Doritos Superbowl Commericial

One of the things I learned as a summer camp counselor at Camp Willow Run was that you can “be a Christian and have fun!”  Therefore, just for funsies, I want you to help.  Our friends, Dale and Cori, can possibly win a MILLION dollars with one of the commercials they submitted to the Doritos “Crash the Super Bowl” competition.  Dale and Cori (and friends) have already had a commercial in the Super Bowl in 2007 (see youtube version below).  And this year, they are giving it another go.  Their team submitted two commericials among the over 4,000 entrants and BOTH of their commercials are in the final six!  The top three make it to the Super Bowl.  The number one rated Super Bowl commercial wins the MILLION DOLLARS!

So, how can you help?  Go to www.crashthesuperbowl.com, register, watch the commericials and vote for one of their two commercials.   Their commercials are called “Underdog” and “Kids These Days.”  Also, to learn more about their team and commercials, go to their website – www.doritoscontest.com.  Be sure to vote everyday and recruit your friends and family to vote as well.  Update your twitter and facebook status with links to crashthesuperbowl so we get the viral effect going!

Church? In a preschool???

This past Sunday, I was privileged to share a message on the vision of  our church.  As a part of that message, I was able to share several “Bridge Stories” of Bridge attenders and how God has been at work in their life.  In one of the stories, a young lady wrote:

 ”I quickly learned that it is not the physical structure that makes a church.”

I love this statement.  In context, she was talking about how at first she thought it odd that our young church met in a preschool.  She wondered how we could have “mass” in such an environment.  But, as she said, it’s not the building that makes up the church.  This is incredibly insightful.  The church is to be so much more than a building.  It’s a community.  It’s a body of people who are on a faith journey together.  Their direction, their vision, their purpose is to know God and find their lives in him.  As they get to know Him, the vision for their life, their church will become clear.

My vision message from Sunday ultimately was made plain in this verse:

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

As we focus on who Jesus is, and discover what he is passionate about, we can then become passionate about the same things.

Tiger Woods and Billy Graham

We all know what’s happening with Tiger Woods.  If you’re like me, you’re disappointed, but not surprised.  Men of  character and integrity are hard to find.  Which is why a man like Billy Graham seems so rare.  The way I understand it, Billy Graham made a decision EARLY in life to never be alone in the same place with any woman besides his wife.  He didn’t want to leave any room for temptation or for accusations.  Which is why, like yesterday, that everytime I get on an elevator, I think of Graham.  I heard once that if Graham was on the elevator by himself, and a woman got in the elevator, he got out and waited for the next opportunity in order to guard himself against temptation and accusation.  May all of us men (and women) strive to have such character and integrity and live lives above reproach.  (And let’s also be willing to have grace and forgive when we and others fail in our attempts.)

“…he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do.” Nehemiah 7:2

Two Great Organizations to Support

While at the Catalyst Conference two weeks ago, I was certainly moved by two organizations that are making a difference in our world - Hope International and Compassion International.  Let me tell you a little about each.

Hope International is “a Christian faith-based, 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on alleviating physical and spiritual poverty through microenterprise development.”  In other words, they collect donations and then LOAN that money out to entrepreneurs in impoverished situations.  The small loans enable these men and women to grow their businesses and support their families.  The loans, of course, are paid back.  The money is then recycled into another loan to help another family.  Wow.  Great idea.  At Catalyst, Hope International gave away over $120,ooo to the Catalyst attendees (approximately 13,000 of us).  Each person received $10 and then was challenged to turn their $10 into $100 and send it back to Hope to become a loan for a needy family.  That $120,000 has the potential to become 1.2 million if all of us successfully multiply our gift.  To learn more about the microlending program, visit their site at www.neverendinghope.org.

Compassion International is an organization most of us have already heard of.  Compassion offers the opportunity to sponsor children in poverty at the cost of $38 per month.  Each sponsorships helps provide opportunitiy for education, health living, and connection with a church family that will help the child understand the love and grace of God through His Son Jesus.  At Catalyst, I had the opportunity to witness the live testimony of a young Kenyan man named Jimmy who was sponsored through Compassion and who’s life was changed.  There at Catalyst, as Jimmy shared his story, he also got to meet his sponsor there on stage in an incredible emotional exchange of tears and gratitude.  To see this powereful moment, click here.

Just two weeks ago, we collected a special offering at church.  Over $450 was donated to send $100 to Hope International and to sponsor a child through Compassion.  Our childs name is Frank January Manyanda.  He is pictured above.  He i s 7 years old and lives in Tanzania.  When we receive our sponsorship packet, I will let you know how you can contribute and support Frank through our church.

Thank you all for giving!

Things We Say – The Heartbeat

Last post I talked about “the pulse” – our Connection Cards.  But what gives the pulse life?  The heartbeat.  And the heartbeat of the Bridge is the Connection Group.  Connection Groups are otherwise known as small groups or Bible studies.  These groups come in all sorts of shapes and sizes – men’s, women’s, co-ed, youth, on Sundays, or midweek, with childcare, without childcare, etc.  Some of our Groups are ongoing, and some are close-ended. But why are they the heartbeat?

