Hello, BRN Family. It’s great to be with you today!
I wanted to wish you a very Happy New Year! As I pray for you, I am reminded of 1 Peter 1:3-4, which says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a LIVING HOPE through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an INHERITANCE that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…”
It is my prayer that your 2025 is filled with this wonderful “living hope!” As we await our incredible inheritance, please know that I and our BRN team are doing whatever we can to help churches accelerate Kingdom movement. We are committed to helping your church take your next step in ministry, whatever that step may be, and, ultimately, to help you achieve your next level in ministry.
Toward that aim, at our Accelerate Conference, we unveiled a Next Level Conversation starter to help you envision the goals that you can accomplish in the next 3-5 years–or even in 2025. In this conversation, we will ask the question, “If your church could accomplish anything you wanted it to, what would you do?”
Then, we will seek to help you transform the seemingly impossible into the achievable by breaking down your large goals into smaller, actionable steps. In other words, we want to help you reach the vision, mission, and goals that God has placed on your heart and provide you training and tools to get to the next level!
Along these same lines, in 2024, we reorganized our BRN strategy to help the BRN itself move to its next level of growth, innovation, Kingdom expansion, and operational efficiency. Most notably, we have redefined job descriptions under two new areas: church advancement and strategic initiatives. This will allow our team to focus all its attention on specific, high-priority projects that help us achieve our next level.
We also hosted two very dynamic conferences, the Advance Conference, focusing on strategic evangelism, and the Accelerate Conference, focused on encouraging participants to be bold in their faith and actions.
In addition, we held our very own first Serve Tour in Erie, resulting in 294 volunteers from 31 churches serving nearly 3,500 individuals in 19 different projects. We were ecstatic to see how many church members and students participated in this worthwhile effort. We are already gearing up for next year’s Serve Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, where at least five churches will host two days of up to 20 projects! Stay tuned for more exciting details!
In 2024, we also initiated a streamlined affiliation process and a new Annual Church Profile (ACP) form, awarded nearly $200,000 in grants to churches to do ministry and evangelism, and developed new resources to aid your church in financially supporting mission causes throughout our region through the Cooperative Program, the BRN’s LegacyPASJ fund, and our newly developed BRN Impact Funds.
In 2025, we are excited to offer even more ministry grants and funding opportunities. We will host three conferences this year: the Amplify Conference for students in 7th to 12th grade, the Advance Evangelism Conference for all church members, and the Accelerate Conference, also for all church members. And we look forward to partnering with Converge Coaching and MyCounselor Online, two nationally reputable faith-based organizations, to invest in the inner lives of pastors, both spiritually and emotionally, so they can thrive in their unique ministry contexts.
None of this is possible without your support and the driving hope that is within us. May 2025 be the year that we all thrive! You are a vital part of the BRN family, and I praise God for you! As always, thank you for listening in today, and God bless you!
