Author Archive
Back to School Block Party
We’re throwing a party for the community on the last Friday night of Summer!
On July 29th, we invite all students — from pre-schoolers to seniors in high school — to enjoy the fun. Free inflatables, games, and food! We’ll be giving away free school supplies to the first 300 students who register. In addition, there will be drawings throughout the night for backpacks, gift cards, and other special prizes.
You’ll be hearing much more about it as the day draws closer; but for now, we want to give everyone an opportunity to help out and prepare for the event.
Contact the planning team if you want to jump in and help with the organizing and behind-the-scenes prep work.
Want to make a donation? Here are the supplies we’ll be collecting:
Must Haves:
Crayons, #2 pencils, glue sticks, erasers, notebook paper, rulers, and scissors
Backpacks:
We hope to give away 100 new backpacks
Gift Cards:
Old Navy, Target, Wal-Mart … we’re thinking new clothes for back-to-school!
Grand Prizes:
We hope to have a couple of new bikes, maybe a Wii or XBox, who knows …!!
If you want to donate toward any of these, please bring your items to our Sunday morning worship gatherings in July or email us to arrange a time for dropping them off at the Nexus Building.
Help for Spouses of Fallen Soldiers in the 3/1 Brigade
I’m posting to let you know about a need and an opportunity to serve. Please take a minute and read the letter I received from Janna, a military spouse in our community who works with Operation Faithful Support on Fort Knox.
———-
Hello everyone,
I am apart of a volunteer group called Operation Faithful Support. This is a program that supports the spouses of deployed soldiers which, as most of you know, is currently the 3/1 Brigade. I went through this program personally when my husband was deployed and I can tell you it made a huge difference to me! It is a faith-based relational program that meets every third Sunday to talk about issues that come with the deployment process. Our goal is to show God’s love to these families and help keep their marriages strong.
Recently, there have been multiple casualties in 3/1. As you might imagine, this has severely affected many of the spouses. As a result, they have asked us to set up a crisis session for them to better deal with these losses.
Unfortunately, the church that we usually meet in is not available at this time. I am asking if The Bridge Community would be willing to provide a place to meet, as well as volunteers for childcare for this crisis session.
Would you be willing to help us? We will need several people to care for the children and provide a welcoming, loving presence. It is this coming Sunday, May 1, from 3:30 to 6:00pm.
Your sister in Christ,
Janna Servideo
———-
If you can help this Sunday, please send an email now!
Getting to Know The Bridge Community: Decentralized Ministry
This is Part 4 of a series of blog posts, “Getting to Know The Bridge.” In this post, Wayne writes about the simplicity of church. To read all posts in this series, click here.
It is our goal to be a relational place where all believers have the opportunity to join in the mission. This means the church will not develop competing activities at a central place. It is simply not our goal to have programs at the building every night of the week. Instead, we encourage everyone to simplify their lives and embrace the biblical functions of C.O.S.M.O.S. with others in “Community Groups.” And I hope everyone will embrace their role as disciples of Jesus, on mission, embedded with those you live with and work with. Sometimes, attending a neighbor’s cookout or your child’s ballgame with other families is more important than a Bible study at the “church building.”
It’s my prayer for our community that this missional way of life become part of a holistic, natural flow of life for us all – in the neighborhood, workplace, and family!
The role of staff in a decentralized ministry:
We are committed to a bi-vocational approach to leadership. Strategically, staff members and ministry overseers will seek employment outside the church for a portion of their financial needs. The Leadership Team exists to equip the church community to do the work of ministry.
The role of facilities in a decentralized ministry:
The church does not consist of a building; rather buildings can be tools for ministry. Throughout our history, we’ve always sought to use neutral facilities, like school gymnasiums and retail storefronts, because they eliminated barriers that may have kept some people away from “church.” And now, with our purchase of the Nexus Building, we will continue this commitment. We must hold loosely to the building and not get caught up in “ownership” of the space. Lots of good ministry and connection will still happen in homes. The building exists to be a “hub” to help facilitate ministry that requires a larger or public space.
Rather than being a destination, the building will serve as a launchpad for mission!
An Advent Prayer
So, December is here (with a snow-flake or two this morning!) and the so called “holiday season” is upon us. I hope you’ll spend some time with this “prayer.” It’s a reminder of the rhythm of life that God has for us – a healthy, holistic, slower-than-you-think-you-can-manage(!) rhythm …
Happy Advent!
