STEVE BRADLEY grew up in Southern California and came to faith at age six through the ministry of Calvary Baptist Church.  In his early twenties, he attended Calvary Chapel Bible College where he met his wife of 20 years, Julie.  After getting married and moving to Arizona, his desire to pursue the ministry became stronger, so he began looking for a seminary. He settled on the RP Seminary. Shortly after arriving in Pittsburgh, Pa., he joined Providence RPC, a church plant that had been newly organized as a congregation. During his seminary years, Steve began to teach and preach at a church plant in Cranberry, Pa., which he counted a great blessing.  He states that, had a call come to him to serve as church planter for Cranberry, he would have accepted, but given the timing of things, he sensed the Lord leading him to accept a call from Trinity RPC in Beltsville, Md.  After serving Trinity for 11 years, he was called back to Providence RPC to serve as pastor together with his former pastor and close friend, Dr. C.J. Williams. 

Over the years, Steve has had a heart for church planting. He prays he might be used of the Lord to be instrumental in planting churches throughout the area south of Pittsburgh. 

JOHN EDGAR grew up in the Broomall, Pa., RPC, where he witnessed up close the congregation’s diligent efforts to plant a church in Lancaster, Pa. After teaching high school for six years, he attended seminary, serving brief internships in Cambridge, Mass., and White Lake, N.Y. He has been the pastor of the Elkins Park congregation since 2002. In 2001, shortly after his election as a ruling elder, the Atlantic Presbytery appointed him to be its representative to the Home Mission Board. John has since served both as vice president and president of the board.

NATHAN ESHELMAN’s love for church planting began in Grand Rapids, Mich., as a college student, when he participated in the planting of First RPC. In seminary he continued to serve the church plant and had a desire to work in church planting following seminary. Since pastoring the Los Angeles congregation, Nathan has been involved in a number of West Coast church plants since he serves on the church extension committee. His doctorate focuses on the relationship between Christ’s mediatorial kingship and the planting of churches. He hopes to be used of the Lord to expand the kingdom in the Los Angeles area.

ANDY MCCRACKEN grew up in the home of Pastor Bob McCracken. He was born into a congregation that was a church plant in Marion, Iowa.  While Andy was in high school, his family moved to Victoria, Australia, to be involved in another church plant in the town of Sunbury, just northwest of Melbourne.  While in seminary, Andy worked as an intern with the Eastvale, Pa., congregation, which led a Bible study in Boardman, Ohio, with the hopes of a seeing a church planted there. During his first pastorate working as a revitalization pastor in Bloomington, Ind., Andy also served for a time as a provisional elder in the Evansville, Ind., church-planting work.  He was later called to be the organizing pastor of the church plant in Elkhart, Ind., where he labored for six years. 

He is now senior pastor of Columbus RPC. He has been a longtime member of the Great Lakes-Gulf Presbytery’s church extension committee and currently serves on the Temporary Governing Body of the Southwest Ohio Mission Church in West Chester, Ohio.  Andy is married to Susan, and they have six children: Caleb, Lindsey, Alida, Joel, Amanda, and Luke.

BRUCE PARNELL was called to serve as church planter in Stillwater, Okla., following his time at the RP Seminary. In God’s providence, he has been blessed by two mentors in pastoral ministry who had a passion for evangelism and church planting. First, in Topeka RPC, Pastor Bob McFarland—who had worked to plant a new congregation in Hays, Kan., and followed a commitment to train men for the ministry—mentored Bruce. Second, while in seminary, Pastor McCracken—who had served as a church planter in Marion, Iowa, and in Australia—mentored Bruce. Both these experiences helped Bruce to develop a vision for church planting in the RPCNA. While in seminary, God also used the fellowship of peers to encourage this direction. A group of several students met regularly to study and discuss the unique challenges of church planting. Bruce has also served on the Presbytery Church Extension Committee and several church-planting commissions, most recently in Dallas and Bryan, Tex.

For those who like church history, the Stillwater congregation was one of the “Seven More by ’94” goal that the Synod adopted. Stillwater RPC recently helped daughter a new congregation in Enid, Okla., about an hour west of Stillwater.

KEVIN PLUMMER was converted in 1974. In 1991, he moved to Oswego, N.Y., where he joined the RP Church. He has served Oswego RPC as a ruling elder since 1995.  Kevin was privileged to witness the planting of an RP church in Fulton, N.Y., and participated in New Hartford, N.Y., as an elder a few years later.  Kevin recounts that his pastor, Kit Swartz, has faithfully prayed and longed for opportunities to plant new churches in central New York and is always ready to sacrifice beyond what would seem to be appropriate for the size of the budget. One of the things he appreciates most as he reflects on the past 40 years is seeing how the Lord faithfully provides for budgetary needs as churches seek to be obedient to the Great Commission.  

Kevin was appointed to represent the St. Lawrence Presbytery on the Home Mission Board in fall 2010.  Since then he continues to be amazed at the multiplication of opportunities for church extension that he has witnessed over the last four years. He also appreciates the opportunity to see the faithfulness of the Lord to His church as she labors to obey His call to preach the gospel.  

RACHEL ROBERTS has been serving in Terre Haute, Ind., since 2010.  Her husband, Bill, is a church planter there. She experiences the unique challenges, the ups and the downs, that confront church planters and their wives and families. As a church planter’s wife, Rachel helps with a variety of church activities and with hospitality.  She also volunteers in the community several days a week.