Dec 7th 2013...A loss for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church!!

This past December 7 will go down as one of the darker days in the history of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. At about 830 that Saturday morning, the Presbytery of the Alleghenies of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America examined my beloved pastor,the Rev. Stephen F Miller. As expected, his examination met with success and he is now the pastor- elect of the First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. For him it was a long road.......... indeed a labor of love and his efforts have met with fruition. He will assume the role of pastor that great congregation this coming June 1. I cannot express the flood of emotions that gripped me when I gained the knowledge of this. Here's the man that eulogized the great theologian Dr. Cornelius Van Till, when he was summoned to the shores of the New Canaan to sit at the feet of the Promised Redeemer in 1987. He spent several years in some of the most hostile regions of Africa..... Predestined by God to be mortal vessel to bring literally tens of thousands to Christ in the dark continent. For many years he served also as adjunct professor of missions at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh. He is indeed a great champion of the faith!!! A man of prolific exegetical gifts, disquieting- steady piety and resolve!

I will continue to pray for his ministry and praise and thank God for the gift of his friendship, witness and fellowship. I will always celebrate God's magnificent bequest of Rev. Miller's contributions not only to Nashua OPC in Edinburg Pennsylvania, but to the virtual whole of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.


When I got the news I called Rev Miller to sort of sound him out to see if there was anything I could say or do to perhaps to  encourage him to reverse this course. I speak for the majority when I said the idea of his departure  is disheartening. 

God has blessed Glencairn Presbyterian with a wonderful viewership base, so let me pay you the complement of being blunt. I'm not entirely sure where or how the idea was conveyed that Nashua OPC  might be better served if taken in a new direction.  What I could tell you is that I was personally appalled at the notion; as were the overwhelming majority of our congregation. God has given Rev. Miller the capacity to mellifluously and consistently preach your soul.  He and his beautiful wife Jane have enjoyed a great tenure there that I assumed would last until his retirement from the Presbyterian ministry.

I've come to understand that Rev. Miller's penchant for principle and doctrinal exactitude have proven a bit much for a select few.  My reply is that it is those very God given tendencies that have ensured the survival of our faith tradition from the days of Calvin and Knox to our day.  A better remedy for these nameless few would have been to themselves supplicate God's mercy in discernment; that they may more readily discernment and appreciate this particular type of godly scholasticism .

 If the aforesaid blessings prove not to be their portion, perhaps...just perhaps... their interests would be better served

 ........................ outside of NAPARC, entirely !

 Well, when the Ohio Synod of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church convenes in March, Rev. Miller will petition to have his pastoral relationship dissolved. I cannot stress enough how great the loss will be;as it's really going to hit home for many who failed to appreciate what we had in this great mortal vessel ...this great champion for Christ Jesus...... this Presbyterian giant .......... !!




Let Rev. Miller's departure  serve as a wake-up call!  As a pastor is called to serve as the chief steward for a congregation, the congregants are thus charged to care for him in many respects.  Indeed to be receptive to his needs- spiritual and otherwise.

 Pray for your pastor

 Very few of us in the laity are able to appreciate the countless hours of preparation, study , reflection and prayer required to command a congregation. The weight at all seems insurmountable, particularly when one gets an earful of grumblings regarding nonessentials!

 Pray for your church's place in the world

We are commanded to be in the world and not of it.  In this age of enshrined pluralism and blatant hostility toward traditional values, endeavoring a  perichoresis seems all the more insurmountable a task.  If it's difficult for you as a layperson, imagine how prohibitively difficult it must seem for a minister of the sacrament at times.

 Pray for your denomination

 The Orthodox Presbyterian Church has experienced steady growth.  This growth is predicated only up on its implacable commitment to the preservation of traditional Presbyterianism.  Yet the recent debacle in Grove City Pennsylvania and the departure of Rev. Miller serve to remind us of what happens when we become unmindful of certain rather jugular facets of the Great Commission.

 And finally, pray for God's discernment

 Moments before he left this world, J Gresham Machen reminded us that there is no hope outside of the act of obedience of Christ.  Discernment, in my humble view, is the tenderest of mercies! If for no other reason, it keeps us focused and precludes the kind of backbiting and partisanship that marginalizes our faith.  Have we not witnessed enough of that in the Protestant mainline?

Nashua ain't gonna be the same without you, Rev. Miller,but this is not the end of our friendship. I will visit you and Jane enjoying you from time to time in your new congregation for the observance of the Lord's Day. I know that this is part of a new and happier chapter in your life and I praise and thank God for your portion.


 A loss for the OPC indeed And a huge gain for the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America!!