The Bridge Builder

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."

by Will Allen Dromgoole

What legacy will you leave?

Making Decisions for the Glory of God

Last Sunday I spoke about making decisions for God's glory. Why? We must make decisions daily about the food we eat, the drinks we consume, the films we watch, the events we attend, the hobbies we pursue, the jobs we work, and the friends we have. 1 Corinthians 10 leads us to some helpful missional questions to inform our decision-making so that God is glorified, we are joyful, and non-Christians meet Jesus.

You can watch the sermon here:
You can download the notes here:
You can read a position on alcohol here:

Enjoy and God bless,
Ben

What if this Christmas was different?

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope, and a revolutionary love.

So, what happened? What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose. Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

Welcome to The Bridge Community Church's Advent Conspiracy.

This Christmas we are seeking to worship CHRIST fully, spend less, give more, and love all!

How?

Worship CHRIST fully -

Begin your Christmas season by visiting the tiny village of Bethlehem. Explore the busy marketplace in Bethlehem where you might create something, join in an activity, or taste an authentic Holy Land treat! Visit the stable and talk to Mary & Joseph…and don’t forget to visit the camels, donkeys and sheep!

Start off this Christmas season with A Night in Bethlehem on December 5th, from 4 - 8pm!

Then, join in our celebrations for a new sermon series entitled, A Global Christmas!

Dec. 5th – One life with a global gospel
Dec. 12th – A mission only the church could stop
Dec. 19th – What if this Christmas was different? (Christmas Sunday)

Next, sing loud at our "A Night of Worship" Christmas Celebration Concert on Dec. 12th @ 6:00 PM.

Finally, join us for a Christmas Eve Candlelight service Dec. 24th at 11:00 PM. We will sing, pray, take communion and learn from God’s word together. We’ll see you there.

Spend Less

America spends an average of $450 billion a year every Christmas. How often have you spent money on Christmas presents for no other reason than obligation? How many times have you received a gift out of that same obligation? Thanks, but no thanks, right? We’re asking people to consider buying ONE LESS GIFT this Christmas. Just one. Sounds insignificant, yet many who have taken this small sacrifice have experienced something nothing less than a miracle: They have been more available to celebrate Christ during the advent season.

Give More

Give the gift of time.
God’s gift to us was a relationship built on love. So it’s no wonder why we’re drawn to the idea that Christmas should be a time to love our friends and family in the most memorable ways possible. This year we are choosing to give time to our friends and family. Time to make a gift that turns into the next family heirloom. Time to write mom a letter. Time to take the kids sledding. Time to bake really good cookies and sing really bad Christmas carols. Time to make love visible through relational giving.

Give gifts that have eternal impact.
Most gifts that you normally give at Christmas time have a lifespan of a few months or maybe a year. The video games get old, the clothes go out of style or no longer fit, and the seasons change. Why not give a gift with rewards that will last into eternity?

This year we are partnering with Growing Hope For Haiti for our Advent Conspiracy offering. With the money that we save by spending less and giving gifts of relationship, this year we will use our savings to build permanent housing in Leogane, Haiti and to pay teacher's salaries at a Christian orphanage!

Advent Conspiracy Offering
For Growing Hope for Haiti
December 19th
9:00 AM & 10:45 AM

Looking to change lives around the globe by your Christmas purchasing?

Check out the Samaritan's Purse Gift Catalog!
Or take a peak at Trade as One!

Looking for ways to give gifts that don't cost a lot of money this year? Visit Re-Thinking-Christmas!

Do you drink a lot of coffee? What if you could transform a village with your morning cup? How about plant churches? Check out Land of a Thousand Hills to help those in Rwanda, or 29 Coffee that helps plant churches!

Love All

What does it really look like for us to follow Christ's commands this year? How can we slow down and focus in on loving God more passionately. What would it look like for us to love our neighbors as ourselves? How can our love grow for our brothers and sisters in Christ?

This year let's love all. Let us love God more fully [gospel]. Let us love our neighbors, even our enemies [culture]. And let us show radical love for our brothers and sisters in Christ [church].

Will you join us this Christmas as we seek to worship CHRIST fully, spend less, give more, and love all! Welcome to The Bridge Community Church's Advent Conspiracy!

The Bridge Community Church
301 Lore
Leadington, MO 63601

Check out http://www.aglobalchristmas.com

Current Reading List

It has been a while since I updated my reading list. Here is what is on the shelf these days.

1. The Radical Reformission by Driscoll
   
2. Leaders that Last by Dave Kraft
3. Vintage Church by Driscoll and Breshears
4. ESV Study Bible and notes. I picked up a new study bible.

Becky and I are continuing to read "What did you expect?" by Paul Tripp and the Love Dare Devotional Guide for couples for a structured devotional time. Our children have completed The Jesus Story book Bible and are now reading from another children's bible. We are also considering taking the oldest through the "The Story of God" for kids. Becky is currently reading a Beth Moore devotional as well as "Death by Love."

A Curious Year

The year 2010 has been curious at best for me personally. This year I have seen the gospel take root and grow in many of my friends lives. I have grown closer to my wife. I have had many incredible experiences pointing to the vastness of the grace of God. But, I have also had several encounters that I'm not even sure how to explain.

