We in the OPC, as fellow believers, are knit together in Christ’s Spirit, and the labors of one of us in his name are united to the whole. While you are reading this article—or at work, or caring for loved ones, or serving your church, or chatting with new acquaintances—at that same moment Christ’s servants ordaWe in the OPC, as fellow believers, are knit together in Christ’s Spirit, and the labors of one of us in his name are united to the whole. While you are reading this article—or at work, or caring for loved ones, or serving your church, or chatting with new acquaintances—at that same moment Christ’s servants ordained in the OPC and called to serve as church planters and evangelists are bringing the gospel in all its fullness to a perishing world.

To unite us more closely with these church planters and evangelists in prayer, and to encourage us in God’s faithfulness, we asked five to share with us their stories of engaging others with the gospel.

Mercy after Helene
Johnny Serafini, Marion, North Carolina

Church plant Landis OPC had many opportunities to speak of Christ during our ministry to displaced people after Hurricane Helene hit North Carolina in September 2024. A local senior center was used as temporary housing, and in the days following the hurricane, members of the congregation were at the senior center every day to pray with victims of the hurricane, to have gospel conversations, and to distribute tracts and Bibles. One couple at the center hiked for hours to seek help. Some were displaced twice when damage to a homeless shelter led them to temporary housing. They all heard the gospel invitation through the congregation’s witness and prayer.

At one point, some of the hurricane victims at the center formed a ring of lawn chairs and told their stories, each in turn. Some of our church’s members were there as well, and offered prayer and loving invitations to consider Jesus, which were accepted. We also visited a trailer park where contacts developed into enduring friendships.

In the weeks and months following the hurricane, through the generosity of God’s people, we were also able to build homes for several hurricane victims. This work done in Christ’s name had positive effects that remain to this day. One of the new homes became a Bible study venue. Some of those who received help have visited the church and continue to express their gratitude for gifts of love provided for them.

Praying and Witnessing
John Paul Holloway, Manassas, Virginia

I met “Demir” at a coffee shop I frequent. He said to me, “Man, Ramadan always creeps up on me, and then after it’s over I feel guilty about eating food in the day again!” This prompted me to ask my favorite question: “Oh, are you religious?” He responded, “Not really.”

We discussed the reason for his guilt. The Lord was gracious to bring to mind Jesus’s teaching that it is not what goes into our body, but what comes out of the heart that makes us unclean (Matt. 15:11). We had a fruitful gospel discussion about how, in Christianity, it is Jesus who cleanses us from sin and guilt. I gave Demir a Bible and still see him regularly. When I ask if he is reading his Bible, he usually replies, “A little.”

Evangelism sometimes looks so ordinary that I miss that we are doing it. At our church, it can take the form of persistent prayer for unbelievers the Lord has brought into our lives: a member’s brother who has wandered from the faith; a son-in-law visiting at Thanksgiving and Christmas; a widow and mother of a member who recently moved to the area. We also pray directly for our own evangelistic efforts. One member regularly speaks of his faith when he talks to people at the grocery store, gym, and other locations. He asks that the congregation pray for fruitful outcomes. The most regular prayer request comes from a five-year-old girl who wants her friend to know Jesus. One member reported the conversion of a coworker after years of gospel witness. These kinds of reports and requests come regularly when we gather together to pray.

Boardwalk Conversations
Chris Byrd, Wildwood, New Jersey

On a crowded boardwalk this past September I approached a couple who had paused near the Boardwalk Chapel. I offered them a tract and said, “This is for you. It’s the most amazing news in the world!” Bonnie took the tract. “It’s about Jesus. Do you know him?” I asked.

“I believe in God,” she replied. “But I know I’m not right with him. There are things in my life I know are wrong, but I can’t stop doing them, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

Bonnie and her husband, Bill, grew up Roman Catholic but had never attended church as adults and didn’t own a Bible. Bill, a barbershop owner, called himself agnostic; Bonnie had recently experienced a desire for God she’d never had before. Earlier that day she had taken a tract from a young boy, and what she read pricked her conscience, prompting her to wander over to the Chapel with her husband.

For the next half hour I talked with them about why Jesus came and what he accomplished for sinners. I read Ezekiel 36:25–27 and shared the promises of the Father that were fulfilled in the Son. Jesus removed all the sins of his people on the cross, gives them a new heart as they call on him, and puts his Spirit in them to walk in newness of life.

The promise of a “new heart” touched Bonnie deeply. I gave them a Bible and invited them to church. The next day, as I got up to preach, I saw them in the second row! After the service Bonnie told me she couldn’t get the things I shared out of her mind, and that the sermon had continued speaking to her. They faithfully attend our worship services, and I now meet with them for Bible study.

