Pastor Randy’s Top 10 Things You May Not Know
June 2022 Edition
Welcome to the 2nd Edition of “Pastor Randy’s Top 10 Things You May Not Know.” As I mentioned in the 1st Edition, this list is going to include things such as, church related news, events, projects, ministries, staff, volunteers, members, needs, and statistics – or anything else I decide to highlight.
Hopefully, this monthly top ten list will help you to know more about what is happening with our church, how you can get more involved, and how you can pray.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please feel free to email them to me at randy@bridgebible.church.
FYI: It’s a bit long! Feel free to read as much or as little as interests you. 🙂
#1 – Yes, we have a Library!
First things first. You NEED to read this lengthy item in its entirety! If you don’t, you will be missing out.
We have two of the most dedicated volunteers in the church who have given countless hundreds of hours of time putting together and maintaining a very impressive library. They are Frank Barwig and Susan Kulesz. More about them in a minute.
The Lonsbrough Library (our library) was founded by Rilla Lonsbrough in 1955! While most of the original books are long gone, we still have one whose first check out date was from 1969 – 52 years ago!
Frank Barwig (or Mr. Frank as we call him) has been working in the library since 1999. After he retired in 1998 he began “volunteering” at the church, and in the library, most days of the week ever since then! That’s over 20+ years of almost full-time service!
Susan Kulesz started volunteering in the library at Shepherd’s Community Church in 1995 (before Shepherd’s merged with Heart of the Valley and became The Bridge in 2007). She has worked faithfully in our TBBF library since the merger. You will find Susan sitting in the 2nd row of the West Wing every Sunday.
How big is our library? Here is a short summary of the huge volume of resources that we currently have in our library:
- Approximately 17,000 books! No, this is not a typo.
- Nearly 800 DVDs.
- Over 400 CDs and…
- About 150 books on CD.
Wow! How many of you knew that we had such a treasure trove on our campus?
What kind of books does it contain? So many kinds!
A while back Pastor Paul recommended that people seek out systematic theologies. The library has numerous top-notch systematic theologies by Chafer, Grudem, Hodge, MacArthur/Mayhue, Warfield, Beeke, Lloyd-Jones and Sproul.
We have commentary sets by McGee, Calvin, Wiersbe, Hendriksen/Kistemaker, and the Communicator’s Commentary and The Pulpit Commentary. We have all of MacArthur’s NT commentaries and the Tyndale NT set. We also have many individual commentaries by Boice, Lloyd-Jones, Phillips, Luther and others.
We have Apologetics books by MacDowell, Geisler, Morris and Strobel. We have books on Creation by Ham, Morris, Whitcomb and others from ICR.
We have many books from the 9Marks series on Building Healthy Churches.
We have many books used in the Biblical Counseling classes: Adams, MacArthur.
We have Schaff’s History of the Christian Church series as well as other books on church history.
We have books by and about the Puritans and the Reformation.
We have books on Christian Life and Family (Tripp, George, Farrel, Rainey).
We have many biographies including Steven Lawson’s series called “A Long Line of Godly Men Profiles.”
We have Fiction: Brunstetter, Hatcher, Karon, Kingsbury, LaHaye, Oke, Parshall, Rosenberg, Thoene, Wick and many others.
We have Spanish language books as well as some CDs and DVDs.
In our Children’s Room, we have books for preschoolers, easy readers, and for Elementary and Jr./Sr. High students we have non-fiction research books on science, history, sports and crafts as well as biographies of Christian heroes and secular ones. The children’s fiction section includes classics such as Little Women, The Secret Garden and Heidi as well as Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. We also have C. S. Lewis and Tolkien and many others.
This is only a short summary of all that is available in our Lonsbrough Library!
Where is the Library? It is located on the first floor of the “C” Building. You can enter in the west end of the walkway between Burch Hall and the “C” Building.
When is it open? The library is now open from 10:30am-11am and 12:30pm-1pm on Sundays, and on Thursdays from 10am-1pm.
SO… if you have the opportunity, please say thank you to Frank and Susan for their many years of help in making this great resource available to all of us!
AND… I know they would be most encouraged if you actually visited the Lonsbrough Library, and even checked out a book!
#2 – The Worship Center is Cool!
Did you notice that it was really hot in the Worship Center, especially on the east side last week? NOT! It was actually nice and cool, thanks to our facility team who worked hard to replace one of our main A/C units. It set us back about $25,000, but that will enable us to stay nice and cool over the summer.
If you have a chance, say thanks to Darren Reeves and Rick Noll for their work in making sure that we got the A/C unit replaced in a timely manner.
Trivia question (answer at the end): How many air conditioning units do we have/maintain on our campus?
#3 – Staff Highlight (Tom & Dawn Harcus)
Most everyone knows by now that Pastor Tom Harcus and his wife, Dawn, joined The Bridge Family a couple weeks ago. It did not take long for Tom to challenge us from God’s Word that we should be shining our light before men (think iPhone flashlight). I don’t know about you, but I was very convicted by his message, and I look forward to more spiritual growth in my own life as I learn from Tom and Dawn. They are both very gifted at making friends and sharing the Gospel with their words and through the light of their lives. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through us, The Bridge, because of their influence.
