What were the years like that Rev. Ophoff spent in Hope Church? They were those decisive years when the common grace controversy came to its head. However, before we enter into the controversy itself, it is well to sketch briefly the ministry of Rev. Ophoff before the break of 1924 actually came. This is not because of the fact that the reverbera­tions of the common grace controversy were not heard all the way into the quiet rural community of Riverbend; but this is because the early work of Rev. Ophoff seemed to be far removed from the battlefield.

His family life was, in many respects, the normal family life of a parsonage. To Rev. and Mrs. Ophoff sons were born. The oldest, Fred, now deceased, was born on July 27, 1922. This was a year and a half after Rev. Ophoff assumed his labors in Hope Church. Three years later on August 23, George was born; but this was in the year 1925, after the common grace controversy had reached its climax at the synod of Kalamazoo in 1924. George is now a member of First Protestant Reformed Church. In the course of his life two more sons were given to the family: Herm, now a member in Southeast, was born on July 26, 1927; and Ed, a member of First Church, was born September 20, 1930.

As was so often the case in those days, women from the congregation came into the home to help Mrs. Ophoff with the work. The parsonage can still be seen if one wants to take the time to drive into the beautiful Riverbend area. Coming west on Riverbend Drive, the old parson­age is the second house from the comer of Riverbend and Kenowa on the south side of the street. From the picture included with this article, it is evident that the area was still a fanning community. The church was immediately to the west of the parsonage. The house now standing on the comer rests on the foundation of the old church building.

Rev. Ophoff’s work was, however, the work of shepherd of the flock. This involved many different labors. It involved, first of all, catechetical instruc­tion. His instruction was, in itself, excellent. There are those living today who vividly remember the years they spent in catechism with Rev. Ophoff. He was able to communicate in a forcible and unforgettable manner the truth of Scripture to the children. But even in the instruction of the children of the church, his character became evident. He never managed to learn the names of more than a half dozen of his catechumens and he would con­stantly get their names all mixed up when he would call on them to recite. The ability to remember names and associate names with definite children were beyond him in most cases. The children were also able to fool him into thinking they knew their lessons while all the while they would read the answers from their books propped up on their knees. He never caught them at this and it became a very common practice, especially among his older catechumens. These characteristics of his instruction were partly due to the fact that Rev. Ophoff always found it difficult to believe anything bad about a person — even though he held firmly to the truth of total depravity and understood its meaning. But it was also partly because he never had given any thought to the possibility that children might have taken their books along to catechism just for the purpose of reading their answer. In spite of these things, his instruction was forceful and successful, and he had little or no problem with discipline in the class. His attitude toward his catechumens was always one of deep concern for their well-being and he would sometimes go at great lengths to give them instruction in things which he thought they needed. For example, sometime after the split came in 1924, the minister of the Christian Reformed Church of Hope, Rev. Vander Kieft, attempted to get some of Rev. Ophoff’s catechumens into his catechism classes. When Rev. Ophoff learned of this, he took his class from his own catechism classroom with him to the home of Rev. Vander Kieft; and, in the presence of these catechumens, he proceeded not only to point out to Rev. Vander Kieft the error of such “proselytizing,” but also the error of the whole common grace doctrine. Rev. Ophoff was convinced that his catechumens should witness this encoun­ter to learn from it concerning the issues which divided the two churches.

The same was true of Rev. Ophoff s preaching. There were many weaknesses in his preaching, but there were astonish­ing strengths. To mention some of these weakness first of all, one thing especially stands out. He was rarely able to arrive at the church services on time. Often when people would drive up to the church in the morning with their horses and carriages, they would see Rev. Ophoff, in his pants with suspenders draped over his hips and undershirt, heading for the outdoor privy. This would assure them that once again their ‘‘dominee’’ was going to be late for the service. At least at first, the consistory would wait for him in the consistory room until one of the members of the congregation, about five minutes after the services should have started, would go to the head of the stairway and shout down: “’t Is tijd broeders.” (“It is time, brothers.”) With that, the consistory would solemnly file up into the auditorium without their pastor and an elder would begin the service. Somewhere during the preliminaries, Rev. Ophoff would arrive, speak a few words to his elder, and take over the service.

