September 12 Today in OPC History

On this day in 1922, Arthur Franklin Perkins was ordained to the gospel ministry by the Winnebago Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of the USA. Perkin had studied at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and was taken under the care of Winnebago Presbytery in the fall of 1921. He had served at the First Presbyterian Church in Wausau, Wisconsin as an unordained Associate Pastor. On September 12, 1922, he was examined by the Presbytery and approved for ordination during their fall meeting in Westfield, Wisconsin. That evening, the Presbytery held a service of ordination for Perkins and another man, George Fisher. Perkins left the Presbytery in 1923 to serve the North Milwaukee Presbyterian Church. After almost four years in North Milwaukee, Perkins was called to be the Field Director of the Winnebago Presbytery. The Field Director worked under the National Mission Committee of the Presbytery which oversaw home missions and church planting. Perkins was responsible for new, small and struggling churches – most of which were in rural and country settings. Under his diligent care, these mission churches thrived and grew. Perkins was a tireless evangelist, devoting much time to evangelistic labors throughout the 22 counties in the Winnebago Presbytery. He was especially concerned for the native Americans on the reservations near Gresham, Wisconsin, and dedicated considerable attention to evangelism and discipleship among these folk. In 1934 Perkins resigned as Field Director and served two years as the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Merrill, Wisconsin. During this period he was relentlessly attacked by the modernists in Winnebago Presbytery. His troubles culminated in a trial, conviction and suspension from the ministry “until such time as he demonstrates repentance and reformation to the Presbytery.” Perkins renounced the jurisdiction of the PCUSA and was a founding ministerial member of the OPC. He spent his final six months as a minister in the new denomination, serving as the first Moderator and Home Missions Chairman of the Presbytery of Wisconsin. Perkins suffered a nervous breakdown and died on December 29, 1936.

Picture: Arthur Perkins and family