of us: Question Posed to the Group: Why is hospitality a qualification for elders?(We can broaden that to why are Christians called to be […]
Millennials Talk Millennials Highlights Part 2
Let’s put a bow on the Millennials Talk Millennials series. Part way through, we gave you a “Highlights – Part 1.” Now, we’ll pair that with a Highlights from Part 2. These two posts work nicely as something to read together and discuss. Regarding the challenges and identity millennials: From Charles Williams (Charles’s full post) […]