Well, each year in our Reformation Conference, I try to do a Sunday School lesson that is in keeping with our theme of our conference. And today, I want to be taking a look at Wisconsin Presbyterianism. Who are we as Wisconsin Presbyterians? I have provided a timeline for you, which is going to be the outline of my talk. And hopefully, as you follow along, You'll see where everything falls in that timeline. So it all begins really in 1821 when the Stockbridge Mohican Indians relocated from New York to the Fox River area of Wisconsin just north of Appleton. These Indians have been under the Christian ministries of David Brainerd, Jonathan Edwards, and John Sargent in Massachusetts. This was a tribe of civilized Christian Indians. They eventually moved to the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago to the town of Stockbridge. Their tribe divided in 1848 with some members retaining their tribal status and moving to the area around Shawano, Wisconsin, while others became U.S. citizens and remained on their farms near Stockbridge. The Reverend Jesse Minor came to minister among them in the year 1825. He served under the direction of the American Board of Commissioners the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions, ABC-FM. He labored very successfully among these Indians for three years. At that time, he traveled back east to retrieve his family, and upon returning to Wisconsin, Minor was building a house and a barn for his family when he fell ill and died suddenly. Minor's ministry lasted just four years, but was greatly appreciated by the Stockbridge Indians. Meanwhile, a young man was being prepared by the Lord as Minor's replacement. Mr. Cutting Marsh had graduated from Dartmouth College in 1826 and Andover Theological Seminary in 1829. In the spring of 1829, he was licensed to preach, and on September 24, 1829, he was ordained as a foreign missionary at the historic Park Street Church in Boston. In October, Marsh departed for his field of service with the ABC-FM among the Stockbridge Indians in the Michigan Territory, which included Wisconsin at that time. Arriving in Detroit, Marsh discovered that the last boat for the year had left two months previous, and so he spent the winter in Ohio before proceeding to the field in the spring of 1830. On April 30, 1830, Reverend Cutting Marsh arrived at Green Bay and he quickly set out for the Indian settlement on the Fox River. He preached his first sermon among the Indians there on Sunday, May 2nd. He would work among them for the next 18 years. John Chapin, in his book, Early Presbyterianism in Wisconsin, says this about the young missionary. We see from Marsh's diary and correspondence at this time that he was the product of the sober, thrifty, self-reliant, and stalwart life of New England, the son of a pious home and the pupil of that truly high education which leads a man to covet usefulness rather than treasure, and to rejoice in sacrifice rather than in ease." What a remarkable statement, especially in our day. preferring usefulness over treasure, sacrifice more than ease." Chapin later describes Marsh's ministry during those years. He writes, in Marsh's diary reports and letters, we read of that devoted missionary's daily round of work his visits to the sick and dying, his personal interviews with the impenitent and the careless, with the anxious and the troubled, with the poor and the needy and the ignorant. We see him preaching twice on every Sunday, superintending the Sunday school, conducting a weekly prayer meeting, laboring in revivals, and rejoicing in new converts. We see him following up the delinquents in duty, encouraging the weak, distributing religious books and tracts, burying the dead and comforting the afflicted. His hands and heart are continually full. Sometimes we find him overwhelmed with care and responsibility and a sense of his own unfitness and unworthiness. But never once does he think of abandoning his duty of forsaking his post. This work was not without challenges. In 1844, Marsh reported the discouraging outcome of his labor among these Indians. He said, the Indians had now been under the influence of the gospel for a hundred and ten years, ever since the Brainerds had labored among them. yet they were not wholly delivered from paganism, even in the membership of the church. Among other obstacles to their moral and spiritual advancement are a lack of integrity of character, of principle, and truthfulness, of stability, an aversion to mental effort, and an unconquerable opposition to restraint. their fickleness, insincerity, indolence, want of moral courage, and inability to comprehend divine truth are obstacles to their elevation." During his ministry to the Stockbridge tribe, Marsh sought to bring the gospel to other tribes in the area, and Chapin records one such effort. On June 12, 1834, Marsh and his five stockbridges started on their missionary visit to the Trans-Mississippi Foxes and Sioux, but the mission aimed at a wider enterprise than the supplying of the gospel to this small band of semi-civilized and Christian Indians. The large and savage tribes of the Menominees, the Brothertowns, and the Winnebagoes were in close vicinity, and it was intended through this settlement to reach them with Christian influences." So he's aiming not just at these easy, compliant tribes, but at the most