Short Term Mission Trips

The Bridge Church is starting a progression to establish weekly Celebration services and we need other
people to be a part of the story. Coming up here would be a huge boost for The Bridge in developing
relationships that will end with people knowing Christ.
Our progression is simple, yet insane. Start with 3 committed people and do 6 monthly Celebration
services and 6 monthly Community Events to create a “Building Team.” This Building Team will be
the group of people who will begin to embody the Core Elements (purpose, values, process and
practices) of The Bridge. The end goal of the Building Team is to create an atmosphere by “Ribbon
Cutting”* that is what we, well really God, wants. Yeah, this would never happen unless other
Kingdom-advancing people come and do this with us.
The key is to build the right things into people. We are not just starting a “worship service.”
Celebration services are just a tool to let people who are far from God have a chance to be bridged to
him. The Community Events are a tool to earn trust among those who do not go to church. The
number one desire is to present to them an amazing Jesus that will transform their lives.
You get the chance to be a part of doing that in an area that is 95% non-Christian.** If it takes 7
Gospel “touches” on minimum to see someone accept Christ, people who do not know God simply do
not have the opportunity to rub into enough people who do. We want you to help us to “touch” as
many unchurched as possible. Even beyond that, we want you to help us have multiple touches on
people. With every increasing touch, Gospel acceptance becomes a greater reality.
We want you to consider coming for one of the 12 Building Events I already described. This would be
an immense time and financial commitment on your part, but one that would be worth every second
and every penny. Why? Because when you receive reports of people being transformed by God, you
will know that you had a hand in each and every one.
When will these events be?

