21 years. Almost to the day. God answers the prayers of his people as they gather as a church to seek His favor. Recently, Jay Bennett, pastor of Neon Reformed Presbyterian Church in Neon, KY told us a story—a remarkable story of God’s faithfulness. Neon, KY is a rural region of Appalachia. It is very […]
Stories From the Field
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 […]
Stories From the Field: Winston-Salem, NC
We recently checked in with Calvin Keller, the church planter at Harvest OPC in Winston-Salem, NC. Calvin just recently moved to Winston-Salem to take the call and has been on the ground for about 6 months. Upon moving to NC, Calvin and his wife had to temporarily live in an apartment complex and as Calvin […]
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 […]
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 […]
Stories From the Field: Neon, KY
Readers of New Horizons may have seen the article on the church in Neon, KY a couple of months ago (p.13 of this pdf: New Horizons August 2018). This week’s Stories from the Field digs a little deeper into the outreach mentioned in that article which has been fundamental to the development of Neon Reformed […]
Stories From the Field: Normal Life
We have been sharing some more formal outreach efforts by OPC churches, but as we all know there are opportunities all around us in “normal life.” Sometimes God takes the most mundane aspects of life and turns them into moments of eternal significance. In today’s examples, eating dinner and taking a walk. We share these […]
Stories From the Field: Hamilton, NJ
What comes to mind when you hear the word “evangelism”? Do you imagine a scenario where a Christian shares the gospel with a total stranger? While this is not uncommon, it is certainly not the only way evangelism takes place. It is also not uncommon for many Christians to feel frightened by the thought of […]
Outward Stories From the Field: San Francisco
A man walked up and asked, “Do you have free Bibles for atheists?” We assured him we did and had a short conversation about how they are really free and we are happy to give one to him. He ended up taking a “Confessing Christ” as well. He seemed pleased that his atheism didn’t faze […]
Outward Stories From the Field: Sterling, VA
What would it take to get a group of maybe 5 non-Christians along with 5-10 Christians into your home to talk about spiritual things for a few hours every Friday night? For Phil Proctor at Sterling Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Sterling, VA it’s a free dinner and some intentionality. Two months ago, he started a […]
Outward Stories From The Field: Houston – House to House After Harvey
The October issue of New Horizons includes a well thought out vision of church planting for Houston from Mark Sumpter (You can download the pdf of that issue here: October 2017 New Horizons). As noted, that article was written before the devastation of Hurricane Harvey. Talk about an immediate challenge to your church planting vision! […]
Looking at Outreach Ideas – Some Collected Examples
In the early stages of developing Outward OPC, one of our goals is to share the stories and ideas of what churches are doing to reach people. Last week at the Regional Church Extension Conference in Orlando this need was again discussed. The chairmen of the Presbytery Missions Committees and our Regional Home Missionaries suggested […]