June 8 Today in OPC History

On June 8, 1903, OPC pastor Oscar Holkeboer was born in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College in 1928 and Westminster Seminary in 1932, Holkeboer was ordained and installed as pastor of First PCUSA, Oostburg, Wisconsin, in 1932. In 1936, with the formation of the Presbyterian Church of America (renamed the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1939), Holkeboer joined the new church as a ministerial member and led a group out of First PCUSA in Oostburg to start Bethel Presbyterian Church. After being unaffiliated for seven years, Bethel Church joined the OPC in 1943 with Holkeboer serving as pastor until 1944.

Holkeboer then accepted a position as Teacher of Bible and Reformed Doctrine in Patterson, New Jersey, before accepting a call to Christ OPC in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1947 where he served faithfully until his death in 1956.

Picture: Oscar Holkeboer