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March 2019 New Horizons

An Evangelist in Houston

 

Contents

An Evangelist in Houston

Helping Our Churches Be Appealing, Not Appalling

Home Missions in Town and City

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An Evangelist in Houston

We were in a northeast Houston neighborhood called Memorial Hills, visiting with folks about their needs and circumstances, when a car pulled up. “I saw your sign, OPC Disaster Response, on the side of the truck. I wanted to stop and talk to you,” said the woman. Dorothy and her husband, Butch, got out of the car to ask us about our ministry. After talking for some time, we handed them a “blessing bag”—a cloth bag containing Christian literature, a gift card, a pocket calendar, a gospel booklet, and church contact information. That one conversation with Dorothy and Butch has opened many doors in this neighborhood of 275 households. It’s like a line of dominoes: one domino tips over and smacks the next one. The clatter from one to another winds from street to street. Here in Memorial Hills, a subdivision in Spring, Texas, each household leads you to the next family, and the next, and the next, and each family has a heart-grabbing story. Hurricane Harvey crawled for two to three days over ... Read more

Helping Our Churches Be Appealing, Not Appalling

Did you know that irritation is an important dynamic in helping us to be better servants of the Lord Jesus Christ? In Hebrews 10:24, the writer urges us to think carefully about how to—literally— irritate one another to love and good works.  Irritation is our natural response to suggestions for improvement in our personal life or in our church’s life. But the Word of God tells us that such irritation can actually stir us up to love , that is, to do things for the good of others, and it can stir up good works , that is, things that are both pleasing to God and beneficial to those around us. In my work as regional home missionary, I find it very helpful to be irritated by those who have different insights and experiences of church life than my own and who make suggestions for improvement that I may not want to implement. I may not agree with them on everything, but if their irritating suggestions help me do things better, I’m grateful—or, at least, I try to be. One of these blessed ... Read more

Home Missions in Town and City

Last year, two new OP church plants were received—both in Pennsylvania, but in contrasting locales. One is in Downingtown, a suburb of Philadelphia that’s sprouting housing developments. The other is in Mifflintown, a rural town on the Juniata River with a backdrop of blue mountains. Grace and Truth in Mifflintown, PA The OP work in Mifflintown began with a phone call in the summer of 2016. A couple who had been hosting a Bible study at their home called the OPC administrative office to express interest in joining the denomination. The office, in turn, called up Chris Walmer. Serving as regional home missions coordinator for the Presbytery of Central Pennsylvania, Walmer works in the early stages of church planting for the presbytery. “Some plant; some water; God gives the increase. But I’m more the guy who plows the ground,” he laughed. After meeting with those in the Bible study, Walmer headed out to Providence OPC in Mifflinburg (a nearby town not to be confused with Mifflintown, ... Read more

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