Sizzlin’ Summer Speakers!

View Blog

Chris, a graduate of Liberty University, became the Pastor to Students at The Bridge in February 2010. He began his ministry career in 2003 as a part-time youth director with his home church. He is married to Dee, and they have four children.  Chris is very serious about the Christian life, and his heart’s desire is to see God change the world that he lives in. Chris leads his youth ministry to become “world-changers” just as the disciples were used by God to change the world. He speaks at youth camps, colleges, retreats, conferences, public schools, churches, and more.

Choice of fun workshops and ministry opportunities are first come, first serve, therefore, be sure to sign up soon!  For more information contact Julie Kramer at julietkramer@verizon.net or sign up outside the bridge before or after Fuzed on Wednesdays or before or after church on Sundays.  Registration ends Sunday, March 10th.

Download the Registration form

The point is, READ and DON’T GIVE UP! Find a plan that suits your schedule and your need, then do it. God is faithful, true? His Word is alive, right? Then capitalize on God’s desire to bless you and teach you more than you dreamed possible!

Crosswalk.com

Crosswalk.com has given you the option of reading the Work on-line and they will chart your progress if you wish. By dividing the Bible into 365 daily readings, a goal of reading the Bible in a year can easily accomplished.

Zondervan

Zondervan, of course, has their own reading plan as well. The 3-Track Reading Plan helps break the Bible into more manageable portions. If you’re new to the Bible, begin with Track 1, then proceed to Track 2, and finally–if you’re ambitious–tackle Track 3. Your understanding and appreciation for the Bible should gradually increase.

Back to the Bible

The Bible Read Me Schedule features multiple tracks to help you to read the Bible in one year. God’s Word is a big book and without a workable schedule it can be easy to give up before you even get through Genesis. They offer 5 unique ways you can read through the Bible including software for your hand-held!

Heartlight

Heartlight has brought together several Bible reading plans to choose from. Find one that suits your tastes, and dig in!

Kim and I quickly got plugged in and over the years have been involved in almost every ministry the church has introduced.  At 25, I was ordained as a Deacon  at IBC and quickly learned  the true meaning of Service.  But the story I want to share is one in which I had to learn to a valuable lesson of Trusting in Him.

In the late 90′s, IBC was presented with an incredible opportunity.  To purchase a plot of land adjacent to the church that would add 19 acres, and provide for the future growth of our church.  The problem was that it came with a $1.8 million  price tag.  Pastor Mark had this “crazy” idea that we could purchase this land, in cash, within a period of 18 months.  Although I didn’t voice my true feelings at the time, I was pessimistic about the possibility of accomplishing it.  Mark knew that this was an opportunity that would probably never come again.  He also knew that incurring that amount of debt by taking a loan out for it would not only cripple the church for years to come, it wouldn’t teach us anything about God’s power.  So he asked each of the members of the church to dig deep and give Sacrificially.  As a young couple with not much in savings, asking us to consider giving thousands of dollars to this building campaign, above and beyond our tithe, was just ridiculous.  ”Surely God didn’t expect us to be foolish with our money and give it all away.”

But as the building campaign went on, God continued to speak to my wife Kim.  And she began to pray about it, and then ask me to pray about it.  Here I was… a Deacon, a Sunday School teacher, a “strong Christian, ”  but I really didn’t Trust him with my finances.  Thank goodness for Godly wives!  My wife continued to pray, and God started to work on my heart.  Finally, one Sunday morning, God changed my heart just enough for me to trust  my wife’s judgement, and to ultimately trust Him.  We wrote a check that basically wiped out our savings.  It was both incredibly scary and incredibly exhilarating at the same time.

The very next week, my wife called me to share some news that ROCKED our world.  A client of hers came into her office and offered her a job similar to what she was doing at the time, same hours, same flexibility  but DOUBLE the salary.  The raise she was offered was exactly… EXACTLY seven times the amount that we gave to the church that week.  I broke down in tears as I quickly realized how much God truly is in control and how little faith I had in Him.  He spoke to my heart saying, “Jim, Do you not see what I can do if you simply step out in faith and Trust Me!”

