The Phoenix Reformed Presbyterian Church has been praying for a new work in Tucson, Ariz., for almost a decade, but all attempts at locating people who might be interested in even a Bible study stopped for various reasons. The Lord Jesus had different ideas in mind. We have faithfully prayed about this, despite the lack of interested families. Now it looks as if our prayers might finally be becoming a reality.

It all started in January during a providential Skype conversation with Pastor David Reese in Colorado Springs. David and I were talking about the need for more confessional churches in the West, and the topic of a Tucson church plant was brought up.

David knew of a family who had just left his congregation due to work and had relocated to Tucson. David asked me if we had ever considered starting another RP church in that area. I told him we had, and we made arrangements to exchange phone numbers so that we could explore the idea of a Tucson RP Church. From that point, things have moved very quickly.

By the time we attended the Pacific Coast Presbytery meeting in the latter part of February, we had visited with interested families in Tucson and made contact with a pastoral candidate whose heart was being moved in the direction of serving Christ in the Southwest. Jason Ryce and his wife Janine were not only willing to consider coming to serve in this new work, but truly desired to serve God with this particular group of people. We had them fly out to meet the pastors and elders of the Pacific Coast Presbytery. There we were able to explore ways to move ahead with the work.

At this meeting it was decided, with full agreement of the presbytery, that it would be best for the Phoenix RPC to daughter this new work due to geographical closeness. This would also help us to work more closely with Jason Ryce by having him serve the Phoenix session as an associate pastor while serving on site in Tucson.

At this time in Tucson, we are having weekly Bible studies and prayer meetings in the home of a very generous and hospitable family. There are 12-18 who attend each week. Worship services will be starting, Lord willing, in May. A number of those interested have already transferred their memberships to the Phoenix RPC until such time as Tucson becomes a regular congregation.

On Mar. 3 the Phoenix congregation called Jason Ryce to be an associate pastor. He was elected unanimously. We were blessed the evening before to find that quite a good number of the people in Tucson were willing already to commit to the support of Jason as their pastor. There is much work before us as a presbytery and as a session in getting this whole thing established. So we ask for your prayers, as this is the first new work we have had here in many years. We are very excited to see that, in this 100th year of the Pacific Coast Presbytery, we might be starting a new work that may remain in God’s service for another hundred years!

—Jon Maginn

Jon Maginn is pastor of the Phoenix RPC