August 8 Today in OPC History

As a Wheaton College student, Jim Bosgraf first met Judy Anderson in the early 1960s when she visited the Bosgraf home with Jim’s sister, a fellow nursing student. They met again when Judy finished her senior year at Wheaton College in 1963. Jim headed off to Gordon Divinity School in Massachusetts, conveniently close to where Judy then lived with her parents. They married on this date in 1964 and had three children, Kimberly, Scott, and Heather. Heather entered Glory in 2008.

Shortly after Jim’s 1966 seminary graduation, Jim was ordained by the Presbytery of Wisconsin (renamed the Presbytery of the Midwest) to serve as an associate pastor of Bethel Presbyterian Church in Wheaton, Illinois, working to build Grace OP Chapel in suburban Hanover Park. He became their church’s first pastor in 1968 and helped to turn the garage of their parsonage into a worship facility. In 1973, he took a call as pastor of Park Hill OPC, a multi-racial urban congregation in Denver, Colorado. In 1979, he became the pastor of Bethel OPC in Oostburg, Wisconsin, a rural, ethnically Dutch congregation, and served until 1992. During his 13 years in Oostburg, he also labored for four years as a part-time missionary at large for the Presbytery of the Midwest.

His experience with ministering in the city, suburbs, and countryside and his boundless energy paved the way for his current calling as the regional home missionary for the Presbytery of the Midwest. He started when the presbytery included the region now called the Presbytery of Michigan and Ontario. During his years as an RHM, Jim has helped to start more than 50 mission works and church plants that were funded by the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension. Ministering to the whole church, Jim was moderator of the General Assembly in 2005.

On September 9, 2018, after a three year battle with pancreatic cancer, Judy died and went to be with the Lord in glory.

Picture: The Bosgraf family celebrating Jim and Judy’s 50th anniversary in 2014 in New Hampshire - Alex, Kim, Lansing, Ham, Mya, Scott, Judy and Jim Bosgraf.