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.

Financial Peace University

So we are in the process of mailing 15,000 postcards to our community to let them know that we are hosting a “Financial Peace University” course.  I have never been through FPU, but know many who have and can’t wait to be a part.  I know that I could be a much better “steward” of my finances.  I could totally save more, spend less, and have a ton more opportunity to be generous if I had more control over where my dollars went.  The course is 13 weeks long – so it’s a commitment.  And it does cost $93.  (That’s a reduced rate!) And, I know I am going to “buck” at many of the principles because I might not like to make the sacrifices required to improve my bottomline.  But, the reality is, if I (and my lovely bride) decide to get serious about honoring God with our income, we WILL BENEFIT long term and be able to do so much more.  It’s win/win.  I hope some of the 15,000 families near our church will come and get a grip on their finances as well.

What are you devoted to?

My Connection Group, which meets on Wednesday evenings, just finished doing a study on the book of Colossians.  In chapter 4, the author, Paul, challenges us to “Devote yourselves to prayer.”  It got me thinking about my own prayer life.  How “devoted” am I?  Which made me think, “What things in life do I know that I am devoted to?”  Once I made that list, I could then compare how I pray to these and assess my level of devotion.  So, what am I devoted to?  The quick list is easy to form: my wife, my kids, my job.  And then there are the other obvious things that we all do with devotion – hygiene, eating, sleeping.  And from there are the other individualized things we devote ourselves to.  For me it would be things like softball games, watching “The Biggest Loser” when it’s in season, etc.  Essentially, our devotion is measured by our loyalty.  The things we do consistently are the things we are devoted to.

So where does that leave me (us) and prayer?  If most of us are honest, we would rate our “prayer life” very low on a scale of 1 – 10.  There isn’t much consistency.  In fact, prayer is a foreign concept we understand little of and see very little benefit from.  When we think of prayer we usually think of memorized prayers or phrases we’ve been trained to say, and we see little value in using thing.

So where does that leave us?  It would seem that devotion to prayer would be highly unlikely.  Does this have to be the case?  I don’t think so.  Prayer is much less complex than we tend to make it out to be, and is not so much about memorized formulas as it is about learning to simply talk with a God who is more than ready to listen and respond.

This Sunday at The Bridge, Pastor Tim is going to lead us into the Living Room of our hearts where we learn the simplicity of prayer.  I hope you will come with an open heart to what God wants to reveal to you about how you can learn to make prayer as natural as breathing and an added area of devotion in your life.

New Sermon Series – My Heart, Christ’s Home

Have you ever had “house guests?”  You know – the in-laws come to stay for a week, or that weird friend who needs a place to crash for a few days?  For that time period, your life is not the same.  Someone has invaded your space, your home.  Generally, we have to make some adjustments to accommodate our guest(s).

The same is true for those of us who choose to become followers of Jesus.  The Bible says, “Then Christ will make his home in your heart…”   (Ephesians 3:17, NLT)  The faith life begins as Jesus enters the “home of our hearts.”  At first, it can be a really easy decision to make the short-term, necessary adjustments for Jesus to feel at home in our lives.  But as time goes on, we sometimes become uncomfortable with our new houseguest.   Does he really expect us to open our entire lives to Him?  What does it mean for Him to be truly at home in our hearts?  How can we find alignment between his desires and our own?

In this new message series, we will take a look at what it can be like for Jesus to become our permanent houseguest.  What are the adjustments that we can make?  How we make these adjustments?  Will He really ask me to make THAT adjustment?!?  These are questions we will answer as Jesus settles into the home of our hearts and we introduce him to the different rooms of our lives: the study, the living room, the dining room, the bedroom, the workshop, the rec room and the hall closet.

Should be fun!

Success!

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?  (I believe that’s a line from the “A-Team”).  Congrats to Pastor Matt who has successfully gotten the Bridge’s website “above the fold” on Google when someone searches to find a church in the Morrisville area!  Previously, before Pastor Matt attended some seminars by Frank Reed at the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce, our website rarely, if ever, showed up in the top ten PAGES of a google search of churches in Morrisville, NC.  It was frustrating not having our website appear for people to find who might be searching for a church in our area.  And it’s not that we are in competition with other churches in our area, or even think we are the “best” church.  We believe that it takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people with the good news that God loves people and wants them to know Him.  But, anyway…what is the point of having a website if people can’t find it?  We pay to have the site, and think it’s a decent site (primarily maintained by our worship leader Cary), so why not work to make it easy for people to find it?

So, good job Matt.  Now let’s work to get our church to show up on the Google map!!!

