This article was originally written by Aaron Earls and published to LifewayResearch.com.
Churches and problems occupy most street corners of Blacksburg, South Carolina.
Once a bustling railroad hub in the 1800s with rich mineral beds, the town was nicknamed the Iron City. Now, it mirrors many other small communities across the country. Residents know and care for one another, but a third of the population lives below the poverty line. Many are also trapped in cycles of addiction.
Despite dozens of churches in the area, people still slip through the cracks. Some don’t feel at home among stained glass and steeples, which is why Phillip Martin had two people tell him, “If you start a church, I’ll come.”
Planting with a Partner
Martin grew up in Blacksburg and always had a knack for connecting with the outcasts and outsiders. After finishing seminary, he was serving in an established local church with no thought of planting his own. Still, his mind kept returning to those unchurched friends, one of whom was fresh out of jail and dealing with an addiction.
“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. But if he was going to take the step of planting a church, he knew he needed someone to walk with him. God brought Ashby Pruitt to his mind.
Pruitt was also from Blacksburg, but he was still finishing seminary and serving in an established church several hours away. The two hadn’t spoken in almost a year. But in a grocery store parking lot, Martin prayed, “Lord, if this is you talking and not me, have Ashby call me and call me soon.”
Two days later, Martin’s son brought him the phone and said, “Dad, a guy named Ashby is calling you.” A few weeks later, the two met in person. After a five-hour conversation, they agreed to start a church together in Blacksburg.
Spiritual and Numeric Growth
Iron City Church (ICC) held its preliminary gatherings with 17 people in early 2020. In 2021, with around 30 attending services, they purchased an unused church building that could hold 80 people. Before long, however, they no longer fit. “We had people sitting on the floor and standing on the front porch with the doors open,” Martin said.
The church outgrew three locations and moved into its fourth earlier this year, with around 200 people attending on Sunday mornings. While the median small-town church sees five new commitments to Christ in a year, Iron City has baptized 36 people so far in 2025. But both Martin and Pruitt focus more on the people those numbers represent.
Pruitt talked about Jose Oviedo, who came to Iron City after a life of violence led to his cousin’s murder in a drive-by shooting. Oviedo said someone from the church talked to him about Jesus, but he initially dismissed it. Eventually, however, he heard God challenge him, “You’ve done it your way for 19 years, let me do it my way.”
“Since he came to Christ, his three younger siblings have also given their lives to Christ,” said Pruitt. “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.”
Martin spoke about Derrick Elmore, who had been dealing drugs, eventually leaving him homeless. After attending church and talking with Martin for three weeks, Elmore and his girlfriend gave their lives to Christ and were married at the church. “They will celebrate four years of salvation and Christian marriage this year,” Martin said. “They are two of ICC’s finest now.” He’s currently training to plant a church himself.
The “Misfit Church”
As a result of God’s move in the lives of Oviedo, Elmore, and dozens more, Iron City Church worship services are multiethnic, multigenerational, and full of addicts, ex-convicts, former homosexuals, and others who had previously not felt at home in church.
Someone in the town called them the “misfit church.” Martin and Pruitt don’t mind the label. “We want our church to be a safe place for sinners but not for sin,” Pruitt said.
While those at Iron City recognize God has moved in their church in extraordinary ways, the pastors don’t believe this is unique to their church. Martin said the same principles that worked for their church found success during a recent mission trip to serve a church in Michigan.
Speaking to Martin, Pruitt, and members of the church, five characteristics that led to growth in this rural church stand out that could be practiced anywhere by churches of any size.
1. Establish a Loving Community
It’s one of the most noticeable aspects of Iron City Church: The pastors genuinely love the congregation, and the people love and care for each other. Before the service, everyone greets and hugs each other. The worship start time is negotiable depending on how long the congregation shares with each other.
Angela Martin, an Iron City member, says shared love is what makes the church special. Martin, Phillip’s aunt, began attending even though she was part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because she wanted her husband to go to church.
When she arrived, she saw how everyone was welcomed. “No one is turned away,” she said. “Everyone is embraced, and it doesn’t matter your background.” Then she heard a sermon from Romans and realized she didn’t have to work to earn salvation.
Pruitt said churches often say they’re welcoming to everyone but aren’t intentional in making that a reality. At Iron City, the leadership and everyone involved stress a welcoming and loving community.
2. Maximize Investments and Partnerships
Almost 9 in 10 rural church pastors say becoming a trusted part of the town’s life is a sign of success that’s quickly become the case for Iron City. They’ve worked to establish themselves in the town and partner with other churches.
