Lifebridge Church

Land/Building Information Meeting

pastormichael — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:03:47 +0000

Join us after church on Sunday, May 20 as we share some valuable information and updates concerning our potential NEW church home on Mueschke Rd. We are in the final stages of pursuing our first permanent church home, and will be unveiling the proposal on the 20th, with a congregation decision set to be made on June 10. Come, get the specifics, and then join us in praying for God’s wisdom and discernment on the next steps in our church’s life.

Soul Surfer Youth Bible Study

pastormichael — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:49:07 +0000

An amazing story of faith and courage that will inspire you in your relationship with God!

Youth in 6th-12th grade are invited to a 5 week Bible Study inspired by the movie Soul Surfer — a real life story with important faith lessons from young Bethany Hamilton, who had her arm bitten off by a shark.

We will be meeting in the community center from 6:30-8:30 on March 21 and 28 and April 4, 11 and 18. Bring a friend. Hope to see you there!

The Youth are on FIRE!

pastormichael — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 20:39:27 +0000

Bible Study at the recent Youth Retreat

Wow, what a difference a few months can make! Almost out of the blue, our youth ministry has exploded…and God is doing something rather remarkable with them right now.

It started in the new year, with a Sunday morning Bible Study called Crazy Love, led by Julie and Christine. Our 4-5 regulars got into some rather intense seeking, which led to a weekend youth retreat where they brought about a dozen of their friends. God “showed up” there as well, and some really neat connections were made with a whole new group of young people. The momentum continued with the next big gathering, a “Soul Surfer” outreach event to kick off Spring Break. Close to 50 kids gathered for a fun celebration…but more importantly, over 20 of them have signed up to attend a 5 week follow up Bible Study on Wednesday nights.

Where this is going, only God knows. But, how exciting it is to see when God gets ahold of hearts. He clearly is doing something special with our young people these days, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next!

So, youth, let’s keep it up with the 5 week “Soul Surfer” Bible Study. It starts on Wed. March 21 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Bridgeland Activity Center. Be there. Bring a friend. And let’s see what God is going to do!

Building memories and friendships around the campfire

Lots of kids at our Soul Surfer Outreach!

“Soul Surfer” Spring Break Kick-Off

pastormichael — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:24:20 +0000

All 6th-12th graders are invited to a “Soul Surfer” Spring Break Kick-off on Friday, March 9th, 6-9 pm, in the Bridgeland Activity Center (Sandpiper Room), Free food, fun & games, and the Soul Surfer book given to the first 50 to arrive, plus other fun give-a-ways! Bring a children’s book or toy to donate to the street children of Montrose Street Reach.

20 Church Planters added to LifeBridge staff

pastormichael — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:53:37 +0000

Church Planter's conference in Nepal

This past Sunday at church I was humbled to be able to share one of the most exciting things I have been a part of in 16 years of ministry. LifeBridge has formally “taken the plunge” and committed to fully funding 20 indigenous church planters who are taking the Gospel to the most rural areas of Nepal. In an instant, our LifeBridge staff went from 1 to 21.

One of the core values of our church has always been what we call “Extreme Generosity.” Quite simply, we intentionally spend less on niceties for our own church, so that we are able to invest much more on the front lines kingdom work out in our community and world. For the cost of about 1/2 of a typical U.S. church worker, we are able to fully fund these 20 church planters in Nepal. While we have to give up a few things we’d really like, the Kingdom impact makes it SO worth it.

Let me share one story with you:

Pastor Meissner with church planter Bhakta Sijali and his family

In the Fall of 2011, I had the chance to visit Bhakta Sijali, who is bringing the Gospel to his family village in the mountains of Eastern Nepal. The entire region, including his family, is either Hindu or Buddhist, and prior to Bhakta’s work there was no Christian church anywhere near that area. Bhakta came to faith several years ago after a huge family fight caused by his alcoholism. He fled to the capital city where a man handed him a tract and invited him to a Christian gathering. That night he came to faith and became a changed man. Ultimately, he felt compelled by God to go back to his village to ask for forgiveness and to bring the message of Jesus Christ to his family and friends who had never heard Christ’s name.

While Bhakta has experienced a great deal of resistance and persecution, one by one he has seen people come to faith. Last year, his father (who is now preparing for baptism himself!) donated a small plot of land and the area’s first ever Christian church was built. Since then, their gatherings have swelled to 25 or 30 people, so they are making plans now to take out the back wall and add an additional 10 feet of worship space. Praise God!

