BLACKSBURG, S.C. (BP) — “If you start a church, I’ll come.”

Phillip Martin was in his last semester at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) when two unchurched friends told him they would attend a church if he planted one.

Martin had no plans of starting a church in his hometown of Blacksburg, S.C. After finishing at Southeastern in 2018, he had begun working full-time at an established church in town and hadn’t thought about planting one. But he could never get settled. He kept thinking about his current situation and his unchurched friends, one of whom was an addict and fresh out of jail.

“I knew the people God has given me a heart for would never come to a facility so beautiful with well-dressed and influential people,” Martin said. So, he did the only thing he could think of. He looked up the church-planting course from the seminary and bought the textbook, “Church Planting Thresholds” by Clint Clifton.

After reading the book, he realized he had the tools and calling to be a church planter, but he was missing one thing Clifton said every church planter needed — a partner. To address that need, God brought Ashby Pruitt to Martin’s mind. Pruitt was also from Blacksburg and finishing at Southeastern, but the two hadn’t talked in almost a year.

Sitting in the parking lot of a grocery store, Martin prayed, “Lord, if this is You talking and not me, have Ashby call me and call me soon.” Two days later, Pruitt called. A few weeks later, the two met in person. After a five-hour conversation, they agreed to start a church together in Blacksburg. “God was leading us to create a space where the outcast could seek refuge and worship Him,” Martin said.

They were accepted into Start Network, the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s church-planting program. Iron City Church (ICC),the first new church in the area in more than a decade, held its preliminary gatherings in early 2020 in mobile units used by the local middle school. “Our first meeting was with a small group of 17 on the last Sunday in January 2020,” Pruitt said. “We started meeting together to sing some worship songs, pray together and go through a passage of Scripture.”

In 2021, they purchased a church building built in 1890. Around 30 people were attending services. Their new facilities could hold 80 people, but they soon outgrew them. “We had people sitting on the floor and standing on the front porch with the doors open,” Martin said. In a small town of less than 2,000 people with churches on most street corners, Iron City Church has outgrown three locations and moved into its fourth earlier this year.

The exponential growth and more than 70 baptisms, including 26 earlier this year, would be a measure of success any pastor could point to. But that’s not what Martin and Pruitt bring up when asked about the church. They talk about the people. Addicts, ex-convicts, homosexuals and others who had previously not felt at home in church began to show up at ICC, encounter Jesus and have their lives transformed.

Martin mentioned Derrick, who had been using and dealing drugs, eventually leaving him homeless. After attending church and talking with Martin for three weeks, Derrick and his girlfriend gave their lives to Christ on a Sunday and were married at the church that Saturday. “They will celebrate four years of salvation and Christian marriage this year,” Martin said. “They are two of ICC’s finest now.” Derrick is currently training to plant a church in an urban setting.

Pruitt talked about Jose, who came to the church after a close friend was killed. He was involved in the same lifestyle that led to his friend’s death. After becoming a Christian, however, Jose’s life was changed. “I’ve watched him continue to grow,” said Pruitt. “Since he came to Christ, his three younger siblings have also given their lives to Christ. I see them every week in our life groups, and Jose is in several other discipleship groups. He is regularly sharing the gospel with friends and coworkers.”

God has used the church to alter the trajectories of families. “We’ve seen household salvations like in the books of Acts take place with multiple generations of one family being saved and baptized from poor neighborhoods and housing projects,” said Martin.

Both he and Pruitt say planting where they had already formed relationships with people and churches made it easier. “I had earned a lot of the outcasts’ trust over the years due to connections from my past,” Martin said, “which made it easier for me to convince them there was a safe place where they could come as they were with the hopes they didn’t stay that way.”

Pruitt said other local churches have helped them throughout the history of their congregation. After they outgrew the old church building, Eastside Baptist allowed them to use their fellowship hall for worship services at no cost.

Even in their limited circumstances, Iron City Church has been serving the community: feeding people during a natural disaster, housing the homeless, helping people into rehab and more. The church has prioritized outreach, setting aside 20%-25% of its annual budget toward missions since the beginning. “We’ve been able to knock on almost every door in our city limits in hopes of meeting our neighbors and having the opportunity to share the gospel,” Martin said.

To that end, Iron City Church recently bought a new location that will enable them to better serve their church and expand their outreach. They have purchased the new building but are still raising funds to pay off the debt and renovate the space to suit their ministry goals.

Currently, one of their members, who had been a meth addict for 10 years, is finishing a gospel-centered rehab program with Evan’s Training Center in Welford, S.C. The new location will enable him to return to the church and potentially start a similar faith-based recovery program at the building. They’re also discussing food distribution and homeless sheltering. The goal is to meet the physical and spiritual needs of the community around them.

Martin summed up the point of Iron City Church: “We are hope dealers, distributing hope to every home in Blacksburg.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Aaron Earls is a writer for LifeWay Christian Resources.)