This Sunday we have the privilege of reflecting on the theme of serving. We have been and are served so well by our Savior Jesus. We want to be a community that overflows with love and works that point to the love of our Savior. In our last few team leaders meetings, we have developed a list of 5 key values that we are delighted to express. The phrase “volunteer staff” refers to anyone who serves on a team at the Bridge. As we heard last Sunday from our guest speaker Ed Waken “The day of the ordained is over, the day of the ordinary is here.” Here are the big 5 that we want to cultivate as a community of servants:
VALUE #1 : We want people to go from whatever to WOW at who God is. Volunteer Practice: I will give the best of my time and talents because how I serve others impacts their perception of God’s care for them.
VALUE #2: Warm hearts, not warm bodies: Bridge volunteers have ownership of their ministry area and serve with a warm heart toward the work God has given them for that day. Volunteer Practice: “I will bring to my team a fully surrendered, humble heart.”
Value #3: 30 in Light of Eternity: Being in place 30 minutes prior allows you to get your area ready, pray with your team, connect with other volunteers and communicates to parents/others that you are ready and committed to serving them well. There is a big difference between a volunteer scurrying in 5 minutes prior and being in place 30 minutes prior. Volunteer Practice: I will be in place 30 minutes prior to the start of the gathering.
Value #4: Every person that comes through the doors is a gift from God.
Volunteer Practice: I will treat others with warmth, empathy and respect.
Value #5: Accountability: My role matters! What may seem like a small part of the gathering impacts the whole in significant ways. Volunteer Practice: Because of what’s at stake, I submit myself to accountability from my team leader and others involved in the gathering leadership. I will be open to encouragement and support and correction and challenge.
Clusters are the place “where everybody knows your name”. Clusters are Jesus-centered, mid-size communities built around a unique missional purpose. There is a lot we can and will say about the benefit of the missional communities we are launching this fall called Clusters. Before we go on, however it is important that we don’t miss the center of CLUSTERS, namely our hero Jesus. Jesus is the center of all of this and as disciples, we want to learn how to “PREACH THE GOSPEL” to ourselves all the time.
You will enjoy the benefits of this brief equipping article that will serve you to move from polite churchianity to radical transformation by Jesus. This is a great summary of how Gospel-transformation get’s worked out. How to grow UPward in your relationship with GOD.
How to Preach the Gospel to Yourself
PART I DOWN THE SLOPE OF REPENTANCE Objective: To see and confess that I am a bigger sinner than I thought.
1. See and Own Your Sin: Examine yourself in the mirror of God’s Word, your negative emotions and attitudes, and the responses of others to you. Guard yourself against sin’s deceitfulness: the tendency to water down God’s standard, compare yourself to others, shift the blame or commit ourselves to trying harder.
2. See the Sin Beneath the Sin: Don’t move too quickly to confess and receive forgiveness for the surface sin (cheap grace, “I’m just a sinner” attitude. If you are anxious, yes go to Phil. 4, but what is causing your anxiousness?) Push the ‘Why?’ question until you find what you are looking to other than Jesus (your functional messiah) for meaning and value in life.
3. Expose the Idols of your Heart: Idols always disappoint
They are weak: They can’t deliver when you succeed; they can only raise the bar. They can’t forgive you when you fail; they can only lower the boom.
They are harmful: They hurt you spiritually, emotionally and physically. They hurt others by undermining your ability to love.
They are Grievous: Most importantly, by going after these idols/other lovers you are saying to God: “Jesus is not enough. I also need _________ in order to be happy.
EXAMPLE: Athletics
Sin: I get frustrated when I don’t win at sports.
Sin beneath the sin: I need the approval of others to feel better about myself.
IDOL: ACCEPTANCE of others/Self Worship
WEAK: The approval is always based on your performance. If you fail, you get angry/rejected. When you succeed you need more/to continue to perform and receive value.
