The Next Chapter

At The Bridge Church we've been facing a deadline for sometime:  MOVING DAY.  It seems like we are always facing Moving Day around here.  As you know, we are currently holding our services at The Venice Community Center on Sunday mornings at 10am.  Our last day in that location is staring us right in the face: October 7.  After that, we are headed in an entirely different direction. 

We've known since the beginning that we were going to have to find another location after October 7th.  We just weren't sure where that new location was to be.  So, we immediately started praying and brainstorming our options.  "Is there a place we can go to that can house all of our people?"  "Is there a place that also has adequate parking?"  "Is there a place that would allow us to still meet on Sunday mornings?"  After a short time of brainstorming these questions, you know what we found out?  Meeting on Sunday mornings was going to be difficult to do.  The only buildings in our city that could house us and provide parking for us were church buildings.  And guess what?  Yep, all of them were being used on Sunday mornings. 

It was clear that God was leading us into uncharted territory.  We were sensing the call to abandon our Sunday morning process and look toward doing a Saturday night or Sunday night format only.  Talk about making a pastor nervous!  We started calling churches in our area and asking them about the availability of their space.  We got a lot of answers back.  Some churches were tentative.  Some were very welcoming but had conflicting schedules.  But, there was one church in particular that was standing out to us like a shining light.  The story goes like this...

Steve Revels, a guy on our staff, was asked to call Venice Nokomis Methodist Church and find out about their church availability.  When he called, a girl that he has know for a while answered the phone on the other end.  After they small talked for a while, she said to Steve, "Are you calling to find out if The Bridge can use our building?"  Steve said "Yes, as a matter of fact I am."  She then replied, "That's so funny.  We've already been talking about having you come and doing your worship service here.  We need a contemporary service and when we heard you needed a place, we hoped that God would call you here.  We have plans to order some screens and video projectors for our auditorium.  Maybe they aren't even for us.  Maybe we are purchasing them for you."

When Steve hung up the phone, he relayed the story to me.  Something about it clearly sounded like God was opening a door for us.  After a few meetings here and a few meetings there, our new church home will be Venice Nokomis Methodist Church.  Our new church meeting time will be on Saturday Nights at 5pm.  This all kicks off starting October 13th.  Make plans to be there.  It's going to be awesome.

God is leading, God is speaking and God is moving.  Get excited Bridge Church and hang on for the ride!  This is all being orchestrated by the Lord.