Author: Matthew Shifflett

The 11th Stated Meeting of Evangel Presbytery met at First Presbyterian Church, in Jasper, Indiana on Thursday, February 16th, 2023. This is the home of one of Evangel’s four church plants, and is pastored by Joe Helt. Thank you for hosting us!

As always our meeting began with morning worship. Pastor David Abu-Sara from Clearnote Church, Indianapolis, preached from the 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, “Each Man Must Be Careful How He Builds.” Using the apostle’s analogy, Pr. David exhorted us to make sure our people are built on the only sure foundation there is: Christ Jesus. We often want quick fixes to difficult problems, but a good pastor will not give in to such demands. It was a very helpful sermon.

After worship we went into business. We heard an overture from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Spartanburg, SC, regarding paedocommunion. Currently Evangel’s BCO (Chapter 60) does not have language that explicitly addresses the practice, so the overture would add language to prohibit it. Sessions will vote on the overture prior to the next stated meeting along with another overture regarding the fencing of the Lord’s Table.

We then held a views exam for Gary Knapp. Gary is the Executive Director of Still Waters Biblical Counseling Ministry in Maumee, OH and is a member of Christ the Word Church in Sylvania, OH. He passed his views exam and was warmly welcomed as a pastor working out of bounds. Later in our meeting we were blessed to hear personally from one of our pastors who has been laboring out of bounds in Milwaukee, Rev. Brian Bunn.

Afterwards we broke for lunch: pulled pork sandwiches and mac n’ cheese. Many thanks to those who hosted us!

After lunch we heard updates from our churches. Please pray for all of Evangel’s churches and especially our mission churches. We were excited to hear that Pr. Andy Halsey (Christ Church Columbus, IN) has recently gone full-time. Also, please pray for Pr. Jason Chen (Chinese Reformed Church Bloomington, IN) that God would send a Chinese speaker to assist Pr. Jason with his work in the church. 

We then heard from the Ad interim Committee on Abortion. This committee has been at work for 14 months. The fruit of their work has been Evangel’s Statement on Abortion. A new audio version can be accessed here, with subsequent parts being released as they are recorded. The Committee reported on a “concise summary version” of the Statement which the presbytery will consider adding to the BCO at a future meeting. As to the original, full statement, the funds were approved for Warhorn Media to publish a printed version this year.

Elder Abram Hess was then elected as the new moderator, and John Kluge was approved as treasurer. As always, we closed with prayer.

Evangel’s next stated meeting will be at Christ Church in Cincinnati, OH, on Thursday, June 1, 2023. We look forward to seeing you there!

The 10th Stated Meeting of Evangel Presbytery met at Trinity Reformed Church in Bloomington, Indiana on Friday, October, 7th, 2022. The 2022 NGA Shepherd’s Conference was held at the same location the previous two days. It was a blessed time! We especially enjoyed having Dr. Richard C. Gamble speak to us about John Calvin’s Life, Ministry, and Theology. If you missed it recordings will be available soon.

Presbytery began with morning worship. Pastor Jake Mentzel from Church of the King, Evansville, preached an encouraging message on Paul’s greetings from his letters. We were reminded that every church is full of saints called by God, even the problematic Corinthian church. We are not to be faithless in how we look at the people in our own church. They too are saints.

After communion we began tending to the business of the day. A report from the Ad Interim Committee on Abortion updated us: Evangel’s Statement on Abortion is in the process of being published in book form. In the meantime, elders of Evangel received spiral bound copies. Warhorn Media is also releasing podcasts on the Statement: check out season 3 of The World We Made and new episodes of Sound of Sanity.

We then held a licensure exam for Eric Beerbower. He is currently helping Pastor David Abu-Sara at Clearnote Church, Indy, and has previously been licensed in the PCA. Eric passed this floor exam and will continue the process of ordination in Evangel. He is a great blessing to us! Please pray for him as he continues the process. 

After a delicious Italian lunch we had three New Geneva Academy students come under care. Daniel Coughlin and Daniel Frohman of Trinity Reformed Church, Bloomington, and Matt Shifflett of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Spartanburg presented their testimonies and sense of call to the ministry. All three were accepted for being taken under care. Please pray for these men and the other NGA students as they continue their studies and work towards ordination.

We then held one more exam, a transfer exam for Jeremy Vander Galien. Jeremy pastors Pine Grove Community Church in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. He passed his exam and was approved to labor out of bounds. Please welcome our brother and pray for him and the elders of Pine Grove!

After this we heard from the Shepherding Committee. They have decided from now on to have only two particularized churches give updates each presbytery meeting. This time we heard from Christ Church, Cincinnati and Clearnote Church, Indy. Both churches have many young families and many little ones, praise God! This does make for many needs. Christ Church has especially been getting hit with physical suffering throughout the congregation. Please pray for these churches and their elders!

We then heard from our mission churches. Pastor Jason Chen of Chinese Reformed Church, Bloomington has been busy translating and writing worship songs in Chinese for his congregation. His church is small but there is growth. One of their young men was recently baptized! Both Church of the King, Evansville, and First Presbyterian Church, Jasper are in need of worship leaders. If you know eligible men please send them their way! Please continue to pray for all of our church plants. This is hard work and takes great patience. We trust the Lord’s blessing on it!

After a few amendments shoring up the BCO we concluded with prayer.

Evangel’s next stated meeting will be at First Presbyterian Church, Jasper, IN, on Thursday, February 16, 2023. We look forward to seeing you there!