The Acts 1:8 Challenge supports teams from BridgeWay who will be serving Jesus this summer  locally (our Jerusalem), cross-culturally (our Judea and Samaria), and internationally (to the ends of the earth.) You can support a specific team member, or fund the following projects: 

• Rachel’s House—Goal $6,000:  The Fairhaven Foundation was launched by BridgeWay’s own Amanda Milner to provide housing for cancer patients who are receiving treatment locally here in Indianapolis. Our B.H.A.G. is to help pay the mortgage and utilities for Rachel’s house during the next year.
• Crisis Pregnancy Center—Goal $4,000:  Matt’s House is a church we helped plant cross-culturally in a poor area of Baltimore, MD. Over spring break a team of BridgeWay students will help launch a CPC serving unwed mothers. Our B.H.A.G. is to help purchase needed furnishings and medical equipment.
• New Horizon Clinic—Goal $5,000:  New Horizon is a church we helped plant internationally in Masatepe, Nicaragua. Over the summer a BridgeWay team will help launch the new clinic serving this poor community. Our B.H.A.G. is to help purchase the needed furnishings and medical equipment.

In addition to one of these projects, you can also choose to support one of the team members going to Baltimore, Mexico, or Nicaragua (CLICK HERE for a list of team members). If you would like to give toward our Acts 1:8 Challenge, please FOLLOW THIS LINK to a card you can print and turn in on Sunday or submit to our office (12945 Parkside Dr / Fishers, IN 46038). Our Big Holy Audacious Goal is to raise $15,000 between now and Easter so that together we can be Christ’s witnesses to those in need in our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends or the Earth.  

Serving Together,

Craig Parker
Lead Pastor

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Acts 1:8

Our family loves watching the television show, “The Extreme Home Make-Over.” You’re familiar with the plot:  A family has undergone some tragedy, and as a result their house looks like a bomb has gone off in it. Then miraculously, a bus pulls up, and guy with a bullhorn starts shouting orders to an army of volunteers. Within the week, the family’s house had undergone an “Extreme Home Make-Over,”  but more importantly the family’s lives have been changed.

This summer, you have the opportunity to be a part of our “Acts 1:8 Challenge Extreme Home Make-Over.” BridgeWay is sending an army of volunteers to places like Mexico and Nicaragua, but also to Hamilton Country to not only to build things, but more importantly to change lives!

Mexico House Build—Goal $5,000:  At the end of June, an army of 80 BridgeWay volunteers will build four homes in an impoverished area of Mexico. Within just four days, four families’ lives will be changed because God has provided them a home. Our goal is to raise $5,000 to help provide the needed materials for the homes.

Nicaragua Preschool Build—Goal $5,000:  At the beginning of July, an army of 30 BridgeWay volunteers will build a preschool in Nicaragua with our partner church in Masatepe, a place of great poverty. In addition to raising $5,000 to help provide materials, we are also helping to provide support send the team members. (See attached list of team members.)

Good Samaritan Website Build—Goal $5,000:  During the summer, BridgeWay programmers will be building a volunteer management system for our partner Good Samaritan Network. This system will help our partner enlist the army of volunteers from churches like BridgeWay. Our goal is to raise $5,000 to help provide the professional services needed.

Even if you are not on one of the teams going to Mexico or Nicaragua, you too can join the armies of volunteers from BridgeWay through your financial support to the Acts 1:8 Challenge. Before he ascended into heaven, Jesus told his followers in Acts 1:8.

“You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be mywitnesses in Jerusalem, and in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Our goal is to raise $15,000 between Easter and the beginning of June, so that together BridgeWay can be Jesus’ witnesses to the poor living not only living in Mexico and Nicaragua, but also here in Hamilton County. Please ask God what he wants you to give, and we look forward to announcing the total when we say, “Move that Bus!”

When we go to church, we think about going to a building. Biblically speaking, however, the church is not a building, it is people. Multi-site is a strategy that would allow BridgeWay to meet for worship in more than one location at the same time.

Our vision has never been to be a mega-church, but instead to have a mega-impact through multiplying churches. Multi-site is a strategy that would allow BridgeWay to accomplish its vision more effectively than traditional church planting.

Many churches use “plug-and-play” video teaching at their sites, but because of our value of authenticity, it’s hard to imagine doing that here. Multi-site is a strategy that that would allow BridgeWay to provide both live worship and teaching at each of our sites.

We are still looking at various locations, but we are currently investigating the viability of site in the Geist-McCordsville area. Multi-site is a strategy that would allow BridgeWay to reach nearby communities where our current attenders live.

We are now looking to add a member to our teaching team, and prior to launch, hire a “Campus Pastor” who would serve full-time at the site. There is no date on the calendar, but with our Parkside site reaching capacity, we are working with our Staff, Elder and Director Teams to hopefully launch a second BridgeWay site within the next 12 months.

