In “Get Real,” author John Leonard has an interesting chapter called “Party Evangelism.” There are two sections to the chapter. The first is establishing that the western mindset has distorted the focus of Christianity to overly individualistic at the expense of the community aspect. This distortion has a significant impact on the role of the […]
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Evangelism Reader’s Digest: Get Real #2 – Be Normal!
We are looking at lessons from John Leonard’s book evangelism called, “Get Real.” In his opening chapter, he poses the following story and commentary as the over-arching principle: “I have a problem,” began the young lady as she took a seat in my office. “My sister is coming to live with me and her life […]
Evangelism Reader’s Digest: Get Real #1 – Two Pictures of Evangelism
We are going to start a new series that will be interspersed with other topics and posts in the coming months. We are calling it “Evangelism Reader’s Digest.” We will take select chapters from good books on evangelism and share snippets from the chapter with our commentary and application for Reformed churches. Some of these […]
OPC Talk Outreach: The Best of The Best – Part 2
This has been an extended series and we are grateful to all the OPC Pastors who participated in the interview. They provided great insights and examples. But we know that your lives are saturated with information–even great information. So, our final two posts will be some of the great quotes from the series. If you […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach – The Best of Best Part 1
This has been an extended series and we are grateful to all the OPC Pastors who participated in the interview. They provided great insights and examples. But we know that your lives are saturated with information–even great information. So, our final two posts will be some of the great quotes from the series. If you […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Do Something – Part 2 (Did Something!)
Last week, we shared the recurring theme in this series that pastors shared that one of the best ways to improve our evangelism is to do something….get going…stop planning and get out there in some way. We shared several examples that were also shared. This week we want to share the remaining examples that were […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Do Something
One thing we’ve noticed in the pastors’ responses to our questions is that a couple of times there was a resounding chorus hitting the same note. Rather than treat that as something repetitive that could be compressed, we think that’s an area to pause and listen to the chorus hitting the same note. This week, […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Jeff De Boer – Part 2
This is week 2 with Jeff. If you didn’t read last week, here is more about Jeff or skip down to the final portion of the interview. Jeff De Boer is the pastor of Redeemer OPC in Ada, Michigan. Prior to this pastorate, Jeff pastored in the RCUS, PCA, and URCNA varying across rural, suburban, […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Jeff De Boer – Part 1
Jeff De Boer is the pastor of Redeemer OPC in Ada, Michigan. Prior to this pastorate, Jeff pastored in the RCUS, PCA, and URCNA varying across rural, suburban, and metro areas. He is a graduate of Mid America Reformed Seminary and studied law at the University of Iowa. He and his wife, Karen, have 5 […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Richard Ellis – Part 2
This is week 2 with Richard. If you didn’t read last week, here is more about him or skip down to the final portion of the interview. Richard Ellis is the pastor of Faith OPC in Elmer, NJ. He grew up the son of an OPC minister in MD. After attending Covenant College & Westminster […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Richard Ellis Part 1
Richard Ellis is the pastor of Faith OPC in Elmer, NJ. He grew up the son of an OPC minister in MD. After attending Covenant College & Westminster in Philadelphia, Richard would later plant an OPC church in Frederick, MD where he served for 24 years. He was also a part-time RHM in the Mid-Atlantic, […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Tom Trouwborst – Part 2
This is week 2 with Tom. If you didn’t read last week, here is more about him or skip down to the final portion of the interview. Tom Trouwborst has pastored Calvary OPC in Schenectady, NY for the past 20 years. Prior to pastoring, he spent 10 years as a CPA. The church in Schenectady […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Tom Trouwborst – Part 1
Tom Trouwborst has pastored Calvary OPC in Schenectady, NY for the past 20 years. Prior to pastoring, he spent 10 years as a CPA. The church in Schenectady is challenged by the fact that the town used to be the hub of GE with 30,000+ employees, and now today a little over 1,000 employees. This […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Matthew Patton – Part 2
This is week 2 with Matthew. If you didn’t read last week, here is more about him or skip down to the final portion of the interview. Matthew Patton is pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Vandalia, Ohio. He has served there for the past 5 years. He and wife, Trina, are blessed with […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Matthew Patton – Part 1
Matthew Patton is pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Vandalia, Ohio. He has served there for the past 5 years. He and his wife, Trina, are blessed with 7 kids. One of his passions in ministry is seeing and preaching the glory of Christ in the Old Testament. This week, we share Matthew’s answers […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Phil Proctor – Part 2
This is week 2 with Phil. Read more about him, or skip down to the interview… Phil Proctor is the pastor of Sterling Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Sterling, VA, just outside the Washington DC metro area. He was formerly an OPC Missionary to Uganda. He and his wife, Meredith, have 4 adult children. Here are […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: Phil Proctor – Part 1
Phil Proctor is the pastor of Sterling Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Sterling, VA, just outside the Washington DC metro area. He was formerly an OPC Missionary to Uganda. He and his wife, Meredith, have 4 adult children. This week we share Phil’s answers to our first 3 questions in the interview… What is something that […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: James Lim Part 2
This is the second week with James. If you didn’t read last week, here’s more on James, or skip down for the interview. James Lim is the pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Long Beach, CA. A long-established OPC church (founded in 1941), James has served for 10 years in Long Beach–one of the […]
OPC Pastors Talk Outreach: James Lim Part 1
James Lim is the pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Long Beach, CA. A long-established OPC church (founded in 1941), James has served for 10 years in Long Beach–one of the most racially, ethnically, and economically diverse communities in CA. He also formerly served as an Associate Pastor for 5 years at Lake Sherwood […]
Stories From the Field: What Is Truth? – Ringoes, NJ
This week’s post is from Rev. Chris Bush from Calvary OPC in Ringoes, NJ. I am often tempted to think that I must fit everything into a single conversation, but as I have gone out with our church’s evangelism group, it has quickly become apparent that I have a limited number of words with a […]