{"id":2404,"date":"2017-06-09T08:58:39","date_gmt":"2017-06-09T13:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/?p=2404"},"modified":"2021-08-02T10:13:34","modified_gmt":"2021-08-02T15:13:34","slug":"church-planting-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pts.edu\/blog\/church-planting-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"An Unusual Church Planting Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ll be 47 years old in July. Like most second career seminarians I\u2019ve met, I had little if any idea why I was there, and to be honest, I had little idea of what seminary was supposed to be. My life to that point had been driven by a lot of things, none of which were God. I grew up 30 miles east of the city in a small town at the foothills of the Laurel Mountains, where I continue to live. I have an undergraduate degree in business and an MBA. Most of my life, and my identity, were wrapped up in my entrepreneurial endeavors. My new found focus on God came only after the destruction of everything I thought I knew about my life and what it was supposed to be. Three years ago when I first toured the Seminary, I found myself wandering through the halls of PTS with then Director of Enrollment Derek Davenport and I clearly remember meeting then Church Planting Director Chris Brown that day. When Derek introduced Chris as the director of the Church Planting Initiative<\/a> that was the first time I heard the words \u201cchurch\u201d and \u201cplanting\u201d used together. For all I knew it might as well have been an initiative intended to restore the landscaping around aging church buildings.<\/p>\n

Fast forward a few years and the creative, entrepreneurial spirit found in church planting and innovative ministry has been the easiest transition for me from self-driven endeavors to a God-driven life. I should think most everyone who knows me even a little would say it\u2019s hard to see me in traditional church leadership\/pastor rolls. Systems theorists might say I\u2019m self-differentiated to an extreme, almost detrimental degree (extreme, almost detrimental is my default setting in life). As I have followed God through this strange blurry trip they call discernment, I\u2019ve found myself most drawn to atypical pastoral leaders\u2014community starters like PTS alums Chris Brown<\/a>, Keith Kaufold, and Jeff Eddings[1]<\/a>. I\u2019ve been encouraged by their determination to follow God on the terms they hear God calling, regardless of the established church world around them.<\/p>\n

Ministry on the streets of Pittsburgh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Through this discernment process, I have heard God call me to the streets, to minister to Pittsburgh\u2019s homeless population. Almost by accident, I found myself building deep personal relationships with people from the street. I\u2019m drawn to those struggling with addiction and mental illness, those who reject society first, out of fear that given the chance society would reject them. It is in these heavy circumstances that I hear Christ calling me to those who have lost him, or those who have yet to know him. They are drawn to me, and I to them, so I minister to them on their terms and their turf, under the bridges, along the tracks, in the middle of the street. As I do, I\u2019ve recognized how hard it is to convince someone that there is hope in a God greater than anything in this world, when their world view is constricted by the eminent need to survive the next day, the next hour, the next minute.<\/p>\n

Bridge to the Mountains<\/strong><\/p>\n

Two years ago, Keith Kaufold and I were rafting down the whitewater of the lower Youghiogheny River with 20 teenage summer campers when I turned to Keith and said, \u201ccan you imagine what it would be like to bring people from streets here?\u201d That was the seed that eventually would grow into Bridge to the Mountains<\/em>.\u00a0 It started with a few trips bringing a few homeless individuals at a time up to the mountains to ride bikes along the river trail, ride the natural water slides, and just enjoy God\u2019s wonder for a few hours. Eventually I raised some money and brought a group of 20 homeless, and homeless care providers white water rafting. That was a year ago. Today Bridge to the Mountains<\/em> is a Pennsylvania nonprofit corporation, and we are awaiting our 501 (C)(3) status. We are a Pittsburgh based Christian faith mission dedicated to developing relationships with, and providing a bridge of hope, to those experiencing homelessness, addiction, mental illness, and otherwise challenging life situations. By combining street outreach and the coordination of services with other providers throughout the city with mountain excursions of hiking,\u00a0whitewater rafting,\u00a0trail biking,\u00a0rock climbing, and\u00a0adventure courses, we believe we can create the best environment to allow an inbreaking of Christ\u2019s peace and hope to those who so desperately need it.<\/p>\n

For more information on our ministry visit our website at http:\/\/www.bridgetothemountains.org\/<\/a> or find us on Facebook https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bridgetothemountains<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dave Lettrich is a senior Master of Divinity student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who is also pursuing his graduate certificate in church planting through the Seminary\u2019s Church Planting Initiative. <\/em><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> The Rev Chris Brown<\/strong> (PC USA) is the former head of the Church Planting Initiative at Pittsburgh Theological Seminar<\/a>y and a founding co-pastor of the Upper Room Church Community<\/a>\u00a0in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The Rev Keith Kaufold <\/strong>(UMC) created Eighth Avenue Place<\/a>\u00a0in Homestead, Pa. And the Rev Jeff Eddings <\/strong>(PC USA) is a founding co-pastor of Hot Metal Bridge Faith Community<\/a> in Pittsburgh\u2019s South Side neighborhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ll be 47 years old in July. Like most second career seminarians I\u2019ve met, I had little if any idea why I was there, and to be honest, I had little idea of what seminary was supposed to be. My life to that point had been driven by a lot of things, none of which…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2406,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[243,56,308],"series":[],"class_list":["post-2404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-planting","tag-church-planting-for-new-communities","tag-church-planting-in-pennsylvania","tag-church-planting-seminary"],"yoast_head":"\r\nAn 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