The lord is my pace setter . . . I shall not rush
He makes me stop for quiet intervals
He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity
He leads me in the way of efficiency through calmness of mind and his guidance is peace
Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here
His timelessness, his all importance will keep me in balance
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility
My cup of joyous energy overflows
Truly harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours for I shall walk in the Pace of my Lord and dwell in his house for ever.
A version of Psalm 23 from Japan, as reprinted in Mother Teresa, Life in the Spirit: Reflections, Meditations, Prayers
An Idea for Your Devotional Time in Advent
The season of Advent began yesterday and so we are officially in a time of expectation and waiting for the coming of Jesus! It is, as the songwriter said, “the most wonderful time of the year!” However, as you know, it can be a season that brings great anxiety, pressure, and even depression.
Last week, I encouraged you to “re-set” the rhythm of your life to the quiet waiting of Advent. Now, I’d like to offer one way you can put action to that. This is a great tradition you might want to try out during your personal prayer time in the next four weeks. It’s a great experience for families as well.
You can easily make your own Advent Candle to help focus your prayer and devotional time during this season. Get a tall, slender candle – something like a 12 inch dinner candle.
Then take a ruler and felt tip pen. Start about an inch from the bottom so there’s enough candle to stand up. Then mark all the way up the candle, twenty-six evenly spaced segments. The candle in the picture is, of course, store-bought, but it gives you the idea!
You can then use your felt tip pen to mark the dates. Starting at the top with December 1, all the way to 24 at the bottom.
Then, choose a time every day when you can burn one segment. A slender candle takes 10-20 minutes, depending on the length, width and quality of wax.
What to do while the candle burns? You could use the time to sit in silence, or read, or pray. You might make a family commitment to sit together silently, praying for one another. Advent is traditionally a time of waiting: perhaps you can pray every day for a person or place that is waiting for news, or peace, or healing.
If you’d like a daily schedule of scripture readings for Advent, here is a good list to work from.
I hope you’ll take the next two days to prepare for this “new” tradition! It’s actually very old, but it’s been a new experience for me and my family, and we’ll be doing it again this season.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for focal points or things to contemplate during the burning of each segment, please share them in the comments below.
Looking Forward to the Advent Season
This Sunday, November 28, is the first Sunday in Advent. It is a season of preparation, a season of waiting, and a season of expectation. It sets the stage for Christmas, but it’s important that we recognize it is not the same as Christmas.
Popular culture knows something about the true meaning of Christmas, but it knows little to nothing of the meaning of Advent. It’s a danger for the church that we end up in the same position. In our rush to the manger, we skim over the anticipation of Advent. We might want to fast-forward to “Joy to the World,” forsaking the plaintive cry of “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
For centuries, the Christian community has viewed the experience of Advent as a way of preparing our hearts for Christmas morning. I want to invite you to be a little “counter-cultural” this season! When all around you are Christmas decorations and muzak-interpretations of the great carols(!), remember Advent. Beginning this Sunday, we’ll begin a four-week series of worship experiences designed around the themes of Advent. We’ll be talking about what it means to enter into the expectation and longing for the coming of Jesus. My prayer is that we all experience a spiritual “re-boot!” - that the rhythm of our lives will be recalibrated so we’re able to experience deeply the truth of God with us!
I invite you to the worship gathering this Sunday at 10:00am. Even more, I invite you to enter into the season of Advent every day, beginning this Sunday!
A Prayer for Advent
In this season of expectation
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
Into the bustle of our lives
and the hard to find moments of solitude
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
Into our homes and situations
along with friends and families
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
Into our hearts, and those often hidden parts of our lives
We prepare to welcome Christ Jesus, Messiah
For beneath the surface of your story
is an inescapable fact
You entered this world
as vulnerable as any one of us
in order to nail that vulnerability to the cross.
Our fears, our insecurities and our sins
all that can separate us from God
exchanged by your Grace for Love.
We cannot comprehend the reasoning
only marvel that Salvation comes to us
through a baby born in a stable,
and reaches out to a world in need.
[Prayer written by John Birch]
Update on Renovations at the Nexus Building
I want to let you know what’s going on at the building. Over the next two weeks, contractors will be at the building working on connecting the gas for heat (yes, it seems it’s that time of year!) and hooking up all the lights in the multi-purpose room, among other things. But, as it’s been throughout this project, most of the labor is going to be done by volunteers!
I’d like to ask you to take a look at the link below, please. It shows a list of jobs remaining to complete this phase of the renovation. The goal is to finish by Thanksgiving!
As you look down the list, you’ll see one or two things you could help with — I’m sure of it! If you can give any time in the next two weeks, day or evening, please send an email to info@bridgecommunity.org and let us know your availability.
