December 14 Today in OPC History

On this date in 2012 the Rev. Thomas R. Patete died at the age of 71. The longtime executive director of Great Commission Publications commanded great respect in the OPC for his leadership in the joint Sunday school curriculum-producing venture of OPC and the PCA. In 39 years he oversaw the expansion of the ministry into a multi-million dollar budget, while he navigated fluently and gracefully the challenge of serving two constituencies.

Born in New Jersey and raised in Pensacola, Florida, Patete studied at Belhaven College and Columbia Theological Seminary. He pastored three churches in Mississippi and was a founding ministerial member of the Presbyterian Church in America in 1973. In 1978, he accepted the post of executive director of Great Commission Publications. Before GCP moved to Atlanta in 1993, he worshiped with his family at Trinity OPC in Hatboro, Pennsylvania. During those years, Tom’s wife, Jane, was the beloved circulation manager of the library at Westminster Seminary (and surrogate mother for many students).

As OPC minister Allen Curry, a long-time friend and colleague, wrote in New Horizons, “Members of the OPC can be grateful to God for Mr. Patete’s godly leadership of our publication program. His life was characterized by a transparent piety that communicated respect for those who supported and those who opposed his ideas. He lived his life in a way that mirrors the GCP motto, ‘Show Me Jesus.’”