Connection Groups are the heartbeat of The Bridge b/c we believe they are the place where real life is encountered.  Sunday mornings are great, and hopefuly life-changing at times.  But Sunday mornings are a larger mass of people where we can easily blend in and get lost in a crowd.  Growth happens on Sundays, but it is only a part of the equation of how we grow and develop spiritually.  At The Bridge, we really believe that being a part of a Connection Group is essential to a healthy spiritual life.  Connect groups are a place where we are known, cared for and encouraged in our walk with God.   Connect Groups are a chance to go deeper, learn more, and put into practice what we learning.

Making the step to be a part of a Connection Group is not always an easy one.  Some people jump right in, but others aren’t as inclined.  Many of us are a little more introverted and prefer to keep it that way!  Even so, I really believe that being a part of one our groups is vital to spiritual growth.  Introverted or extroverted, we need others to help us grow.  The Bible speaks repeatedly of how followers of Christ are to “love one another” or “serve one another” or “forgive one another.”  There are TONS of these “one another’ statements!  And we can’t “one another” one another unless we are in relationships.  Connection Groups are where these “one anothers” are able to happen.

Anyway…join a Connection Group!  They are AWESOME!  If you want to make that plunge, check the box on your Connection Card Sunday or fill out a request on our website to join a group @ http://bit.ly/3VACluand write “Connection Group” in the “Comment” section!

The Pulse

Every Sunday @ The Bridge we ask people to fill out a “Connection Card” and we often say, “this is the pulse of our church.”   The Connection Card  is the little tear off sheet attached to the bulletin where you can fill-in your name, address, SS #, CC #, etc.  Just Kidding.  We do ask everyone to fill out the card which does include info like name, address, kids, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.  It’s tedious work.  Some of you may wonder, “Why do I have to fill out this dad-blame(sp?) card every week?”  But there are a number of reason we do this. 

1. We believe the Connect Card is the pulse of our church.  When someone fills out their card, we are learning something about them.  Did they have a prayer request?  Is God calling them to some point of decision?  Do they want to join a Connection Group?  All these things help us to get a guage or pulse on what is happening in the life of our church. 
2. Another reason we ask everyone to fill out a card is that we REALLY want our newcomers to fill out a card so we can send them a “thank you” for investing some of their time in us.  We want to be able to let our newcomers know that we are really glad that we had a connection point with them.  But here’s the deal, if we only ask newcomers to fill out the card, it singles them out!  We don’t want to do this!  We want everyone to blend together as one big happy church family.  If everyone else is filling out a card, our newcomers are more likely to fill out their card.

So, when we ask you to fill out your Connection Card each week, let me say “thanks” in advance for doing just that.  Your doing that helps us check our pulse and engage our newcomers.

Things we say

Something we repeat often @ The Bridge, but not always in the same way, is that people are in need of help, hope and healing.  This goes along right along with our vision of being “outwardly-focused.”  We remind ourselves of this b/c it is so easy to forget.  It is so easy for us turn inward, and think only of our own problems, and forget that people all around us are hurting, needing hope and healing.  All of us are pretty good at putting on our masks.  We clean up pretty good on the outside, but on the inside there is often a lot of doubt, fear, self-loathing, guilt, etc, etc, etc.  I think it is our natural tendency to just blind ourselves from the reality that people we are around us are in need.  If we didn’t wear our mask or tried to see past everyone elses, it would really become overwhelming.  But it is so important that we don’t become so inwardly focused to the neglect of everyone around us.  It is to overwhelming to know about and want to help those who are hurting, needing hope and healing.  But we aren’t the savior.  It is not our job to ‘fix’ everybody. Our hope is in God.  And God is the hope we can share with those in need.

So, know this, people are hurting.  They want help.  They desire healing.  They may not show it.  They may not say it.  But a lot of them are hoping that someone cares and has that hope, help or healing from them.  Care enough today to look past someone’s mask and love them.  Lend a hand.  Pray for them.  Serve them.  Invest your life in theirs.  You may be the one that plants that seed of hope that leads that friend, neighbor, family member to put their trust in God.

Things we say @ The Bridge

If you go to The Bridge, you’ll notice that we will say the same things over and over again.  We repeatedly say and remind ourselves about what is important to us.  Like vision. The reason for this is that “Vision Leaks.”  That’s one of the things we say @ The Bridge.  Vision Leaks.   Our vision is to be an outwardly-focused church.  This means we focus on honoring God and not doing church for us, but for God and for others.  All too often, a church, which starts with a focus on God and letting others know about God’s love for them, begins to turn inward and focus on itself.  The vision has begun to leak.  We begin to create programs and opportunities that benefit the members, attenders and insiders, and lose sight of the fact that the church is “God’s Plan A’” for reaching the world (see Ephesians 3:10).  We begin to lose the healthy balance between developing our own faith and sharing that faith with a world that desperately needs, hope, help and healing. The vision is leaking.

