September 25 Today in OPC History

On this date in 1994 high school sweethearts, Jesse and Linette (Lenny) Pirschel, married at the Calvary Chapel in Big Bear, California. They had met and become friends while working at a ski rental shop below the slopes overlooking Big Bear Lake and chasing each other on skis and snowboards. The wedding took place shortly after Lenny graduated from high school and before Jesse graduated from Calvary Chapel Bible College, which was also located in the San Bernadino Mountains.

After several years serving in the church in Big Bear, they launched out as Calvary Chapel foreign missionaries serving in Slovakia. During the first two years on the mission field Jesse became convinced of the Reformed Faith. He also believed that it was necessary to be open and honest about these convictions with his sending church. This resulted in the Pirschels leaving the field and Jesse studying at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, where he graduated in 2003 with a M.Div. The next year, Jesse was ordained by the Presbytery of Southern California and installed as the organizing pastor of a new church plant in Temecula, CA. The Lord has blessed the Pirschels with a daughter and three sons, Maya, Solomon, Silas, and Israel, a grandson Charles, and a growing, vibrant Orthodox Presbyterian Church to serve in Temecula.

Homepage picture: Jesse and Lenny Pirschel in 1994.