May 13 Today in OPC History

On Thursday, May 13, 1948, at the Fifteen General Assembly meeting at Wildwood, New Jersey, the Reverend Robert W. Eckardt was elected as the stated clerk of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. Nearly a year earlier Mr. Eckardt had graduated from Westminster Theological Seminary and taken a call to serve as the organizing pastor of Immanuel OPC in Crescent Park, New Jersey. For a graduation gift, his mother had given him a new briefcase. When his old professor and fellow OPC minister Ned B. Stonehouse saw Eckardt with his new briefcase prior to the start of the assembly, he told him that the briefcase would come in handy for him to put all his papers in as the new stated clerk. Stonehouse nominated and spoke for Eckardt who was elected on the first ballet.

Sixty-three years later at the Seventy-Eight (2011) General Assembly meeting in Sandy Cove, Maryland, Moderator Danny E. Olinger recognized Mr. Eckardt, a visitor that day, and the commissioners responded with a standing ovation. On December 20, 2018, Robert Eckardt went to be with the Lord in glory.

Picture: Robert Eckardt speaking at the 60th anniversary celebration of the OPC in 1996.