"Bridge Night" for River North Baptist Church

The Bridge is a program where ex-offenders can find a transition back into society and life through the local church. The men and women who attend this program are believers who are seeking solid Bible believing churches as their support group. I have been preaching there for several months and this month I brought along some folks from our church to help serve food and fellowship with the people of The Bridge. Each week, The Bridge asks a host church to come in and provide a meal and serve it to the attendees. The service consists of some songs and preaching. The ex-offenders hand in written questions and each week and three Pastors are invited to answer those questions, sermon style, for 10 minutes each. This gives the group the opportunity to hear, from the Word, three perspectives of the answer to their questions. The men and women respond well to this approach and are able to “connect” with Pastors in their area and so that they can visit that church. Our very own Brother Gerald introduced “The Bridge” to everyone in attendance. Gerald is very active in “The Bridge” every week, encouraging the newly saved parolee’s to get to church and start “livin’ for Jesus”! We appreciate Gerald’s ministry and faithfulness to River North Baptist Church, but more importantly, his heart for evangelism and passion for Christ! It was also a nice surprise and a blessing when Jason, (in red shirt) who has only attended RNBC for three months, was “roped in” to introducing the topic for the evening on his first visit to “The Bridge”. Jason, a structural engineer, willingly agreed to step up to the microphone and represent our church. He did a great job that night and we are thankful for his willingness to jump right in and help! Our thanks go out to Jason, Gerald, Beth, Mandy, Olivia, Jenny and “Pops” (Pops visited our service once, the Sunday before The Bridge) who helped us minister to this needy group. Please pray for these men and women as they seek to walk worthy of Christ!

Whirlwind Sunday

Today was a bit unusual! Tamra and I were invited to present our ministry at a church in Aurora, IL about 50 minutes from downtown Chicago. They wanted us there for a lunch at 12:30. Hmm what to do! I appreciate the flexibility of our folks! I decided to preach right at 10:30 so Tamra and I could "duck out" and the folks could sing and have the discussion groups afterward. No problem for our folks!! Tamra and I dashed out at 11:20 and headed west. We got there in time for lunch at Village Baptist Church and we were graciously received and treated as we presented our church plant progress. After that, we drove to Homer Glen where I had a board meeting at SW Community Baptist Church. We thank the Lord for churches who are willing to pray for us and support us in many different ways. We also thank the Lord for the 33 people we had, including our new visitor of the week "Pops" a former inmate who came to the Lord and began, in his words " a life of prayer" for his unsaved family. A great testimony.

Recharged

This week, Tamra and I had the wonderful blessing of attending a Missions Conference in Wisconsin. Although we missed being in our home church for a Sunday, it was a blessing to be encouraged, fed, blessed and rested during our time away. While we were gone, I asked two of our college students to lead our folks in a prayer and praise time. Ryan led the group in about ten songs and then they broke up into smaller prayer groups for an extended time of prayer. What a blessing it was to hear reports back from our folks about their time together. My thanks to Ryan and Daniel for their willingness to lead the service.

We Are the Body of Christ

After a summer of sobriety, one of our regular attenders who is battling alcoholism has been absent for the last few weeks because she has been losing the battle. She returned today, weak, tired, worn and had clearly been drinking. I was unsure how our growing group would react to her return. I was overjoyed to see many approach her, hug her and show only signs of love and support. Tamra and I spoke to her at length after the service and she left encouraged and loved. I thank the Lord for this unusual (from the worlds point of view) show of acceptance for her. We are indeed His body.

Another Super Sunday

This Lords Day was another blessing as we seem to be developing just a little bit each week. Ryan led our worship time again with the help of Tyler, a piano accompaniest. We also had 32 folks attend and join their voices in worship. Saturday we had the opprtunity to move one of our ladies into a new apartment and I was happy to see a few of our college students come out at 9am on a Saturday (quite a sacrifice) The mens discussion group had to move out to the hallway because we outgrew the small entry room.