When I began to work for the Committee on Christian Education of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church as associate general secretary, Great Commission Publications (GCP) existed in name only. In fact, the name was a registered alias so that the publications of the committee could carry the name of Great Commission Publications. It was not until 1975 that GCP as a corporation came into existence. At that time the OPC and the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) engaged in a joint venture to establish a corporation to publish educational materials for churches.

The idea of a joint venture was a new idea for both denominations. The corporation was made up of the OPC and the PCA; the Christian Education Committees of each denomination elected trustees who would oversee the operation of the corporation. I found it almost comical that no one knew exactly how a joint venture was to carry out its business. In fact, the attorney who drew up the papers for incorporation would send minutes with blanks to fill in dates and names so that all the legal requirements for the corporation could be followed. After all the corporate matters indicated in the attorney’s minutes were completed, the trustees appointed by each denomination directed the work of GCP similar to the way the respective committees operated.

In my opinion two circumstances played a significant role in bringing about this project. A number of years earlier, the OPC through its Christian Education Committee had started an ambitious publications endeavor. By 1975, the OPC had already produced the Trinity Hymnal, Bible Doctrine, and materials for Vacation Bible School and Sunday school. The first Sunday school publication was for high school students. Then followed materials for primary-aged students (grades 1–3) and junior high (grades 7–9). At the time the joint venture commenced, junior materials (grades 4–6) were in development.

To pay for this program, the OPC had established a Sunday school loan fund. The amount of the loan was growing, and there was concern that it would prove too overwhelming for the denomination. One of the ways to alleviate the growing debt was to increase the circulation of the entire curriculum.

In the Presbyterian Church in the United States (Southern Presbyterian), there was growing discontent with an overwhelming move toward theological liberalism. At this time the PCUS and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (Northern Presbyterian) were in talks to merge. In the midst of the merger negotiations, conservative congregations in the PCUS were given the option to leave the denomination and still retain their church property.

The churches that withdrew formed the PCA. As all this was happening, the OP Committee on Christian Education was in close contact with the leadership of a group who saw themselves as continuing historic southern Presbyterian theology and practice. The executive of this group, Rev. Paul Settle, helped GCP with planning for its curricular program. GCP published his memory work notebook, into which Paul integrated the GCP’s Sunday school curriculum.

When the PCA formed as a separate denomination, one of its early actions was to join with the OPC to form GCP. This enabled both denominations to move forward with a more vigorous publications agenda.

The Staff at GCP

Two essential ingredients in the joint venture were agreed upon at the beginning. The first was that all the employees of the OP committee would become employees of GCP. The other provision was that GCP would commit to paying off the loan incurred by the OPC.

The staff at the start consisted of Rev. Robley Johnson, Dorothy Anderson, Rev. Herbert Bird, Dorothy Cilley, Kathy Newcomb, Betty Oliver, Penny Pappas, Leah Staley, John Tolsma, and me. Since the OP committee focused primarily on publications, all of us continued our work.

The early writers and editors of GCP taught me much, as I was the youngest of the group. Robley had been the longtime general secretary of the committee, and he carried on his work supervising the staff of GCP.

The OPC Committee on Christian Education employed Dorothy Anderson in different roles for years. She worked on VBS publications, authored Bible Doctrine, a study of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and served as the principal writer of the junior high material. Dorothy had been a Christian school teacher and a protégé of Dr. Edmund Clowney, himself a major contributor to the VBS program. Dorothy later took on editorial work for preschool material and for the revision of different departments in the curriculum.

I treasured my interactions with Dorothy. She would ask me searching theological questions, and then together we would puzzle over how to communicate our conclusions in age-appropriate ways to Sunday school students. Through the years, we became close friends.

Penny Pappas came to our publications program from teaching and serving as a principal of a Christian school. She played a central role in writing the primary material and was working on the development of materials for juniors. Years later she would write materials for a revised senior high curriculum.

Penny was perhaps the most creative person I ever encountered. She wrote with a flair, composed her own poems, and in addition was a superb cook and welcoming hostess. Later when I helped develop a program of regional trainers, Penny came on as the seventy-year-old grandma who amazed Sunday school teachers throughout the northeastern part of the United States. As “granny” she also taught my high-school-age son in Sunday school.

Herb Bird started working for the Christian Education Committee after his return from Eritrea as a missionary of the OPC. He was a published author and brought a special awareness of theological matters to the work of GCP. His meticulous attention to detail made him an ideal editor. Herb sought to move me from a complete musical ignoramus to one who appreciated classical music. He played his fine collection of classical records as background music to our suite of offices.

Dottie Cilley functioned as a copy editor. She seemed to be able to intuit misspelled words and grammatical infelicities. She was also our resident encourager. Anyone who was struggling would get a listening ear and helpful advice from Dottie. She and I developed a special relationship. She was my mother’s age. Nevertheless, we related fabulously. Even after I left GCP, every Christmas she would send me a package of her homemade shortbread.

Betty Oliver functioned as a secretary, shipping clerk, manuscript typist, and general office manager. She also organized all the meals and hospitality for visiting trustees and other guests of the organization. As far as I know, she was the only living person who could unfailingly understand my handwriting. Leah Staley served at Betty’s right hand and kept all the records of customers in order and answered the phone for orders and complaints.

I will always treasure Betty for her willingness to type my dissertation. She labored in evenings to put my dissertation into what was called a Mag Card typewriter. I still can’t figure out how she was able to interpret my chicken scratch handwriting of highly technical academic wording.

In some ways John Tolsma, the art director, was the hero of GCP. He was able to put together writers’ words and their suggestions for illustrations in an attractive way. He did all this after everyone else had used up time with missed deadlines. He and Kathy Newcomb somehow made up for all the rest of us so that materials were delivered on time.

