Pay Special Attention to Green!
In today's eNewsletter, new and updated items are outlined in green (like this one!) to make it easier to find the latest information. Check out what's brand new this week at BCC by closely reading all of the green items.
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On Behalf of Our BCC Elders: Thank You!
This past Sunday afternoon we met on Zoom for our monthly Elder meeting. We had a great time talking about the goodness of God that is evident in our lives and the ministries of Bridges Community Church in new and encouraging ways during this strange time. Today we specifically want to express our sincere thanks to you for your gracious, ongoing, generous giving. God's abundant provisions through your general fund giving are continuing to make it possible for us to financially support our 2019-2020 staff and ministry commitments. And beyond these gifts, heartfelt gifts to our benevolence ministry are making it possible for us to help many in need, both close by and in other countries.
When we had to cancel our in-person gatherings because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had no idea how things would work out, especially financially. So we prayed and hoped that we'd be able to continue our ongoing commitments and ministry opportunities. To date, that prayer has been answered abundantly in many ways, but especially where our finances are concerned, through online giving and mailed checks of support. Though we didn't doubt God's ability and desire to meet our needs, it is truly amazing and wonderful to watch it happen in such a tangible way.
So for those of you who are giving, please know that your gifts are blessing many! We are so thankful for your generosity. And we pray that you are seeing firsthand the joy Jesus spoke of when He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." May He bless you in return.
I hope you will join with our Elders, and with me, in giving God thanks for the many ways He is meeting our needs.
With sincere thanks,
Pastor Dave
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God Hears and Answers Prayer
Every Wednesday since March 18, we as a church family have joined with other churches in the Bay Area to come before God's throne of grace in prayer and fasting, to find mercy and help in the midst of this pandemic. If you have not yet united your hearts with other believers here in the Bay Area on Wednesdays in prayer, we invite you to join us. And would you also join us in fasting from food as well as from the media stream of information and your social media feeds until dinner, as you seek God's intervention? We believe one of the best things we can do in times of trouble is pray alone and with others. So we invite you to join our Zoom Video Corporate Prayer time every Wednesday at noon, led by Pastor Dave. A couple minutes before noon, simply click
HERE
to join this very special time of prayer. Or for more information contact
[email protected]
.
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In place of our regular on-campus worship services, on Sunday mornings simply click HERE
and it will lead you to our online ministries. You will find our current worship service (a time of worship through song and a message from one of our teaching pastors) along with links to other resources for you and your family.
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Dial In and Listen to Our Sunday Worship Service on Your Phone
That's right: If you or someone you know is not able to connect online to our worship services, you can now hear our entire worship service (music included) by way of telephone. On Sundays after 9:00AM, simply call 650-209-7367 and you will hear that Sunday's worship service. The service will be available at that number all week. Then the following Sunday the new worship service will replace the previous Sunday's recording. In the words of John Atwell, our telephone worship service connection is "worth listening to and in this difficult time it keeps us connected." That's music to our ears!
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Online K-5 Sunday School!
Children's Director Alba Kellejian will be making weekly videos and lessons for remote Sunday School for our Kindergarten through grade 5 kids, as well as family devotions and more. You can find them
HERE!
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Join us for Coffee with a Pastor
We recently started Coffee with a Pastor on Zoom on Sundays at 3:00PM, where people can chat with one of our BCC pastors, ask questions, and enjoy a special time of connectedness. Please pray that this opportunity would be meaningful and enable an additional time of ministry each week. Encourage and invite friends to join who are newer members of our church body! For info on how to access this Zoom meeting, email
[email protected].
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How We're Staying Connected
In this strange time of minimal social interaction, we are finding so many ways to stay connected to one another online. Some BCC Life Groups are now meeting regularly by Zoom, an online video conferencing tool. Whether you use Zoom, Apple FaceTime, Google Hangouts, or make a 3-
way conference
call on your landline, there are lots of ways to keep in touch with one another and to continue the great connections that usually happen at church on Sunday mornings. For links to these tools, check out
connectbcc.org/stayconnected
.