vicious, violent, pagan, unchristian tribes. But we turn now to another side of cutting Marsh's labors that had to do with the establishment of Presbyterian churches in the Wisconsin Territory. In April 1836, Marsh visited Fort Howard in Green Bay. There he found a small number of people interested in the gospel and he began preaching to them. This was the initial core of the very first Presbyterian church in Wisconsin. In mid-October 1836, Reverend Moses Ordway arrived in Green Bay. He recorded his impressions of the situation when he arrived. At this time there were about 4,000 inhabitants in Green Bay. and they seemed to be agreed in only one thing and that was to blaspheme God and indulge in all kinds of wickedness. Almost every other night they would have a bonfire and by the help of a whiskey band have a dance which was so wicked and so wild that many of both sexes would lie drunken on the ground the next morning. He began meeting with people in the area, and soon he had identified sixty persons who were potentially interested in forming a Presbyterian church. Later that year, this group sought to be organized as a Presbyterian congregation, and they first turned to a Presbyterian minister in Chicago, but he was too far away and unable to help them. Next they turned to Cutting Marsh. On January 18, 1837, Marsh traveled to Green Bay and together with Ordway, conducted an organizational service for this group. There were 12 charter members, two of whom were elected as elders to oversee the group. And in 1838, they had a dedication for their new church building Cutting Marsh preached the sermon that day at the dedication from the words, we walk by faith, not by sight. Now it's interesting, this church is still in existence, though it's no longer a Presbyterian church. It joins some other denomination, I think Methodist, but it is still an existing church in the Green Bay area. Another call for help came from a group in Milwaukee, and this group included both Presbyterians and Congregationalists. Ordway records their journey. He says, in the middle of February 1837, I took Brother Marsh and we mounted our ponies and started for Milwaukee where we had a call to form a church. And after sleeping two or three nights on the snow, we arrived safe in Milwaukee. Here we found a heterogeneous mass of about 150 men and 30 women who seemed to take an interest in our work. Lordway remained there for several months, preaching and teaching among those people. But apparently Marsh went back home to his work among the stockbridge north of Appleton. He returned to Milwaukee in April of 1837 by means of a steamboat. He departed from Green Bay, traveled to Manitowoc and Sheboygan, and finally arrived in Milwaukee, all for a fare of $3.87. The group in Milwaukee took a boat, and 15 favored the Presbyterian form of church government while eleven preferred Congregationalism. So Marsh participated in the organization of the First Presbyterian Church in Milwaukee on April 11, 1837. After his years working among the Stockbridge tribe, Marsh was active in organizing and encouraging new Presbyterian churches throughout the territory. We have a description of his missionary labors during this later part of his ministry. And so all over this region from Green Bay to Baraboo, from Wausau to Columbus and Manitowoc, our missionary passed and repassed during the years 1849 through 56. There was not a village or a rustic community unvisited by him and where he did not seek to establish Christian institutions. These explorations were made on horseback over ill-defined pathways and unabridged roads. Sometimes he was lost, once in a cedar swamp in which horse and man were obliged to spend the night. Another time his horse was mired and he walked several miles before getting help to pry the animal out. Often the missionary was in peril from the elements and from vicious men, but all over this region he continued with unwary devotion to read, pray, and exhort in families and to preach in private houses or in school houses or upper halls. Often we find him prescribing at the sickbed when the physician was far away or when the expensive one could not well be born. Marsha's overall effectiveness is described by Chapin. He says from 1850 to 1853 There was a remarkable pouring in of people from the east. Foreign immigration had by that time attracted, had hardly attracted notice. New England and New York institutions were rapidly developing in Wisconsin. Farms would open as if by magic. Villages of 500 or 1,000 inhabitants would spring up in a few months or a year. It was a busy task to attend to them all and see that ministers were supplied and sustained. Marsh, as the earliest on the ground and fully alive to the importance of the northeastern part of the state, was incessant in travel. During the first fifteen years of his residence in the Fox River Valley, it is safe to say that there was not a white family north of that river. The incoming tide of civilization found him here, awake to the needs of the hour. To his intelligent and ready zeal, much of the church planting and growth in this district is due." Now, just to give a little bit of perspective, 1836-1837, Marsh is just getting underway with this work of planting churches. By 1936, 100 years later, there are over 200 Presbyterian congregations in every part of Wisconsin. And so