Let’s Do It—Let’s Go
Discipleship in Grand Blanc, Michigan
On the surface, at least, you would call this a leap of faith. Brandon Robertson had all of the stability that young adults crave: the full-time job, the career track as supply chain manager at GM, the 401(k), the medical insurance. Happily married, and baby on the way.
So when Brandon tells his story now, people immediately ask why he quit. That’s Rule Number One: Don’t quit your day job. Besides, if he really wanted to be a pastor, shouldn’t he have gone to seminary?
“Long story short,” Brandon says, “I went to college for business, majored in sports management, moved to Lansing with my buddies, and started working for GM. Then the pandemic hit.” He ended up working remotely and moving to Grand Blanc, Michigan, where he met a young woman named Sarah.
“And we said if this is going to lead to marriage, we need to find a church,” Brandon says. “We made a list of 20 churches that we would visit at least once, with Emmanuel Church in Flint as number one.” They never got to number two on the list. They joined Emmanuel, they got married, and Brandon continued his job at GM.
Brandon naturally gravitated to Upward Sports, the church’s basketball outreach for children. The program grew quickly, the children’s pastor needed a volunteer with organizational skills, and there was Brandon with his degree in sports management. Suddenly, the “random” events of his life seemed part of a bigger plan.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Church committed to a huge church renewal project—an aging building in Grand Blanc Township with a congregation of 30.
“They were talking about a launch team for Grand Blanc, and I said, ‘Let’s do it—let’s go.’” Brandon and Sarah spent the next two years developing a children’s ministry and Upward Sports for the new church. He continued his discipleship meetings with Pastor John Scally and his mentoring relationship with Matt Hatton, the children’s pastor.
“We’re taking a different approach than a lot of churches take by trying to train internally,” John says. Emmanuel takes advantage of online programs (Brandon is taking classes from Cedarville University), but costs can be prohibitive for people.
Right now, John is working with two men in his church to develop a leadership training plan to multiply the church’s efforts. “I believe in college education, and my two daughters are at Cedarville right now,” John says. “But it’s not feasible for Brandon to go back to college, get a degree, and pay for it at his stage of life.
“He was part of our ministry, learning and growing. He was volunteering, he proved himself, and he was committed and connected to our church. It was important for us to consider people that are already here, that the Lord was already leading to service.”
For Brandon, that meant a bigger step—joining the Grand Blanc staff as the campus director, continuing his training to become a pastor, and explaining to his pregnant wife that he was about to quit his job at GM.
“Honestly, when I first met Brandon, we both talked about how we wanted to work for our church,” Sarah says. “So it was kind of like God answering prayer. There wasn’t anything upsetting about it.
“I always thought it would be nice to work, like, as the office manager at a church, though I didn’t think it would ever happen. Brandon told me, ‘You know, I always wanted to go into the ministry, but I never pursued it.’ And for a while we both said, ‘That’s just not us. It’s for somebody else. We’re not the type.’”
“Then God opened the door for both of us,” Sarah says. “And we’re like, okay—God is leading us here. This must be what we’re supposed to do.”
Little baby Paisley (for the record: adorable) interrupts the interview for a moment, reminding Sarah of another benefit to their transition. “We get to work together, especially with Paisley now. It’s nice that we can take care of her at church when needed, so it’s just been a blessing all around.”
Wrapping up his story, Brandon explains one more irony. A few months after he left his “stable” job with GM, the company announced another round of layoffs, which would have included his position—had he stayed.
“So in that moment, it wasn’t like, ‘Oh, what are we doing?’” Sarah says. “It was more like, ‘Wow. Look at how God has opened the door for us!’”
