My name is Tony Stephens, and I recently retired from pastoring Stillwaters Presbyterian Church PCA, a church I planted in Kennett Square, PA 23 years ago with my wife and family. I want to offer a testimony to you about the outstanding influence of Christian Service Brigade and how it had a significant impact on the growth and leadership development of our congregation.
Joel Fiscus, CSB field director, and his twin brother Mark Fiscus, a seasoned Battalion leader, both came to Stillwaters about 10 years ago. They were persistent in introducing Christian Service Brigade to our church. I soon realized introducing CSB as a discipleship ministry in my church was one of the best decisions I ever made in ministry.
We are not a big church. It is not easy to get visitors to even walk on our property. Like many of you, we struggle to reach out to an increasingly hostile culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We started small and now we have a functioning and energetic Stockade program and an amazing Battalion program with 25 young men and about 8 committed leaders.
Their persistence and commitment to seeing the program faithfully developed over time has made a marked difference to our church. CSB gave men the means, training, and tools to mentor boys as they developed as leaders and as fully committed followers of Jesus.
I recently spoke at the installation service of two new elders in our church who are younger men with families. These men’s first real introduction into discipleship was as Stockade Rangers in the Christian Service Brigade ministry. I believe that the reason we now have these two new dynamic elders is a result of their mentoring and leadership development within the CSB program.
John Maxwell, the great teacher on leadership in the church and in corporate America, said, “Everything in the church rises and falls on leadership… everything in the family rises and falls on the leadership of the family, which in almost all cases is the husband, everything in our society rises and falls on leadership, and while we know that the leadership of Jesus Christ over his church will never fail, the health and success of the church rises and falls on committed leaders and disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The reason the Christian Service Brigade program is so effective at raising future leaders is that the ministry’s strategy is biblically based discipleship through faith-based mentoring. Christian Service Brigade enables men to get involved with other men, spending quality time in young men’s lives. CSB exceeded my imagination by seeing more young men and male leaders come in to serve in our CSB program from outside the church than I could’ve ever imagined.
Mark Fiscus started our battalion 10 years ago with three young men. He faithfully discipled them and his adult leaders, and God blessed them with a thriving ministry within our congregation and community. You can replicate this in your own congregation. Invest in men and young men through Christian Service Brigade, and like me, you will see God do amazing things!
In Christ,
Tony Stephens
Pastor emeritus of Stillwaters Presbyterian Church