There will be two more organized work days:
- This Thursday (11/11) evening from 6:30 – 8:30
- Next Saturday (11/20) from 9am – 2pm with lunch provided!
If you can come for either of these group work times, great – please send an email to info@bridgecommunity.org if you plan on coming.
But what if you can’t come on either of these organized times? Well, that’s where we’ll be flexible! If you can come and do a job or two – any time – an hour here or there – please let us know and we’ll do everything we can to make sure you have the tools and materials needed. Just send us an email with the times you can volunteer and we’ll set it up!
Thanks for all you’ve done so far! Look forward to working with you a couple more times before the holiday season begins!
Peace
Wayne
As a “PS,” I want to share with you just SOME of the things going on at the building in the next two months …
These are just a few of the reasons to put in the time to finish the space! Hope you can come help out!
Volunteer? Or Disciple?
What do you consider yourself? A “volunteer” or a “disciple”?
What’s the difference? What do I mean? I want to refer you to this blog post by Jamie Arpin-Ricci exploring volunteerism as a poor substitute for Christian discipleship. What are your thoughts? What can we do in our community to avoid the “volunteer” approach to mission?
I look forward to responding to your comments below …
Commissioning of Open House This Sunday
This Sunday during our worship gathering, we’ll be having a very special commissioning service for the people of Open House. The leaders and all those connected in community with Open House have been invited to worship with us. We’ll be praying for them as they embark on a new stage in their journey as a church!
Open House is the first church plant of The Bridge. From our start in 2004, we have understood our calling to be a “church that plants churches” — to become many instead of mega. A lot of prayer and listening to God from 2005-2008 led to this new thing that would become “Open House!” Eight people from within our community began meeting together in the Fall of 2008, dreaming about a fresh expression of church that would reach more people and connect them to Jesus!
After a season of prayer and forming their initial identity, they began gathering “publicly” for worshp in the Spring of ’09. Saturday evenings worshiping together in the old Ministry Center were interrupted just a bit(!) as we made the transition to the new facility last fall. But after a brief time of meeting in homes, as soon as the front of the new Nexus Building was available, they began worshiping there. They continue to worship in the front cafe at the building each Saturday night at 6:00.
I encourage you to read more of the story of Open House at their website.
It began as a group of people from The Bridge. It has grown into a unique community with it’s own spiritual DNA. They are connecting with new people and continually growing! It is an exciting time in the life of Open House – and that means it’s an exciting time in the life of The Bridge Community, because we’ll always be one church! I hope you’ll be there this Sunday as we celebrate what God has done and look forward to what he’ll do next!
The Church Scattered: Marcia Orban and the Work of Clarity
The church gathers and the church scatters. We are the church not only when we come together for worship, but also when we are sent out on mission!
Our church community is made up of an amazing group of individuals! So many of those who call The Bridge their home church are engaged in ministry outside the walls of the building. And this is the way it’s supposed to be! You are the church “scattered” into your unique world of family, work, and neighborhood, and family.
This is the first blog entry in a series focusing on some of the ways Bridge Community people are serving in the world.
I asked Marcia Orban to tell us about the work she does in Elizabethtown at Clarity … Solutions for Women.
What is Clarity…Solutions for Women?
At Clarity, our mission is to serve Jesus Christ. He has called us to serve Him by serving a very specific group of people; those facing (or at risk for) an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.
We serve our clients through a variety of programs. Check out our web site to see some of the services we offer.
Sharing the hope and healing found in and through Jesus Christ is the center focus of this ministry. We pray with and for our clients. We share the truth of the gospel and help clients grow in understanding of what it means to truly follow Christ.
Clarity is a ministry of the body of Christ. We are financed completely by donations from individuals, churches, Christian businesses, and organizations.
If you would like to be a part of what we’re doing, here are some ways you can help:
- Volunteer! We need volunteers to answer phones and greet clients, act as mentors, stock and organize the resource room, work with men, clean, do maintenance and yard work, help with special projects and mailings, and many other things. Want to learn more? Email me.
- Pray! Many of our clients would like someone to regularly pray for them. Call us at 270-234-1122! We will be delighted to give you the first name of a client who desires prayer.
- Donate! We gladly accept donations of new or gently used maternity clothing, children’s clothing 0-4T, diapers, wipes, and baby equipment. We welcome financial donations.
- Walk! Our annual Walk for Life will be held September 18th. Join us for this fun, easy paced two-mile walk. If you can’t walk, sponsor someone who is walking! Contact Tracey for more information on how to register.