Recordings of the inaugural EPC General Assembly worship service speakers are now available in both audio and video formats. The speakers for the first Assembly were D. James Kennedy, Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and renowned theologian and author Francis Schaeffer. Kennedy spoke on “God’s Purpose for His Church.” Schaeffer’s message was titled “To be God’s Church in the Midst of the 20th Century Confusion.”
Videos of the messages are available below, and also on the EPC website at www.epc.org/ga1981 and in the “1st General Assembly” playlist on the EPC’s YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/EPChurch80.
Audio versions in podcast format are available on the EPC’s Podbean channel, or search “Evangelical Presbyterian Church” on Spotify or iTunes.
“We’ve had a number of people ask if a recording of Francis Schaeffer’s talk existed,” said Brian Smith, EPC Director of Communications. “I was afraid that if we had one, it had gotten lost in the Office of the General Assembly’s relocation to Orlando in 2016. In God’s providence, we found the original videotapes in one of the very last boxes we unpacked in our storage room this summer. We are very pleased to make these recordings available at long last.”
[youtube https://youtu.be/E8QTO7ZGCx4]
[youtube https://youtu.be/Iu8fh4v1m3s]
The 1981 Assembly was held September 22-23, 1981, at Ward Presbyterian Church in Livonia, Mich.
The recordings include the featured speakers’ introductions. Kennedy was welcomed by Bartlett Hess, longtime Pastor of Ward Presbyterian Church. Schaeffer was introduced by A. George Scotchmer. Hess (1910-1999) and Scotchmer (1916-1993) were later honored as two of five EPC “Fathers of the Church.”