December 29 Today in OPC History

At an inter-small-group potluck in October of 1978, two young Sunday school teachers made each others’ acquaintance. One was a kind, talkative girl from the suburbs of Philadelphia (a recent convert to the Lord), the other a seminary student from Upper Peninsula, Michigan (a recent convert to the reformed faith). The seminary student asked the Philly girl out for coffee the very next morning, and they said “I do” 14 months later on December 29, 1979.

Ronald E. Pearce was the seminary student, and his glowing bride became Linda Janet Pearce in an old Episcopal church in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania that evening. The couple attended New Life OPC, which at the time met in a YMCA gym in Jenkintown, PA, and was pastored by Dr. John (Jack) Miller and Rev. Ron Lutz. Ron and Linda Pearce received pre-marital counseling and were married by Rev. Lutz since Dr. Miller was in Uganda at the time. In true seminary student fashion, the reception was limited to punch and appetizers and wedding cake, which was what the newlyweds could afford.

After graduation from Westminster Seminary in May of 1980, Ron took a one-year internship at Calvary Community Church (OPC) in Harmony, New Jersey. He was licensed by the New Jersey Presbytery on December 2, 1980. In the Lord’s providence, several families had been meeting that year to explore the idea of a reformed, Presbyterian church. Ron went to Hackettstown to lead the weekly study and prayer times. Sunday worship at the now Church of the Covenant OPC began in January 1981. Six months later, Ron was called to be the first pastor.

Thirty-five years (and three children, Scott, Joel and Amy, four houses, and seven grandchildren) later in 2016, Reverend Pearce presided over the marriage of the daughter of one of the first couples that he had married as a new pastor at Church of the Covenant, even preaching the same sermon for the daughter as had been preached at her parents’ wedding decades before. It is plain to all those who have been blessed by the service of Rev. Ron Pearce in Hackettstown that his is a ministry marked by steadfastness, tireless cultivation, and meticulous record-keeping!

Editor's note: Today's entry was written by Scott Pearce.

Picture: Ron and Linda Pearce on their wedding day in 1979.