Author Archive
Have You Signed Up for the New Directory?
For just a few more weeks, we’re collecting information for the new Bridge Directory. We have set up a form here on the website that you can complete in a matter of minutes.
If you call The Bridge ‘home,’ we invite you to fill out the form. All the information will be compiled so we can have basic contact information. We want to take your feedback and create a plan for better, more efficient communication with the community in the future. So, please take a moment now and fill out the form!
Thanks
Youth Ministry at The Bridge: A Conversation …
For at least a few months, there has been a growing conversation echoing around The Bridge Community. We’ve seen an obvious void in ministry for a couple of years now. A group of incredibly important people are being missed: youth in grades 6-12!
A handful of people have sensed God’s leading to do something about it. What about you? Do you want to be part of something new?!
September 1 from 7:00 – 8:30, at the Nexus Building, we want to host a continuation of the conversation that’s already begun. We’ll have an open forum to talk about the needs of our kids and their friends and how we can reach disconnected youth. And we want to hear from you! Especially if you’d like to serve in this new ministry, we hope you’ll come!
The Bridge Podcast in iTunes
If you used to listen to sermon audio from The Bridge podcast in iTunes, then you know it has been out of date for some time now. Well, that problem has been fixed and you can now access the updated podcast!
Click here to go to the iTunes store. You can then subscribe and receive all new sermons automatically when they’re made available. Also, while you’re there on our podcast page, leave a review for others to see!
If you don’t use iTunes there are other ways you can listen to past messages.
Listen online. Past messages are always available at the podcast page. You can listen anytime!
Subscribe via email. Any time a new message is made available, you receive an email message with a link to listen online or download the audio file.
Subscribe to the RSS feed. If you regularly read blogs or listen to other podcasts, you subscribe to the feed of our podcast and access it through your preferred RSS feed reader.
If you’ve never used the podcast feature on our website before, why not take a minute and check it out, maybe even share it with a friend! A good place to start might be the recent series on prayer – all the messages in that series can be heard here.
A Look at the Renovation Work
A couple of Saturdays ago, we had a great work-day at the building! We accomplished a lot, had fun working together, and we also had the greatest lunch break ever! Check it out …
This Week: Ways to Serve and Connect
We believe the Christian life is not a spectator sport and it wasn’t meant to be lived solo, so here are a few ways to plug in and connect with others this week!
Outreach Event Saturday
This Saturday is the annual Heartland Festival at Freeman Lake Park. Our friends with Open House are doing a fun outreach that day. They’ll be walking around the park handing out free drinks and registering people to win a free iPad. It is $1 to enter to win and all the money is going to benefit the work of Warm Blessings, Inc.. You can read more about the event here.
Here are the ways you can plug in and serve:
- 1st Shift – 9am – 12:30pm
- 2nd Shift – 12:30pm – 3:30pm
Each shift needs 8 people: 4 people to run the booth and converse with people; 4 people to walk around the festival passing out bottled Gatorade and water.
We also need 2 people to help load up supplies at the Nexus Building at 8am on Saturday.
Please contact Mike Steele if you will be available to help during either time slot. More details will come to those who sign-up.
Fish Fry, Community Group Kickoff!
The Community Group led by Randy Ramsey will be starting up again after a summer break. Anyone who would like to connect with this Sunday night group is invited to a fish-fry at the Ramsey home Sunday night. Be sure to contact Laura to find out the details.
Hospitality on Sunday Mornings
We’re looking for a few more people to fill out the schedule for Sunday morning’s food and coffee table. Are you interested in helping make the space a bit more welcoming by setting up the food table, making coffee, or serving? Contact Shaun Brock to let him know.
Work Night, Wednesday
From 6:00-9:00 pm, we’ll be doing renovation projects at the building. We hope to finish the flooring in the hallway and knock out a few more “finishing touch” projects around the building.
Clean-Up on Saturday
From 10:00 – Noon on Saturday, we’d like to have a team of 4 (at least) come to the Nexus Building to clean and prepare the space for Open House (Saturday evening worship) and our Sunday morning gathering. If you’re interested in serving in this way, please email us. Thanks!
Friday Thoughts on Prayer
A guest blog post from Randy and Marcia Orban:
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Imagine, for a moment, knowing or raising a child who never begged for anything! Try imagining a child who never, ever asked for anything! As you contemplate that scenario, you might initially think, “that would be wonderful!’ However, it wouldn’t be long before you would be saying, “this child is really strange!”
Imagine for another moment, knowing or raising a child who would walk up to a total stranger, asking them to buy the food, clothing or toys they wanted. This just doesn’t happen!