In partnering with ServLife Intl we have the privilege of standing side by side with Bhakta, and 19 more doing work just like his, in bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Some of it is money — the total cost for training, equipping and sending a church planter is $1300 a year. Some of it is going, as every year we send a team to help build up and encourage these guys in the work they are doing.

As always, we find that we end up getting much more than we are giving. We are blessed with resources that are very valuable to them as they bring Christ into new areas. They are blessed with a spirit and conviction that has much to teach us in our relatively easy faith environment. Our prayer is that more and more individuals and churches will partner with us in this amazing mission opportunity that God has placed before us. You’ll never be the same…

For information on sponsoring a church planter, please contact Pastor Michael Meissner at pastormichael@lifebridgecypress.org

Easter Worship in the Park

pastormichael — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:44:32 +0000

Easter in the Park 2011

Join us this Easter, April 8, at Bridgeland’s Festival Park for an outdoor community worship service celebrating the joyful news that Jesus Christ is ALIVE. Worship will start at 10 a.m., with a brunch and egg hunt following. Bring lawn chairs or a blanket to sit on, and join the rest of our community as we worship God this day.

If weather is bad, the event will move across the street to the Smith Middle School cafeteria.

Mosque and Temple tour

pastormichael — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:33:17 +0000

Join us on Sunday, March 4 from 12:30-3:30 as we tour a local Buddhist temple, a Moslem mosque, and perhaps a few other religious venues as we seek to gain a better understanding of the increasingly diverse spiritual climate that we live in today. LINC will be our hosts, leading Bible Class that morning at 9, sharing the message during the 10:10 worship, then the tour that afternoon. All are welcome to join us.

Youth Retreat

pastormichael — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:24:06 +0000

Youth Retreat Feb. 24-26. 6th-12th grade. Cost $10. We’ll be heading toward Austin for a weekend at the Meissner ranch as we set aside a weekend to grow in our faith and have some good old-fashioned fun.

New Year’s Day Worship SERVE-ice

pastormichael — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 18:32:57 +0000

What a fun and appropriate way to start the new year — by SERVING the wonderful folks of Cypress. Since New Year’s Day fell on a Sunday this year, LifeBridge decided to do something a bit unique. We gathered very briefly for a devotion and prayers, then sent people out all over town to serve. Some went to a local nursing home to visit with the residents. Others stopped to talk with the guys selling newspapers, then went and bought them shoes/jeans/whatever they needed. We worked at the local animal shelter, bought breakfast for people at the donut shop, and all sorts of similar types of projects. Then, we gathered afterwards at the Franke home to enjoy pizza and share stories.

Here are a few pictures from some of the service projects. A couple of our families visited with the residents at a local retirement center. They just LOVE visitors, and especially the children.

Others were given $70 to go buy donuts for people at the local donut shop. Some were suspicious at first, but ultimately warmed up when they heard we were buying breakfast!

Best of all, though, was how we were able to bless one very hard working guy. We had pre-arranged with the pizza delivery company to bless one of their drivers with a car full of groceries and a really REALLY big tip. They made sure our delivery was assigned to an individual who was particularly hard working, but who had experienced some challenging circumstances in 2011. What a joy it was for us to be able to start his year off on such a note of encouragement and a reminder of God’s love for him. I think it is safe to say he has never had a delivery like this one before!

When all was said and done, we had met some amazing people and had a whole new list of names of people that we could be praying for. Best of all, it was another affirmation of how rich life is when you love people the way Jesus did.

Christmas in a Barn Review

pastormichael — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:30:00 +0000

A cold, wet and yet entirely fitting celebration of Christ's birth

Our 4th annual Christmas in a Barn had a familiar feel to it. Like years 2 and 3, weather once again played a factor. Still, a surprisingly large crowd packed the barn at the Dossman farm to brave the elements for this annual celebration of that very first Christmas in a Barn over 2000 years ago.

We give thanks that Christ was willing to give up the comforts and glory of heaven to journey down into our broken and sin-filled world. Because of HIM, all the wrongs are made right. Thank you, Jesus!

Hot chocolate on a cold night!

Some of the LifeBridge children singing a closing blessing