A Burning Passion

Sarah and Matt Bruzzi

 

Driving home after leading a T.I.U. missions team to New Orleans with ReachGlobal Crisis Response, Sarah and Matt Bruzzi both individually felt a burning passion to return to New Orleans to live.  They attended an EFCA retreat the following week.  Here they met Dale Fritz, Executive Director of ReachNational, and they shared their call to New Orleans.  He suggested they contact Glen Schrieber, EFCA Southeast District Superintendent, who just happened to be at T.I.U. that week for EFCA Week.  Glen met them for breakfast and helped them make more important contacts.  God gave them a vision for church planting.  They called Pastor John Gerhardt at Castle Rock Community Church in New Orleans.  Matt went first to find housing and a job while Sarah finished up college.  A place vacated as he came for $200 a month, and Starbucks transferred him from his current work location to NOLA.  God then provided teaching positions for both Matt and Sarah at the same school in New Orleans.

Sarah's First Trip to NOLA

The EFCA’s church planting vision includes “no church planter would be left alone.”  This is true in the New Orleans area.  Matt and Sarah Bruzzi are part of the church planter internship program.  Pastor Gerhardt and Castle Rock Community Church provide support and training for the Bruzzis, and the Bruzzis are an active part of the church. “They are a part of our family, and we are a part of their family,” expressed Pastor Gerhardt. Pastor Gerhardt is pleased that they “jumped in and started making relationships.”  He said, “They folded into the neighborhood.”

As Glen Schrieber, pointed out, “We don’t just lay a mantle on them and tell them to go do it.”  Matt and Sarah will experience 2 years on the ground to get a feel for the city and find out what area fits their vision, personality, and makeup.  Matt said he is learning what it means to plant a church in NOLA.  They are researching the target area, immersing themselves in the community, and building relationships.  Matt emphasized the importance of being faithful and ministering in their current position and neighborhood.  As Christians, we are to be a witness and disciple others wherever God places us.  They are praying and listening to discover their next step and specific location.  Matt requested prayer so they serve in God’s power and not their own.

Pastor Gerhardt explained that urban church planting is more like an onion than a banana.  Onions peel in layers, and there are times you put it down and cry.  Onions add flavor.  Emphasis is on dependency on Christ.  Monthly and yearly planning with prayer helps them live intentionally.  Church plants are encouraged to emphasize radically loving Jesus and others while also keeping a balance of evangelism and leadership training.  They want to form missional churches that will reproduce and multiply.

To become a church planter, you need a calling, chemistry to fit the area and culture, competency, and character to fight spiritual battles and persevere through the challenges that will come.  It is not just for a certain personality.  God can use anybody.

Needs in NOLA church planting include financial support for planters, a healthy relationship with existing churches, a good plan, continuing to build and recruit other churches, and finding a church building catalyst for the SE district to recruit, train, and equip.  There is a huge interest and a huge need in New Orleans for spiritual renewal.  Bruce Redmond, Director of Church Planting for the Southeast District, pointed out the many ways Hurricane Katrina changed New Orleans.  There has been an influx of young people, more professionals, and many undocumented workers from Central America and Mexico.  We need lots of partnerships, courage, and people who are called and equipped with the capacity to plant churches. 

 

Use this link to request more information on church starts or planting a church:  http://sed-efca.org/church-starts/church-starts-contact-page/ .

Matt on NOLA Missions Trip