The Board of Directors of Outreach North America is pleased to announce the selection of Rev. Morrie Lawing as the next Executive Director of ONA for the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. After a diligent and comprehensive search process, the search committee unanimously recommended Morrie to the Board, and then the Board voted unanimously to call Morrie as the next Executive Director. Morrie’s call will officially begin in January.
The Board found that Morrie Lawing presents a compelling case to be the new Executive Director of ONA. With a successful track record of starting two ARP churches, Morrie brings thirty years of ministry and firsthand knowledge of the demands and rewards of church establishment. His loyalty to the ARP and his passion for seeing our denomination prosper is evident in his conviction that church planting is a primary means to achieve such growth.
He holds an M.Div. from Erskine Theological Seminary and a B.S. in Management and Finance from Virginia Tech. His first call was as Associate Pastor at Bartow ARP in Florida (1993-1996). From 1996 to 2005 he was the founding pastor of Ballantyne ARP Church in Charlotte, NC. In 2005 he became the founding pastor of Christ Church ARP in Denver, NC.
Morrie has demonstrated his exceptional capability in establishing and nurturing churches from the ground up. He believes the success of these church plants is having a strong commitment to God’s primary means of grace, specifically, the Word preached.
Morrie Lawing looks forward to serving our presbyteries, challenging our churches to plant daughter churches, raising the level of the appreciation of the work of ONA within the ARP, and making the ARP more widely known throughout North America.
Morrie and his wife Lori have been happily married for 36 years. Their married children are Nathan (and Allison) Lawing, Nadine (and Johnny) Serafini, Paul (and Ramsey) Lawing, and Ann Marie (and Duncan) Trice. Their son Joel is serving in the U.S. Marine Corp. The Lawings have eight grandchildren.