May 17 Today in OPC History

Richard “Dick” Ellis married Gayle Bendell on this date in 1975. Dick met Gayle in the registration line at Covenant College, although as a freshman he made no pretense of living as a Christian. Dick’s older sister, who was Gayle’s Sunday school teacher in Annapolis, asked Gayle to keep an eye on her “wild” brother. By the end of his first semester, Dick submitted his life to Christ. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in 1977, a year after Gayle graduated with sociology and psychology majors. Gayle worked as a geriatric outreach social worker while Dick earned his master of arts in religion in 1980 and his master of divinity in 1981 at Westminster Theological Seminary. Dick became an intern under OP Pastor Allen Harris at Columbia Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Maryland, in 1982.

Ordained by the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic on December 16, 1983, Dick served as the organizing pastor of what is now called New Hope OPC in Frederick, Maryland. The seven original families grew to more than 150 members by the time he left twenty-five years later in 2008. Dick also served from 2002 to 2007 as a part-time regional home missionary of the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic. He helped mission works develop into organized churches in California, Clarksville, and Elkton, Maryland; Charlottesville, Lenoir, and New Bern, North Carolina; Meadowview, Purcellville, and Staunton, Virginia; and in the Washington D.C. area. He also helped a little church in the Maryland House of Correction in Jessup. In 2009 Dick became pastor of Faith OPC in Elmer, New Jersey, and served until his retirement in 2022.

Picture: Dick and Gayle Ellis