Worship has been described as "the primary work of the congregation." It is certainly critical in the life and ministry of the church. Worship is the one activity that involves the entire congregation. It is our primary contact with our community. When people are looking for a church they start by attending worship. And often it is worship that becomes the deciding factor in determining whether or not a person will continue a relationship with a church. Most people consider worship to be the primary motivation and encouragement for the life of faith.
At First Presbyterian worship is a vibrant blend of worship styles, music, the dramatic and visual arts, and participatory engagement of the congregation. Our aim is to capture the energy and spiritual quality of contemporary worship while embracing the richness of traditional worship.
Worship design and content are highly regarded at First Presbyterian. Staff resources are devoted to the careful planning of each service. We began 2025 with the annual worship theme: “Rooted in Faith, Growing in Grace”. A monthly theme is selected to support that theme. Recent themes include:
A Message From Pastor RJ Leek
10/25/26
John Calvin (1509-1564) The first Presbyterian.
John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, in Noyon, France. His father, a lawyer for the cathedral chapter, first prepared him for the priesthood and then for the law. Calvin studied in Paris, Orléans, and Bourges, where he mastered Latin, Greek, and the humanist learning of the Renaissance.
Around 1533, Calvin experienced what he later described as a sudden conversion, in which God brought his stubborn heart to be teachable. As persecution of French Protestants intensified, he fled France and settled in Basel, Switzerland. There, in 1536, at only twenty-six, he published the first edition of the Institutes of the Christian Religion. He would revise and expand it for the rest of his life, and it became one of the most influential works of Protestant theology ever written.
That same year, a fiery preacher named William Farel urged Calvin to stay in Geneva and help reform the church there. Calvin reluctantly agreed. Disputes with the city council led to his expulsion in 1538, and he spent three happy years in Strasbourg pastoring French refugees. There he married Idelette de Bure, a widow with two children, in 1540. She died in 1549, and he mourned her deeply.
In 1541, Geneva called him back, and he served there until his death. He preached almost daily, wrote commentaries on most of the Bible, and shaped the church's life through the Ecclesiastical Ordinances, which established the offices of pastor, teacher, elder, and deacon. In 1559, he founded the Genevan Academy to train pastors and leaders. Geneva became a haven for persecuted believers from across Europe, and many returned home carrying Reformed convictions with them. Among them was John Knox, whose work planted the Reformation in Scotland and gave rise to the Presbyterian Church.
Calvin was a man of frail health and an intense devotion to Scripture, and his seal showed a hand offering a heart to God. His emphasis on God's sovereignty, the authority of the Word, and salvation by grace alone through faith alone left its mark on churches around the world. He remains a complicated figure, and his role in some of Geneva's harsher disciplines continues to be debated.
Calvin died on May 27, 1564, and at his own request was buried in an unmarked grave.
That comes in right around 350 words. Would you like a shorter version for the bulletin, or a version aimed at a children's moment?