Tom will serve us as an Associate Pastor, working with our college age and young adults. He will also be helping with our local outreach and church planting ministries.
Dawn will also be very involved and serving in various capacities. Ladies, you might want to join one of the fitness classes that she will be teaching at our local YMCA in Reseda.
Please pray for them and get to know them this summer!
#4 – SNATB (aka. Summer Nights at The Bridge)
On Wednesday we kicked off our Summer Nights at The Bridge program. We had a great BBQ Dinner (only $5 per person!) starting at 5:30pm.
Then at 6:45pm “Zoomerang” Bridge Kids Summer Adventure began for the kids (ages 2 through Elementary). They had 72 kids! And they had 27 workers! Wow, what a great start!
At 7:00pm, the adults were able to listen to a message by Aren Bahadourian on Job 40-42.
And If you missed it, no worries! NEXT WEDNESDAY (6/22) YOU CANNOT MISS coming to hear Emeal Zwayne, the President of Living Waters Ministry. He is not only VERY exciting to listen to, but he is also VERY challenging when it comes to learning how to shine your LIGHT (remember Pastor Tom’s sermon). Did I mention that YOU CAN’T MISS THIS?!
#5 – Tim Challies
If you’ve never heard of Tim Challies then I’m glad you’re reading this. He is a Christian author/speaker/blogger who sends a “daily” email with some really excellent Christian content. He provides daily links to current articles mostly from other Christian authors. He often provides great book reviews. And sometimes he includes his own articles. Personally, I have found the content he references, including his own, to be quite informative and enlightening.
Today for example, he included a list of “40 Random pieces of advice for the Christian Life.” Here are a few of them that stood out to me:
“One of the best ways to show love to your friends is to show love to your friends’ children. Take an interest in them, love them, and be a friend to them.”
“You can count on it as a general rule that what you gain from a church service will relate directly to your level of expectation and preparation. Expect little and you are likely to gain little. Prepare little and you are likely to benefit little.”
“Understand that if you will only follow those in positions of authority over you when they do the things you want them to do anyway, you’re not actually submitting to their leadership. Sometimes submission to our leaders means joyfully following their leadership even when we disagree with it.”
“In your personal devotions, try listening to the Bible if you typically read it, or try reading the Bible if you typically listen to it. Both are good and both are modeled in Scripture. Each engages the mind in different ways.”
“Be sparing in criticisms of the local church or its leaders in the presence of your children. Your grumbling could teach them that they ought to relate to the church as critics more than participants. It could turn them against the local church as an institution.”
“Embrace diversity in the local church, acknowledging the tendency to eschew it. Also, understand that diversity comes in many forms—racial, cultural, political, ideological, theological, and so on.”
“Relational problem-solving is almost always best done face-to-face. When that’s not possible, FaceTime or a phone call is second best. Email and social media are usually about as bad as it gets. Fight the tendency to attempt to solve problems at a distance instead of close-up.”
And one more, which we also heard on Tuesday night from our Chaplain speaker, Phil Manly. This one is very relevant for us since we have had so many losses these past couple years…
“When someone suffers a sore loss, grieve with them and offer them your condolences in a way that is appropriate to your relationship. But then also put the anniversary of that loss on your calendar and get in touch with them a month and a year later to say that you remember them and are praying for them.”
In case you want to see all 40 random pieces of advice from Tim Challies, or you want to subscribe to his daily content (which I would highly recommend), go to his website at https://challies.com.
#6 – Heaven Graduations
As mentioned above, we have had a number of very dear church members who have graduated to heaven in the past year or so. Below is only a list of our members who have passed on since 2021. In addition to this list there are many others who have been associated with The Bridge, or are related family and friends, who have passed on.
2021
Joe Reeves – 1/28/21
Linda Hoff – 5/3/21
Maxine Kruzner – 5/20/21
John Benson – 6/6/21
Brian Nicks – 8/17/21
Ken Abrams – 9/10/21
Harold Morgan – 9/25/21
Florence Coger – 12/21
Lowell John Cary – 12/28/21
2022
Ella Louise Knowles – 1/14/22
Tom Sattler – 1/21/22
Richard McWhirter – 2/10/22
JoAnn King – 3/2/22
Marilyn Austin – 3/25/22
Joyce Evans – 4/9/22
Robert Sean Emslie – 4/10/22
Chris Barnhill – 4/20/22
Ralph Evans – 5/03/22
Jane Klock – 5/15/22
Corinne “Corky” Miller – 6/7/22
Let us continue to pray for, encourage and show the love of Christ to those who suffered the loss of loved ones.
#7 – We are serving!
In a church our size (500+ members in addition to many other regular attenders), there are so many areas of service or ministry. How many? One might ask. Below is only a sampling of the different ministries at the church where there ARE currently one or more people who volunteer their time to serve:
- Administration (i.e. Accounting/Data Input)
- LIFE Groups
- Leaders (praying, teaching, shepherding, counseling, training people)
- Hosts (preparing their home, coordinating refreshments, etc.)
