May 25, 2018 — Chancellor Ligon Duncan and the Reformed Theological Seminary Board of Trustees are pleased to announce a new Executive Director of RTS Houston. Rev. Robert Arendale has been hired to lead the Houston campus, succeeding the previous Executive Director, Rev. Tim McKeown. Rev. McKeown has served as Executive Director of the Houston campus of RTS since 2011. He will retire at the end of this month after several years of faithful service.
Rev. Arendale has served as the planting pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Houston for the past five-and-a-half years. During his time at Cornerstone, he watched the Lord grow his core group of 25 to a thriving congregation of 125. Rev. Arendale and his wife Christy are thankful for their time serving at Cornerstone and how it has prepared them for the next season of their life. They are excited about the new ministry opportunity the Lord has put before them at RTS in Houston.
With regard to Rev. Arendale taking this new position, Dr. Duncan commented, “Robert Arendale is an RTS legacy. His father was a good friend to RTS Chancellor Emeritus Ric Cannada from their days as fellow students at Vanderbilt. Robert himself is a graduate of RTS Charlotte and good friends with so many of our institutional leaders. He knows and gets RTS, and his leadership at RTS Houston will be a blessing for our students, as well as area pastors and churches.”
Rev. Arendale is an alumnus of Baylor University, North Carolina State University, and RTS Charlotte. After graduating RTS with his Master of Divinity in May of 2008, he was called as the Associate Pastor at Ballantyne Presbyterian Church, where he served faithfully for four years.
Serving at Ballantyne under the senior pastor, Dr. John Currid, and working alongside a godly session, the Lord taught Rev. Arendale what it means to be a pastor. The Lord used this time to develop in him a passion for preaching and ministering God’s word, a greater love for the local church, and a desire to see God’s sheep gently and tenderly shepherded.
As one of the largest and most diverse cities in the county, Houston has a tremendous need for more faithful, gospel-preaching churches, and faithful servants to lead those churches. Robert is humbled and excited to serve the Lord in leading RTS in the great city of Houston.
Please join us in welcoming Robert Arendale and his family to RTS Houston. Pray that the Lord would bless RTS Houston in its mission to train the next generation of church and ministry leaders with minds for truth, hearts for God, lives for service, and love for people.