These idols will lead you into slavery James 4:1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
CONCLUSION: I am a much bigger sinner than I thought. I am a worthy recipient of God’s judgment. Trying harder won’t cut it. I am helpless and hopeless in myself. BUT there is One…
PART II UP THE SLOPE OF FAITH – Objective: To thank God that Jesus is a much bigger Savior than I thought.
1. Repentance is a gift: Pray for the gift of repentance. Do not ‘try’ to stop sinning, but ask God to change your heart. If the Holy Spirit does not address your heart, your repentance is only ‘horizontal’ and true gospel change will not happen. You may change for a season by your own ‘will-power’ but eventually you will become resentful or fall back into worshiping your false idols, which are your true ‘functional messiahs’.
2. See Jesus as the only true Savior
Jesus lived for me. Think about and give thanks for specific ways Jesus has lived obediently where I have failed.
Jesus died for me. Think about Jesus’ death on the cross for my specific sins and idolatry. Thank God that my sin has been punished once and for all.
God sees me in Jesus. Think about how God sees me in Jesus, clothed with His perfect righteousness. Thank Him specifically for how He provides for me in Christ that all my idols promised but could not deliver.
Jesus lives in me. Thank God that He does not leave me to live the Christian life on my own, but the Spirit of Christ now dwells in me. Ask Him to live His righteous life through me, specifically in the areas where I have confessed sin.
3. Gospel-motivated living: Embrace and know that the gospel is how you change (2 Cor. 3:18b), it is the gospel that empowers you to serve (2 Cor 3:5) and it is through the gospel that you meet God (2 Cor 3:18a; 4:6)
CREDITS: The pastors of Harbor, Tim Keller @ Redeemer and David Fairchild at Kaleo.
The Bridge community is being pulled by God’s vision, not pushed by our own agenda. Over the past few years, we have seen massive evidence of God’s kindness to us in clearing directing us as a community. Chasing God means we operate on His timing, not our own. After much praying, waiting and seeking clarity, God has given us a green light in putting to rest the form of community that carried us for the first wave of ministry at the Bridge known as Transformational Communities (T.C.’s) and moving forward with implementing missional CLUSTERS. So, you might be asking: What is a missional CLUSTER?
The next few blog posts will serve as a handshake into the vision of what a CLUSTER is.
1-Clusters are Jesus-centered, mid-sized (15-50) missional communites built around a unique OUTward focus while developing a balance of the three values of UP, IN and OUT. One cluster might be focused on building bridges into the lives of the young adult crowd. Another cluster might be focused on setting the captives free (See post on “EXODUS”.) Our goal is for you to align with a CLUSTER that really gets your heart thumpin’.
2-Clusters are the place “where everybody knows your name.” The church is a family of brothers, sisters, fathers and mothers. Clusters feel a lot like a family reunion and the smaller groups that form to make up the cluster feel like immediate family. We want to love, encourage, challenge, support and care for each other well.
3-Clusters are small enough to care and large enough to dare. They allow us to do certain things that are not possible in either small groups or large gatherings. Clusters create space for every member ministry like a champ! They create a resource and ministry gift base through which you can put a big dent in the kingdom of darkness. In addition, the model of 1 Corinthians 14 makes the most sense in a group size that Clusters create. We want to grow in our experience of the ministry of the Holy Spirit knowing that God and His supernatural gifts are alive and well.
Part One mans there will be a part two, so stay tuned!
The Holy Spirit of God is described in Scripture as wind. That means that where God is at work, there will be a sense of what we might call the big “MO”: MOMENTUM. God is moving us forward as a community and we are excited for this summer of events leading up to the launch of our missional CLUSTERS this fall. In a couple of weeks, you’ll be getting a calendar of events. We are designing these events with three functions in mind:
#1: Provide opportunities for us to BOND in community by enjoying some fun activity together (food is always a must).
#2: Provide opportunities for you to invite your neighbors and friends to the party!
#3: Provide opportunites for us to TEAM up to serve those around us in need.
