our purpose
| we understand that the Bridge (any bridge) is not a destination but a connection that is meant to be crossed.
_______________
at the Bridge we are crossing together
to connect to:
God,
each other,
the community of Allegan
and new communities as we plant new churches
_______________
|
don't miss it!
| 10/18/09 sunday a.m. worship
10:30 am @ Allegan High School
_______________
11/08/09 starting point class
5pm @ the Birds' house
|
| podcast | Bridge Podcast!
Click here to listen to messages at the Bridge.
Or now you can visit our blog or Facebook pages to hear them too!
_______________
|
 | sunday worship | - dress is casual
- worship is contemporary
- attitude is relaxed
You don't need to have it all together to come to the Bridge. It's OK to just check things out. Bring your beliefs, your doubts and your questions.
You are welcome here.
_______________
|
this sunday
| _______________>
JOHN 11v.35
Jesus wept.
_______________>
We typically read John chapter 11 as a story of Jesus' power over death as He raises Lazarus from the dead, and rightfully so.
But it's also a story of people being disappointed, confused and frustrated with Jesus. Their brother, Jesus' friend, was sick and He seemed to them to be unconcerned. He wasn't there when they needed Him. But Jesus was with them. His heart was breaking and shared in their grief.
Jesus loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. He wept with them.
Jesus, the Bible tells us, is the exact representation of the Father. In Jesus we see that the Father grieves with us as we go through the hard things of life. He is not cruel. He is not far off. He is there in the midst of the pain with us and weeps with us even though He knows that we will rise again!
___________
|
this week in kidmo!
| Power Stack
Sunday, October 18
Episode #2:
Peace - Jesus teaches us how we can pray.
Philippians 4:7b
All Aboard! Conductor Johnny Rogers
takes us back to the time when locomotives ruled the land. These iron
dinosaurs teach us that even the strongest among us have times of
failure and weakness. In this adventure of the H.P. Powerstack Railroad, we learn the importance of PRAYER and how to pray as Jesus taught us. Join Johnny, Vladmir the Engineer, Powerstack the Train and the sinister H.P. Powerstack to discover how you can change the world through prayer.
___________________
|
 | only one allegan |  |
|
 |
 | 
cool stuff from the Posts
sunday, october 18
| Ken and Laura Post have a TON of very nice items left over from a moving sale that they had last week and have graciously offered the rest to the folks from the Bridge.
So, this Sunday after church, the Posts will have all of the stuff there at the high school for people to look through and take what they want FREE of charge!
Items include:
-very nice knick knacks
- Christmas, Easter, & Halloween decorations
- angels
- inline skates
- baseball cleats
- and more!
So, plan on staying a little bit after church to take advantage of this great opportunity!
__________________________
|
| starting point class - take 2
sunday, november 8
|
Our second Starting Point class will take place on Sunday, November 8 at 5pm at our house (204 Cutler). I will have a sign up sheet at church this Sunday. If you haven't signed up yet, please do so I know how many to count on.
__________________________
|
 | Lakeshore Pregnancy Center - volunteer opportunities
| 
Would
you like to impact lives here and for eternity? We need you! Lakeshore Pregnancy Center of
Allegan is looking for volunteer receptionists, women to work with our female clients,
and men to work with our male clients!
If you love God and want to
serve others, here is your opportunity! Our fall training is coming up,
evenings, late October and early November. Call Rachel at 686-7111 for
all the details.
__________________________
|
 | macatawa bank partners with Dave Ramsey to offer Financial Peace University classes FREE!
|   Want to Lower Your Debt? Increase Your Savings? Live Better While Spending Less?Macatawa Bank wants to help you get out of
debt, stay out of debt, and build wealth, so they have partnered with
Dave Ramsey to offer Financial Peace University classes. This package includes a Freedom Goal 4 It Savings account to build your
emergency fund, tied to a Freedom Checking Account. Offer available
while supplies last or through December 31, 2009. Stop by any Macatawa
Bank branch today! Go to daveramsey.com to find a Financial Peace
University class in your area, and be sure to check out the three
Macatawa Bank locations in Holland and Grand Rapids that will be
offering classes starting the first week of October. __________________________ |
 | lisa's prayer clip
|
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW??? ~by Lisa DeKryger
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." John 10:27
Listening to the Shepherd's voice is a very important aspect of prayer. Even though it doesn't always seem like it, our Shepherd IS speaking into our lives. Let's
try to sharpen our listening skills, to quiet the noise in our lives,
and to simply listen to what Jesus would like to lay on our hearts. As we tune our ears to the Shepherd and follow His lead, all of us together (the flock) will be moving in the same direction, step by step, unified toward His purpose. He knows us and knows how to blend our unique gifts, talents, and personalities for His glory. Let's listen to what He has to say.
Prayer Focus:
- Ask God to help you identify
voices that you tend to listen to that are not the Shepherd's voice. .
.voices that accuse and condemn you, voices that lead you toward worry
and anxiety, voices that limit God or cause you to doubt, voices that
bring feelings of fear, inadequacy, pressure, and shame, voices that
are contrary to who you are in Christ.
- How loud is your own voice? Take
a few minutes to consider if you may be trying to control and lead your
own life to the point of drowning out the voice of the shepherd.
- Ask that
God would clear out all of the distracting voices (the nose flies
buzzing your head) and that he would tune our ears to the voice of the
shepherd.
- Acknowledge
the qualities of the shepherd's voice. . .gentle, encouraging, caring,
loving, brings peace and light, makes correction without injury, leads
you, calls you to His purpose, speaks with gentle authority.
- Ask God to speak His truth and grace specifically to you in the areas where you have been misled or lied to by other voices. Take time to listen, quieting your heart and mind, and journal about the truth He speaks to you. Share this in your LTG and pray for each other to be able to listen to His truth.
- Acknowledge how well the Shepherd knows you. He fashioned you with specific gifts, talents, and personality. He understands you! Ask
Him to give you a greater depth of understanding of just how precious
you are to Him, that He has a purpose and calling that is uniquely
yours. Thank Him for the plans He has for you and that He will lead you to a life of hope and abundance.
- Ask God for strength to help you to follow the shepherd's voice and walk in obedience step by step, trusting in Him. Pray that the people of The Bridge would walk in obedience as we follow the shepherd's lead.
- Pray that God would do an amazing work of building up the body of Christ as we listen and follow His voice.
__________________________ |
 | prayer
|
This Friday and Saturday our city will play host to the 2009 Allegan Paranormal Conference. When I heard about this conference the first question I was asked was, "how do we pray against this?" But I'm tired of being against things. We, as Christians, have become well known for what we're against and what we protest.
Instead of praying AGAINST things, I want us to begin to pray FOR things.
- Pray that God would give them spiritual discernment to filter out what is true from what is counterfeit.
- The people coming to this Paranormal Conference are obviously looking
for something real, something tangible. They are interested in
spiritual things, so let's pray that the Spirit of Truth will make
Himself known to them and that they would respond to Him with joy and humility, and that their lives would be transformed!
- And pray that God's people would represent Him well, embodying the love
and grace of Christ when they encounter these folks. That these folks
would know that we are praying FOR them (not in a condescending way,
but sincerely) and not AGAINST them.
~Roger
_____________________
If you have prayer requests please email them to: prayer@thebridgeinallegan.com.
If the prayer request that you send in is about someone else, please make sure you have their permission first!
__________________________
|
|
| currently reading,
recently read
and/or highly recommended
|
The Power of Team Leadership
by George Barna
on Amazon
_________________________
|
|
|
|
|
