By Brandon Glenn, Church Planting Resident at Iron Mill Church
For the past 10 years, God has put a burden on my family’s heart for the people of Berwick. Over 10,000 people live within the borough, and about 20,000 people live in the Berwick zip code. These people need Jesus. We feel that the Berwick area needs more culturally relevant, gospel-centered churches to meet the needs of this community.
We are so thankful and excited about our partnership with Iron Mill Church where I am currently training with the goal of launching a new Alliance church in Berwick.
The two-year greenhouse program I’m part of is split into four phases. We are currently in phase two. As part of this program, I have read approximately a book per month and had opportunities to observe and participate in specific areas. These growth areas include prayer, preaching, teaching, coaching, teamwork, small groups, evangelism, credentialing, and personal growth.
I have particularly had the opportunity to grow in leadership within small groups or community groups, as we call them at Iron Mill. Our lead pastor, Jason Sullivan, often says, “Before we multiply big, we want to multiply small.” Before launching a church, we knew we wanted to multiply our community group.
Our community group originally met in a family’s home in Bloomsburg. Soon after joining this group, the number of children and adults did not fit in the living room. One night we had 16 children and one tired childcare worker! We decided to multiply into another Bloomsburg community group that my wife and I are now leading. Praise God for the opportunities to grow like this and allow others to experience gospel transformation by joining community groups.
I have also experienced growth in preaching and sermon preparation. I have the opportunity to preach at Iron Mill once per month. Jason says that while preaching is the most VISIBLE thing you do, it is not the most IMPORTANT. Leading is the most important thing you do, and preaching can be used to complement and advance your leadership.
When I first came to Iron Mill, I spent roughly 15 hours on sermon preparation, manuscripting the message, practicing the message 7-10 times, and taking the full manuscript to the pulpit with me on Sunday morning. I quickly learned that as a church planter, I will not have that amount of time to spend on sermon preparation. I have made one of my goals to be more efficient in sermon preparation and to rely less on my notes while preaching in the pulpit.
Jason has coached me through sermon preparation and delivery, and I read Expositional Preaching by David Helm and Between Two Worlds by John Stott. Although I still have much room for growth, I am now much more efficient in sermon preparation, and I have reduced my notes to one page per bullet point.
Since moving into Berwick, our family has been getting to know our neighbors and other members of the community even better. We are involved with our YMCA, soccer, little league, and other areas. We try to frequent the same gas station, bakery, coffee shop, etc. We have participated in festivals, community picnics, Christmas events, a dog walk, and more! Please pray that we will continue to build relationships with people in Berwick as we live our lives amongst the people we desire to reach for Jesus.
If you would like more detailed information on our church planting journey or reviews/summaries of the books I read, please visit my blog.
March 20 is Church Planting Sunday for our Alliance family. You can find resources here or easily give online.