the foundation that Marsh laid was then built on by others. It was aided by immigration, to be sure, but there was aggressive, systematic church planting going on so that there were five presbyteries, over 200 congregations, covering the entire state of Wisconsin. Well, we next turn our attention to another pioneering Presbyterian minister and missionary, the Reverend Moses Ordway. And if Marsh is impressive, Ordway is colorful. Ordway was born in Massachusetts. His father was a Baptist and his mother was a Scottish Presbyterian, and her influence over his spiritual life seems quite significant. Ordway's father was an illiterate farmer, but he was hardworking and industrious, and he trained young Moses in mechanical tasks for which Moses was very well suited. When Moses was a teenager, a great revival took place in his village and Moses was converted. He saw the world indifferent in their sin and he resolved to become a preacher. His father was opposed to Moses studying for the ministry, but his mother encouraged him in this calling. After concluding his studies He experienced a disappointing ministry in Vermont with the Congregationalists. That was followed by a more encouraging ministry opportunity with the Presbyterians in New York. While he was in New York, Ordway was bitten by the Wisconsin bug. He reports, on my way home from my revival meetings in the early part of 1836, I was violently taken with Wisconsin fever. Hearing about the opportunities for the missionary work in that wonderful new world that was opening up so grandly, I concluded it would be wisdom to be in season and go there to do needed work in the new settlements. So I commenced preparation at once. I began to sell property in Rochester And by the first of October, 1836, I was ready to go. We went on an old steamboat that only ran by day, and in fourteen days reached Green Bay, Wisconsin. I went immediately to the garrison at Fort Howard, and I called on Dr. Satterley, the surgeon, a good and wise man, and made known to him my business." Well, as we've already noted, Ordway found a small group of people in Green Bay who were interested in forming a Presbyterian church. He informed them that he would not start preaching until they had secured a meeting house of their own. And the people were responsive and soon they found a building to use. And this resulted in the formation of that first Presbyterian church in Wisconsin. After Ordway's time down in Milwaukee, he took up a homestead claim for his family in Waukesha. He returned to New York in order to retrieve them, and together they made the journey to their new homestead. Upon being settled there in Waukesha, he preached for two years. He was also preaching in Troy, about 20 miles southwest of Waukesha. He later pioneered a work in Beaver Dam. Ordway describes his ministry in his journal. He said, As I have reached a good old age, I have to say that God has provided well for me in my support during a ministry of 50 years. I have never come to any severe want and have never had what would be considered a full salary for a single year in my ministerial life. About two-thirds of the time, I received nothing at all from the new and young churches, and besides supporting my family, have paid considerably for other ministers. At Waukesha, I preached for two years for nothing. Then, when they got Reverend Mr. Nichols, I paid $50 toward his salary, and at the same time preached at West Troy for nothing. At Beaver Dam I preached for more than three years without salary and built them a house of worship with little help. When they engaged Reverend Alexander Montgomery for a year, I paid $50 toward his support and at the same time went to Fountain Prairie, 15 miles west, and formed a church. Whenever my health allowed, I was ready to go and hold meetings and preach the gospel and always found work to do and great success in winning souls. I have, in all my ministry, never sought for an easy place where they could pay a large salary, but on the contrary have always looked for a miserable place where no harm could be done. I would look for a place where the people were so poor, stupid, or heartless that they would not ask a minister to preach to them. and would take pains to say that they would not be able to pay as a gentle hint to you to let them alone. In such a place, I delighted to put my foot. But I never preached to them the love of Christ to harden them for a long siege, but began with St. Paul's doctrines, and very soon there would be a new face on things. As soon as they were awake, and God began to increase them, and they began to want to pay me, I would open the door for some anxious minister who was ready for work, and I would go to another place." That is just amazing. Ordway's account of his experience in Beaver Dam is really interesting. He says, When we came here, it was a dense forest. No houses, no mills, no roads, and no fences. Only a few scattered people, and not a rich man among them. But in a few years, Grubville, as it was called, became a very noted place with mills, churches, stores, and factories. But it cost much hard work, and it is true that I had no small hand in it. I owned the first sawmill. The people needed a gristmill, so I built one with two run of stones with circle saws and turning works. I hired capable men and superintended the work, and frequently put