The Bridge

I got a phone call this morning saying the local new channel KTVO would be filming a story this afternoon on the Secret Stop & Shop (our free store in the High School). I decided to go over and watch the taping. Laurie Palmer who is head of IJAG and running the show for the Stop Shop was interviewed and did an awesome job. She name dropped The Bridge several times and the story will air tonight at 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00.

Also heard a story of a girl who came up yesterday with her mom to try and find a prom dress. She was able to find one and she was just beaming with joy. Laurie told her she looked beautiful and her and her mom both teared up. I love loving on people. 

After riding some great momentum the past two months we encountered a small set back. I’m not sure if it was because a long time friend drove in from Michigan to check us out, the Lords desire to shake things up, or the fact that the talk was entitled “SNOW” but we had to cancel for the first time in our brief history because of the weather. Very quickly we realized we didn’t have a great a plan in place for canceling our service.

This Sunday we will attempt to revisit snow and we have bumped rain into the emergency sermon files.

Lon Wong will be flying in March 1 and spending the night with our family and blessing us March 2 with a message. As it turns out he will be in front of full theatric stage set because later that day there is a city wide play being performed in the Bridge View Center.

Student Ministries is set back a week. We originally were set to launch our first get together this Wednesday but without a service to properly pump it up we have pushed it back a week.

Women’s Ministry launches this Wednesday. We are very pumped about this with 18 women signing up to be a part of our first ever woman’s group. They will meet every other Wednesday for 20 or so weeks.

Men’s Group has been a bit of a roller coaster. We have had 16 different men but have yet to hit double digits on a single meeting. My conclusion is sometimes life is just messy.

Thursday night we are having a set up, usher, hospitality, greeter meeting. I’m so jacked about this meeting. The number one comment we get on what people observed about the Bridge falls into those areas. We have some of the best welcomers in the world. Usually another event is going on in the Bridge View Center and our welcomers and whole crew is always trying to help people get to where they need to be even if it is to the Gun Show. They also are quick to tell them to stop and get some coffee and a cookie from our table before they go into their own event. Drive by peek ins continue to happen. I love our location!

IKEA run. Jenny and I as well as Kate and Sarah are headed to Minnesota and while up there we will be making an IKEA run. We have recently finished painting our office and plan to get some desks and a couple book shelves. Many have offered us great items such as these but we believe in order to maximize on our space and set ourselves up for growth that it is time to reconfigure where we work. Our old desks are up for grabs as well as two couches.

Joe Lubach is the man - He recently mailed me a CD I lost. It is called World Mandate 2000 by Jeff Searless. I received my original copy from Justice Jones several years ago and left my copy in a compute I was borrowing when mine was being fixed. The CD was never found and after an hour looking online for it I e-mailed Joe who still had his copy. This disk has one of my top 5 songs of all time - Lord Let Your Glory Fall (this version only) a short 10:09 long version. Rounding out my top 5 would include Addoni by the Supertones, Jesus paid it all by Kristian Stanfill, Safe With You by Skillet, and Worlds Apart by Jars of Clay. Young MC’s Just Bust A Move just missed the cut.

I recently read Nelson Searcy’s book Launch and Fusion and am looking forward to his new book on Small Groups. Simply the most practical church planting advise I’ve read thus far. I’m also enjoying a commentary on Nehemiah by Boice which has been very insightful on leadership.

Sandy Blom payed a visit to the Bridge office on Friday. She helped us move 80 prom dresses into the Free Store at the High School which opens tomorrow. Then she helped brainstorm and organize the many thoughts that were in my head. Sandy you are a ROCK STAR!

At our staff meeting this morning we had a devotional on avoiding getting into a rut taken from Judges. One of the key questions we processed was how do we make sure we keep thinking up ideas?

My brother continues to do an amazing job with our design. Pray for him. He’s close to burnt out.

My other brother recently launched a new service at Third Church. I am blown away at how original their service is. I’m serious. I don’t know of another church that has a service like this. If you are looking for something fresh, spirit led, and simply awesome come check it out!

Lydia is cutting some teeth, Toby has a bat in the wall of his room that makes a ton of noise at night, and Jenny hasn’t had a night of more then 4 hours of sleep in 8 months.

I have the most amazing wife ever and lately she has really been taking it for the team. I was gone for a week, nights have been filling up with extra meetings, and Lydia has jumped backwards in sleeping patterns by getting up numerous times during the night. But she did something far greater then anything I’ve just listed earlier this week.

A great friend to The Bridge and would be member (if we had members) passed away this week. Jenny set out to make the family a pie. She decided to make a rhubarb pie (personally that seemed cruel to me) but after circumstances prevented her from delivering she thought she would have a piece and see how it tasted and just make them another one. Later that evening she started complaining and saying she didn’t feel so well. Around 1:00am Jenny went to give Lydia a little snack when I hear “Maarrrttt - Maaarrrttt” in a faint and stressed voiced. As I’m scurrying to Lydia’s room she yells for me to get a trash can. As I enter the room there my wife is laying on the floor with child close by and I get the trash can under head just in time! After careful evaluation and confirmation that child number three didn’t sneak up on us we identified food poisoning nailed and its source - THE RHUBARB PIE! The next day at the funeral I was able to bless the family by telling them Jenny decided to be their cup bearer and poison herself rather then them.

Yet another first for us at The Bridge. We said goodbye to Wendell Schultz. Wendell has been with the Bridge ever since our first service. He and his family quickly jumped in and wanted to be a part of the mission and anything else we talked about. Wendell could often be seen dancing around in the front few rows during worship. His most impacting moment on me came just two weeks ago and mens group. We had just started going through the book Chasing Daylight and the conversation was on the dash in-between our birth date and death date. Wendell puzzled us all by how he talked about his dash and left most of desiring more wisdom from him. This past Sunday morning Wendell passed away. Yesterday was his funeral and the first I had ever done. I will always remember Wendell, his dash, and his dancing. I’ll also remember Wendell with certain songs. The family gave me a cd with some of Wendell’s favorite songs. The dude listened to some sweet tunes and I’m sure he’s busting a move right now.