Loving People More, Loving Jesus Most

On Sunday, as I was preaching about the Holy Spirit at work in the Body of Christ, I remembered this email from my good friend, and former MBI classmate, Tony Ross. I included it in the audio version of the message.

Tony is re-planting an EFCA Church in Brighton Colorado.

This is his most recent prayer-letter (posted with his permission)--what an encouragement (Acts 9:31)!

Dear Friends,

So many things have happened since our last update...it is hard to know where to begin. I guess the best place to start is where we last left off and to go forward from there. In January, we had isolated a key problem with what Grace Church had become...we had become a church that repelled people. With the clarity that often comes after a serious look within, we began to move forward addressing these problems:

Grace Church had become a place where people quit caring about each other.

The Grace Church building looked like a place where people quit caring.

The history of Grace Church left a trail of wounded people who remembered this as a place of pain instead of peace, memories of hurt instead of healing.

The solution was to quit being “Grace Church.” We made it our mission to love people more and to love Jesus most. Grace Church was a place where children had become unwelcome, but at our new church, Bridge Church, children were going to have fun and learn about God. Each person put their hand to the work, to help teach weekly children’s classes during the worship hour. As Bridge Church grew, people began to engage one another...week after week, we began to hang around after service, standing and talking with each other. God had worked in our hearts and we were starting to love people again.

Then we began to take a fresh look at the cold and unfriendly walls of the church building that God had given to us and we began to clean, to paint and to decorate in order to create a more warm and welcoming space. For several weeks, we tackled the task of transforming the old Grace Church building. Again, God began to work in incredible ways as the members of Bridge Church banded together, spending weekends and weeknights at the church—seeing vibrant, new life emerge out of the dust of the old.

Finally, on March 9th, Grace Church did, in its last moments of its life, what it had failed to do for years— it became a place of healing. We invited every former member we could find to a Reconciliation Sunday —a chance to make right the wrongs done in the past. Restoration bloomed as God brought together the hurting, the wounded and the outcasts in renewed communion. Grace Church’s last service was the largest, most glorious it had seen in years.

On Sunday, March 16th, Bridge Church was born. On March 23rd, while we celebrated resurrection, three children entered into a new relationship with Christ. On March 30th, yet another accepted the gift of salvation. On April 6th, we welcomed our new worship leader, Ben Zornes—a very talented and exciting young man who has been the answer to many months of prayers. On April 13th, yet another child was drawn into a relationship with Christ.

God has done marvelous things. He continues to draw new families to our church and to draw new children into His family. Please pray that God will continue what He has started in Bridge Church.

Loving people more,

Loving Jesus most!

Tony

If you'd like to know more about Bridge Church, or send a gift to encourage them in the work, you can find out more at their website: lovingpeoplemore.org.