Children ask from those whom they know and trust. Children ask from those whom they know will provide for them. So it is to be in our relationship with our Father in heaven.
Charles H. Spurgeon once said, “Whether we like it or not, asking is the rule of the kingdom.” God delights in our asking because we are His children.
No need is too small for God. Hebrews 4:14-15 tells us that Jesus is now our high priest who makes intercession for us before God the Father. He was tempted in all things and he sympathizes with our needs and weaknesses. All we need to do is honor God by taking all of our needs before his throne in prayer. We can know and trust Him! We can freely receive His mercy and grace.
………..
Please join us for a time of prayer this Sunday from 9:00 – 9:45 a.m. We will pray for our morning worship gathering, the leadership, and all who attend. Come join us if you are free to do so. If not, take a moment to lift up some of the needs below:
- Tonight, pray for God’s protection and blessing on our “Family Night” get together in Radcliff.
- For Saturday, remember the ministry outreach of Open House. Pray that lives are changed for Christ Jesus!
- On Sunday, Wayne will continue his teaching on prayer from the Word. Smother him with your prayers!
- Lift up Matt and all the worship team. Pray for our worship to be a fragrant aroma before God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
……….
Peace in Christ Jesus, Randy & Marcia
A Prayer for A Great “Turn-around”
“O God, as Jesus changed water into wine, turn our daily deadlines into lifelines of mission. When we are most bushed, make us most brushed by the breezes of your Spirit. When the bottom drops out & we don’t seem able to hold any ground at all, show us how to hold on to you to get to high ground. When our journey through life becomes one of walking on eggshells or walking in circles, show us how to walk on water.” Amen
From Leonard Sweet
This Week: Ways to Serve
Looking at the week ahead in the life of our community, here are some opportunities for us to serve together:
Saturday Outreach at American Legion Park. Fun-topia and the city pool in Elizabethtown are the location for a fun servant outreach event this Saturday. Open House, our Saturday night church plant, is hosting this free cookout. Free hotdogs and drinks for everyone in the park! You can help in various ways, from behind-the-scenes preparation to serving food and meeting new people at the park. Email Mike Steele to find out how to be a part of this!
Did you know we need a couple of workers in the pre-school area? Amber Webb does a great job of coordinating our “Lil’ K” program and she needs two adults to volunteer once a month on Sunday morning. If you’d like to hang out with 3-5 year olds and help create a safe and fun place for them to learn about Jesus, please contact Amber today. She can fill you in on the details and give you an application and background check form.
Renovations continue at the building this week …
We need people willing to learn how to put in laminate flooring in the kids’ rooms. Six people worked on Saturday morning and the nursery room is almost complete! (See the progress in the picture)
Painting. The kitchen needs primer and a first coat of paint.
On Saturday, we’ll be taking out the old bathrooms. This will be general demolition work. Who needs to take out some frustration at the end of a week?! Then we’ll begin framing the new wall to go where the bathrooms were. This is an exciting step! It means we’re almost finished and ready to move in.
If you have time in the evenings, daytime, or Saturday, please email Wayne to find out when you can volunteer.
A Look at Spiritual and Personal Growth: New Community Group Study
What does it take to really grow in life? A simple question. But it’s one that we can overlook, and if we’re not careful, we look back and nothing’s changed in our life for 5, 10, 20 years …
This summer, we’re beginning a new group study called, “Personal Growth: Learning to Meet the Demands of Life.” This is a video curriculum from Convergence, a series of conversations designed to stimulate and challenge.
In the “Personal Growth” study we’ll be going through, host Donald Miller interviews Dr. Henry Cloud, author of the best-seller Boundaries. Here are just some of the questions they discuss:
- Why is it important to have community to help us grow?
- Why is it hard to be vulnerable?
- How do I set boundaries for myself?
- How do painful experiences help us grow?
One of the most powerful and significant questions that comes up throughout this series is this: “What does it mean to show up and meet the demands of life??
Over the summer, our Community Groups will be meeting every other week and discussing these questions and more, seeking to mature and grow together. If you’re not yet a part of a home-based group, click here to learn more about them or email Nathan Fish to find out how you can connect.
Haiti Relief Update
As you may remember, we took up a special offering on January 17 to assist in relief efforts in Haiti. A very generous response by our worshiping community resulted in $1,200 being sent to CAMA Services.
Here is an official update from the Christian & Missionary Alliance:
Haiti Update
After the devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti in January, the Alliance family responded with overwhelming generosity, having given over $856,000 toward relief efforts to date. Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA), the C&MA’s relief and development arm, moved quickly to meet immediate needs and will continue to be involved in long-term rebuilding and development work in the impoverished nation during the months and years ahead.