God is closer than you think

For Noah it was a rainbow. For Abraham it was circumcision. For Moses it was a burning bush. But for all of them, they had an outward, tangible sign that God was present and that He would in fact fulfill His covenant promise. They were just like us. They needed something that made the invisible God, visible. We have all been stumped in our everyday lives playing “Where’s Waldo?” with the God of the universe who is invisible, inaudible, and untouchable. A visible sign helped them to remember that God is closer than we think.

God being present and alive in the everyday, ordinary moments of our life can be an elusive reality. Living in an imperfect world can lead us into a “hide and seek” game with God. Whether it’s a distant marriage, unexpected test result, stress at work, a job loss, or a rebellious teen, there’s never a burning bush when you need one. The weaknesses, flaws, and defects in our own lives are enough to throw us into a spiritual tailspin of pain and confusion … right in time for Christmas.

It was the angel that came to Joseph in a dream and left him with this life changing truth:

Matthew 1:23

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”(which means “God with us”).

God’s presence is the game changer. It’s the factor that can change the way every day of our lives unfold. God is not responsible for every tragedy and setback we experience. Nor has He determined every plight. But make no mistake …. He will never waste them. He will draw us close to Himself in our imperfect moments. It is there that He will meet us. It is there that He will change.

God is here … and right on time for Christmas.

Today Matters

Since the transition to the new facility, so many positives things have resulted. We immediately have been able to increase the quality of our morning worship by not having to “set up” 3 hours before. The Sunday morning team is feeling much more prepared and refreshed on Sunday morning. There is also an exciting “vibe” in the air and we all are feeling a sense of anticipation about our future.

I appreciate your patience as we work through settling in. The present Worship Center and preschool facility are relatively temporary, but we are here for a while and we want to make each Sunday count with our best effort. Today matters, right? Here are some things we are working on:

·          Small Group space for Elementary Kids-  Our kids need small group space to maximize their connection with their leaders. Presently, meeting in the large community space is distracting for groups. We will be clearing out some of the offices to create additional dedicated small group meeting space.  

·          Parking Team-  We are re-establishing a Parking Team to assure that guests have clear signage and assistance when they first arrive.  Being that we have separate facilities for TreeTop and WalkWay, we will always have attendants in the parking lots and not just signs.  The Parking Team is our “first touch point” for guests and we want to ensure easy and friendly directional assistance every Sunday. Contact Wendy at wendy.snyder@bridgepointechurch.org to be involved.

·          Advertising-  We are hanging a banner on the front side of the Worship Center to take advantage of the high volume of traffic flow on Arnold Mill Road. We want people to know we are here. We will also be adding some smaller exterior signage to mark our new stationary presence.

·         Two services- We are considering the right timing for this.  We want to make sure there is ample space so as to not discourage guests. We are also preparing logically for two sets of volunteers to serve 2 services. 

·          Phone and office contact - Being at a more permanent and stationary location invites more office contact. We will seek to have a front office presence on all open days and be effective with contact and response to phone calls.

·          Cleaning Team- As long as we occupy the present Worship Center, we will use a team to do weekly cleaning. We want to be at our best on Sunday mornings. Contact Wendy at  wendy.snyder@bridgepointechurch.org to be involved.

We are committed to stay far away from “OK”. We want to dial in the best that we can do at BridgePointe because “Today Matters”.