Alumni News Updates

I wish every pastor presently serving had the privilege of being taught preaching by the professors I had at WSC. I wish everyone could know what it was like to preach for the first time, humbly offering to your fellow students, to your professor, and to God your best efforts. Meager, but sincerely given. To preach and receive the loving smile of Dennis Johnson and hear the kind, “Thank you, brother.” Before being warmed as he explained what you did well, how you blessed him. How you honored God. Before being encouraged as he lovingly pointed out places you may have misstepped or texts that you could have brought in to strengthen the flow of your sermon.

I wish they could have had the experience I had after preaching Mark 7 in Dr. Julius Kim’s class.

“Derek, your biblical exposition was great. Your delivery was excellent, and I appreciated your application, but I feel like you missed something big in this sermon.”

“What was that?”

“The cross, Derek. You forgot to tell us about the cross.”

“Yeah, that’s a big miss, Dr. Kim. I’m sorry about that.”

“I understand. Next time you preach it, make sure you don’t miss the cross. And every time after that.”

I wish every preacher had been able to sit under the preaching instruction of my grandpa. By the time I got to his class, he had long been retired. He was 84. And as a professor emeritus, he was still teaching one section of preaching at WSC for seniors – our last preaching class. The last preaching class he would teach. Grandpa taught mostly through stories. He had a bunch of them. Each mined from the wealth of experience he had as a pastor, first in rural South Dakota, then in urban Chicago, last in suburban Michigan. After a student would preach, grandpa would rarely give direct feedback, but instead respond by telling a story. More than once a student would ask me during the break “so…did he like my sermon? Did that story mean it was bad?” I would shrug and encourage them to just take the story for what it was, an experienced minister sharing his wisdom.

When I preached in his class, grandpa didn’t offer any feedback. He dismissed us for a longer break than usual. As the students exited and I looked back at him sitting at the back of the classroom, I understood it was because he was overcome with emotion that his grandson was about to become a minister of the gospel. He had been praying throughout my life that I would become a pastor. And so at that time he was bowed low with tears of gratitude.

At my ordination my grandpa gave the charge to preach Christ. And then he wept. More tears of gratitude. Bob Godfrey preached the sermon – a Psalm! And he conveyed to Orland Park Christian Reformed Church, where I serve as lead pastor, the fullness of faithfulness, humor, and love for Jesus, which characterizes the best of Westminster Seminary California. I was ordained and installed to lead a precious group of Christians. I have served them for 8 years now. And I have sought to make the motto of my alma matter my own – for Christ, His Gospel, & His Church.

Last November I had the privilege of preaching the sermon at my grandfather’s funeral. I told a lot of stories. I received messages from my professors who cared for him and reached out to care for me. And I heard several comments from other ministers who had themselves been encouraged to come to Westminster by my grandfather, who had sat under his instruction, who had been charged by my grandpa to preach Christ. This time the tears were my own. Tears of sorrow and loss, certainly. But also tears of gratitude. For the prayers grandpa had prayed, the world of Christ-centered exposition he had first opened to me. And the mentors I had met because of his direction.

And so, strengthened by the faithful instruction I’ve received from my grandfather and my alma mater, I continue on in the power of the Holy Spirit for the cause of Christ Jesus, endeavoring to invite people into the beautiful world of the text of Scripture. Calling them to meet the Jesus we find in every part of the Bible. To take up their cross and follow him in obedience and love.

And, Dr. Kim, I don’t believe I’ve ever forgotten the cross again.

ALUMNI NEWS

1988 John Vermeer is currently serving as pastor of the Doon United Reformed Church in Doon, Iowa. I have served there for nearly three years, and the Doon URC congregation just recently helped me celebrate 30 years in the gospel ministry. My ministerial anniversary is September 30, 1990. Tom Carter retired in 2020 after 44 years of ministry as a pastor. For 38 years he served as the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dinuba, California. He is the author of more than ten Christian books. 1990 Bruce C. Mawhinney retired from the pastorate December 31, 2017. He serves on the Ministry Relations Committee of the Susquehanna Valley Presbytery of the PCA and resides in Lancaster, PA, with his wife, Carol. Bruce recently contributed a chapter to a Festschrift for Jay Adams, entitled Whole Counsel:The Public and Private Ministries of the Word, Essays in Honor of Jay E. Adams, Donn R. Arms and Dave Swavely, Editors (2020. Institute for Nouthetic Studies). 2000 Matt Holst serves as pastor at High Plains Fellowship (PCA) in Falcon, CO. The Lord blessed the congregation with their first building in the Spring of 2020 after the school they had been meeting in could no longer accommodate them due to COVID restrictions. 2001 Rev. Stephen Donovan who served the congregation at Escondido United Reformed Church for over 19 years, retired on December 1, 2020, and was granted emeritation by the EURC Council. Rev. Donovan and his wife, Suzzonne, continue to live in Escondido and worship as members of the EURC. 2002 Jason Kim is in his first year as senior pastor of La Habra Christian Church. Due to the pandemic, the church is doing outdoor worship in the parking lot.