Celebration Services Community Events

April 11 May 16 April 3 May 7

June 13 July 11 June 12 July 24

August 15 September 12 August 21 September 24

All of the Celebration Services are set. The first two Community Events are set. The last four
Community Events dates will be set soon.
What would a schedule look like?
You could come and leave at any given point in time. But here is a potential schedule and what you
could be doing during the day.
* The name we are giving to our weekly service launch.
* * One local pastor said 95% was low compared to what he’s heard.
 • Wednesday
• Arrive.  
• Get settled.  
• Dinner with training.
• Thursday Day:
• Prayerwalk
• Door hangers
• Gamer afternoon/cook out @ park.
• Thursday PM
• Dinner
• Meeting
• Relax
• Friday Day
• Prayerwalk
• Door hangers
• Free Car Wash
• Friday PM
• Pass out water
• Free time (Celebration Service week. This is dependent upon a lot of factors.)
• Saturday Day
• Put on Community Event
• For Celebration week, more serving, stirring up buzz, etc.
• Saturday PM
• Pass out water.
• Sunday
• Attend Lamson Road. Help with their service
• Free Time (Community Event week. This is dependent upon a lot of factors.)
• Celebration Service.
• Recap dinner
• Monday
• Depart for home.
Remember, these are only ideas. There are a lot of ideas we can dream up or steal from other
churches. Oh, wait, borrow ideas. We’re not supposed to steal.
Other things you must know prior to committing...
• We would like you to consider being a Partner Church, not just come to help. That means
you recruit people from your church to be prayer partners for us and commit to giving to the
ongoing budget of The Bridge. If interested, we have more info about what it means to be a
Partner Church.
• We have a few philosophies to serving we want those coming to be aware of:
• We do not intend to share the Gospel anywhere we have not previously served.
• We serve because we are converted.  We do not serve to convert.
• We serve to show off a loving and serving God. We serve to open people’s hearts to hear
the Gospel. We do not serve to preach.
• We want to epitomize 1 Peter 3:15-16.  First, we set apart the Messiah as holy (I hope you
have already done that). Then, we be ready to give an answer of our hope to those who
 ask.  Then we always answer with gentleness and respect. We will be ready to
answer...when asked, but not before.
• You will need to go through training prior to serving.  This way you understand our Core
Elements and will reflect the culture we want. 
• Some of this training will be before you even come.  We recommend the group going
through the book Guerilla Lovers by Vince Antonnuci.  This captures our serving
philosophy.
• Some of this training will be after you come.  The first night's dinner will be a time where
we will train you on our culture.
• I will be willing to come and do some training prior to you coming. It would greatly
benefit your team. However, you will need to pay for my expenses if you do this.
• We will work out when you need to arrive based on what you are doing.
• At our Community Events, our goal is to point them to our Launch Meetings and our
Celebration Services.  At our Celebration Services, our goal is to point them to our Launch
Meetings and our Community Events. This is getting them prepared, through serving, to
hear about Jesus.
• Really, what this is, is a modern day way of asking people to follow us. Jesus, when calling
others to follow him, put no obligation on them except to follow.  Really, this is what we want
people to do...simply follow us. They will hear, see and ultimately (we hope) accept Jesus as
they follow.
What are the financial considerations to take into account?
Transportation
• For reference, to Baldwinsville, it is 17 hours drive time from Springfield, MO.  It is 14 hours
drive time from Harrisburg, IL.  It is 19 hours drive time from Little Rock, AR.  I suggest flying
because it will give you the maximum time on the ground.
• Airfarewatchdog.com is a great place to receive updates for the lowest prices.
• Air Tran is the only "budget" airline to Syracuse.
• Rochester, NY has excellent deals on airfare (a lot of the time they are cheaper than
Syracuse) and is about 1.5 hours away.  Check flying here before booking anything.
• Southwest Airlines goes to Buffalo, Albany (3 hours) and New York City (4-5 hours).
• We do not have the capability to transport a group of people.  Make sure you make a rental
reservation for a van for the time you will be here.
• Gas in Central New York hovers around $2.75 per gallon.
Motel
• Please do not count on us being able to come up with host homes for you.  That probably
will be too much of a burden.
• There s a very nice motel in B'ville called The Red Mill Inn, but it will run $150 a room a
night.
• We have a Microtel in B'ville.  Rooms probably will go for $70 per room per night.
• There are other motels in the 5-10 minute range that we can get for around $80-100 a room
a night.
• These would be "going rates."  I will work on getting a "special deal." 
• Remember if you fill a room, the prices goes down per person.  For instance, a $100 per
night room is $50 per person with two people and $25 per person with four people.
• Get a motel with breakfast and it cuts down on one meal per day to pay for.
• Get a motel with fridge and you can get inexpensive lunch.
Food
• Unfortunately, we can't provide many meals for you.  Money is TIGHT.  As a part of your
commitment to come, we need you to commit to taking care of your meals.
• Choosing the right motel will help a lot with food costs.
• You can get by with $15/day/person.  This would be if you got a motel with a free breakfast,
able to have refrigerators so you can have sandwiches for lunch, and then have a "nice"
dinner.
• We have some great local food.  You must eat NY style pizza and wings.  You must eat at the
B'ville Diner.  
Entertainment
• There are some good things to do and see in the Syracuse region.  Syracuse itself has a AAA
Baseball team, good-sized mall, Museum of Science and Technology, and a few other hot
spots.
• The Baseball Hall of Fame is 2 hours away (the Soccer HOF is close to there too, but I'm
sure nobody cares).  Niagara Falls is 3 hours away.  New York City is 4-5 hours away.
• You get to decide what you do during a fun time because it will all be paid for by you.
• It is good to schedule one fun day (or afternoon).  You may never get back here again!
Misc. Financial Things
• We are thrilled that you are going to come to serve.  The more people come, the more people
in Baldwinsville we get to serve.  
• The flip side to that coin is that the more we serve, the more it costs us to serve.  Money we
do not have.  In order for you to come, we need you to commit to paying for the resources
that we will use.  
• We would also like for you to consider "sponsoring" the Celebration or Community Event
that you are helping with.  This means that you would help pay for the costs of the event. If
you did this, we could use the offering collected at Celebration services for our ongoing
budget.
• The exact dollar amount depends on what we accomplish.  If it is split among a whole group,
then the cost per person will not be large.
• The book we recommend you read needs to be at your expense.

What’s Next?
Work on a date that you could come and contact me with that date. Start recruiting people, then
train those people. If you wish, book a time for me to come do some training (I could also
preach, more bang for your buck!). Then pack your bags and come on your jet plane!

We look forward to potentially serving next to you here in Baldwinsville!

Contact info:
Shane Kennard
skennard@thebridgebville.com
315-857-6484