“God led us, through a series of events, to the Quad Cities and Bridge Cities Church. While here, He has made clear the path of ministry for which He has been prepping us. God has called us to join Cadence International Ministries, which provide safe off base home to those who are serving in our various military branches. We are continuing to trust Him to provide fully, as we are still in need of partners in both prayer and giving, and we believe he has already gone before us and has already provided.”
- Jason
“The language barrier here has been hard, but God led me to new friends through church here at BCC. Some of the friends I’ve made are from women’s Bible study. Another one I met because she asked about Pastor Derik’s Korean tattoo on his arm and he introduced her to me. She introduced herself to me in Korean and it was so nice to hear my own language. I have been challenged in my walk with God. These friends are very important and special to me. I have made strong connections with them and they understand me and welcomed me like family. I am so grateful that God has led us to BCC and the people here.”
-Hanna
"When I first came to the church I came with a lot of hurt and distrust in people. Despite that, I got involved with groups from day one. To my surprise, every group I went to, I felt so welcome by everyone and felt like everyone was my friend. Truly I had no idea how impactful the groups would actually be to my life.
Becoming a part of these groups has given me a space to be VULNERABLE, and some of you are probably thinking to yourself “Yeah, I won't be doing that," and a few months ago, I would have said the same thing. I was so afraid to open up to people about my past and was worried that others might see me as less than if they knew what I had gone through.
But then God brought me to this scripture
James 5:16
Therefore CONFESS your sins to each other and PRAY for each other so that you may be HEALED. The prayer of a righteous person is POWERFUL and EFFECTIVE.
Because I took God’s word on this and instead of listening to my fears, I now have people I can go to when I am in the middle of temptation and when the enemy is lying in my ear. Can I just say the enemy wants us to think we are the only ones going through whatever it is we are going through, (addiction, lust, temptation...) But God says, "confess your sins." He does not say, "don’t tell anyone because you will burden them." A lot of us believe that, too. We need the body of Christ, we need righteous people praying for our healing because the Bible says there is power in it and it is effective, meaning it works. We won’t get that healing if we’re not able to open up and be transparent about where we are at right now."
-Celess
“Recently I got the opportunity to go on a prayer walk with some people from church and before we started I prayed that as we got to a new house that God would put on my heart what that home needed so that I could pray over it. Everytime we got to a new house a word or a phrase would come through my head like “relationships” or “work” or “struggling with _____” and I knew that that’s what God wanted me to pray about. So it was really cool to see how God knows those people so intimately and knows exactly what they need even when I had no idea. ”
— Natalie
“Our group was blessed by having a pizza lunch for the church after the 2nd service. This was the same meal we had shared as a closed group many times in the past. The Lord allowed us to share this idea with the whole congregation, who had been challenged to invite each other out for lunch earlier in the month. I was so proud of the way our group shared their desserts, their pizza, and their hospitality. To my mind it was a great experience for all who took part.”
— Keith
