Jon Bricker, a long-time Acts 29 pastor, planted Partridge Point Community Church in 2023. Get to know Jon and learn more about his church-planting journey in this short Q&A:
Where did you plant and what drew you to that community?
Metamora, IL, a town of 3700 people, is surrounded by several other smallish communities, just outside the larger city of Peoria, IL.
What drew me was the Lord placing on my heart a sense that a great gospel opportunity was being overlooked in rural communities. I began reaching out to people I knew in these smaller contexts, looking for planting partners. A good friend in Metamora told me he and his wife had been praying for a church planter to come to his town for 3 years. That was all we needed! We were in!
This is your second church plant. What did you learn from planting your first church that is shaping how you’re approaching this one?
I was the lead planter/pastor at my previous church for 16 years. Honestly, just a greater measure of wisdom that comes from age, experience, mistakes, repentance, grace, forgiveness, etc, that’s the biggest difference. I used to think planting was just for the young, but I have seen the great value of planting later in life. Additionally, the joy of having my teenage sons be a key part of our planting team has been incredible.
I used to think planting was just for the young, but I have seen the great value of planting later in life. Click To Tweet
As you’ve prepared to plant, what’s one way you’ve already seen God provide, open doors, or confirm His calling?
In moving into and planting a church in a small community, I didn’t know how welcome we’d be. But the Lord has given us immediate favor, and we have felt welcomed and supported in the community and by the other churches since the moment we got here.
How do you hope your church will engage the surrounding community, and how can we be praying for you as you move forward?
Jesus said that as we follow Him, He will make us into fishers of men.
Please pray that Jesus would do that – make us fishers of men.
Pray with me that each member of our church would intentionally engage with at least one person for the sake of the gospel.
