Hello Partners!

 It's hard to believe that it's been a month since I sent you an update about what God is doing in and through Iron City Church!

I have never been more convinced that God is up to something incredible in this area than I am right now!  We are seeing lives transformed and people who have never (and I mean never) been involved in a church stepping in and stepping up.

In addition, I feel as if I have been on overload personally as God is continually revealing to me the shifts I need to make in my life and in my leadership to lead ICC diligently.

Enjoy...

Easter... and Beyond

If there was ever any doubt in my mind that God uses Easter to draw men and women to Himself, it is gone after this past Resurrection Sunday.  In my last update, I outlined our prayer and our strategy for Easter Sunday.  Today, I'm here to tell you that it worked!

We had 27 first time guests in attendance on Easter, for a total of 76 people!  That was 50% more than our highest attendance ever - 50%!  Even better than that, we had one person begin a relationship with Jesus for the first time that morning and another three in the weeks since - four new lives that will spend eternity with us in the presence of God!

We began a series on Easter called "Release: Leaving behind the junk that holds us back."  During this series we're focusing on the power of Jesus to break addictions and lead us into a better, more fulfilling life than we can imagine.  In the two weeks since, we have had over 15 more first time guests AND been able to retain a bunch of the first timers from Easter.

As you may well imagine, there is some serious spiritual warfare going on around here, because the enemy knows that he's in the process of losing the stronghold he has on many people's lives.  Please pray for our protection, but especially for the mission at hand -- to see people's lives transformed by Christ!

Thank you for being a part of this adventure called Iron City Church!

Coming Up

We are very excited about the things that God is up to in our midst, especially these items that are on the horizon: 

• We are preparing for our first baptism on April 20 -- we have 3 people signed up already (without really promoting it).  Please pray that God will multiply that number in the next couple of weeks as we move towards the day.
• Our (volunteer) staff is growing in big ways -- not just numerically, but in terms of leadership skills and taking ownership of their areas of responsibility.  Pray that we will continue to stay squarely focused on the things that God has called us to do.
• As of now we have at least 6 different mission teams coming into town to assist us in "seeing the Pittsburgh metro area transformed with the love of Jesus" this summer.  Please pray as we are preparing for them and coordinating our efforts to be most effective for the Kingdom.
• On top of our current missions giving, we have begun committing 5% of our tithes and offerings to go toward starting other like-minded churches in the Pittsburgh metro area.  Pray that God will reveal to us the most effective way to use this for His Kingdom.
• We are praying, hoping, and working to continue to grow.  One consideration in this is to be able to put me (Tommy) on a full-time salary so I can focus my efforts on leading this church.  Please pray for continued growth, finances, and for the wisdom to know when is the right time.

After a few months of the winter doldrums, numbers-wise, God has been throwing the doors open lately.  Thanks to His grace, we've been able to connect with dozens of new people.

 Thanks again for all of your prayer support, for sending mission teams to serve us, and for your financial gifts to support the ministry of Iron City Church.

 We're going to keep on pushing forward, connecting people to Jesus, and celebrating the changed lives!

Your Partner in His Kingdom,

Tommy Duke

Lead Pastor
Iron City Church
412-318-4254