July 3 Today in OPC History

On the Lord's Day of July 3, 1949, Westminster OPC in Bend, Oregon began broadcasting the last part of the evening worship service, including Pastor Robert Nicholas' sermon, over local radio station KBNB. Thirteen years earlier, Westminster Church had joined the OPC as a charter congregation of the Presbytery of California with the Rev. Glenn Coie serving as the organizing pastor. It was the largest congregation in the presbytery with 186 members, and for many years that followed, it was the only OPC congregation in the Pacific Northwest.

Westminster Church would eventually help plant daughter churches in Portland and Eugene, Oregon. Renamed Grace Community OPC in the 1980s, and then Grace Reformed Presbyterian in the 2000s, the congregation continues today under the leadership of Pastor Dan Dillard who has served faithfully since 1990.

Picture: Robert, Elaine, and Eloise Nicholas in 1949