South Gate The Power of Giving

1913 Powersite Dam was completed on the White River. This Dam was the Dam built on the raging White River.

This created the warm water Lake of Lake Taneycomo. The Merriam family came down out of Kansas City and discovered Rockaway Beach, MO

Rockaway Beach became a thriving resort town from 1913 and even into the early 1960s. Two famous hotels at the time. The Brown Hotel and The White Hotel. Bob Barker waited tables at the Brown hotel when he was a college student at Drury university.

Harry Truman played poker in Rockaway Beach when he was a Senator. College students would vacation to Rockaway Beach, Honeymooners would go to Rockaway Beach. It was Jack and Pete Herschend’s parents who vacationed out of Chicago and they discovered Marvel Cave and eventually leased the ground and started Silver Dollar City. This was started because they came to Rockaway Beach on vacation.

1958 The completion of Table Rock dam started the decline of Rockaway Beach. Overnight Lake Taneycomo went from a warm water lake to a cold water lake and our current lake temperature is below 65 degrees year round.

The resorts survived the early years of the completion of the dam by building their own pools.

1965 There was what is known as the 1965 riot. It was not much of a riot at all according the the locals who were present the day it all went down.

It was 4th of July weekend and many college students were in town. A couple of them had been drinking and one was riding on the shoulders of another as they rode a motorcycle through town. They were arrested and several other students got upset and started causing trouble. Some were arrested and taken to Taney County. The prosecuting attorney says he doesn’t know why but he immediately picked up the phone and called the governor.

The governor alerted the state police and we made the front page of the Kansas City Star along with several other large city riots that year. This sped up the decline of Rockaway Beach.

Resort owners no longer would book college kids and families no longer wanted to come to Rockaway Beach. About the same time the neighboring community of Branson was taking off and Rockaway Beach declined.

Fast forward to 2005 there was a state wide ballot issue that would rescue the town. It was casino riverboat gambling. Many people hoped that this would save the community.

In 2005, Bridge of Faith Community Church was planted. The rumor in town was that we came as a church with the sole purpose of stopping Casino Riverboat Gambling.

We faced a lot of animosity from the city leadership at the time, the citizens in the community, and local law enforcement.

Amy and I heard the planting pastor speaking at FBC Branson in 2006. He shared a story of a 15 year old girl who was living in trauma. Amy and I knew we had to go and do something.

In 2007, I became the pastor of Bridge of Faith Community Church.

We believe in Matthew 18:5

Matthew 18:5 HCSB

5 And whoever welcomes one child like this in My name welcomes Me.

If we welcome children in the name of Jesus Christ then we welcome Christ himself into our church.

We believe that through the Gospel we can transform generations that transform communities.

South Gate started partnering with Bridge of Faith in 2008 when my sister Jinger Woolley and her husband Clay who were members here at South Gate were called to come and lead our youth.

South Gate sent them and jumped in with both feet. South Gate has continued to be generous to Bridge of Faith and the people of Rockaway Beach. Thank you for bringing pizza on the second Wednesday night of the month.

Let me tell you what your pizza has done. This past fall I heard about a young man through a teacher in Forsyth schools. She said that every day this young man would come to school and he struggled.

Said he would almost every day have an episode where he would jump down on the floor and say I see rats, I see rats, I see rats.

She said one day he came to school. She said he had attended Bridge of Faith the night before. He heard the Gospel of Jesus.

The next day he came to school and He told the teacher about coming to church and giving his life to Jesus. She said from that day on he never talked about rats ever again!

Your generosity with pizza every month is so much more than pizza.

Here is something else that happens at Bridge of Faith.

(Show kid without shoe picture)

This kid was about to miss the church van on a Wednesday night so instead of missing the church van he came to church with just one shoe on.

When is the last time you were that excited for church that you only put one shoe one.

(show video)

What do you do when you are called to a community that has lost hope, kids are facing trauma, children are faced with their parents being incarcerated (dreaming about being with their parents in jail) the good news of Jesus is not prevalent, the economy is broken, jobs exist in small numbers, vandalism from children is high, drug addiction and alcoholism are prevalent, kids are hungry?

(insert image here or a visual for people to catch the wait of the problem)

Everything Bridge of Faith has put in place to address this is summed up as one pastor said, We have just hit walls and built ladders over the walls.

This is the result of ladders over walls

(Show stigma slide)

Stigma

Kids known as the 561

Cloud of Despair

First 8 years over 20 deaths to Drug overdose, alcohol or suicide

2 or more a year

Living Whole

Preschool to Adulthood

Describe each piece

Thrift stores

Mark 2:1–12 HCSB

1 When He entered Capernaum again after some days, it was reported that He was at home. 2 So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and He was speaking the message to them. 3 Then they came to Him bringing a paralytic, carried by four men. 4 Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above where He was. And when they had broken through, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 But some of the scribes were sitting there, thinking to themselves: 7 “Why does He speak like this? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 8 Right away Jesus understood in His spirit that they were thinking like this within themselves and said to them, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He told the paralytic, 11 “I tell you: get up, pick up your mat, and go home.” 12 Immediately he got up, picked up the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

Exegesis here

2 Corinthians 8:1–5 HCSB

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia: 2 During a severe testing by affliction, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity. 3 I testify that, on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability, 4 they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, 5 and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves especially to the Lord, then to us by God’s will.

Later in this chapter it describes that churches in their abundance share with churches in their poverty and vice versa.

Closing thoughts:

4 men pick of carrying people ladders over walls

The Wednesday night description with Kevin Waterman

Putting pizza on one of the kids plate is this pic of strapping them to your shoulders and getting them up the next step

Donating a pair of jeans to our pack the truck event

The same people who struggle with the church are the ones that can’t resist $2 jeans at the thrift store