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Some of our BCC Life Groups and ministries are using Zoom, an online video conferencing tool. Here are the groups meeting regularly (so far!):
ZOOM GROUP
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Group Leader |
Email |
Meeting Time |
Deeper Roots
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Dave Stenfort
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[email protected]
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Sun, 9:00am
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Eagles Wings |
Fritz Mueller |
[email protected] |
Sun, 9:00am |
Common Need
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Mark Chen
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[email protected]
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Sun, 10:45am
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Alpha Kara |
Al Kruger
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Sun, 11:00am
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Common Ground
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Pat Rossler
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Sun, 11:00am |
Mariners
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Mel Rosowski
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Sun, 11:00am
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Reflections
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Laura Rodolari
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Sun, 11:00am
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BCC Sisters
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Missie Fennell
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Mon, 7:00pm
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Book Discussion
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Steve Durand
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Mon, 8:00pm
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Young Adults
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Dan Stockum
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Tues, 8:00pm
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Prayer Gathering
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Dave Gudgel
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[email protected]
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Wed, 12:00pm
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High School Ministry
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Dave Kellejian
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Wed, 7:30pm
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College
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Dan Stockum
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Fri, 3:00pm
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Global Intercessors
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Mel Rosowski
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2nd Tues./month
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Mel's Missionary Community
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Mel Rosowski
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3rd Mon./month
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We thank God that Zoom is already giving us a way to keep our groups connected, and we want to help your group do that as well! If you'd like to be in one of our Zoom Life Groups, please contact the leader listed above. If you want help setting up a Zoom connections group of any kind, email [email protected].
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Connect with Us on Facebook
Are you following the BCC groups you're a part of on Facebook? Especially now, this is oftentimes the best way to stay connected to your group and get the most up-to-date information from them. Here are a few:
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Are You Receiving Our Informative Emails?
Every week, especially now as we continue to "shelter-in-place," we are communicating important happenings to our Bridges family by way of email. On Tuesdays we send an eNewsletter (which you're reading right now); on Fridays we send a Friday Video Roundup (from Pastor Dave); and on Saturdays we send a Weekend Watch to recap what's going on in the BCC community. If you're not yet getting these weekly updates, you can get on the list by signing up
HERE
.
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If you have a prayer request that you would like our staff to pray over, please email it to:
[email protected].
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Final Donation Total for Walk for Life
On Mar. 7, Team BCC participated in RealOptions' annual Walk for Life & 5K Run. As a team, we had a target goal of raising $7,200 to purchase supplies for the pregnancy centers in San Jose. We were recently notified that
the final total donated by BCC to Walk for Life was $11,265.91! Wow!
Thank you for partnering with RealOptions Obria Medical Clinics and helping to serve thousands of women, men, families, and students in our community.
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Reasons to Believe Meeting Rescheduled to May 22
Our May Reasons to Believe chapter meeting via Zoom will be this Fri., May 22, at 7:00PM. We will watch the April 9 video of Reasons to Believe scholar and biochemist Anjeanette (AJ) Roberts, an acknowledged expert on viruses, answering questions about the coronavirus. The delay allows Dr. Roberts to join the meeting following the video to answer our questions. She was not available to meet with us on our original meeting date of May 8. If you'd like more info or want to join the meeting, please let Kirby Hansen know by e-mail at [email protected] or by phone at 650-917-9107 and he will send you a link to the Zoom meeting. No need to do this if you already receive RTB San Jose e-mails, which will contain the link.
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Are You Inviting Others to Join Us?
This is a great time for you to invite others -- especially those who don't normally attend church -- to join us for one of our online services. This is the most nonthreatening way for them to attend one of our Bridges services that they will ever have! You can direct them to our church webpage in a phone call or through an email or text, or you can simply click the Facebook or Twitter logos found on the "This Week's Sermon" page found
HERE
. Or, you can click the brown LIKE & SHARE button located
HERE
. This button will take you to our Bridges Community Church Facebook page where you can like and share a worship service with others.
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Use YouVersion Live This Sunday
"YouVersion Bible" is a free app available on most smart phones and mobile devices. Each week, we upload our sermon notes and Scriptures to YouVersion for you to use to connect more deeply with the day's Bible verses and message. You can download the app from the App Store or wherever applications for your device are available.
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Did You Miss Last Sunday's Sermon?
Did you miss this past Sunday's sermon? Click to watch May 17: "Loving Well in a Broken World" by Pastor Steve Durand. All past Sunday sermons are available on our BCC website's Sermons page.
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We thank God for your faithful giving to the Lord through the ministries of Bridges Community Church. Your ongoing sacrificial gifts, especially in this time of hardship, are not only a testimony of your trust in our God to provide, they also express your commitment to the good work that God continues to do locally and globally through the ministries and ministers that Bridges supports. We as a church family express our sincere thanks. If you're not giving online yet, but would like to, you can do so
HERE
. If you'd like a little help in getting started, check out our "Giving Online" video
HERE
. Or if you'd like help from one of our staff members, please send an email to:
[email protected]
. And as always, if you prefer to give by check, our church address is: 625 Magdalena Avenue, Los Altos, CA 94024.
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As of this past Sunday, 5/17/2020, these are our current year-to-date giving figures: Actual is $1,301,954; budgeted is $1,265,237; surplus is $36,717. We are now 2.9% above General Fund budgeted contributions for the church year, which runs Sept. 1 - Aug. 31.
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