my own hands to the work. Mr. Brower and I surveyed and located all the roads in and out of Beaver Dam as they now run to Watertown, Waupon, Columbus, Fox Lake, Lowell, Horicon, and Fall River. We helped build the pole bridges and other improvements without one cent of pay. We cleaned up the streets and plotted the lots and did what we could to promote the welfare of our city in the face of much criticism and many difficulties." Now, Beaver Dam is not that far from here, and as we occasionally drive through it, We're driving on roads that Moses Ordway planned and plotted. He was a master of all these different things and contributed in such concrete ways to the communities that he lived in. Ordway's ministry is summarized by Thomas Johnson as follows. He writes, he had a passion for souls and glory in the extension of the kingdom. He was an earnest and fearless preacher of righteousness, unfolding the gospel plan of salvation with great clearness and power. The old settlers of Wisconsin never forgot the pungent sermons of this man of God, nor the kindly offices and friendly welcomes of this pioneer Presbyterian missionary in Wisconsin. Another description of Ordway is intriguing. Moses Ordway was perhaps the most colorful of the early Presbyterian ministers. A rugged individualist, a persistent promoter, an uncompromising Calvinist, and a Presbyterian zealot. And he dramatized almost everything that he undertook to do. an uncompromising Calvinist and a Presbyterian zealot. Well, another person that I want to focus on briefly is the Reverend Stephen Pete. Pete had been ordained as a Presbyterian minister in Ohio and he had been involved in the ministry to sailors and boatmen. In the fall of 1837, he attended a convention in Michigan where he met the Reverend Gilbert Crawford. Crawford was serving in Milwaukee and he recruited Pete to come minister in Wisconsin. Pete accepted an invitation to visit the church in Green Bay which had been started by Cutting Marsh and Moses Ordway. So on October 3, 1837, Pete preached for the congregation in Green Bay. The people there were so impressed with his sermon that they called an immediate congregational meeting and met at the close of the worship service. In short order, they voted to extend a call to Stephen Peet, and Peet eagerly accepted the call, returned to Buffalo in order to retrieve his wife and five children. Upon his return to Green Bay, the first order of business was the construction of a new church building. This structure would be completed in 1838, and the dedication service would include both Cutting Marsh and Moses Ordway. While the construction was taking place, Pete was active in ministry elsewhere, and here is a description of his activity. While the church edifice was under construction, he was busily occupied with building up the church society, holding revivals, and establishing preaching stations in nearby communities. Pete's ambition went far beyond the four walls of the local church that he served. He undertook an extensive tour of the Wisconsin region with an eye toward Christian activity and church planting. So here's a description of his endeavors. But the urge for greater achievement still possessed him. He lifted up his eyes and caught the vision of a more extended horizon, one which embraced the entire Wisconsin territory. While still in Green Bay, he, with the endorsement of the American Home Missionary Society under which he labored, made an extensive tour of nearly six hundred miles of the south-central part of the territory, traversing the region from Green Bay to Prairie du Chien on the Mississippi, thence down to Beloit on the Illinois state line, then eastward along the lake shore, and including such inland towns as Madison, Portage, Elkhorn, and other points. He was pleased and amazed with the contour of the Wisconsin landscape, its wonderful climate, its fertile soil, its stately forests and inland lakes. he was likewise gratified with the high intelligence of the people in sparse rural areas. Well, Pete's published reports of his tour ignited Wisconsin fever in the eastern and southern states. And in the 1840s and 1850s, immigrants began pouring into Wisconsin, bringing their religious commitments with them. Pete became a primary recruiter for settlers to relocate to Wisconsin, and with settlers came the need for more pastors to establish churches. So Pete was not afraid to urge his fellow Presbyterian ministers to take advantage of this glorious opportunity in this heaven on earth which is known as Wisconsin. In January 1839, the first presbytery was formed in Wisconsin. It was called the Presbytery of Wisconsin. Does that sound familiar to anyone? But it was not affiliated with any national denomination. It was, strangely, an independent and autonomous presbytery. This became the Presbytery of Milwaukee, which then later affiliated with the PCUSA. In July of 1839, Stephen Peat transferred his credentials to this presbytery, and soon afterward he accepted a call to the Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, and thus he left Green Bay after just two years and moved into the heart of the Presbyterian activity in the state, which was in Milwaukee. Now, in our day, this may sound very strange. Milwaukee? A hotbed of Presbyterianism? It was then. In fact, the whole state was going Presbyterian. Well, in 1840, Pete