Pruitt said the Iron City Festival is the largest event in town every year, so the church set up a prayer tent. “We’ve probably got $200 invested in a good tent and a sign that says, ‘Need Prayer?’ People stop, and we pray with them,” he said. “It’s a good time for us to impact our community.”
As they’re at the festival, Martin said they’re also intentional about ministering to people others might be afraid of. He said they were out speaking to the homeless, serving those others may want to chase away.
“A couple that had just moved to Blacksburg saw what we were doing, so they came and took a pamphlet from our tent,” he said. “They showed up the next Sunday to church and never left.”
Pruitt said other local churches have helped them throughout the history of their congregation. After they outgrew the old church building and before they purchased their latest building, another local church allowed them to use their fellowship hall for worship services at no cost.
As they’ve had such good relationships with other churches, Pruitt said planters and pastors should remember they aren’t in competition with other churches. “Avoid sheep swapping,” he said.
3. Prioritize Evangelism
Martin said around 70% of their current congregation was previously unchurched. Because they’re looking to grow by reaching the lost, Iron City makes sharing the gospel a priority and an expectation of its members.
After responding to the gospel, Oviedo said he initially thought that was the end of it, but someone at the church explained to him that just like someone shared Jesus with him, he needs to share Jesus with others.
“I was broken and messed up, and there are lots of other broken and messed up people who haven’t heard the gospel.” Oviedo has seen his younger siblings come to church and trust in Christ. Recently, his parents have started attending.
In the accountability groups for church members, Pruitt said one of the questions is, “Who have you shared the gospel with?” He said this is part of equipping the saints for the work of ministry.
“This is paying dividends,” he said. “We’re seeing people get saved, and I didn’t share the gospel with them. Pastor Phillip didn’t share the gospel with them. It’s our people going out to their friends and family.”
Like 9% of small-town pastors, Pruitt and Martin both serve bivocationally. They say it helped the church get established financially but also allows them to meet more people in the community. Knowing the people and needs around them has allowed the church to step in to meet those needs and share the Gospel.
4. Don’t Make Assumptions
Planting a church in rural South Carolina, it could be easy to assume that most are already Christians. “I think too many people take the gospel for granted,” Pruitt said, “and they assume way too much about people and their faith.” Martin agrees. “It’s a cultural thing in the South, ‘Oh, everybody believes in Jesus,’” he said. But they’ve found that’s not the case.
At the local high school, Pruitt worked with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. His first December, he brought up the Christmas story. Two senior girls asked if he was talking about Santa and his reindeer.
“Both of them claimed to have gone to church their entire lives but had never heard the biblical Christmas story from Matthew and Luke of Jesus’s birth,” he said. “If we’re in the Bible Belt, it’s come unbuckled, and our pants fell down, because people don’t know the Bible.”
Since so many are confused, Iron City was to be clear. “We teach and preach the accurate gospel as clearly as we can,” Pruitt said. “It’s the only message of salvation. Boldness is not necessarily loud. Boldness is clear, and we want to be clear.”
5. Disciple People on a Strong Foundation
Dealing with unchurched and churched people who are biblically ignorant, Iron City Church focuses on discipleship. That starts on Sunday morning and weaves its way into the daily lives of members.
As he preached through a passage in John recently, Pruitt mentioned “eschatology” and “propitiation.” Many would assume a church trying to reach the unchurched would shy away from those concepts and words, but Pruitt doesn’t see it that way. “Our people aren’t idiots,” he said. “They might have learned the wrong things growing up, but they’re capable of grasping these things.”
He takes the time to explain words and concepts that may be unfamiliar to the congregation because he wants them to be able to understand them and recognize those themes when they read them in Scripture. And it’s obvious, the people are hungry for Scripture. During the sermon, almost everyone in the congregation has their Bible open, along with a pen and paper for notes.
If they don’t always grasp everything on Sunday morning, the small groups of the church meet each week to further discuss that week’s sermon passage. Iron City also has various other types of discipleship and accountability groups throughout the week.
Iron City wants their church members to grow in Christ from a strong foundation. “Jesus asks for a whole life commitment, so we’ve built our church on a strong gospel,” Martin said.
A Place to Grow
Not every pastor can serve or plant in their hometown as Martin and Pruitt have done, but every church can establish themselves in their communities. Pastors and leaders can earn the trust of the outcasts because so many want to look the other way. Having that trust enables churches to reach the lost with the gospel. Once they’ve trusted in Christ for salvation, the church can give them a foundation for growth in discipleship.
That’s what happened with Iron City Church. The outcasts, the addicts, and the misfits have become disciples who make disciples. “We want people to know there is a safe place they can come as they are,” said Martin, “with the hope they don’t stay that way.”
