Further Tribute to Denny Prutow
Dr. Richard Holdeman is the Senior Pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Bloomington, IN. Rich is a former contributing author to Gentle Reformation and served on the Board of Trustees of Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary for eighteen years.
Then the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?” (2 Samuel 3:38, NKJ).
Dennis James Prutow, West Point graduate, Army chaplain, pastor, seminary professor, faithful husband, loving father, and friend, went to be with the Lord on October 30, 2024. I first met Denny at the Reformed Presbyterian International Conference in Carlton, MN, back in 1992 when he was giving a seminar on biblical evangelism using the Westminister Confession of Faith. Denny’s dynamic personality, his love for Christ, and respect for God’s word was on full display. Little did I know that Denny and I would become fast friends over the years and that he would have a significant role in my life.
I had the privilege of serving on the Board of Trustees of the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) with Denny for a number of years before he became a faculty member at RPTS. In that role, he served as my professor and mentor and had a profound impact on my development as a pastor. In fact, God used Denny to train a cadre of men, who have served Christ and His church effectively, leaving a lasting legacy of faithful expositors and preachers of God’s word. As one of his former students, I am honored to give a little tribute to his life and work. I also had the privilege of conducting Denny’s funeral service in Sterling, KS, which can be heard here.
Denny was born on July 30, 1939, in Cleveland, OH, and grew up in New Jersey, the oldest of three boys. He graduated from the US Military Academy in 1963 and served in the US Army in South Korea, where he was converted to Christ. Sensing a call to the ministry, he attended Fuller Seminary, where he met and married his wife of 57 years, Erma Jean Orr. Denny and Erma have been blessed with three daughters, eleven grandchildren, and two great grandchildren.
After graduating from Fuller, Denny served as an Army chaplain, completing a combat tour in Vietnam where he was awarded a Bronze Star. After his military service, Denny accepted a call as a pastor to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Bartlesville, OK. After serving that congregation for eight years, Denny left to run Westminster Evangelistic Ministries (WEM), which provided biblical resources for churches, pastors, and newspapers around the country. In 1988 Denny accepted a call to the Sterling Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPCNA) in Sterling, KS. He faithfully served that congregation for thirteen years, during which time he continued to run WEM and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, FL. In 2001, Denny received a call to serve as the first “Professor of Homiletics and Pastoral Theology” at RPTS in Pittsburgh, PA. Denny taught at RPTS and served as the Dean of the Faculty until he retired in 2013. After retirement, he and Erma moved to Indianapolis, IN, where he continued to write and produce teaching materials on the Shorter Catechism, preaching, and a host of other topics.
Denny’s impact on the seminary and denomination he served is hard to overstate. When he first came to RPTS in 2001, he brought an infectious enthusiasm that was transformational in terms of the ethos of the institution. His booming voice could be heard throughout the building. He was regularly in his office and available to meet with any student who had time and interest. He brought an emphasis to preaching that had been lacking at the seminary previously – simply because there was no dedicated preaching professor. He was committed to teaching a method of preaching that captured the essence of the text of scripture and then applied it to the hearts of the hearers. He labored to teach his students the significant differences between oral and written communication. His desire was to equip his students with the tools they needed to bring people face-to-face with the Savior. Perhaps nothing encapsulates his unique approach to preaching as well as the picture above, which shows his preaching notes for a sermon on Isaiah 55. Yes, a sticky note with the flow of his thoughts and his Bible were all he took into the pulpit with him. He was committed to speaking from the heart to the people in the pew.
Denny’s emphasis on preaching was coupled with his understanding of the centrality of worship in the lives of God’s people. One of the foci of his teaching was that worship is a meeting with the living God, in which God comes near to affirm his love for His people and to renew His covenant of grace with them. He liked to remind us that, while our focus was often on the mechanics of what we were doing in worship, the real key was that God had His own purposes for our worship. God intended to meet with His people to encourage and strengthen their faith. Preaching in this context was a means of leading the congregation into an experience with their God so God could do what He had purposed to do in the lives of His people. He made all of his preaching students learn his definition of preaching: “Preaching is God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – communicating His truth in our world to people in the pews through human instruments in order to change their thinking, bridle their emotions, and alter their wills for the purpose of converting sinners, sanctifying saints, and preparing people for heaven.” It is no accident that Denny published very helpful books (among others) on the topics of worship (Public Worship 101) and preaching (So Pastor, What’s Your Point?). God used Denny to train a generation of men who are now serving successfully in various congregations of the RPCNA and beyond.
Although he is no longer with us, Denny has left his mark on our little denomination. RPTS continues to employ a professor dedicated to teaching homiletics and pastor theology (currently, President Barry York) and the RPCNA continues to emphasize the presence of God in worship and the importance of preaching as a means of transforming us into the image of Christ. Denny genuinely loved the men that he taught. He told me late in his life that he viewed us like his own sons. I, for one, count it an incredible blessing and privilege to have had such a gracious, dedicated, and talented man as a father in the faith. May God continue to raise up faithful soldiers like Denny and may He use grace-filled preachers of Christ to convert sinners, sanctify saints, and prepare people for heaven!
