November 27 Today in OPC History

On this date in 1937, William Eugene Warren was born to godly parents in Mansfield, Ohio. As a college student he attended Nyack Bible College (closely affiliated with the Christian Missionary Alliance church) with the idea of preparing for CMA ministry. But one of his Nyack professors recommended Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia to him, and under the tutelage of men such as John Murray and Cornelius Van Til, Bill became convinced of the Reformed Faith. Of course it didn't hurt that while at Westminster he met a beautiful Reformed school teacher named Jocilyn Engbers whom he married in 1963. Ordained in 1964 in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church General Synod, Bill also spent six years in the RCUS before being received into the OPC by the Presbytery of the South in late 1972.

Bill's over 50 years of active service in the OPC are remarkable for breadth and length. Thirty years of faithful full-time pastoral ministry in San Jose, CA, and Garden Grove (now Westminster), CA, were brought to a close by a stroke in 2001. Yet with determination and humility following the stroke, Bill was able to continue to serve three other OP congregations in three different states--ministry which the Lord used to stabilize and encourage them during times of transition and struggles. Today in his mid 80s, now in retirement, Bill has returned to Ohio. But he is still preaching! Pastor Christopher Malamisuro of Good Shepherd OPC in Cincinnati has Bill regularly fill the pulpit and also attend session meetings where he gives the "Warren Report."

Picture: Center, Bill Warren at the 60th (1993) General Assembly