2003 Daniel Chong has been called to serve as the senior pastor of Charis Mission Church (KAPC) in Glendale, CA, since Feb. 1, 2021, after serving as an assistant pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) for 16 years. Daniel has been married to Grace for nearly 7 years and has two children, William (4) and Karis (2). Yuri Chun Lansinger and her husband were able to successfully complete their 2nd international adoption process during the pandemic to welcome Ethan (2 years old) into their family to join his half-brother, Carter, who is now 3 years old, and their biological son, Eric Jr, who is 9 years old. 2006 Jun Shik Park has been serving as senior pastor at Suh Moon Presbyterian Church in Garden Grove (KAPC) since February 2020. David Zadok has begun research on his dissertation, Preaching Christ from the Minor Prophets, as part of the requirement for his D.Min. at The Master’s Seminary. 2007 John I. Kim was called and installed as the head pastor of City Church of Honolulu (PCA) in July 2020 after serving as an RUF Campus Minister for the University of Hawaii. Stephen Fix successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, titled The Semantics of a Semitic Ventive in Cognitive Perspective: Akkadian Ventive Construals Based on Lexical Verb Types at Catholic University of America in December 2020. Stephen has been serving as Senior Pastor of Reformed Presbyterian Church of Bowie, MD, since 2019 and also serves as an adjunct faculty at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) teaching a number of their online courses throughout the year. 2008 Stephen Roberts is now in North Carolina with the Army chaplaincy, and is expecting his third child, Canaan Simeon, in March 2021. 2009 Ariel Flores has been serving as the Palliative Care Chaplain at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles since July 2020 and will be seeking Board Certification Specialty in palliative care in September 2021. Jason Ching and his wife, Naomi Ching (MA 2008), are being sent by Grace Community Church in Minden, NV, where he served for 8 years, to plant Dayspring Church in Reno, NV. The first service was held on Sunday, Jan 3. Donna’s (last name withheld) husband died in November 2019, and she has moved to Nashville, TN. 2010 Nathaniel Gutierrez moved back from the mission field at the end of 2018 and now serves on staff as assistant Pastor at Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Tacoma, WA. Nicole Noran was married to Eric Sink on March 30, 2021. 2011 Craig Marshall received a D.Min. in Pastoral Counseling from Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, PA. His project is entitled "Seeing and Seeking Embodied Beauty." Craig is currently pastoring at Grace Bible Church in Escondido. 2012 Colby Painter is currently teaching Western Civilization at The Geneva School in Orlando, Florida. 2013 Jordan Huff and wife, Jana, had their sixth child, Holly Taylor Huff, in June 2020. Esther Woo and her husband, John, welcomed their third child, Samuel, back in November 2020. Kalyn (Robel) Merriner and her husband, Matt, welcomed their third child, Theodore Joseph, on February 10, 2021. His big sisters are Elliana (5) and Sophia (3). 2014 Mike Awtry and his wife, Alisa, welcomed their third child, Ada Ruth, in February 2021. He continues to serve as associate pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Santa Rosa, CA. 2015 Nikolas Haus was married to Alicia Haus on November 3, 2018, and has moved from the UK to New Zealand where he works as Consultant Anaesthetist at Whakatane Hospital, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, on 1st April 2019. The Haus family welcomed their first child, a boy, Joseph Elias Haus, in November 2020. Nikolas was examined before the Northern Presbytery of the Grace Presbyterian Church of New Zealand (GPCNZ) and received under care for the purposes of future gospel ministry and is now licenced to preach. Brian Onstead welcomed a son, Isaiah James, on Feb. 7, 2020. 2016 Kaniela (Kani) Hughes is working as a teacher in Kailua, Hawaii. 2017 Eric Bradley has completed a Th.M. at Erskine Theological Seminary (officially graduating in May 2021) and will be entering the Ph.D. program at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia in September. Evan Gear continues his service as Assistant Minister at Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, GA. He has four children (3 girls and 1 boy: Elizah Jane, Maisie, Jobe, and Opal). Dan Warne was ordained and installed in October 2020 as Assistant Pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Temecula, CA. Dan and his wife, Mariana, are expecting their second child in August 2021. They continue ministering in Cuba through the radio program El Faro de Redención. 2019 Walter Brobst was commissioned in the US Air Force Reserves as a Chaplain in March 2020 and is currently attending Officer Training School at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, where he was scheduled to graduate at the end of February 2021. 2020 Collin Welch was called in January 2021 by Westside Reformed Church (Cincinnati, OH) to be their home missionary in Madison, Indiana, and was ordained by the Eastern Classis of the URCNA in April.