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March 23 Today in OPC History

Berkeley, California

2023

 

On March 23, 1952, the new sanctuary of Covenant OPC, Berkeley, California, was dedicated at a special service held on Sunday afternoon. The Rev. S. Struyk, interim pastor of the First Christian Reformed Church of Alameda, preached the sermon. Chaplain Edwin L. Wade and the Rev. Edwards Elliott also participated in the service, along with Covenant OPC pastor, the Rev. Robert H. Graham and founding ruling elder David "Scottie" Neilands.

Established as an Orthodox Presbyterian congregation on October 21, 1936, Covenant Church was without a pastor at its beginning. Mr. Neilands, then a twenty-three year old ruling elder, exhorted regularly until Covenant Church was able to call Robert Churchill as its first pastor in the following year. In 1960 at the Twenty-seventh General Assembly in Manhattan Beach, California, Mr. Neilands became the first ruling elder elected as moderator of an Orthodox Presbyterian General Assembly. He would actively serve on the session of Covenant Church for over seventy years until his going to be with the Lord in glory in 2004.

Picture: Scottie Neilands at a Covenant Church fellowship luncheon in the 1960s.

 

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