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 […]
Format: Article
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
OPC Millennials Talk Reaching Millennials – Part 8 (Charles Williams)
This is installment 8 and the final in our series. You can find the other posts here: (Millennials Talk Millennials). This week, we hear from Charles Williams. He is 38 and one of the pastors at Bethel OPC in Wheaton, IL. While technically not a millennial, we make an exception because Charles’s ministry is committed […]
OPC Millennials Talk Reaching Millennials – Part 7 (Dan Adams)
This is installment 7 in our series. You can find the other posts here: (Millennials Talk Millennials). This week, we hear from Dan Adams. He is 31 and the Associate Pastor to Youth & Young Adults at Redeemer OPC in Ada, MI. Dan has spent the last 12 years working with younger people and college […]
OPC Millennials Talk Reaching Millennials – Part 6 (Mike Myers)
This is installment 6 in our series. You can find the other posts here: (Millennials Talk Millennials). This week, we hear from Mike Myers. He is the pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Royston, GA. Mike is 32, married to Katy and has 6 kids. Along with being a millennial himself, Mike spent 8 […]
Millennials Talk Millennials Highlights
In September & October we posted a 5-part series of OPC millennials talking about reaching millennials. We have a couple more posts coming in the series, but wanted to pause and give you a single post summary and recap. The authors have been very forthcoming and helpful and there are probably 20 things in this […]
Making the Gospel Clear in Our Culture – Part 2
Last week, Jeremiah Montgomery established the importance of gospel clarity in our communication to a culture that is no longer familiar with biblical/Christian ideas (Link: Part 1). This week he digs into examples of how we do that. Here’s Jeremiah: Making the Gospel Clear (Part 2) When my children were young, one of the books […]
Making the Gospel Clear in Our Culture – Part 1
We want to bring to this audience a two-part post by Jeremiah Montgomery that was originally published in New Horizons back when Jeremiah was church planting in State College, PA (before he went to the mission field). In these posts, Jeremiah lays out the importance and need for gospel clarity in an age where people […]
Do You Know Their Playlist?
Recently, John Shaw read an interesting post on a blog some of you may know called, Gentle Reformation. It’s a thoughtful piece–insightful with the right balance of qualifications–about the powerful messages of some of the most popular music of the day. You’ll notice from the title of the post that it’s a prod to pastors, […]
OPC Millennials Talk Reaching Millennials – Part 5 (Kerri Ann Cruse)
This is installment 5 in our series. You can find the other posts here: (Millennials Talk Millennials). This week, we hear from Kerri Ann Cruse. Kerri Ann is 27, mother of 1 year-old Jacob. She is the Social Media & Video Coordinator for the OPC. Kerri Ann is also the wife to Jonathan Cruse who […]