Workin' on getting away

Haven't been a good poster lately. Been hectic times 'round here!

In less than 2 months, our church is having our first women's retreat. I am so very excited about it on many levels.
1. It will be at Camp Willow Run. I believe that my affection for that place has been well established.

2. It's a get-away from the daily routine. Can I get an amen?

3. I LOVE love LOVE the women at The Bridge.

Almost 9 months ago, God put this retreat on my heart. Although the initial plan was to bring in a speaker, God has shown me otherwise. He actually laid 3 different talks on my heart one evening several months ago. And I struggled with it for a bit - not wanting to take on so much. But, I felt God leading. So, I will be speaking. And I'm trusting that where God guides, He also provides! :) I am a little nervous, but excited about what God is prompting me to share.

Our theme is Undivided Heart - Where Faith Fits in Frazzled Lives. Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. (Psalm 86:11). Something I feel that every woman can relate to on some level.

God Stories

Mike started our staff meeting on Wednesday by just listing off recent "God Stories" at The Bridge - ways we have seen God do awesome things in the lives of people at our church. It was just incredible to look at that list and think about each of those lives that have been changed by God. It's so easy to get side-tracked with doing the ministry that we forget to step back and just praise Him for what He has done in and through us. God has been more than faithful. My heart is so full of praise and celebration!

Now that we are finally back in town for a good stretch, I've been a busy little bee trying to get back into the full swing of things with church. There are so many things coming this fall that I am very excited about... Lake Day/Baptism, Women's Night out events, Family Fun Day, our first Women's retreat... just to name a few.

I can hardly wait to see the God Stories coming in the weeks to come!

Bunco blast

My mom has talked about the Bunco parties she and her friends have for years. I have never played. I actually looked online on where to buy the game... little did I know! What I did find were HUNDREDS of sites with their own Bunco rules and clubs for playing. (for those of you also ignorant in the world of Bunco, its a basically a game of dice rolling - no game board or anything like that). It seems that Bunco has become a huge phenomena, particularly with women.

For a Bridge Ladies Night Out event I suggested we have a game night with Bunco. Fortunately, my friend Joanne is much experienced with this game, and she was both hostess with the most-ess AND our Bunco teacher. It was fun! Basically, a no-skill game but great for socializing. Since we planned the event in advance, we had decided to have a coffee-house theme for the food. (ALL women's events revolve around food. And, true to all women's events we have, there was more food there than could possibly be eaten.) The only problem was that yesterday was a smoldering 100 degrees here and NO ONE drank any coffee! Ha!

It was a great time to connect with some women relatively new to our church. And, we have had many requests to have another Bunco night soon. Honestly, I think any activity is fun when you get a bunch of women together!

Acts 5 - Part 2

38Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. 39But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God." - Acts 5:38-39

Church planting is not the "easy road" as far as ministry work goes. Not by a long shot! In fact, there are some pretty dismal statistics about the number of church starts that fail compared to those that succeed. When my hubby first mentioned that he felt the Lord was putting church planting on his heart, I was sceptical (to say the least!). After all...we didn't know anything about starting a church from scratch! Wouldn't that require us to move and [gasp] try to find churches and individuals to sponsor us? I was pregnant at the time - just not the right timing, I thought.

But, weeks and months passed and Mike persistently kept bringing it up. We prayed for direction. Seeing him grow in conviction and resolve - I knew I was in trouble! Mike is very blessed with the gift of faith. He gets a direction from God and he is ready to immediately step out in faith and go and do whatever he is called to do. It's one of the gazillion things I love about him. I, however, am not so gifted in that area. I have the gift of organization. I see a task at hand and start coordinating all the little details needed to meet the goals. This church planting thing was WAY too overwhelming for my mind to take in!! Like the verses above, I was fighting against God. I remember fervently praying that if this was the road that the Lord wanted us to take, for Him to please give me that same calling and vision. And, to please give us some kind of inclination as to where to go from there.

It seemed that God's confirmations came one after the other. I went from finally accepting it, to having an insatiable passion for starting a new church. Those days were bathed in prayer for direction and vision. God began to lay the Morrisville community on our hearts and we couldn't shake it. He faithfully provided a launch team of incredible people who were willing to leave their home churches and take on this faith-adventure with us. Financial support came in. Meeting space was found. And, on April 16, 2006, we opened our doors for our first weekly services.

The Bridge is now approaching it's 2 year anniversary. We are having a celebration next week at church. Not to applaud us, but to celebrate with each other the work the the Lord is doing there. As part of the celebration, we've asked folks to email us their "Bridge Story" or how God has worked in their life as a result of The Bridge. Already, the stories bring such tears of joy!

I look around the people at The Bridge and it is so amazing to see the lives that have been changed. People who were far from God, who are now Christ-followers. People who had been scarred by churches in the past finding a church that loves and accepts them. The best way I can describe it is that I feel like I have front row tickets to watching an incredible work of God. "For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God."

Catalyst '07 - what reverberates within me...

Attending a powerful conference, such a Catalyst, leaves me a little awestruck, convicted, and revved up to serve at The Bridge. There was so much wealth of insight. So much that I think it will take time to fully process all of it. It was easy to sit and take notes of the great quotes and thoughts... but this is far insufficient until I explore the many facets that I need to apply to me (& my ministry & my church).