We wanted you to be aware that while we all have travel plans and busy summer’s planned, that these are not just events or activities for the sake of activities. We believe God is raising our community life and missional outreach temperature and we want to participate in what He is doing in us. Let’s follow the example of the early lovers of Jesus who were all together when the Holy Spirit blew in:
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Acts 2:1-4
Every word and action of Jesus was intentional.
There were no accidents, only divine encounters.
No time wasted, only opportunities seized.
The mission of the Bridge is to lead everyone toward full life development in Jesus. (See Colossians 1:28-29). That’s our way of expressing that we want to experience and invite others to be disciples of Jesus.
Over the next six months, we will be raising the bar and moving toward greater intentionality in how we fulfill our mission and vision.
This will be happening on a number of levels which include:
#1: Greater communication about how God is leading us to do this.
#2: Investing in key leaders through leadership “huddles”.
#3: Launching 3 missional “Clusters”.
#4: Creating a summer of events designed to build momentum in the areas of community (us getting to know each other) and mission (activity toward the Somerset community).
You’ll be learning more about what a huddle and Cluster is in the coming days on our website posts.
For now, we wanted to continue to seed the vision of the direction God has been leading us toward over the past three years. We invite you to be praying and asking God for what mission He is preparing you for.
We’re so glad you stopped by the website and have taken the time to read this. Things greater than what we can imagine are a part of the unwritten story of the Bridge Bible Church. May He implant faith deeply in your heart.
THIS VIDEO EXPRESSES THE QUALITIES THE BRIDGE IS ASKING GOD
TO DEVELOP DEEPLY WITHIN US.
May we be respectful, clear and sincere in the way we cultivate our life together.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1, ESV)
God’s power is available to free us from all sin patterns that hold us captive. One of those that is common for us to get stuck in is internet pornography.
Mark Driscoll has written and made available an excellent resource in this FREE PDF download called “PORN AGAIN CHRISTIAN”.
Please feel free to download and share this resource with others.
The Person of Peace principle that Jesus teaches in Luke 10 has been the most helpful principle for me as I seek to engage in spiritual conversation with those outside the life of Jesus. The Person of Peace is that God prepared person who is willing to receive what God gives you to say in that moment.
Do they receive the invitation to lunch?
Do they receive the truth spoken?
Do they respond with openness and take the next step?
I fully believe that if each of us would pray for and invest in our person of peace, you would have the joy of seeing God save a life! The best part: This is so freeing for you! While we pray for all of those God has us in relationship with, the freeing thing is to know that He wants us to go with the goers, if you will. To invest in those who are prepared and ready to receive.
The flip side of this is asking ourselves: Am I a person of peace? Am I one who is open and willing to receive what God has to say to me?
May God open your eyes to the person of peace. May God make us people of peace.
We’d love to have you interact in the comment section below.
News of someone being pregnant brings high level joy doesn’t it? It’s much the same when God births a vision in one of His children. I am honored to share high level joy with you that God has birthed a vision in Troy Jensen for EXODUS. The stated purpose of EXODUS is “we exist, in partnership with the Lord Jesus Christ to set the captives free.” Troy writes: “Our purpose is to see people held captive by drugs, alcohol, sexual immorality, the love of money, gambling, bitterness, rage, gluttony, gossiping, or any other sort of habitual idolatry set free and released to walk in their true identity. “ More to come in the days ahead, but this kind of news can’t be contained for long. Through Exodus, St. Croix Valley is moving toward being an ADDICTION FREE ZONE, how wild is that?! If you’re interested in learning more about what it would mean to be on the leadership team of this initiative, you can touch base with Troy for more info. Let’s start covering this ministry in prayer as they love people bound in addiction toward full life development in Jesus. So, what are your responses? Comment below!
Values and Practices for Volunteer Staff
The Person of Peace principle that Jesus teaches in Luke 10 has been the most helpful principle for me as I seek to engage in spiritual conversation with those outside the life of Jesus. The Person of Peace is that God prepared person who is willing to receive what God gives you to say in that moment. 
