Today marks the one-year anniversary of Dr. Harry L. Reeder III’s passing into glory. Dr. Reeder was longtime pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Birmingham, AL, founding pastor of Christ Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Matthews, NC, pastor of Pinelands Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Cutler Bay, FL, and a founding member of the Gospel Reformation Network (GRN) Executive Council.
Dr. Reeder provided significant leadership to a variety of ministries both within the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and in the broader Reformed evangelical community. He was especially passionate about theological education, and he invested many hours in mentoring men one-on-one, teaching in seminary classrooms, and advancing the work of Birmingham Theological Seminary and Westminster Theological Seminary.
Late last year, Birmingham Theological Seminary partnered with Christ Covenant and Briarwood to produce a documentary entitled For the Good: The Life and Legacy of Dr. Harry L. Reeder, III. We at the Gospel Reformation Network are very grateful for the fine work. Birmingham Theological Seminary President Ike Reeder had the following to say about the project:
One of the things that people are often most astonished about when they visited Briarwood Presbyterian Church (or Christ Covenant Church in the 80s and 90s), was that with one visit, they would get an invitation to dinner at the Reeder’s home with Harry and Cindy. For literally thousands of people, passing through their home for a hot potato and chili dinner, they would then have the opportunity to hear my father’s testimony, call to ministry, and a brief overview of the mission and vision of Briarwood. All of those people got to hear the story of “the four little girls” (who weren’t really all that little!). At some point, four or five years ago, we decided that we wanted to pull together the Reeder family, the Jones family, and the Elliot family to have a fun discussion and share how God had worked in those families. With Dad’s passing, we decided to expand that video idea to a full documentary film. On this one-year anniversary of my father’s passing to glory, I am so excited that the testimony of God’s faithfulness to those families is available in the documentary film, For the Good. As a family, we are deeply thankful for the GRN and their support of this project and we pray that it will do the work it was designed to do: that God would be glorified and people will learn more about the providence of God as he is working all things together for his glory and purposes. “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” Ps. 115:1
The documentary (freely available online and embedded below) is a fitting tribute to our brother, friend, and ‘General.’ On this anniversary of Dr. Reeder’s passing, consider watching (or bookmarking for later) this moving documentary remembering his exemplary ministry.