It is beautiful to see the Holy Spirit’s work. What a privilege to live in the harvest fields of our Lord and to witness the Spirit’s work!

Discussing Origins in WI
Nate Strom, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Sheboygan county is often called the Bible Belt of the Midwest. There is a certain plausibility to the name given the number of churches that are there, including many Presbyterian and Reformed congregations. However, things have shifted considerably over the decades. While professed Christianity and interest in the church remain, understanding of the faith is very weak. The late Tim Keller noted that past evangelistic strategies connected pre-existing dots—the existence of a personal God, an afterlife, a standard for moral truth, and a sense of sin or evil. Engage in gospel witness in our county, and you quickly realize how many people no longer affirm cultural Christianity’s “dots.” A recent evangelistic experience showed us this.

Each August, law enforcement and community organizations gather to promote public safety and neighborhood awareness on “National Night Out.” This year, our church set up a table and announced a simple offer: “Answer three questions and enjoy a free beverage.” The first question: “Where did the world and life come from?” The remaining questions invited respondents to progressively explain their religious beliefs.

Most hadn’t planned to answer fundamental questions about life, so I followed up with: “Do you think it is more likely that life came from a creator like God, or that aliens from another planet brought life to earth?” Of the twenty or more conversations I enjoyed, only one person opted for a divine creator over nameless aliens on a cosmic road trip. No one offered their own alternative.

Our supposed Christian enclaves are more compromised than we might think, which means even the most plowed-over fields are still white for harvest. It seems that the present aversion to Christianity stems more from its imagined implausibility than from thoughtful reasons for unbelief. The best conversations, I believe, begin with thoughtful, revealing questions.

The Gospel at Chicago’s Biggest Food Festival
Jeremy Chong, Chicago, Illinois

Over a hundred thousand people funnel through three entrances to attend the “Taste of Chicago” food festival each year. More than a dozen of us positioned ourselves at these strategic bottlenecks and gave witness to the grace of Christ through conversations, preaching, and the distribution of tracts. Three women had notably different responses to what we shared.

A New Age practitioner appreciated me sharing “my truth” in order to share “her truth,” which was that the universe is god. “Who created the universe?” I asked. She replied with another question: “How do you know that the universe hasn’t always existed?” Astrophysicist Dan Fabrycky stood next to me and reasoned with her in a compelling way. Despite our best efforts, she respectfully concluded, “Well, this is my truth.”

We displayed a sign inviting passersby to ask us Christians any question. A runner saw the sign and stopped dead in her tracks—hands shaking in excitement as she considered what question to ask. We began by discussing Roman Catholicism, as her mother worked for the Archdiocese. We explained the gospel to her, and throughout the conversation it became clear that her conscience was burdened by thoughts of her impenitent pattern of drunkenness and sexual sin. After reading 1 Corinthians 6:9–10, she concluded that she was not saved, and we pointed her to the hope of verse 11: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” She asked more questions and left in gratitude.

As we were getting ready to go, an anti-ICE protester approached us. She was a fellow Wheaton College graduate and married to a woman. “We have heard the arguments against homosexuality a thousand times,” she said. “We’re strong Christians, and we believe the Bible! Look, we’ve spent our lives fighting for the least of these; Jesus is able to look past our sexual orientation.” I shared Isaiah 66:1–2, which tells us that God looks toward those who are humble, contrite, and tremble before his Word, and asked gently, “Is it possible to tremble before God’s Word and arrive at such a conclusion and practice?”

I never feel totally eager to evangelize, not knowing whom God will send my way or whether I’ll be received or rejected. But afterward I never regret having shared Christ. While some encounters are more encouraging than others, I know that it is worthwhile every single time.

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Please pray for the men and women who are hearing the gospel through these OP efforts. Pray for those who serve in Home Missions and for a growing harvest of righteousness in our world. Rejoice as you do that those laboring as evangelists in our presbyteries are exalting Christ through faithful gospel witness. As you pray, remember the promise that Jesus left us in the Great Commission: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

Former church planters Johnny Serafini, John Paul Holloway, and Nate Strom now serve as pastors in Marion, North Carolina; Manassas, Virginia; and Sheboygan, Wisconsin, respectively. Chris Byrd is regional home evangelist serving the Presbytery of New Jersey and Puerto Rico. Jeremy Chong is a licentiate of the Presbytery of the Midwest, serving it in an evangelistic project called “Reformation Chicago.” His ministry is laying the groundwork for a future mission work of the presbytery. New Horizons, March 2026.