Read more about BridgeWay's vision for Multi-site.

On Sunday morning, we're doing another one in what will be a series of "meat eater" dramas we'll use during NT101: A Survey of the New Testament. In the drama, I liken just hearing, reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on God's Word to eating the menu in the restaurant. It might look good, but it's not going to "feed you." Jesus said in John 4 that "my food is to do (not hear, read, study, memorize or meditate on) the will of my Father." Since I can't footnote a drama, I thought I would give you the reference here from a Pastor named John Wimber. (Yes, that John Wimber.)

“I will never forget what my mentor, John Wimber, said to someone who kept complaining about not being fed.  He turned to the person and said, ‘Listen, the meat is in the streets.  If you want to experience the meat of God’s Word, go out and let a drunk throw up on you.’

“What a moment!  John went on to say that studying the Bible was never meant to be the meal; rather, it’s the menu.  Half jokingly he said we sit around eating the menu and wonder why we’re not satisfied.  We get fed when we obey God and put his Word into practice.”

Hope Lives by Rick Olmstead

I'm always on the lookout for what I call "Spiritual VIP's: Very Intereting People" To be very interesting spiritually, they don't have to believe what I believe. In fact, some of the most spiritually interesting people I've met don't.

It's a little hard to tell where he fits on the belief spectrum, but spiritually the Colt's owner Jim Irsay is very interesting. I'll be talking about him on Sunday, but thought this quote would be intriguing the Thursday before the Super Bowl. Hope you find it as intresting as I did.

"We are not human beings having a spiritual existence. We are spiritual beings having a human existence. Being our essence. And that's the reason football—there's nothing else I'd rather be into on a Sunday."

Ten years ago, all we had was a seed. The seed was planted in the ground. We fed and watered it, but God caused it to grow. And what did it become? An apple tree. But if you look at the metaphor in Luke chapter 6, Jesus tells us that if an apple trees is healthy, two things will always, always, always happen: First it will grow, and second it will reproduce. And that is what the apple tree did.

Our vision for growth was to transplant the apple tree when it had grown too big for the pot we had leased out for it. We would raise a lot of money, and build a new pot that was bigger. But the more we pursued our vision for growth, the more we realized that we were no longer trying to grow an apple tree; we were now trying to grow a banana tree. And a very expensive banana tree at that: seven million dollars! But look what Jesus tells us in the metaphor:“A tree will be recognized by its own fruit.” God did not call us to grow a banana tree; he had called us to grow what? Apple trees!

Our vision for reproduction was to find seeds from other trees and then plant them here in the ground. We would plant seeds everywhere, in the hope that like us they too would become apple trees. But the more we pursued our vision for reproduction, the more we realized we were no longer trying to reproduce apple trees we were now trying to reproduce orange trees. And while the genesis of the idea was good, at some point we had gotten off the pathway. But look what Jesus tells us in the metaphor: “A tree will be recognized by its own fruit.” God did not call us to reproduce orange trees, he had called us to reproduce what? Apple trees!

As we were trying to figure out our vision for growing and reproducing our apple tree, something happened: We stopped growing and reproducing. It was not because we couldn’t figure out our vision, but because the apple tree had become unhealthy. So we asked God to do whatever it takes to make our apple tree healthy again, and as a result of that prayer two things happened. First, some people we love very much are no longer working on the apple tree. Second, we are spending 27 weeks hearing, reading, studying, memorizing and meditating on the book that will help us to become healthy again.

But, do you remember what Jesus told us? If an apple tree is healthy, two things will always, always, always happen: First it will grow, and second it will reproduce. Once again that is what the apple tree is doing. The past three to four weeks, it is obvious that the pot we leased out for the apple tree will soon be too small. The question now is, “How will the apple tree continue to grow and reproduce?”

Our vision for growth and reproduction is start once again with a seed. But along with the seed, what if we took a slice of apple and planted it in other places? Does anyone here live in Indianapolis? What planted a slice of the apple there?. Does anyone here live in McCordsville? What if we planted a slice of the apple there? Does anyone here live in Noblesville? What if we planted a slice of the apple there?

The miraculous thing that God does when we plant a slice of the apple in places like that is that there will now be apple trees all around. Not banana trees. Not orange trees. But apple trees, that not only look like but are like the first apple tree. Why? “A tree will be recognized by its own fruit.”

Multi-site is the strategy BridgeWay is adopting to accomplish Jesus’ vision for growth and multiplication of his church. Rather than growing a mega-church (i.e. the banana tree) or reproducing other churches (i.e. the orange trees), BridgeWay’s strategy will be to grow and reproduce on multiple sites, leasing facilities (i.e. the pots) rather than building them.

The Apple Tree:  Our church located at multiple sites.

The Apple Slice:  Our resources of people and finances.

The Apple Seed:  Our DNA of mission, vision and values.