September 6 Today in OPC History

The Rev. Dr. George W. Knight, III, and his wife, Virginia, celebrate their wedding anniversary today. Although they had known each other in junior high and even double-dated, it was the day of George’s great-uncle’s funeral when they met behind her dad’s bookshop that their relationship was kindled. George spotted Virginia carrying a big box filled with her sister’s wedding dress so he offered to carry the box for her. They married in 1952, a year before George graduated from Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina. At their wedding, Virginia wore her sister’s wedding gown and George wore the same suit he had worn the day they became reacquainted.

A graduate of Westminster Seminary and the Free University of Amsterdam, George was ordained as a teacher of the Word by the Presbytery of Philadelphia in 1961 and later that year accepted a call as pastor of Immanuel OPC in West Collingswood, New Jersey, a position he held from 1961–1965.

In a joint effort between the OPC and the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, George served as stated supply of an RPCES church in Naples, Florida from 1965–1970. He was elected moderator of the 38th General Assembly in 1971. He served as professor of New Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary from 1970 to 1989. In 1976, he transferred to the RPCES since he was working at their seminary. From 1989 to 1994, he was dean of the faculty at Knox Theological Seminary in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Transferring back into the OPC in 1994, Dr. Knight became the stated supply and later the teacher of the Word at Matthews OPC in Matthews, North Carolina, until 2004. At that time, he served in the same position at their daughter church, Redeemer OPC, in Charlotte, North Carolina until 2012. In 1994 he also became adjunct professor of New Testament at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The Lord called Dr. Knight home on October 11, 2021.