- Women’s Ministry
- Men’s Ministry
- Children’s Ministry on Sunday AM.
- Teachers
- Nursery Workers
- Front Desk Person
- Support Staff
- Bible Explorers on Wednesday Evenings (during the school year)
- Nursery Workers
- Teachers
- Front Desk Person
- Support Staff (Varied responsibilities)
- Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF)
- Teachers
- Helpers
- Bridge Café
- Café Set Up (Sunday am: 7:45 – 8:45)
- Café Tear Down / Clean Up (Sunday am: 10:40 – 11:15)
- Café laundry (who take home linens to wash)
- Hospitality
- Information Center Greeter
- Fill 1st time newcomer bags (organizing materials)
- Note writer to TBBF visitors
- Parking Lot Greeter
- Security
- Medical Response Team (EMT, nurse, doctor – rotation on Sunday mornings)
- Pastor Paul’s Birthday and Anniversary Cards (purchasing, selecting cards, addressing, etc.)
- Creative/Media/Technical Arts
- Worship Ministry
- Worship Team vocalists
- Worship Team instrumentalists
- Communion Support (purchasing, preparing the bread and the cup)
- Baptism / assist “behind the scenes”
- “Chair Stuffers” / placing materials behind chairs in Worship Center
- Sound and Video Tech
- Computer Tech / power point, etc.
- Lighting Tech
- Prayer Teams
- Love:Share (visitation to those in hospital, nursing homes, those homebound, etc.)
- Care Ministry
- Care Ministry Assistant (phone calls to determine needs for people with illness or new moms, etc.)
- “Minute Woman/Man” Crew (on call for meals, help with moving, run errands, etc.)
- TBBF Library (See item #1)
- Missions Team
- Shepherding the Nations (STN) – Our very own mission agency that trains indigenous people to reach their own countries with the gospel and plant churches.
- Visitor and Member Follow Up (assisting with phone calls and/or related tasks)
- Outreach and Evangelism
- Memorial/Funeral Team (assisting with set-up, service and clean-up of all Memorials/Funerals)
There is a lot going on! And a lot of people are doing a lot of things fulfilling a lot of needs in our church. It’s really a lot of fun!
If you’re not serving…please consider volunteering to help in the greatest organization in the world! The Bride of Christ! His Church!
Please contact Diane Brown if you need help finding a place to serve. (dbrown@bridgebible.church)
#8 – LIFE Groups
Our LIFE Group ministries are the best place to actually become a close part of the church family. It is the place where you can truly get to know others, become known, and more fully know Christ Himself. Here is a list of the LIFE Groups that are currently meeting over the summer. Please consider becoming part of one.
SUNDAY MORNINGS
- Biblical Counseling – K-4 – Mike Vos
- Bridge Youth – G – Jeff Borchardt
- Faithful Families – I-101 – Zach Volker
- Galileans – K-7 – Rich Weitzel
- Joint Heirs – K-8 – Larry Redekopp
- Leinen/Rice Group – I-201 – Randy Leinen/Brian Rice
- Pircey Life Group – I-102 – Tony & Julie Pircey
- Prayer & Praise – ELL – Jimmy Augur/Joe Leinen
- Borkin Life Group – K-5 – Wayne Borkin
- The Other Sheep – K-3 – Robert Ruffin
- United – I-103 – Steve Lively
SUNDAY EVENINGS
- Augur/Leinen Group – West Hills – Jimmy Augur/Randy Leinen
MONDAYS
- Men’s Fraternity – K-4 – John Lapointe
WEDNESDAYS
- Bridge Youth – G Bldg. – Jeff Borchardt
- GriefShare – K-4 – Clay & Alicia Geilfuss
THURSDAYS
- Kitchel Mixed Group – Reseda – Tyler & Kristen Kitchel
FRIDAYS
- SHINE (1st Fri.) – K-5 – Barbara Barnhill
- Two Becoming One – West Hills – Tom & Donna Brukiewa
#9 – Elder & Deacon Ministry
We are truly blessed to have dedicated and godly leaders who serve as Elders and Deacons. As God’s Word tells us, they are gifts from Him to His church.
At The Bridge, we ask our members to help us each year by nominating those who they would like to see serve in one of those offices for the upcoming fiscal year (July 2022 through June 2023).
If you are a member of The Bridge please consider helping us by filling out this form (Nomination Form).
If you are NOT a member of The Bridge, I hope you will consider becoming one.
#10 – Some Random Stats
Number of buildings we own on the church campus: 22
Number of homes on our campus the church owns: 8
Size of our campus in acres: 6.5
Number of people the church employs: 13 Full-time, 20 Part-time
Answer to the trivia question: We utilize and maintain 63 A/C units!
OK! That’s all until next month! If you have any suggestions, questions or other things you would like to see included in future “Top 10s” please email me at (randy@bridgebible.church).
Blessings,
Pastor Randy