i

May 3 Today in OPC History

Larry and Holly Wilson

2022

 

On his way to Woodstock, high school graduate Larry Wilson “got converted.” Rather than going to a rock festival, he headed for Pinebrook Junior College in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, where he met many Calvinists, including professor Leonard Coppes. Larry rode with Leonard and his wife, Diana, to Calvary Community OPC in Harmony, New Jersey. Under the ministry of OP pastor Lewis Grotenhuis, Larry grew in his faith and Reformed convictions. Back near his home, he joined Calvary OPC in Harrisville, Pennsylvania, where Leonard Coppes then served as pastor. Transferring to Geneva College, Larry met fellow transfer student Holly Semmens, who came to faith through the ministry of Young Life. That summer Larry sent Holly a stack of Reformed books to read. She joined Calvary by the time they married on this date in 1975.

After graduating from Geneva College in 1974, Larry earned his M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1979. He was ordained on March 27, 1981 by the Presbytery of the Midwest to plant Westminster OPC in Rochester, Minnesota. While laboring there for two years, the mission work more than doubled in size, but the church dissolved after a new PCA church plant recruited Westminster’s core members. The Wilsons moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where Larry helped to start New Life OPC from 1983 to 1985. For the next fifteen years, Larry pastored at Grace OPC in Columbus, Ohio. He also served on the OPC’s Committee on Christian Education, including as president. In 2000, Larry was called as the CCE general secretary. He streamlined their subcommittee structure and worked with G.I. Williamson and John Galbraith to develop the OPC website. Yet his heart was in the pastorate. In 2004 he organized and served as pastor of Covenant OPC in Indianapolis, Indiana, serving there through 2010. The Wilsons in 2011 headed to Canada where Larry organized and became the pastor of Redeemer OP Church in Airdrie, Alberta, where he served for six years before his retirement in 2017.

Both Larry and Holly are gifted writers. Larry wrote several booklets published by the CCE: The ABC’s of Presbyterianism, Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants? and Why Join a Church?, which he co-authored. Holly penned two chapters in the newly published book, Choosing the Good Portion: Women in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. She tells the stories of Margie Hunt Dunn and Anna Marie Ediger. Holly shares how the Edigers ministered to them while Larry interned under Abe in the 1980s. Choosing the Good Portion: Women of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church is available on OPC.ORG here.

Picture: Larry and Holly Wilson, May 3, 1975.

 

CONTACT US

+1 215 830 0900

Contact Form

Find a Church