A summary of the 22nd Stated Meeting of Evangel Presbytery held Friday, September 18th, 2026, at Trinity Reformed Church in Bloomington, IN. This meeting followed New Geneva Academy’s 2026 Shepherd’s Conference, held at the same location. The meeting and conference were well attended, full of good teaching, warm fellowship, and lots of food, not to mention a concert featuring My Soul Among Lions! We are grateful to Trinity Reformed Church for hosting and to everyone who helped make all of the above possible!
Let Love of the Brethren Continue
For our opening worship service, Pastor Andy Halsey (Christ Church, Columbus, IN) preached a timely sermon from Hebrews chapter 12 leading us through and connecting us to 13:1, ‘Let love of the brethren continue.’
One of the main purposes of the letter of Hebrews is to call the Church to endurance and patience in the midst of pain and suffering. Pain and suffering can come from all sorts of directions, situations, and people, and it is only natural for us to want to avoid it. But, as Pastor Halsey points out, following Christ requires us to follow Him wherever He leads, and, sure enough, He will lead us to places and situations we do not wish to go. This is the place of sacrifice.
Pastor Halsey, keying off of Pastor Andy Constable’s conference talk, described sacrifice as ‘laying down a lot of things,’ like ‘hope that was misplaced’ and ‘pride that gets hurt.’ This kind of sacrifice is necessary if we want to endure, fulfilling our calling as Christ’s undershepherds, being examples to the flock, letting our love of the brethren continue. Because just as we have been warned ‘from heaven‘ not to abandon Jesus Christ, we have been warned in Hebrews not to abandon our brothers. Such relational sacrifice will involve pain—it is inescapable—but it is for our benefit. So let us trust our Good Shepherd to lead us through it, changed for the better.
Ordination Exam
Following worship and communion, we turned to the business portion of our meeting. We began by welcoming corresponding members and visiting brethren, adopting our docket and minutes of previous meetings, appointing a parliamentarian, and hearing from our treasurer and stated clerk.
We then held an ordination exam for licentiate and New Geneva Academy graduate (’24) Sion Han. Sion has been serving one of our mission churches, Christ the King Church (Houghton, MI), and was called by their provisional session to be an assistant pastor. He was examined on the floor of presbytery on his knowledge of Church History and Sacraments. He previously fulfilled all the other requirements for ordination: examination of his Christian experience and personal character, written and floor exams on English Bible Content, Book of Church Order, and Theology, as well as Biblical language exams and two written papers (one exegetical, the other theological). After discussion, we sustained his exam. His ordination is scheduled to be at Christ the King Church on October 18th at 11:00 a.m. Congratulations Sion! Welcome to the pastorate!
Presbytery Growth Committee
After lunch, we heard reports from our active committees, starting with the Presbytery Growth Committee. The chairman, Elder Tom Thistleton (Christ Church, Cincinnati), presented the Growth Committee’s proposal to extend our current operating structure as adopted at the February 2025 stated meeting but with the following changes: reinstating both the Sessional Records Committee and the Administrative & Nominations Committee, as well as establishing term limits for the Growth Committee. Following discussion and an amendment regarding term limits, the proposal was adopted. Men were then nominated to serve on the reinstated committees. As of this meeting we now have four active committees: Presbytery Growth, Shepherding, Sessional Records, and Administrative & Nominations. You can find descriptions of the latter three committees in Evangel’s Bylaws.
Mission Churches
Elder Thistleton reminded us to continue praying for the three 5’s: five churches to join Evangel, five church planters sent out, and five ‘core groups’ interested in Evangel (a ‘core group’ is a current gathering of believers who are in need of a pastor). As of this meeting we can now pray for four ‘core groups’! Following reports from our two mission churches, Christ the King Church (Houghton, MI), and Christ Church (Columbus, IN), we were blessed to receive a petition from a group of believers in St. Louis, MO, going by the name Fellowship of the Reformed, to join Evangel as a mission church. Charles Henderson, one of Fellowship’s leaders, read the petition. Following discussion, we established them as a mission church and established a provisional session to serve them. Welcome brothers and sisters! We will pray God sends you a pastor in His good timing.
Wrapping Up
Following a report from the Shepherding Committee and unfinished business, we moved on to new business. Pastor Joseph Bayly (Christ Church, Cincinnati, OH) moved that Evangel Presbytery co-host future Shepherding Conferences with New Geneva Academy. After discussion the motion passed. We closed the meeting with prayer and a hymn.
Next Stated Meeting: Louisville
Our next Stated Meeting will be held at Sovereign King Church on Thursday, February 4, at 9:00 a.m. If you are interested in our churches, our polity, or in church ministry, we welcome you to attend.