By reminding ourselves that “Vision Leaks”, it will hopefully help us keep our vision in mind of being “outwardly-focused” – to live our lives and do church with God’s perspective and God’s heart for people.  We don’t take the best spot in the parking lot at church when it’s available.  We leave it open, so maybe, just maybe, a newcomer to church finds it open and has an easier time getting into our building for church on Sunday.  We avoid speaking Christianeze (using words that only someone who has been in church for 80 years and has a seminary degree would know) and instead use language that everyone relates to and understands.  We use the Bible not as a hammer to nail people for sin, but understand that we all struggle on a variety of levels and share God’s truth with love  (Ephesians 4:15) and grace so that we build a bridge into lives and not walls that further separate us.  We get to church early so we can greet people as they come and make a new friendship.  There are a zillion ways to be outwardly-focused.  And that’s the vision.  And it will leak.  So we will keep repeating it and hopefully fill it back up again.

Vision leaks.  What’s the vision?  Be outwardly-focused. Live a life not so inwardly and self-focused but is concerned about the lives around you.  People are hurting.  They need help.  They want hope.  We have it.  Live the vision.

And, I would love for you to comment with ways we are being, or could be more outwardly focused as a church or as an individual.

FPU Preview Class

Last night was our preview class for Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.  We watched a 23-minute introductory video with Dave.  He does a really great job engaging his audience and breaking down the walls we might have to listening to his advice on improving our financial lives.  A couple of things Dave said in the video have stuck with me. 

1. He asked us all to stand up, close our eyes, and point in the direction we thought was north.  Then we were to open our eyes and see where everyone was pointing.  Funny thing – we were pointing in every which direction!  Dave’s point was that a lot of times we just don’t know what direction we are headed and that can be disasterous – especially financially.  His goal is to get us headed “north” financial – to get on track.  I know I can do better with the finances I’m blessed to earn/have, but I’m not so sure I know where “north” is yet!
2. Dave said something to the effect of “No matter where any of us are in our financial lives, we can all do at least a little bit better.”  How true.  We may or may not be in financial dire straits, but we can do better.  And who wouldn’t want to do better?

Anyway…there is STILL TIME to sign up to be a part of FPU. Click here and register online at our website for best price.  We’d love to help you reach “financial peace.”

I May Cut Up My Credit Card

I LOVE my credit card.  It is so convenient (maybe too convenient!).  I love pulling up to the gas pump and swiping the card and never having to go inside.  I love going to the grocery store and swipin’ that bad boy through the card reader as I cruise through the self-checkout lane.  It’s easy.  And, it’s FREE.  Courtney and I pay off our credit cards every month.  We are disciplined.  We don’t want to be enslaved to credit card debt.  And, for 8 blessed years of marriage, we’ve paid off our credit cards each month and the credit card company makes Jack Diddily Squat off of us.  Until now.

Let me explain.  So, we go to pay off my credit card this month and discover that our bill shows that we have taken a “cash advance.”  So I’m thinking, “O great. Somebody has nabbed my CC numbers and is taken out cash advances.”  So I call the card company to inform them.  To my surprise, the card company informs me that when my check cleared the bank last month, we had insufficient funds.  So, they did us a favor.  they charged us two fees (totaling $78) and then put the balance that was unpaid back on the account as a “cash advance.”  It would have seen kind of them to put it back where it came from – a credit card purchase, but apparently they thought it would be in my best INTEREST to put in the higher INTEREST of the cash advance.  So, instead of paying a lover interest rate as a credit card purchase, they simply move it over to cash advance, for no good reason, and charge an exorbitant interest rate.

It gets better.  If you don’t know this already, it may blow you away.  Here is how paying off your cash advance works.  Your bill comes.  Let’s say its $200.  $100 in credit card purchases, and $100 in cash advance.  And you’re thinking, well, I don’t want to pay these high interest rates, let me pay that off in full.  So you send in a check for $200.  Then you wait a month, get another bill, and low and behold, you still $100 in your cash advance, accept it has actually grown b/c they charged you interest on it.  And you’re thinking, “But wait!  I paid that off!.”  No.  You didn’t.  Because the credit card company wanted to do you another favor.   Here’s what they do.  Before they receive your check for $200, you go to the store, buy a shirt, buy a happy meal and buy some gas to fill up your SUV.  You spend a total of $100.  That registers on your account, before they receive your check.  So, in their good, kind-heartedness, they figure that you would want to pay off your lower interest debts first, apply the $200 you sent in only to your credit card purchases and leave your cash advance there earning you an interest payment.  Isn’t that great?  I hope I’m being clear and this is making sense.  This is REALLY what they do.  They have created a system that will keep you forever in debt unless you go to extreme measures to pay it off.  I’ve asked, can I send in a check and specify it to pay off my cash advance.  The answer, “no.”  They won’t take it.

The only way I can pay off that cash advance is to stop using my credit card until my previous payment has cleared, or they will not apply my payment to the cash advance.  Or you can go to the bank that issued your credit card, write a check and it will clear the bank that day.

And the credit card companies KNOW they are doing this.  They know it is wrong.  And THEY DON’T CARE.  They just want you and me in debt to them.  Period.

Anyway…I have never used a debit card.  Maybe it is time.  I wonder what Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University will have to say about this???