The Bridge Sermons

In this episode of Bridge Builders, Pastor Suzanne hosts Trish Berry and Dar as they reflect on the church's discernment process around human sexuality and the creation of its theological position statement. Rather than rehashing arguments, they focus on what it takes for people with different convictions to stay in the room, listen well, and wrestle faithfully together. The conversation explores the relief, tension, pain, and beauty of the process, including the challenge of hearing stories from LGBTQ+ families and the courage it took to keep engaging with grace. Ultimately, the episode highlights a church community trying to honor Scripture, love people well, and trust that hard conversations can still lead to deeper unity and growth. If you'd like to read the statment go to TheBridgeJohnston.org

Sunday morning worship at The Bridge with guest speaker Rev. Dave Schutt.Dave addresses the question, “Why does The Bridge have women pastors?” He walks through both the complementarian and egalitarian views of women in church leadership before sharing the biblical case for The Bridge's egalitarian position. At the heart of the message is the belief that the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts without regard to gender—and that each of us is called to discover and use those gifts in the life of the church.

What happens when a church starts seeing women as leaders before they have the language to call them pastors? Pastor Suzanne Vogel sits down with Pastor Aaron VIs and Pastor Jane Brown to tell the story of how call, community, and courage opened the door for women in ministry - and why that still matters now.

Why do some churches baptize babies while others wait until adulthood? Pastor Suzanne sits down with Andy Vis and Jen Phillips for a thoughtful, practical conversation that gets to the heart of one of the church's most meaningful and debated practices. If you've ever wondered what infant baptism is really about, or how families make these decisions, this episode gives you a clearer, more grace-filled picture.

What if the kids in worship are not the problem, but part of the point? This conversation with Pastor Suzanne, Doug and Carrie VanZanten, and Kelsey McGinnis reframes the chaos, the noise, and the awkward moments as part of how church forms both children and adults.

Note: Suzanne recorded this episode from an airport, so there are some rough edits where we cut out the overhead speaker announcements. Apologies for any places that this feels awkward!