For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. (Luke 6:43-44)
I lived in this room in 2001,” Dr. Dennis Prutow proclaimed as he strode into my office on the third floor of Rutherford Hall at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) in Pittsburgh, Pa. “This is where I stayed until Erma completed her contract at Sterling College.” Since that day, I have tried to imagine what prayers, what counsel, what searching of God’s inerrant word took place in that room. The book of Luke shows how each tree is known by its own fruit. Dr. Dennis Prutow has been one of the more fruitful trees in the Lord’s orchard.
An immigrant from Prussia in 1868, John Prutow, Dr. Prutow’s great-grandfather, settled on a farm in Imlay City, Mich. Descendants of the family still operate the farm today. John William Prutow, Dr. Prutow’s father, was born on the farm in 1918. He married Inez Mayberry and had three sons, Dennis, Gary, and David.
After serving in the Navy during World War II, John moved the family to Newport, Ky., during Denny’s elementary school years. These were times filled with Boy Scouts, school band, hiking in the woods, and walking to Sunday school at the Evangelical Congregational Christian Church. Denny was baptized, sang in the choir, and went to youth group.
A move to Medford Lakes, N.J., brought much change for the Prutow family. Denny took a summer job as a lifeguard and in the fall, to the delight of his father, joined the highschool football team. As graduation neared, Denny applied for an appointment to the Military Academy at West Point, but the Lord had different plans in place. The University of Delaware and a major in math awaited, but, ironically, this prolific communicator failed freshman English!
The following year, 1959, the sought-after appointment to West Point materialized, and English was once again a source of failure. Since his math and physics grades were high, Dr. Prutow was able to continue his studies, and he graduated in 1963.
Up to this point in his life, while he regularly attended church, the name of Jesus did not have any real meaning to him. It was during the time of armed conflict in southeast Asia that the Lord brought forth the battle for the soul of this soldier for Christ.
Stationed near the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, this young lieutenant continued a regular practice of chapel attendance (chapel had been mandatory at West Point). Chaplain Dudley Boyd asked Prutow, “Have you ever accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?” Not wanting to lie to a chaplain, he responded with a no. After working through John 3:16 and Romans 10:9-10 with the chaplain, Denny prayed and his life was changed forever. Sensing a call to seminary, Dr. Prutow took advantage of a program that permitted officers excess leave to attend seminary and enter the Army chaplaincy. This work began at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
In God’s good providence, a wonderful young woman, Erma Jean Orr, was attending Fuller at the time. When they met, she was nearing the completion of a master’s degree in Christian education. Marriage followed in 1967 and Denny’s ordination in 1968.
The following year was one of great trial, tribulation, and transformation. Arriving in Vietnam, Prutow served as battalion chaplain for the 2/47 Infantry, 9th Division, and was stationed on the northern edge of the Mekong River Delta. Assisting soldiers in combat was taxing yet important work for the kingdom. In the midst of these battles, the Prutows lost a child during Erma’s sixth month of pregnancy.
Rotating back home, the family decided to leave the Army and pursue pastoral ministry. After living in Dallas, Tex., for a time, they returned to the Midwest where Denny worked for Travelers Insurance. Daughter Gail joined the family in 1971. The family worshiped at the First Christian Reformed Church in Pella, Iowa, where the ministers had an immense impact on Prutow and greatly encouraged his study of the Reformed faith.
Bartlesville, Okla., was the next stop for the growing Prutow family, where they joined an Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC). In 1974 Denny began his pastoral duties in Bartlesville as an OPC pastor, and he continued there until 1982. Daughters Denise and Kristi were born in the mid-1970s. The Lord used this period of time to sharpen and mold this young minister, as he experienced the pain of overseeing church discipline and decline followed by the encouragement of renewal and growth from outreach and evangelism.
Erma’s father passed away in 1982, and the Prutows moved to Meade, Kan., to help run the Orr family business, the Moon Mist Motel. The Minneola Church (Erma’s childhood church) was nearby, and the Lord began a closer association with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA).
It is in the RPCNA that God began to use His servant in new and exciting ways. Prutow established Westminster Evangelistic Ministries, which eventually provided weekly devotional columns to almost 800 newspapers. In what was to become a hallmark of his ministry, Prutow also published monthly expository newsletters to churches in the OPC and RPCNA. This ministry continues today in a different format on SermonAudio, with over a quarter million downloads of his sermons and teachings.
In 1987, Denny began to regularly provide pulpit supply to the Sterling Reformed Presbyterian Church in Sterling, Kan. After meeting with the Midwest Presbytery, he was installed as the pastor at Sterling in 1988, where a wonderful period of growth and ministry continued. Not a silent congregation, Sterling was able to claim having the mayor, school board president, and president of the chamber of commerce among her congregants. Denny was a regular fixture at the popular local coffee shop, and, to this day, still has folks asking about his family.
Upon completion of a doctor of ministry degree at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Fla, Jerry O’Neill, president of RPTS, asked Dr. Prutow to consider teaching at the RP Seminary. Synod elected him as professor of homiletics and pastoral theology, where he has continued to minister diligently since the fall of 2001. In addition to teaching courses on the ministry of worship, introduction to preaching, preaching practicums, and the care and administration of the church, he has served as the dean of faculty and has powerfully instructed classes in the seminary’s doctor of ministry program. He has also written a book on preaching, So Pastor, What’s Your Point? and another on worship, Public Worship 101, both in use at RPTS and by institutions.
Dr. Prutow’s booming voice can be easily heard throughout Rutherford Hall when he is teaching. Over the years, the Prutow home in Pittsburgh has been known for its gracious hospitality, and Erma has assisted in running the Seminary Women program, which provides practical tips and fellowship for the spouses of pastoral students and for women studying at RPTS.
Scott Doherty, one of Dr. Prutow’s current students, noted, “There are people in your life who give you advice, and that is good. There are people in your life whom you seek out to get advice, and that is usually better. Dr. Prutow is one of the people in my life whom I seek out for advice. He has a lot of ballast in his ship and is able to give very long-sighted and level-headed counsel. I trust his experience and his patient demeanor. He is very winsome in his approach and never forceful. This makes for someone that others seek out. I will seek him out as long as I can.”
George Gregory, associate pastor at the Columbus, Ind., RPC, did an internship in Iowa his first summer at RPTS. He expected to be under the mentorship of Pastor Ron Good, but the Lord had different plans, taking Pastor Good home to his eternal rest. Pastor Gregory worked weekly via the internet with Dr. Prutow (who was on sabbatical at the time) to review and edit each of his sermons. Prutow is that kind of kingdom servant, with a tremendous desire for his students to glorify God in their ministries.
The impact of Dennis Prutow’s ministry on this denomination and on thousands of individuals cannot be adequately expressed in words as a new generation of men has learned to preach under the guidance of this humble servant of the Lord. During their three-year seminary careers, M.Div. students preach a minimum of seven times in chapel. After each student completes his sermon, Dr. Prutow comes alongside to gently shepherd the budding preacher, pointing out the high and low points of the just-delivered message. Dr. Prutow handles these moments with great care and discernment, as the men have poured hours of work into these messages. His prudent feedback further sharpens the iron.
“I have learned far more than I have taught,” notes Dr. Prutow. “It has been an honor to serve on the RPTS faculty.” As Dr. Prutow is likely to say, “To God be the glory.”
—Mark Sampson is Director of Development at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pa.