First, for those of you who are unfamiliar let me introduce you to The Bridge.  The following in a brief synopsis from The Bridge website:

"Bridge Ministries has both a direct ministry to teens and a secondary ministry to teens where we offer our facility to other ministries that also help teens. In our primary outreach each facility houses a staff of missionaries (mostly volunteer) who seek to build relationships and share God's story with teens."

To put it more simply The Bridge seeks to reach out and share Christ with teens that might not otherwise walk into a church building.

I use The Bridge as a generic term for the three different ministries that make up The Bridge Ministries.  The first ministry is Autumn Ramp Park.  This is an indoor skate park.  The staff or missionaries seek to share Christ by befriending teens as they come to skate.  The second ministry is The Bridge.  The Bridge is a ministry to Jr. High students that takes place in the center section of the building.  Jr. High teens come on Fri. & Sat. nights for a night of fun and hanging out.  Teens have the opportunity to hang out or participate in Bible studies, group games, etc.  While there is more structure to The Bridge ministry the bulk of ministry comes in the form of staff/missionaries building relationships with students and sharing Christ in the context of that relationship.  Finally there is The Foundary.  The Foundary is a ministry to Sr. High teens.  The Foundary is a place for Sr. High teens to gather drink coffee, watch movies, hang out, etc.  While there are some structured activities, again the ministry is in building relationships with teens first and then sharing Christ in the context of that relationship.

Second, let me address a few concerns about The Bridge.

1.       The Bridge is a ministry designed to share Christ with "lost teens."  Because of that, there is going to be some incidents that are going to occur because lost kids act like lost kids.  The key that I want to point out is that The Bridge has done a good job of catching and correcting those problems when they arise.

2.      There is a new ministry strategy where they have broken up the Jr. High and Sr. High in order to allievate some of the problems that have occurred in the past.

3.      While there are issues that The Bridge faces they are working hard to correct those issues.

Third, I want to ask you to give The Bridge a chance.  We are looking at partnering with The Bridge to a small degree in order to better reach Joplin teens for Christ.  I would hate for students to miss out on those opportunities because of preconcieved notions of The Bridge.

If there are some concerns, please contact me, I would love to discuss those concerns with you.