became involved in another significant development here in Wisconsin. There was a cooperative arrangement called the Wisconsin Convention. It was a plan of union for the Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches in Wisconsin to be organizationally connected. This arrangement was very similar to the plan of union between Presbyterians and Congregationalists in the eastern states in 1801. According to the Wisconsin plan, the churches could affiliate with the convention and yet retain their organizational structure, so Presbyterians could still function as Presbyterians, Congregationalists could still be Congregational in their polity. And the purpose was to work cooperatively rather than competitively. It strove for Christian unity in its ministry and witness to the people of Wisconsin. Though its purposes were commendable, The Wisconsin Convention did not last long at all. Within five years, the arrangement began to fall apart. Denominational affiliations were becoming more important, and so commitment to the convention declined. And though it lasted officially until 1851, it was really dead much sooner than that. Steven Peat was the first stated clerk of the Presbyterian and Congregational Convention of Wisconsin. He then became their first agent for the territory, and then he was elected as the General Secretary. Basically, he held the reins of the Wisconsin Convention. His involvement is described in very impressive terms. He was a man of strong parts, of a deep spiritual nature, well-trained, far-visioned, aggressive, a natural leader in ecclesiastical affairs. He had a vision for Wisconsin, believed in his cause, and spent himself lavishly in its behalf." Sadly, as the convention concept faltered, Pete came in for more and more criticism. Publications in the eastern states were especially critical of Pete and his labors. In 1848, Stephen Pete resigned from his position and he went to Beloit. He later traveled to Chicago where he helped to establish the Chicago Theological Seminary. Stephen Pete died in 1855. And here is a final assessment of Stephen Pete. Perhaps no more fitting appraisal of the life and labors of Stephen Peat can be given than to quote the words of some of the charter members of his first church in Wisconsin, spoken at the fiftieth anniversary of the church in Green Bay. They characterized him as a preacher of power, wide-seeing, and stirred with great plans for the progress of the kingdom. Steven Peat wrote a book on the history of the Presbyterian movement in Wisconsin, which is one of the source books that I used to gather much of this data. So in addition to everything else he was doing, he was writing really the definitive volume of his time on the history of Presbyterianism. The last person I want to focus on is a Dutchman, the Reverend Peter Zona. Peter Zona was a secessionist minister, the Auscheiding, from the Netherlands who emigrated to the US in order to escape persecution in his native land. At the same time as Dutch settlements were being organized in western Michigan and in southern Iowa, Zona moved to Milwaukee and he immediately began ministry among the Dutch. There was a community called Dutch Hill in the northern part of Milwaukee and Zona was there carrying on ministry preaching. While he was in Milwaukee, the burning of the Phoenix happened and Zona was placed on a committee in order to assist the survivors. And it was there on the committee that Zona first encountered a Presbyterian minister from Milwaukee. Shortly thereafter, Zona led a group to settle in southeast Sheboygan County in what is today known as Cedar Grove. In fact, Zona is the one who named it Cedar Grove. Zona was a gifted preacher, a skilled administrator, plus he had learned English and he was able to communicate with Americans who spoke English. He established an independent Reformed church in Cedar Grove and the work there flourished. For a whole variety of reasons, Zona chose to affiliate the church with the Presbyterians. There was really no option for affiliating with the Dutch Reformed because they weren't in Wisconsin, essentially, and Zona had confidence in the doctrinal integrity of the Presbyterians. After this decision, perhaps as a result of this decision, some in his congregation were openly critical of their pastor. Imagine that, Dutch people being critical of their pastor. The gossip about him was bothersome to him, and he told them that he would not conduct services among them as long as they were talking about him in the community. But he did conduct services in other areas, most notably in Gibbsville. Three members of Zona's church were actually quite upset with their pastor, so they decided to break into the church building and hold the worship service. They arrived with their axes and they broke the lock on the door. And once inside the building, they had one of them stand in the pulpit and the other two took psalters and they were preparing to sing a psalm as a part of this service. Zola lived right next door and he heard the commotion. He came over to investigate and when they saw him they started their worship service. He confronted them and he threw them out of the building with some force. They went off to find the local magistrate, and they came back with the constable. There was apparently a law that it was criminal to disrupt a worship service. So