October 27 Today in OPC History

On October 27, 1905, John Davies was born in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. Unsure about what he should do with his life as a young man, Davies inquired of the Lord, "If you will help me make a decision about my transfer to Mission House College, I promise I will serve you in the ministry." Davies would enter the college, eventually graduate and enroll in the first class at Westminster Seminary in 1929. Following his graduation from Westminster in 1932, he was ordained by the Presbytery of Milwaukee and served as stated supply for PCUSA congregations in South Range, Superior, Radisson, Couderay and Stone Lake, Wisconsin. During this time, he was introduced to gospel ministry among the Indians living in Wisconsin.

When the Presbyterian Church of America (renamed Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1939) was founded in 1936, Davies immediately joined and began serving as a missionary to the Menominee Indians in Wisconsin. That first summer he and his wife, Hermina, lived in a borrowed tent while conducting vacation Bible school, Sunday school classes and midweek services. With no money available to use, they first held meetings under the trees before in time being able to secure a meeting place at a dance hall in Zoar, Wisconsin. Not discouraged by the lack of finances but encouraged by the opportunities to minister, Davies also began serving two groups of believers from the Stockbridge Indians at this time.

In 1954, Davies accepted a call to Calvary OPC, Wildwood, New Jersey where he would serve for the next seventeen years until his retirement in 1971. After three years of retirement, Davies helped with the OPC chapel in Glenwood, Washington and then with the Union Chapel in West Wildwood, New Jersey. On April 3, 1986, Davies died and went to be with the Lord in glory.

Picture: John Davies and his family in 1949.