One reason for this tardiness (a tardiness which remained throughout his life and characterized many of his engagements) was no doubt his total preoccupation with his work. He was extraordinarily oblivious to the passing of time and did not seem to have much regard for the movements of the hand on the clock. He could become so completely engrossed in his sermon prior to the services that the time would slip by without his knowing where it went. Not even his wife could get through to him that he must hurry to be in church on time.

He often used the pulpit to reprimand individual members of the congregation for sins of which he knew they were guilty. This characteristic was also to cause him a great deal of trouble. Some of our older members will remember that years ago, when the members of the church were predominantly immigrants or children of immigrants, the position which the church occupied in the community was far different from today. It is hard for us to appreciate this. But especially in a rural community, the church was far more important than now. The church was at the center of all the life of the people. Often members of the church were community leaders and officials. The community had to police itself and was capable of doing this only because the majority belonged to the same congrega­tion. But the result was that the consistory was thrust into a position where it was obligated to handle many of the problems which arose in the community. To the consistory the members would come with all their grievances against their neigh­bors. Mr. — charged me too much for a load of hay. Mr. — sold me a pig which turned out to be sick. Mr. —  sold me a cow which gives half as much milk as he said it did and he will not reimburse me for the amount I think I have coming. Etc., etc. To these problems, even when they involved one or two members of the congregation, Rev. Ophoff would address himself in his preaching. It must be remembered, however, that although this was in a way making the “preekstool en steekstool” (the pulpit a whipping post), it nevertheless took a great deal of courage on the part of Rev. Ophoff to reprimand the congregation for sins of which he knew they were guilty. Nor did he care how important their place was in the com­munity; the important thing to him was that they had sinned.

And yet, his preaching was powerful. It was unique. There were few who preached as he did. His tendency to be disorganized sometimes carried over into his preaching so that his sermons were not always the masterpieces of homiletics which one would tend to expect from a professor in the seminary. Nor were his sermons carefully and in detail worked out. Caught up in the preaching and excited by the Word of God which he was called to bring, he could often be so carried along by his preaching that the sermon on which he was preaching was never finished. But for all that, it was powerful preaching. It was powerful, first of all, because it was completely exegetical. Even in those days when the church was relatively strong, real exegetical preaching was not as common as we often think. But Rev. Ophoff expounded the Scriptures. And the people heard him gladly, for through him the Scriptures spoke. It was powerful also because even then he showed his love for the Old Testament not only, but he showed his deep understanding of the character of the times in which the Old Testament saints lived. He could appreciate the Old Testament as few can. He could put himself into the life of the saints whose lives are described by the Scriptures as few preachers could then or can now. There were few then and are few now who could make the Old Testament come alive for the congregation as he could. Jacob was his favorite character and even those who were children in those days have vivid memories to this day of his sermons on Jacob. His preaching was also powerful because it was Reformed. The glorious Reformed faith shone through every sermon in such a way that the people, from the oldest to the youngest, could understand it. But this ability to make his sermons understandable was partly due to the fact that his preaching was down to earth, homely, filled with illustrations from everyday life, and carefully adapted to the needs of the congregation. Added to this was the fact that his language was sharp and forthright, clear and concise, utterly frank and open.

There was no question that his preaching was his power. Other things he had difficulty getting straight. In those days there were no bulletins and the minister was handed a list of announce­ments to read from the pulpit. But Rev. Ophoffs pockets were so jammed with old lists of announcements that sometimes he read three or four wrong lists and went through four or five pockets before the correct list of announcements was found.

Nevertheless, under such preaching and instruction the congregation grew. Then came the split.