Hello, BRN Family! It’s good to be with you today!

Wow! We are so thankful for how the Lord moved during our October 4 Accelerate Conference here in Harrisburg. Nearly 250 church leaders from across our two-state region had the opportunity to be challenged to SHOW Christ’s love to our neighbors and our larger culture. Accordingly, this year’s theme was based on the second phase of #LovePASJ, which was “Show: Who is On Your Watch?”

We are grateful for the feedback we have received from our attendees to this year’s conference. One in particular said, “I can’t commend BRN and their staff enough for all their effort and energy put into hosting a great conference on Tuesday. It was by far one of the most edifying conferences I have attended in recent memory. I applaud you and your staff for all your hard work and effort into supporting the local churches within our PA/South Jersey region and beyond!”

Julia Presley, one of the Messiah University students who led our worship team SEVEN, shared this comment: “Being able to participate in worship with so many pastors and hearing their loud voices crying out filled our hearts with encouragement and made our communion with God and each other all the more meaningful. I can only imagine all of the work you were doing for this event, and I hope you know how grateful we and so many others are for your dedication, hospitality, and genuine concern for others.”

It was a powerful day! We heard from Shane Pruitt on how to do evangelism, especially in today’s culture and among our younger populations. Several of our breakout speakers conveyed how to show Christ’s love to people outside the church through compassion ministry and evangelism, through better understanding the culture and taking advantage of digital media, and through being the beautiful aroma of Christ and more. Some of those sessions also focused on the healthiness of the pastor, exploring the topics of burnout, measuring results, and delegation of responsibilities to volunteers.

One way the BRN wants to help SHOW love is to help provide pastors and churches resources to effectively show and share Christ’s love within their community through our new #LovePASJ kit, chock full of resources to equip participants to start meeting revealed needs through compassion ministries and evangelism.

In appreciation and concern for our BRN pastors and their families, the BRN also unveiled a new partnership with Full Strength Network, which provides 24 FREE counseling or coaching sessions for our lead pastors, associate pastors, BRN staff and collegiate ministers. That’s 12 sessions per year each for the lead minister and 12 more for their families! And it is all free! Please check your inbox (or maybe your spam folder) for your enrollment email to get started right away!

And finally, we are launching a resource to potentially help you gather future financial resources for your church, and hopefully for churches across the BRN. The BRN has created a partnership with Chuck Knox, the Stewardship Coach from Harvest Church in Kittanning PA, to assist our churches in legacy giving. Chuck is prepared to help your church to understand how they can be both generous to their family and to Kingdom ministry.

There are so many exciting details to share. I invite you to go to BRN United to read my whole address and to read our Accelerate Conference wrap-up article. Please let us know at the Help Desk if you have any questions. You can text or call (717) 652-5856 or email us at helpdesk@brnunited.org. Again, the number to text is (717) 652-5856.

Thanks for listening in today. May God bless you!