Most of you know the end of the story… God provided the money for the purchase of the land…. not by a couple millionaires giving a big chunk of money to the church but by a bunch of ordinary people who decided to Trust in Him and see what he could do.  The lesson I learned that week has changed me forever.  Although God may not work the same way in your life, God WILL provide if you simply Trust Him!

Check it out today!  www.bridgelightpages.com

Pastor Brett spent 23 years in corporate technology management and consulting prior to following God’s call into fulltime ministry. Brett and his family (wife – Stephanie…and four children) are honored to be involved with the children’s ministry of Ironbridge Baptist Church. Our efforts in children’s ministry are a culmination of countless hours of visioning and prayer…with a goal to continually provide high-impact programs that reach the children and families of our community with the Gospel message. We would love to have you join us for one (or all) of our many ministry programs or events. And, we would love to hear your feedback on what your child experienced while visiting with us.

Go to Blog

Mark graduated with a B.S. in Communications from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1980. He earned the Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and the Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) degrees from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Since 1987, Mark has served as the senior pastor of Ironbridge. Mark and his wife, Pal, have three children and a beautiful granddaughter.

Before I came to Virginia, I learned one valuable lesson to finish what I started. Since my childhood, I carried the loss of my mother and two brothers from a car accident.  I lived with my father who was deeply broken by our loss, and at Christmas time, I was often filled with the grief of our loss. God gave me a good  friend who shared Christ with me, and at Christmas time in 1984, we went from house to house, across the snow covered yards of our home town in North Dakota with the youth group, singing Christmas carrols.  I read a version of the Christmas story from Philippians 2:5-11, and was encouraged to “…have the same attitute as Christ did when He emptied Himself of His place in heaven to come to earth.”

That Christmas, I was finished with college and looking for work.  I had just completed a 3 month tour with a Christian singing group and asked God to open the next door for my life.  There was one thing I had left unfinished that had been a burden to me for the previous 5 years, the making of a classic roll-top desk as a gift to my father.  I had started making it in a shop class in high school, and completed everything except the final sanding and finishing.  While moving the unfinished desk in the back of a pickup truck, a gust of wind picked it up and scattered it across the two lane country road.  I looked in horror in the rear view mirror, knowing that the task was going to be nearly impossible.  I spent 4 1/2 years procrastinating from that point on, and hated to even look at the broken pieces that I had piled in a corner of my father’s garage.

Finally, piece by piece, I disassembled the desk, made repairs, and reassembled it back together again.  I had the strong feeling that this was one thing that I needed to complete out of respect for my father who had bought the raw hardwood for me to make it.  By that Christmas I had nearly finished the desk with the exception of the custom cut glass top.  I clearly remember the moment, on a freezing cold and snowy North Dakota day in early January. My father and I had just returned from the hardware store with the glass top and fit it into place with a few family photos underneath.  I sat back in the desk chair admiring the desk with my father, when the telephone rang; the caller was from Virginia and was offering me a job.  Before I packed my car and left home to travel to Virginia, I wrote the story of my lesson to “finish what I started,” and taped it to the pullout writing board.

The years passed and my father would pull the board out to show my wife and our kids the story, as I know that he had done for other relatives and visitors.  I am still working on finishing the tasks of my life, one at a time.  Likewise, God who began a work in my life is completing that work, one day at a time.  One important work this past year has been to read through the Bible.  I was impressed at Ironbridge when collectively as a church body we read through the Bible in 86 hours, filling God’s house with His Word.  In our new worship center, from the few chapters that I signed up to read, I understood so much more clearly what I was reading. God encouraged me to read aloud and record on my computer all of the chapters of the Bible for my quiet time.  Having completed 10 of 12 months, 973 of 1189 chapters, and 9.66 gigabytes of memory, I’m asking God to show me what He has next for me to learn.  I’m certain that He will show me.