October 28 Today in OPC History

On October 28, 1936, the Rev. Donald Blackie and a group of faithful Christians who in August had withdrawn from the PCUSA formed Gardens Tabernacle Presbyterian Church (renamed Beverly Presbyterian Church) in Los Angeles, California. The congregation, which had left behind a new church building, met first in a tent, then in a clubhouse before finally settling in a remodeled store building for a decade. During the seventeen year pastorate of the Rev. Dwight Poundstone, a new building was dedicated in 1948 on South Woods Avenue ("where the fog meets the smog") with attendance reaching nearly 200 for Sunday school and around 125 for worship. In its movement through the decades, Beverly OPC was blessed with the opportunity for multinational ministry, particularly among the Hispanic community. In 1981 it called the Rev. Stephen Larson, who had been baptized as a child by Pastor Poundstone, as a bilingual pastor. On October 28, 2006, sixty years after it began, Beverly OPC closed.

Picture: Steve Larson in 1977.