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For Brandon Cobb (MABS 2024, RTS New York City), the first months of planting Eden Church NJ have brought something he didn’t expect so soon: a steady stream of new believers professing faith and stepping into the waters of baptism. “We are grateful for all of the souls and stories God is redeeming,” Cobb says. “It is a privilege to have a front-row seat to the power of Jesus at work.”
A Foundation for Bold Preaching
Cobb traces the church’s theological footing directly back to his training at RTS New York City. “RTS equipped me with the tools to confidently divide the Word of truth in any situation,” he reflects. “Because of RTS, I am able to preach the Word boldly and apply the Word broadly in our ministry.” That preparation now shapes a congregation still in its earliest days: “The newest church in North Jersey is being built with a dense theological foundation.”
Watching God Redeem
What Cobb describes isn’t a growth strategy he engineered but a harvest he’s watching God bring in, souls redeemed and lives reoriented around the gospel in a congregation’s first year. It’s the kind of fruit that reshapes a pastor’s own sense of what faithfulness looks like: less about building something impressive, more about staying out of the way of what God is already doing.
Leaning Into Mercy
Ask Cobb what steadies him and he points to Scripture, not strategy. His life verse, 1 Timothy 1:12-16, has become a daily anchor: “It’s my daily reminder that I receive the mercy of God not because I’m a really great Disciple, Husband, Father, and Pastor. I receive the mercy of God because of my ignorant unbelief. It is my ignorant unbelief that causes the grace of Jesus to overflow.” Church planting, he admits, has a way of surfacing weakness. “Church planting exposes many shortcomings. I’m leaning into the transformative mercy of God in this season, for me, my family, and our congregation.”
Beyond the pulpit, Cobb also serves as a writing fellow for the Washington Institute for Faith, Vocation, and Culture, continuing to think theologically in public even while leading a young, growing church.
For Those Still Preparing
Cobb’s story offers current students less a model to copy than a posture to imitate: bold preaching, deep theological grounding, and an honest dependence on mercy rather than performance. Eden Church NJ is still young. What isn’t young is the confidence in the Word that Cobb carries into every sermon, the same confidence he credits to his years at RTS.
