Trivia question In what year was the Doon, IA PRC organized and who was its first pastor? Answer in the church profile section of this issue. More trivia next time. Minister activities First Edmonton PRC called Rev. N. Langerak. On July 12 he declined this call. Rev. C. Haak declined the call from Kalamazoo, MI PRC. They then formed a new trio of Rev. S. Key, R. Kleyn, and Spronk. On July 5 Rev. Spronk received this call. Rev. R. Kleyn declined the call from Cornerstone PRC. Unity PRC formed a new trio of Revs. G. Eriks, E. Guichelaar, C....

Thoughts for the times They cried out, “Master, carest thou not that we perish? Jesus arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?” Excerpt from “Peace in the Storm,” a meditation by Rev. A. Spriensma. Trivia question How many PRCA congregations were organized before Georgetown PRC? Answer in the church profile section of this article. More trivia next time. Minister activities Due to circumstances in Singapore and...

Minister activities Rev. J. Laning announced on April 19 that God had led him to decline the call extended to him from First PRC of Edmonton, AB, Canada. Grandville PRC has a new trio for minister-on-loan to Singapore: Rev. G. Eriks (Hudsonville PRC), Rev. E. Guichelaar (Randolph PRC), and Rev. R. Kleyn (Cove­nant of Grace PRC). Rev J. Mahtani received the calls from Kalamazoo PRC, Unity PRC, and Hope PRC (Grand Rapids, MI). On May 3 Rev. Mahtani announced he had been led by God to accept the call to Hope PRC and decline the other two calls. May God...

Trivia question In 2001, when a group of families and individuals met to organize Trinity PRC, what were some of the other possible names for this new congregation? Answer can be found in the church profile segment of this issue. More trivia next time. Evangelism activities The Byron Center Evangelism Committee made plans to have Prayer Day on March 11 be their community outreach service this year. Flyers were made available to use when inviting friends and acquaintances to worship with them. There was a sign-up sheet for bringing cookies/bars to a time of fellowship and welcome with their visitors...

Trivia question Which is the easternmost PRC congregation in Classis West? See the church profile part of this article for your answer. More trivia next time. Sister-church activities The congregation of Covenant PRC in Ballymena, Northern Ireland held their annual congregational dinner at a place called The Thatch in Broughshane on February 21. This announcement about the 2020 British Reformed Fellowship Family conference is now out: Join Reformed believers from around the world at the 2020 British Reformed Fellowship family conference at Castlewellan Castle in Northern Ireland from Saturday, July 11 to Saturday, July 18. Our speakers, Prof. David Engelsma...

Trivia question In which year was Randolph, WI PRC organized and who was their first installed pastor? Answers in the church profile section below. More trivia next time. Sister-church activities The CERC of Singapore enjoyed pulpit supply from the following: Rev. K. Koole, in February; Prof. Dykstra, March 1 and 8. But future supply was closed due to the coronavirus outbreak there and here in the U.S. (cf. note later in this report). From the Doon, IA bulletin: Missionary pastor Rev. Daniel Holstege requested that he might baptize his daughter, Violet Joy, in Provident PRC in the Philippines. This is...

Trivia question Which Protestant Reformed congregation met in the basement of the local community building for more than ten years following the split of 1953 before reclaiming their church building? Answer to be found in the Church Profile section of this article. Minister activities Kalamazoo PRC formed a new trio: Rev. R. Barnhill (Peace PRC, IL), Rev. J. Engelsma (Doon, IA), Rev. C. Spronk (Faith PRC, MI). Rev. Ryan Barnhill received this call. Cornerstone PRC (Dyer, IN) called Rev. G. Eriks (Hudsonville PRC) to be their next pastor. On Febru­ary 2 Rev. Eriks announced his decline of this call. We...

Trivia question This question was sent in by a reader. It goes back a ways, perhaps to the late 1930s or early 1940s. It is trivia, but it is also a riddle. See what you can do with it! What congregation in our denomination once made a trio consisting of three “non-persons?” A hint about the congregation: it is found in a State of the U.S. where no other PRC churches are found. And a hint about the trio: You need to put your knowledge of the Dutch language to use. If you translate the English version of the trio’s...

Trivia question Can you name the four churches in the Protestant Reformed Churches in the Philippines? Can you name the pastor of each? Answers later in this column. Minister activities At her congregational meeting on December 18, Unity PRC voted to call Rev. R. VanOverloop (Grace PRC). From her bulletin we learn this: “Due to the busyness of the holiday season, the Council has extended the time frame in which Rev. VanOverloop has to respond to our call to January 19, 2020.” Rev. Erik Guichelaar (Randolph PRC) was consid­ering the call to Kalamazoo PRC. On January 5 he declined this...

Under this heading, it was assigned to me by our Editor-in-chief to write a few articles in the Standard Bearer. Now, to write news from our churches for our paper is not an easy task; as the readers can easily understand. In the first place it is not easy for the simple reason that all the news from our churches is written in Our Church News, the small, weekly paper which is well liked by old and young, and whose Editor is a capable man. In the second place it is hard for this reason, church news in the Standard...