I have been blessed for four years now in being a commissioner to the General Assembly of our denomination, the OPC. Two years I attended as a Ruling Elder commissioner. This was my second year serving as a Teaching Elder commissioner. I have been able to serve on four different advisory committees: Statistician and Historian, Home Missions, Chaplains and Military Personnel, and Christian Education.
In addition to the weekly thought, over the next couple of weeks I want to share some of the highlights of General Assembly. I am enjoying learning more about our denomination each year, as I am able to fellowship and learn from others. Last year I did a couple of weekly thoughts merely listing the things we covered at GA. This year I want to share more about our denomination and the work that has been done over the past year, and even looking back over our 81 year history as a Church.
One of the great blessings in going to GA is to be reminded that the Church does not merely consist in a local body of Christ but that God is building His kingdom around the the globe. I always enjoy the Fraternal Addresses from brothers in other Reformed denominations. Representatives are sent to our GA to address us from around the world, and they share for 5-10 minutes about what is happening in their denomination. Next week I will share about the formal relationships we have with other denominations around the world, but this week I wanted to merely share the list of twelve addresses we were able to listen to.
1. Rev. William L. Barron, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.
2. Rev. F. Solano Portela, Presbyterian Church of Brazil.
3. Rev. E. Marvin Padgett, Presbyterian Church in America
4. Rev. J. Alejandro Parada, Presbyterian Church of the Reformation of Columbia.
5. Rev. Iver Martin, Free Church of Scotland.
6. Rev. Lee Johnson, Reformed Church of the United States.
7. Rev. Kevin M. Backus, Bible Presbyterian Church.
8. Rev. Stephen Rhoda, Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America.
9. Rev. Reinier Noppers, Christian Reformed Churches of Australia.
10. Mr. Pierre Legault, Eglise Reformee du Quebec.
11. Rev. Ralph Compton, United Reformed Churches of North America.
12. Rev. Kurt Vetterli, Evangelical Reformed Church— Westminster Confession.
Next week I will share how the OPC works with these other denominations.