Trinity Chapel Weddington, NC Rev. Keith Ginn


I


did not intend to join the ARP denomination. I wanted to go back to Chicago (where I’m from) for ministry, and there is no ARPC presence in the state of Illinois. Then I got the call. A pastor and friend who had been trying to get me into the ARP had a proposal. Did I want to go take over a church plant in Charlotte, NC, from Dr. Michael Milton, former


RTS chancellor and president of the Charlotte campus, the man who had been chancellor when I began my seminary studies? In many ways, it was a dream offer. I still wanted to test the waters. I have a wife, Olivia, and we were both happy with our situation. We loved our local PCA church, where we had discovered a community that felt more like a family than anything we had ever experienced. Were we going to give that up to serve a church plant where we knew no one? I met with Dr. Milton to hear from him the vision for Trinity Chapel ARPC, to get a feel for whether it was something


we wanted to do. Sitting on his front porch, we discussed the reality in Charlotte: there were thousands of people flock- ing there, seeking a better living situation for their families, or a more reasonable retirement. Thousands of people from New York, New Jersey, New England, and even my own home of Chicago “Yankees.” Most of them were from the same background as mine: nominally Christian, mostly Roman Catholics or mainline Protestants. People for whom Christian- ity may be a reality, perhaps even a foundation of how they think about morality and life, but who did not have a true understanding of the gospel. Trinity Chapel was planted with these multitudes in mind. A church plant that is faithful to Reformed worship and doc-


trine, but structured to ease in the nominal Lutheran or Roman Catholic or Episcopalian. A church with historic Christian worship that would be familiar to many nominal believers, but infused with the gospel realities of grace, mercy, and the sovereignty of God in salvation. There were questions to wrestle with: Would I be comfortable wearing a robe and stole? Would we be okay with “traditional worship” every Sunday? How did I really feel about being ARP and not returning to Chicago? Ultimately, though, the primary question didn’t have anything to do with these things. The real question for me was: is my heart burdened for the many lost souls in South Charlotte? Is my heart burdened for people who were seeking improvement in this life, but who likely were not prepared for eternity? I wrestled with it. Olivia wrestled with it. I preached a few


times for Trinity as a guest. After a few weeks, we both saw our decision laid out before us: we were going to Trinity Chapel. In many ways, it was a stressful decision. We would have to move, leave our loving church, fundraise for the work, and enter full- time ministry sooner than later. However, it was also an easy decision, the Lord made it clear to us individually that this was what we needed to do. And so here we are- learning, growing, and praying for God to


do a great work in our midst. We have already seen prayers an- swered. We have a new, affordable meeting space. (A local funeral home has welcomed us with open arms.) A new family to join the core group. (They first visited on our first official Sunday.) God provided a lovely home within five minutes drive of the meet- ing space. We are praying for God to work again to bring three new families into the core group, and to raise our number up to 50 by 2020; to provide the funding Trinity needs in the next year; to open up more doors for evangelism and bold witness in our community. Above all, we pray that God is glorified as He calls sinners to receive His grace, not only comforting them in this life, but preparing them to receive life eternal.?


Helping You Reach Your Community 14 The Associate Reformed Presbyterian


Outreach North America


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