Greetings from Berwick (and Danville)!
We officially started our Church Planting Residency at Iron Mill Church in Danville, PA. The month of May has brought many learning opportunities and lots of people to meet!
We started off this month by participating in my “commissioning service,” which also landed on the Christian and Missionary Alliance’s Church Planting Sunday. Our lead pastor, Jason Sullivan, an elder from Iron Mill and I shared preaching responsibilities for the sermon aspect of the worship service. Iron Mill showed great excitement as they saw their dream of multiplication coming to fruition!
We followed our commissioning service with an elder-recommended week off between transitioning churches. Our family took a trip to the Creation Museum and the Ark Encounter. Both were great experiences for both children and adults!
The Alliance has a great plan for church planting residents, which is what I will be following. The two-year “greenhouse” program is broken up into four phases, each lasting six months. The phases are Look, Learn, Lead, Launch. I am currently in the “Look” phase, which requires me to observe as much as possible. Each phase has nine different areas of learning: prayer, preaching/teaching, coaching, teamwork, community/small groups, evangelism/disciple making, credentialing, education, personal growth and formation. These nine areas will remain the same throughout each phase, but the activities in each phase will change. As part of these phases, I will be required to complete a few tasks per learning area as well as reading books to aid in my growth.
This first phase, labeled “look,” is all about observation. I am to observe the culture of Iron Mill and ask questions about how and why they do things certain ways. In May, I have been able to attend our community group with our whole family, listened to multiple sermons by other pastors, observe a staff meeting, observe an elders meeting, observe an outreach team meeting, observe a community leaders meeting, preach my first Iron Mill sermon, prepare a message reflection guide, create a BLESS list, begin reading Gospel Allegiance, participated in student ministry, and started the licensing process through the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
We appreciate the prayer and financial support so far! We are still looking for partnerships. If you are interested in staying up to date with our needs, follow this blog! If you are interested in supporting us financially, you can send checks made out to Iron Mill Church with “Iron Mill Greenhouse” marked on the memo line. Their address is 2 Church Hill Rd, Danville PA 17821. You can also give online at https://ironmillchurch.com/give/ by choosing “Iron Mill Greenhouse” in the drop-down menu instead of “General.”
Thank you for your generosity! We look forward to keeping you up to date each month!
Serving Christ with You,
Brandon Glenn
