Building bridges in California
Greg Barnes has two passions, sharing the gospel and surfing, and hes found a way to do both. Greg learned how to surf while growing up in Galveston, Texas. He moved onto bigger waves when he decided to go to seminary at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in San Francisco, and hes been in the Sunshine State ever since.

The Bridge, a church started by Greg and Karla Barnes, meets in a theater and features a casual approach and upbeat music.

In 1999 Greg and his wife Karla moved to San Marcus, the fastest growing city in north San Diego County. They decided that San Marcus was the perfect location for a new church start. They were excited about the opportunities to work with the community and the large student population attending San Marcus University. With the help of their sponsor church, Cross Roads Church, in Freemont, California, they were able to start the Bridge Community Church last March.

The Bridge holds its Sunday services at the local cinema. They rent a theater for the main service and another for the childrens ministry. The fact that we meet in a movie theater is non-threatening to someone who is unchurched, says Greg. We provide coffee and donuts before the service, and since the seats have cup holders, our members just take their coffee into the service with them. Its really quite user-friendly.

Greg believes that the laid-back atmosphere and upbeat music seem to draw in people who are not accustomed to traditional church. The Bridge Community Church has about 100 members, and about 70 percent of them are new Christians.

Greg felt called to plant churches about 10 years ago when he attended a church leadership conference in California. I heard Bill Hybels and Rick Warren talk about planting churches, recalls Greg. Thats when I got fired up.

In the summer, the Bridge Community Church hosts a Shred Dog Surf Camp for people in the community. Shred dog is teenspeak for a hot-shot surfer. Greg and some of the church members teach kids and adults how to surf. Last year we had about 60 people in the camp and this year we are expecting twice that. Greg is planning to have a baptismal service in the ocean at the end of camp this year.

There are two things were trying to build into the DNA of our churchbeing involved in the community and helping start other churches, says Greg. The Bridge Community Church is helping plant a church in southern San Diego County. Were going to buy them a sound system, and were sending missionaries from our church for one month to help start the Real Life Church.

Resorting to volunteer missions
When tourists come to the Golden Isles off the coast of Georgia they see beautiful beaches, quaint shops and miles of paradise, but Amy Ledden sees a mission field.

Amy is a US/C-2 missionary and uses resort missions to reach the thousands of tourists who come to relax and have fun at Brunswick, St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island.

Amy Ledden (right) encourages others to be on mission.

As the director of Golden Isles Ministries, Amy finds creative ways to reach vacationers, inner-city children and the residents who live there year round. The way in which we are able to reach the community is through student mission groups, explains Amy.

A lot of Amys time is spent organizing these groups and teaching them how to share the gospel creatively with vacationers and those who call the islands their home. During the summer you will find volunteers at the local mall and other tourist attractions sharing Christ through drama, puppets, music and dance. Amy has them doing everything from sign language to sports drills set to music.

Amy puts these groups to work doing Backyard Bible Clubs and day camps in the housing projects, trailer parks, inner-city parks and at local Boys and Girls Clubs.

Her volunteers also lead worship services and do performance ministry in major tourist areas. Since we have all these youth and college students coming to work with us, Ive realized that part of my job is to minister to the student volunteers as well as to the community and vacationers, says Amy. Its my hope that these students are able to see the face of God while theyre here and go home realizing they can be missionaries every day where they are.

Amy was called to missions as a college student at Northern Kentucky University. She served as a semester missionary at Golden Isles Ministries and became a US/C-2 missionary in July of 2000. My work as a semester missionary helped me learn how to do this ministry and prepared me to keep it going.

Right now Amys work is mostly seasonal, but she is hoping to start some after- school programs and other ministries in the inner city, which will make it more year-round.

Resort missions may sound glamorous and fun, but its a lot of work. Pretty much, Im running around all day making sure groups are where theyre supposed to be, and people are being served effectively, she explains. Hopefully, Im helping our young volunteers see that they can lead on mission lifestyles.

Part of my job is to prepare our volunteers for service. I explain to them that instead of sharing themselves, they are to share Christ. Meeting the needs of someone gives them the opportunity to share, explains Amy.

I also challenge each one of them to share about Jesus with every person they meet. Not just in their actions, but with their words.

I know some students go back home and live life just as they did before, but some do take that challenge with them and begin to live life on mission sharing Jesus as they go into the world, just like it says in the Great Commission.

Juggling for Jesus
Most young couples spend their time trying to juggle career, family, church, finances, social occasions and whatever else they can fit into their lives. But newlyweds Nathan and Kathy Dorrell spend their time together juggling bowling pins, knives, flaming torches and of course bouncing balls.

Using juggling and other circus arts to tell Bible stories and to illustrate faith in Christ, these two on mission Christians have a ministry that touches children and adults of all ages. A lot of people look at what we do and think of us as entertainers and not evangelists, but this is what God has called us to do, says Nathan Dorrell.

Nathan and Kathy Dorrell use juggling as an entertaining way to share the gospel.

Nathan, a recent graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has been juggling since the sixth or seventh grade. My first public performance was at a youth-led worship service at my church. I had to juggle the announcements, recalls Nathan. I was so focused on my juggling that I forgot some of the announcements I was supposed to make. Fifteen years later Nathan has no problem juggling several objects while sharing stories about Christs love.

Nathan felt a call to missions as a college freshman. I realized that if God could use me while I was hardly trying, then I wanted to see what would happen if I gave Him my all, says Nathan. Thats when he decided to pursue summer missions. It was on one of those mission trips when he realized that God could use his juggling to glorify Him.

Nathan and Kathy met in 1999 when Kathy asked Nathan for a juggling lesson and caught the juggling bug. Shes really gotten into juggling and shes a mission-minded gal, says Nathan. She is also learning to master the Giant Chinese Yo-Yo.

Now married, the two of them have taken their juggling talents on the road and continue to share the gospel at churches, camps, festivals and anywhere else the Lord leads them.