This past weekend I was in Iowa connecting with a new church plant in Ottumwa called, The Bridge.
Yes, Iowa. When I was going through security at the airport the officer looked at my boarding pass and said “Iowa?” rolled his eyes and sarcastically muttered “you’ll be having a really good time there”.
He couldn’t have been more right. With each step of the journey I felt the call of God on my life. I wasn’t sure for what, but I’m convinced now a big part of it was simply to be blessed.
From a distance, online, I’ve had the privilege of following Marty Schmidt’s journey as a church planter for quite a while now. It has been amazing to see how this community of faith has launched from a dream and a prayer, to a reality. To step into something new that God has just birthed has been an awe-inspiring blessing in itself.
The Bridge resonates deeply with my hopes for the future church. Their community is vibrant, their worship is rockin’, they’re connecting people to Jesus, and they’re just getting started.
I’ve had the opportunity to speak in many different venues, but this was one of those ‘ministry’ experiences where I was receiving so much more than I was giving. Spending time with Marty and Jenny was just extraordinary. I was wiped tired most of the weekend, but the kindness and wonder of their family fuelled the way for me.
All I had to do was speak for thirty minutes. From them I learned more than I expected about the Midwest (only about half of the stereotypes are true). I learned about some of the real challenges in church planting. I learned about the centrality of prayer.
Most of all I was reminded and encouraged of how we worship one God and He is doing great things all over the world, even in the middle of Iowa.
The Bridge has made a mark on my life and they will continue to be in my prayers. Do stop by if you’re passing through the state!
by Lon on December 17, 2007
Without a doubt, one of the biggest draws to my site via search engines has been the Rob Bell resources page.
Along the theme of thanking my readers, and thanks also to some digging and networking, I think I’ve got something many of you might be interested in.
Contrary to popular legend, Rob Bell did not kick off Mars Hill Bible Church preaching from the book of Leviticus, but it was the first series they launched into soon after for a whole year.
The first message was actually entitled “What is this babbler saying” from Acts 17 describing the name of the church as Paul spoke at Mars Hill.
I know I’ve said repeatedly that I only link resources and don’t distribute content, but this one’s just too good to hold back.
Keep in mind this was before the wide adoption to mp3’s and so this copy was digitized off of a cassette tape, and Bell’s voice sounds a bit off, but it’s him. I’ll try to keep this one up until I get in trouble for it.
So here it is.
The first ever message by Rob Bell on a Sunday back in ‘99 when the church first planted.
Rob Bell at Mars Hill 001
