December 28 Today in OPC History

Happy wedding anniversary to Ivan and Carla DeMaster, married on this day in 1960.

Born in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, Ivan DeMaster was educated at Calvin College and Westminster Seminary (BD in 1962), and ordained by the Presbytery of Philadelphia in the fall of that year. He served at Community OPC in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania for four years, and then from 1966 to 1985 he served the OP congregation in Westchester, Illinois. From there he and Carla moved to Lauderhill, Florida, where Ivan pastored Bethel OPC. Then they returned to Sheboygan, where he pastored Grace OPC for eleven years until his retirement in 2005.

But Ivan would not describe going to Sheboygan as a return to his home. In the pages of the New Horizons, he wrote: “My home is with the Lord. That’s where I belong. That’s where my treasures are. The Lord Jesus Christ has a place for me and for all his people. Only there will I be at home.”

And so he commended to readers the life of a pilgrim: “Let’s be content to be strangers to this present world system. As we work, as we spend our time and money, we know that we are going home. We are looking forward to the welcome that Christ will give us and to the home where we belong. Until then, carry on with your service to Christ.”

In serving four churches in four states, Ivan and Carla DeMaster have modeled faithfully the pilgrim lifestyle that he described.

Picture: Ivan and Carla DeMaster on their wedding day