|
Our Story |
|
|
The story of the Bridge Christian Fellowship is one of vision and destiny. Its inception truly began in the summer of 1975 when Bart heard the calling of the Lord as a young boy and surrendered to the ministry as he gave his life to Jesus Christ and received a calling to the ministry in a simultaneous encounter.
In the summer of 1996 Bart began working with John Paul Jackson as a mentor and father in the faith. Bart has spent the past decade with John Paul developing his calling and gifts related to ministry as he and John Paul traveled around the world together and spent many hours in discussion, prayer, friendship and mentoring. Even though Bart grew up in church he spent nearly 14 years in the secular business world as an entrepreneurial businessman. Bart moved from
Dallas,
Texas in the spring of 2002 to
New Hampshire to be a part of the Streams Ministry International staff as he exited business as a vocation. During this period of time Bart had an encounter with the Lord where he received the commission to pastor. This was a very significant encounter, because for the previous 33 years Bart had determined that even though he felt called to the ministry he would never pastor a local congregation. Growing up in a large church in
Dallas and having the privilege of seeing the body of Christ world wide, he was aware of the sacrifice and commitment necessary to pastor a local church. Bart and his family relocated back to
Dallas in the spring of 2004 to serve for a year as the General Managers of Vision Life Ministries and senior pastor of
Stonebriar
Creek
Church. It was during this period that the revelation was given to Bart and Kim through dreams, prophetic revelations, and prayer that it was truly the will of the Lord for them to plant a new church in the
Orlando area. In July of 2005 Bart met with John Paul Jackson and began discussing the direction of the Lord concerning the planting of the
Bridge
Orlando
Church. Bart and Kim moved to
Florida in the fall of 2005 to plant the church
. On January 15th 2006 Bart, Kim, and five other families officially launched the Bridge Christian Fellowship Orlando. After several months of hard work and the Lord’s blessing, the church had grown to well over 150 people and continues to grow and expand as the Lord adds to the church. The Bridge Orlando is an affiliate partner church with Streams Ministry International and is under the apostolic oversight of John Paul Jackson, John Sandford, and Dr. Henry Malone
|