they had Zona arrested and charged. Well, there was a criminal trial, and then after the criminal trial, Zona brought a suit for false imprisonment. The legal wrangle really came to nothing, but I think it does demonstrate the fiercely independent mindset of the Dutch Presbyterians of Sheboygan County. It explains a lot. Zona's congregation became the first PCUSA in Cedar Grove, which then gave birth in 1936 to Calvary OPC. So some conclusions, hot takes. The first conclusion is more of a broad thesis that I am continuing to develop, that when it comes to Presbyterianism in the United States of America, Wisconsin is a hotbed of Presbyterianism. We often think about Presbyterians in Philadelphia, rightly so. In the Carolinas, rightly so. But Wisconsin? Wisconsin is Lutheran and Catholic, isn't it? Well, yes it is, but it's also Presbyterian. And we have a rich heritage as Wisconsin Presbyterians going back to long before we were a state. Another conclusion. Presbyterians in Wisconsin have had a pioneering mindset from the very beginning. Independence, self-sufficiency, and a willingness to endure hardship for the cause of Christ. I think that is indisputable. Marsh, Ordway, Pete, all of them have that pioneering mindset, and they suffered and they sacrificed. so that the church would be established throughout the Wisconsin Territory. Another conclusion, there has been a strong emphasis on missions from the very start as seen by the desire to reach the Indians with the gospel. Now we tend to think because they live in our state that's really not foreign missions, but that's not how the people of that day saw it. This is a very cross-cultural ministry experience. As they go from their northern European white culture to these Indians, it is very much missionary work. And that missionary work has continued. It continued right up into the 1830s as Arthur Perkins and Harold Hillegas went over and did ministry. It continued after the formation of the OPC with John Davies, his long and fruitful ministry, and since then with people like Mick Kinnearum, and with Carl Thompson, and most recently with Gordon Oliver. That work has been ongoing and we have been missions focused from the very start. It is one of our defining qualities. But there's also been an aggressive posture towards church planting. Because as they were trying to reach the Indians, they were also saying, how can we plant churches throughout this territory? How can we recruit not only people to come to this place, but Presbyterian ministers to come set up churches to pastor these people? We need to plant churches. And I love that one description that he had a wide vision for the whole Wisconsin territory. They're not just waiting around for people to come and contact them. They are looking for groups trying to start these church plants even in small remote places. And so while there's been a foreign missions emphasis, there's also been a home missions emphasis which I think is very, very good. And then my final conclusion, a little bit of a kind of self-reference here. The Dutch have contributed a unique flavor to Wisconsin Presbyterianism that carries some of the best and strongest attributes of our Dutch heritage while also affirming good Calvinistic Presbyterian doctrinal distinctives. As many of you know, as I myself experienced, Dutch Reformed Christianity has veered away from its heritage. It has turned away from its Reformed roots. It has lost much of its distinctive emphasis on Reformed theology. But there's this small kind of remnant of Dutch people who have been brought into this Presbyterian circle, especially here in Sheboygan County, but elsewhere as well, that has really retained some of the rich blessings of Dutch heritage and also a Presbyterian reformed theological emphasis. Now there was someone else in the history of our church who had this kind of vision and worked for this kind of synthesis between Presbyterians and Dutch Reformed, and that is Dr. J. Gressel Machin. Because Dr. Machin very thoughtfully, carefully recruited faculty for Westminster Seminary that represented Scottish Presbyterianism, John Murray. and Dutch Calvinism, Cornelius Van Til, Ned Stonehouse, R.B. Kuyper, and others. And Machen saw the wisdom of bringing these two Reformed strains together and mashing them into what has become the OPC. Now as many faithful Dutch Calvinists have left churches like the Christian Reformed and the Reformed Church in America, many of them have found a home in the OPC. And so the OPC still has a fairly distinctive Dutch flavor to it, but not the kind of Dutch flavor that has lost its moorings and gone astray theologically and doctrinally. It is, in some sense, not only the continuing heritage of old Princeton and the best of the PCUSA, it's also the continuing heritage of Dutch Reformed thought and practice. And so I'm very happy, personally speaking, to be in this spot, to be a committed Presbyterian, and to having pure Dutch blood flowing through my brain and keeping my skull nice and hard and my skin very thick. And I rejoice that we can have the best of both worlds. As I look back at Cutting Marsh, Moses Ordway, Stephen Peay, I admire those men profoundly. But as I think about the Dutch side of things, Pieter Zona, there's wonderful stuff there too. And we get to bring it all together in one very potent, pungent mixture.