Episode 54: "I Accidentally Planted a Church" | Andrew Lennon

Welcome back to another episode of The Sunday's Coming Podcast! This week, Caleb and Kaleb sit down with Andrew Lennon — lead pastor of Breakthrough Church in Lynchburg, VA, former missionary kid, recovering pre-med student, and one of the more refreshingly honest church planters we've had on the show. Andrew walks us through his unlikely journey: born in the Philippines to missionary parents, landing in Lynchburg when his dad took a job at Liberty, pursuing exercise science to become a physical therapist — and then having a bedroom encounter with the Holy Spirit that flipped the entire trajectory of his life. What started as a Presbyterian kid weeping alone in his room turned into a prayer meeting, then a house church (before house church was "a flex"), then a full-fledged church plant pulling homeless folks off Craigslist and watching the book of Acts come to life. Along the way, he gets candid about the moment God rebuked him for praying that his own church would SHRINK, the realization that his definition of "successful ministry" was just "looking like successful ministry," and why he intentionally cut a day of sermon prep so he could actually smell like his sheep. They talk about: 🛏 The bedroom encounter that rewrote his life 🏠 Accidentally planting a church (no funding, no network, no playbook) ✋ "Clean hands and a pure heart" as the only metric that matters 📉 Praying for God to shrink the church — and getting rebuked for it 🐑 Why a shepherd should smell like the sheep (and what he gave up to do it) 🪞 "Looking like a successful church" vs. looking like Jesus 🎨 Why Gen Z doesn't care about your polish — they crave authenticity 🌧 Building the ark before the rain comes 🎭 Creativity isn't just for designers — every role can be reinvented 🏙 What ministry looks like in an OVER-churched city. This episode is for the leader stuck following someone else's church-planting playbook, the creative who's been told to stay in the brand-guide box, and anyone who's ever felt like the "right" path forward wasn't actually the one God was breathing on. Because Sunday's always coming, and we're all in this together. Connect with Andrew 📱 @saint.lennon on Instagram ⛪ @breakthrough.church 🎙 The Breakthrough Podcast — sermons + conversations 🌐 breakthrough.church Extras (Want More?) 📸 Follow us on Instagram: @sundayscomingpodcast 📬 Email us your guest ideas: [email protected] ⭐️ Leave a review and share the show with your team!