So, while I digest all of this, I thought I would at least highlight some of the "nuggets" from the conference that struck me:

• Its time for churches to move away from promoting "moral legislation", and focus more on changing the hearts & lives. A pastor shouldn't preach a message without having an avenue for people to respond. It is the role of the church to help people take next steps. Christians are not hated for being righteous, but for our self-righteousness. [ouch] We must redeem the word "Christian". It has a bad connotation today. (from authors of UNchristian - the book next on my reading list...more on this later)
• You can be successful in ministry or building a church without truly loving God or the people of your church. (Francis Chan)
• Practical Atheism -- defn.=believes God exists, but does life as if He doesn't. Happens even to those in ministry at times. We start to believe our efforts are greater than God's power. We believe our private life doesn't effect our public ministry. We feel we must please people more than we please God. The way I do the work of God can destroy the work of God in me. (Craig Groeshel)
• Intentionally add value to people everyday. (John Maxwell)

In addition, I was challenged to pursue more social injustice outlets for The Bridge. And, maybe ways that we can be "green" (no, tim, I am not a tree hugger).

I found out about this company that is doing an incredible thing - they sell these shoes, and for every pair bought they provide shoes for someone in an impoverished country that cannot afford them. Great story and concept. I bought a pair of TOMS. Check out their site and story.

Perhaps you will be hearing more as I am able to process it all. :)

life in fast-forward

Last week was very hectic. I spent almost all free time running around town getting ready for the Bridge Family Fun Day we had on Saturday. It turned out GREAT. I was so pleased. The kids had a blast with all the inflatables! And, we had a ton of people from the community come enjoy the food and activities. Lots of connections made.

It seems like every time life gets way crazy... a speed bump comes along to slow me down and ground me.... Jackson is sick. Nothing bad - just enough to stay at home and rest until this bug passes. Hopefully by Wednesday, since I am supposed to go to a conference with the church staff and he's scheduled to have some quality time with Granddaddy and GrandDee. We'll see. In the meantime, I am enjoying a super snugly little one....I love that part! :)

Holy Cow - - it's October.

Geese & The Bridge

(from my last "Mom 2 Mom...devotional thoughts for Bridge Moms")

I've been thinking lately about how geese remind me of The Bridge. Sounds odd, I know. Let me explain. Have you ever wondered why geese fly in a "V" formation? Research shows that these birds use this formation to conserve energy. They are able to glide more often. And, the V formation reduces the air resistance, enabling the geese to fly long distances - up to 70% farther than if they flew alone. It was also found that the geese take turns leading a the front of the V. As one bird gets tired, they can drop back and another will take its place at the front. That's incredible teamwork and support!

In so many ways, I see GEESE in the people of The Bridge. We have Connection groups that pray, study the Bible, go out to eat, and look out or each other when life gets difficult. It takes a small army to get The Bridge up and running on Sunday mornings as we transform the building from a school to a church - and back again. What profoundly impresses me, though, is the JOY that I see on the faces around me as we serve together. There's something in the DNA of our church that makes people say "it's not all about me". We are all on this spiritual journey together. There are times when some of us are weak and tired, and our friends are there with support and love. That is what being the church, a spiritual family, is about. And, that is what makes me so proud to call The Bridge my church family.

"Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another" (Heb. 10:25).

"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself" (Gal. 6:2-3).

Only Grace

Every now and then a song comes along that seems to epitomize my thoughts and feelings... and this song becomes my anthem, so to speak, for a period of time. For a long time I was hooked on the praise song "In Christ Alone". I still love it.

However, there is a song that I am now captivated by -"Only Grace" by Matthew West. I think what I am drawn to the most is how this song reminds me of why Mike and I started The Bridge. A place free of judgement. We love our community so much, and our hearts ache for them to see the love that God has for them. So many have come to our church without any church background. Others are de-churched... they have been burned by church in the past. They are finding a place of acceptance. Most importantly, they are finding Christ. It is only by grace...the grace that I don't deserve, but that God pours on me... and you. Beyond amazing.

I have the lyrics below, and if you would like to hear the song, play the video below (someone made up this video, it’s not the artist’s video for the song - but it's really great).

Only Grace - by Matthew West

There is no guilt here
There is no shame
No pointing fingers
There is no blame
What happened yesterday
Has disappeared
The dirt has washed away
And now it’s clear

Chorus:There’s only grace
There’s only love
There’s only mercy
And believe me it’s enough
Your sins are gone
Without a trace
There’s nothing left now
There’s only grace

You’re starting over now
Under the sun
You’re stepping forward now
A new life has begun
Your new life has begun

Chorus

And if you should fall again
Get back up, get back up
Reach out and take my hand
Get back up, Get back up
Get back up again

Chorus: (2x’s)

Ladies Night Out

A big group of women from The Bridge hit the town tonight -- coffee and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM-O! It was so much fun and I really enjoyed chatting with the women of our church!! In fact, I think I liked meeting and talking to these women even MORE than the cheesecake - and that's hard to beat!! I love you, ladies! Let's do a recipe swap soon!!

A reason to celebrate

On Sunday, my church had a really fun lake day and baptism service. It was a beautiful day, and I was so pleased to see the great turn out. Can I just say that I LOVE the people of our church??!! They are so fun, and caring... and they have such a servant's heart! We baptized 3 (2 others couldn't make it due to sickness). Praise the Lord - He is certainly at work!

Besides the baptisms, I feel like our church has so much to celebrate. Church planters are often warned to brace themselves for the summer months when attendance deflates and people feel burned out. This summer, our church is breaking new record attendance and we continue to see new-comers each week, even with multiple "regulars" out of town.

Church work can certainly be exhausting at times, but God continues to remind us why we are doing this. And, His blessing abound!