October 17 Today in OPC History

On October 17, 1987, the Rev. Robert B. Needham, a chaplain in the United States Navy, was received by the Presbytery of Southern California of the OPC. A native of Chicago and a graduate of Reed College in Oregon, Westminster Theological Seminary, and Naval Graduate School, Needham served for twenty years in the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod and the Presbyterian Church in America (after the 1981 merger with the RPCES), before coming into the OPC.

In 1968 Needham was commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade in the U.S. Naval Reserve, and he entered active duty in 1971. He received assignments on both the east and west coast, and tours of duty took him all over the world. During his service he became the only Navy chaplain certified with a Strategic Planning sub-specialty. He retired from the service on January 3, 1992. From 1992 to 2012, he pastored New Hope OPC in Hanford, California.