December 30 Today in OPC History

On this date in 1995, A. Craig Troxel was ordained as a gospel minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and installed as the pastor of Calvary OPC, Glenside, Pennsylvania. Born and raised in Kearney, Nebraska, Pastor Troxel attended Anderson University, where he played on the football team and graduated with a BA in 1984. He then served as an Associate Pastor at Community Church of God in Wasilla, Alaska, and as the interim pastor of Fairhill Community Church of God in Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1987 he enrolled at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary where he met his future wife, Carolyn Lex. Having become theologically Reformed in conviction, Craig then entered PhD studies at Westminster Seminary. He would earn his PhD in Systematic Theology with an emphasis upon ecclesiology in 1998.

In 2007 after twelve years of pastoral ministry at Calvary Church, he accepted a call to Bethel Presbyterian Church in Wheaton, Illinois. Then, in 2019 he joined the faculty of Westminster Seminary California where he serves as Professor of Practical Theology. He also serves as associate pastor of Harvest OPC in San Marcos, CA.

Dr. Troxel has served on the Committee on Christian Education since 2002. He was named president of the CCE in 2019. In 2015 he served as moderator of the Eighty-First General Assembly meeting at Kuyper College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.