Steel. It’s known as one of the toughest materials, a durable metal; strong and secure – yet, it is also flexible when melted. It is moldable, able to be shaped, and willing to be changed according to take a new form.
Steel City Church is hoping to do just that within the bustling parameters of Steel City itself –Pittsburgh, Pa. The new church plant comes from southern roots, but hopes to build upon the city’s sturdy structure by sharing the Gospel and offering a hope stronger than steel.
The vision for Steel City Church was first born when Lead Pastor Billy Judge lead a mission trip from Shandon Baptist Church in South Carolina to Pittsburgh back in 2017.
“I kind of knew the first time I visited Pittsburgh that this was going to be the place we focus on to plant a church,” said Judge.
He continued: “When I got to the city, what I saw was 80,000 college students, deep Roman Catholic roots, and not much going on in terms of scaled out evangelical work.”
Originally from Long Island, N.Y., Judge became a Christian when he was 17 years old and describes his salvation story as a “radical conversion to Jesus.”
“Even as a brand-new believer, I knew, at some point I wanted to be back in the northeast to start churches in a place similar to my hometown,” said Judge.
“I remember thinking that it was an injustice that I had come from an area in the northeast that had so many people and so few Gospel centered churches, but had moved to an area where there were way less people and way more Gospel-centered churches.”
After becoming a follower of Jesus, he started his collegiate career at the University of South Carolina. There he got connected with Shandon Baptist Church, where he continued to serve after he graduated. It was during his post-graduation years at Shandon that Judge started praying through his original desire to plant a church in the northeast.
“George Wright, our senior pastor, started casting this vision for our church that we would adopt the city of Pittsburgh as our strategic mission partner at Shandon. So, I started taking college students up to Pittsburgh on spring break.”
In 2019, two years after his first trip to Pittsburgh, Judge did a church planting residency, started to build partnerships with established churches, and put together a team from S.C. to move to Pittsburgh.
In July of this year, Judge, along with a team of nearly 18 people, moved to Pitt. The team consisted of families and young professionals from Shandon Baptist Church, as well as those from Shandon’s affiliate church, Summit Church, in Raleigh, N.C.
Currently, Steel City Church is gathering online and in homes throughout the city; as well as at an established Baptist Resource Network (BRN) church every other Sunday.
“We are actively pursuing permanent facilities in the city. We do meet every other Sunday night, as a large group, in an established church just outside the city in Monroeville –Reclamation Church with Jeremiah Canfield,” said Judge.
Judge also shared that Steel City Church presently has about 40 adults attending – half from the S.C. team and half from Pittsburgh.
“We do want to launch in a permanent facility in the city center of Pittsburgh [come] August of 2021.”
Judge continued: “The long-term vision is a multi-generational church. The vision is not a college church, but a multi-generational church that is passionate about reaching the college campus.
Zakk Roberts, Steel City Church’s college pastor, added to Judge’s statement: “With the city of Pittsburgh being about 300,000 people, there’s a sizable number of those people who are college students – so for us to be in the city [and] ignore that population is crazy.”
Part of Steel City’s mission is to outreach to the college campuses near and dear to the core of the city.
“Our mission is to be a church for the campus and for the city. We have a strategic focus on both sides,” said Judge.
The three main universities Steel City intends to focus on are the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University and Duquesne University.
“We are focusing on college-aged people as a portion of what we’re doing. So, man, if God brings us a lot of people on Pitt., that’s where we’re going to start – but we’re going to look to multiply onto all of our campuses in the city,” said Roberts.
Judge added that their long-term goal is to be an example for other churches who desire to reach the collegiate population in city settings.
“I think the long-term goal is that we would be able to be a blueprint of sorts for what it looks like to plant churches in urban centers that are also collegiate centers.”
He continued: “That’s what we would love to see happen, a movement of churches that are not just focused on one or the other, but both ends.”
On Tuesday, Oct. 13th, Steel City Church invited the 13 churches that are partnering with them – six from S.C. and seven from various locations in the U.S. – as well as non-partnering churches, to Pittsburgh to hear their vision and see for themselves where God is at work in the city.
“We had a blast together,” said Judge.
“We would love to see that with Pennsylvania Baptists and South Jersey Baptists, too – we don’t have a single partner from Pennsylvania or South Jersey. We would love some established churches through the BRN to step into the work of Steel City Church. We want to encourage established BRN churches to connect with us. We definitely believe we are better together.”
Executive Pastor Chris Richards added to what Judge shared, by saying, “We are a BRN church, and we fully want to support and be a part of the Baptist Resource Network. We are looking to create partnerships in Pennsylvania and South Jersey – to be a functioning part of the state convention is a big deal to us.”
In the hurried heart of Steel City itself, Steel City Church is striving to shape hearts through Christ, strengthen young minds for the Lord, and mold a Gospel-centered community; one that is stronger than steel.
“This really isn’t about us – this is not about Steel City Church,” said Judge.
“This is about Jesus being made famous in Pittsburgh.”
For more information on Steel City Church, and the Gospel-centered work being done in Pittsburgh, visit https://www.thesteelcitychurch.com/connect.
Feature image: Steel City Church pastors (l to r), Zakk Roberts, college pastor; Billy Judge, lead pastor; and Chris Richards, executive pastor, share their vision about the new church. Photo by Robert Turner
