May 29 Today in OPC History

Rodney T. King married his college sweetheart Anne McLean on this day in 1969. As students at King College in Bristol, Tennessee, the couple met in a small mountain church where “preacher boys” who planned to go into the ministry, like Rodney, exhorted the congregation. Rodney’s first sermon lasted fifteen minutes while Anne prayed for him. Soon Rodney invited Anne to a ballgame. They were married two years later.

The couple moved to Mebane, North Carolina, where Anne worked with young people in a church while Rodney commuted to Chapel Hill where he completed his bachelor’s and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1971. The Kings headed to Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, where Rodney earned his Master of Divinity in 1974.

Ordained in the Presbyterian Church in America in 1974, Rodney served for the next twenty-two years in churches in South Carolina, North Carolina, Arizona, Georgia, and West Virginia. Rodney came into the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1997 when he began his fifteen years as pastor of Grace Reformed Presbyterian Church in Des Moines, Iowa. Returning to their Southern roots, Rodney accepted a call to serve as pastor of Garst Mill OPC in Roanoke, Virginia, in November 2012, and labored there until 2018.

In retirement living in Orlando, Florida, Rodney has remained active in helping at Lake Sherwood OPC, in filling pulpits, and in overseeing OPC.org's Question and Answer.

Picture: Rodney and Anne King