April 20 Today in OPC History

On April 20, 1979, members of the Reformation Christian Fellowship in Morgantown, West Virginia, held their first worship service in the home of Josephina Orteza. The following October, the group was received as a chapel by the Presbytery of Ohio and shortly thereafter invited the Rev. Lawrence Semel to work with them.

Mr. Semel and his family arrived in Morgantown in June 1981, and the Lord blessed his labor among the group. In April 1985, the group voted to become a particular church, and four elders—James Gidley, Joseph Camp, James Alexander, and James Thomas—were elected. On November 10, 1985, at a special worship service, the organization of the church was celebrated and the new elders were ordained and installed. The following November, Mr. Semel was installed as pastor of what was soon renamed the Reformation Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Semel would faithfully served Reformation OPC for the next twenty-five years until his retirement in 2010. The Rev. Jonathan Hutchison currently serves as pastor of Reformation Church.

Picture: From left to right, Pastor Larry Semel, and Elders Joe Camp, Jim Alexander, Jim Gidley, and Jim Thomas looking stylish in 1985.