May 5 Today in OPC History

On May 5, 1963, Pioneer Chapel, Lincoln, Nebraska, was received as a particular congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church by the Presbytery of the Dakotas. Twenty-one years earlier, the Rev. James Brown, pastor of Faith OPC, Lincoln, had reached out to families in the southwestern edge of Lincoln to start the chapel. Through his evangelistic efforts, a group had started meeting for worship in the 1941 in an abandoned barn. The barn would be renovated as Mr. Brown and volunteers built a new roof, laid a new floor, dug a basement, and installed a furnace. After Mr. Brown left for a new call in 1944, the chapel continued under the oversight of Faith OPC with Delbert Schowalter, Herbert Bird and Robert Nilson serving as pastors until Russell Piper's arrival in 1957. Pastor Piper continued to serve both churches after the organization of Pioneer Chapel as an official congregation, and with his gentle manner leading the way, the two congregations remained close, even purchasing property together in 1968. The next year at a joint congregational meeting, there was a unanimous vote to join the two congregations together under the name Faith OPC, and to meet in the Pioneer OPC building. The congregation continues today. The Rev. LeRoy Miller has served faithfully as pastor since 1993.

Picture: Russell Piper