John was the resident jokester at GCP. He loved to play practical jokes, and this added to the affection all the staff members had for John. Once, however, it led to a disaster. One of our illustrators thought it would be good to play a joke on John. The illustrator submitted a picture of the wise men but with headdresses pasted on. He made it so that the headdresses could be peeled off easily. John was so amused he showed it to everyone, but then he forgot to peel the headdresses off and sent it like that to the printer.

Through the years the three program committees of the OPC had shared an accountant/business manager. With the growth of GCP, we determined that we needed our own accountant. Lee Benner joined us and served for years not only as our accountant but also as the manager of all our shipping. As we moved to computerize customer and business records, he was able to lead GCP into this new phase with a minimum of disruption for our customers.

We were also well served by Harmony Press. Rev. Lewis Grotenhuis started the printing company in order to print the early VBS material. The Grotenhuis sons, especially Fred, continued the company and served us well in typesetting and printing.

Fred Grotenhuis had served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He remained in the reserves after the war, and, to maintain his flying credentials, he needed to make a certain number of takeoffs and landings each year. Fred did this by flying from his base to the Willow Grove Naval Air Station, which was near the GCP offices. On his flights he would carry typescript from his typesetting department, and someone from GCP would meet him. I don’t know of any other publisher of Christian education materials that had helicopter delivery of typescript.

After Robley Johnson retired, Rev. Thomas Patete succeeded him as executive director. Tom made the move from a member of the board of trustees of GCP to leader of the publications program. Tom was able to function comfortably in both constituent denominations. He maintained his ministerial credentials in the PCA while being an active participant in the life of Trinity OPC in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. He played the piano regularly in the evening service of the congregation. His quiet manner and winsome ways provided a good bridge between the two denominations.

The offices of GCP were close to Westminster Theological Seminary and that brought people with writing talents into close proximity. Joseph Pipa, a doctoral student at WTS, served as a writer when the senior high curriculum went through its first revision. Mary Ellen Godfrey and Kathy Keller, both married to WTS professors, served as writers and editors.

There were many others who played important roles in the early days of GCP. I hope I don’t offend, but space does not allow me to mention all of them.

Bible-in-Perspective

GCP carried on the work of the OPC in publishing educational materials for the church. It did so with a particular point of view. GCP took the position that the Bible was the inerrant, infallible Word of God. In addition, we determined to interpret the Scriptures in accord with the standards of both the OPC and the PCA. That meant that the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms provided guidance and were referred to regularly.

GCP paired biblical fidelity and doctrinal clarity with a distinct way of dealing with the Bible. What we called the Bible-in-Perspective guided writers and editors. Three distinctives were integrated into all aspects of the curriculum. The first was that the Bible was to be seen in the perspective of the wonder of God’s created universe and his overarching providence in all of life. GCP held that Sunday school curriculum served the church by helping students to develop a distinctly Christian world and life view.

To this was added the perspective of the history of redemption. GCP believed that a central teaching of the Bible was the way God saves his people. All materials were to deal with the Bible story of redemption announced to Adam and Eve in the garden and glimpsed in glorious fulfillment by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation.

Third, we determined not to fill Sunday school material with dry theological themes. The GCP curriculum treated the Bible as God’s instrument in changing rebellious sinners into dedicated servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bible knowledge is necessary, yet God the Holy Spirit gives us the Scriptures and then uses them to form the people of God into genuine servants of the Savior.

Technological Updates

As GCP grew, we realized that the manner in which we produced material needed to go through some changes. When I took on the additional role of Coordinator of Production, we moved from hiring resident writers and editors to using freelancers. This enabled us to move much faster in producing materials.

The move to freelance writers also made it possible to use writers unable to relocate to the Philadelphia area. One of those was Susan Hunt. She was employed by the Christian Education Committee of the PCA and was able to provide not only writing services, but also much needed help in other areas.

Another major change in our way of producing materials was the arrival of desktop publishing on personal computers. We used computers in our business and distribution work. When Apple computers entered the publishing world, we were looking for ways to improve our production of printed materials.

One of my jobs, as coordinator of production, was to oversee the move to the PC. I can remember visiting various publishers who used desktop computers in the production of their material. John Tolsma and I visited the offices of the Presbyterian Journal where they were beginning to use the Apple Macintosh. The staff of the Journal provided valuable insight. We decided to use Apple’s Macs in our publishing work. I think I can say that it revolutionized our operation. If my memory serves me well, we projected that we would be able to recoup the cost of the move to Macs in three years. As it turned out, we recovered all our costs in about seven months.

When I began my role with CCE/GCP, I was the only one under thirty working there. Eighteen years later when I left, things had changed dramatically. When I started, everyone employed by GCP had an office at 7401 Old York Road. When I left, most employees were freelancers from all over the USA. When I began, every office at GCP had a typewriter. In fact, I did not even have an electric one on my desk. When I left, the PC was the tool for composing lessons. We no longer employed typesetters. No more helicopter delivery. The laborious process of putting together type from the typesetter with illustrations from artists was gone. Now everything was done on a computer. The transition was dramatic.

As GCP comes to celebrate fifty years, at times I have been asked what was the most rewarding aspect of my time there. I started my work with a deep desire to see the baptized members of our churches trained in the doctrines we count precious. I was filled with hope that our covenant youth would come to understand the Bible rooted in confessional Presbyterianism that we in the OPC and PCA count so precious. God blessed me with opportunity to play a role in seeing my hope come to fruition.

The author is an OP minister and was director of educational services at Great Commission Publications from 1970 to 1988. New Horizons, June 2025.