I've decided to give you all a peak into my life for fun. I hope you enjoy.

Interesting 2010 tidbits from the life of a 27 year old church-planter:

• In Feb. I visited Honduras, Belize, and Mexico with my family on vacation. It barely peaked into the 70s a total of one day of the vacation while in Belize. I am thankful for the amazing opportunity. The rain and cold weather forced me to spend time with those I love.
  
• In early 2010 I found a mass. It wasn't cancerous, but it wasn't in a good place either. Not fun.
  
• While teaching at The Bridge one evening, someone broke into my car.
  
• Also while teaching, volunteers found people having sex in a van I own. Yep, on church property while I was preaching.
  
• On Good Friday I received a phone call about two kids needing a mommy and daddy for awhile. Becky and I took in a 3 day old and a two year old for two months. While this was an enjoyable experience, let's just say that I have tremendous respect now for foster parents.
  
• I decided to go to Haiti to build homes in July and contracted some strange rash. It went away without harm, but it is not fun to have to wear jeans everywhere you go in Missouri humidity like a Mennonite.
  
• While in Haiti I encountered my first voodoo priest and celebration. I have always believed in spiritual warfare, but now I have experienced it in a powerful way. I would share details but I do not want to sound like a charismaniac.
  
• Did I mention that our team tents flooded the first night in Haiti? :-)
  
• Also while in Haiti my wife got sick and was sent to the ER. I didn't find out until I got home. Becky ended up having surgery, is doing well, but we are not completely out in the clear.
  
• The week after arriving home I was awakened to someone pounding on my front door. This was the beginning of strange letters, emails, and sightings of people.
  
• After 57 years of marriage, I sat with my grandfather as he mourned the loss of his bride. A few days later I preached grandma's funeral.
  
• In August I helped my brother tear up and burn down the house of my youth (in years previous our parents home was smacked by a tornado).
  
• My oldest child began Kindergarten. My children are truly a blessing from the Lord.
  
  and finally....
  
• In 2010, I received my first and second death threat.

It has been a curious year, but the book is still out for 2010. How will it end?

God's grace has continuously and consistently been poured out through all of the ups and downs. This year I have seen our faith community grow as the gospel spreads. There are new opportunities that await us as we pursue spreading to Jefferson County and following God's call. Becky and I have finally settled into a consistent devotional and prayer life together. My girls have fallen in love with "The Jesus Storybook Bible."

So, how will it end?

My plan is to end it passionately, while living fully for the sake of the gospel!

1 Corinthians 9:19-27
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, [2] lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Fire. Certainty. Joy.

I stumbled across this while reading "Church Planter" by Darrin Patrick.

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) was a French mathematician and theologian. At the age of thirty-one, he had an intense experience of God's presence. He never spoke of it to anyone, but he did write a short journal entry about it, which he then sewed into his coat so he would always be reminded of it.

Pascal's memoriam:

"In the year of grace 1654, Monday 23 November...
From about half-past ten in the evening till about half an hour after midnight.
FIRE.
God of Abraham. God of Isaac. God of Jacob.
Not of the philosophers and the learned.
Certainty. Joy. Certainty. Emotion. Sight. Joy.
Forgetfulness of the world and of all outside of God...
The world has not known thee, but I have known thee.
Joy! Joy! Joy! Tears of joy...
My God, will you leave me? Let me not ever be separated from you."

May this serve as an encouragement to seek God in this way.

The Gospel Story

How did it all begin?



The Gospel Story

Creation – In the beginning God created everything to be perfect.

The story began with God. God spoke and by His command all things exist. By God's design all of creation was in harmony and was exactly the way it was supposed to be. There was no pain, sickness, suffering, or death.

Genesis 1&2

What went wrong?

The Fall – man rebelled against a loving God and believed Satan’s lie. Sin entered the world and into every human heart. Everything is now distorted and broken. Everyone is guilty before God.

Genesis 3

Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. – Romans 3:19

Is there any Hope?

Redemption – Jesus, who is God, came to rescue people by His death and resurrection. By faith alone in Him, all who are separated from God can have their sins forgiven and enjoy eternal life with him.

The whole Bible ultimately points to this one person, Jesus, as the focal point of all human history. Jesus defeated sin by dying on the cross, and He defeated death by rising from the dead.

Truth: Jesus loves us in spite of ourselves, but he does not leave us to fix ourselves, nor does he mislead us into believing we have our own answers. He is the answer.

Luke 19:10

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit. – 1 Peter 3:18

Who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. - Galatians 1:4

Restoration- God will restore everything to the way that it was supposed to be, and those who trust in Jesus will get to enjoy eternity with God in the new heaven and new earth.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” – Revelations 21:1-4

For all of those that trust in Jesus alone, God has promised that He will make all things new. No more earthquakes, mudslides, tornadoes or tsunamis. No more pain, broken hearts, sickness or death. A new heaven and a new earth - friendship with God, others, and all creation.

C.S. Lewis compared the first step into this new world as,

"Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."

The Gospel Story is God's good news.