*Unfortunately, our site won’t always come up at the top just yet, but will move down the page or to the next page depending on any number of factors.  If you want to help us stay at the top, visit our website and also link to our website from your website or blog!

Desperately Impractical

This past Sunday in our “Desperate House Lives” sermon series, I made the point that always being practical can be a romance killer in our marriages.  Sometimes, you’ve just got to be impractical!  I want to applaud two desperately impractical couples in our church – Cary and Amanda Penrose and Dan and Katie Griffin.

Cary and Amanda are the worship leaders at our church.  Both are in seminary, Amanda works fulltime, and Cary works at The Bridge and at another part-time job.  Wow.  That is busy.  They don’t have any children yet, which gave them the opportunity to do something very impractical – something all of us probably wish we would have the impracticality to do:  they drove to California and back over a period of ten days!  Of course, they made several touristy stops along the way, but what a valuable model of impracticality.  I mean, who drives to California?  For fun?  That’s crazy!  But what an opportunity to travel, see the USA, and spend some valuable time bonding with your spouse!  “Way to Go” Cary and Amanda!

Dan and Katie Griffin are taking impracticality to a whole new level!  Dan and Katie are both currently jobless, but due to their apparent adeptness towards financial freedom (check out Dan’s side job – www.savvydollar.org) , they are taking a 5 month vacation that begins in New Zealand!  Are you serious?  Yes!  Dan and Katie are newly weds, without kids, and have the guts to take advantage of an opportunity of impractical proportions that they may never get again!  And why not?!?  Our number one relationship and responsibility after God is our spouse.  Doing impractical things that show we love each other, build the relationship, and make memories is a great way to keep romance alive in our relationships and our marriages healthy.

I know that not all of can be as impractical as the Penrose’s and Griffin’s, but all of us can learn from their example.  Here are some ideas for being impractical as a couple:

• Take a vacation.  You really do need it.
• Go to that expensive restaurant on a birthday or anniversary.  Celebrate!
• Let the grass grow an extra week and take a day trip somewhere one Saturday.
• Plan a coffee date with your spouse.  Pay for a babysitter or work an exchange with another couple where you watch their kids in return for their watching yours.
• Practice the 10 second kiss!
• Do something – something different.

Your marriage is too valuable.  Keep the romance alive.  Become a student of your spouse.  Be a servant in your home.  God wants to move your marriage from “Desperate House Lives” to “Dream Marriage.”  It can happen.  But is takes work.  And impracticality.

Eat BBQ, Do Good.

Okay, so I borrowed today’s blog title from Land of a Thousand Hills Coffee.  Their tag line is “Drink Coffee, Do Good.”  I hope you’ll do that, but I hope you’ll also eat some BBQ and do some good for some friends of mine.  The Ephesus Baptist Church Youth Department is raising money for their mission trip to Alaska.  If you love Eastern North Carolina BBQ like I do, you don’t want to miss this opportunity.  Be sure to drop by Ephesus Baptist on Friday, May 1, from 11am to 7pm to pick up some BBQ.  As a eastern NC BBQ connoisseur(click here for must see video), I have a hard time finding BBQ around here that I deem adequate.  So, I will not miss getting some of the real McCoy from the EBC youth on May 1.  You can call in orders, pick it up, have it delivered, deliver it to your friends and/or coworkers – whatever.  The food is great and you’ll be helping a great cause.

And while I’m on the subject of area BBQ, here’s my top places to go for good (notice my emphatic emphasis of good with bold, italics and underlining!) eastern NC style BBQ:

• Barbeque Lodge.  On Capital Blvd. in Raleigh, the Barbeque Lodge is my first choice for the Raleigh area (right now) for BBQ.  And don’t just get the BBQ – order family style.  It’s the way to go.  And, as a bonus, they have corn sticks (which I know means nothing to many of you!)
• Ron’s Barn in Coats.  It’s a whale of a drive out to Ron’s Barn, but some great country cooking and BBQ.
• Backyard Bistro.  The Bistro is a brand new restaurant that just opened on Trinity Road in Raleigh, next to the RBC Center.  A friend of mine is the owner and supplier of BBQ there (he also is cooking the BBQ for the EBC fundraiser!).
• Old Time BBQ.   Old Time is on Hillsborough St. in Raleigh.  Not my absolute favorite, but it’ll do.
• Smokey’s BBQ Shack.  Honorable mention – Smokey’s on Highway 54 in Morrisville.  Smokey’s is not, I repeat, is not, eastern NC style BBQ, but it is one of the rare BBQ that isn’t eastern NC style that I like.  Great food.  Check it out.

That’s eat.  If you’re hungry, give me a call!