The Bridge Church

Lifeway surveyed 1,001 evangelical churches in 2025, and not one of them qualified as a multiplying church, meaning a church that planted a church that went on to plant another one. Ethan admits The Bridge wouldn’t make the cut yet either. In this first deep dive of Multiply, we talk about why that number matters, and why the biggest threat to the church in the West might not be anything outside t...

Zero out of 1,001 churches today meet the criteria of a multiplying church. The early church had no buildings, no money, no printing press, and no political influence, and it grew from a handful of believers to half the Roman Empire in a few centuries. Something is clearly off. This week, Pastor Ethan Welch kicks off Multiply, a four-week series in Acts 6. We look at why multiplication always face...

In this week’s deep dive, Ethan and Josh talk about how to tell God’s voice apart from the loudest voices in your life, and why you should test what you think God is saying against Scripture, your church community, and the people closest to you. They also get into the difference between not reacting and being passive, why you don’t have to win every argument or answer every angry text, and how to...

Sooner or later, someone is going to come after you. They’ll criticize you, talk about you, or go out of their way to hurt you, and most of us respond the way we always have, by hitting back. This week, Pastor Ethan Welch continues our study through the life of David in 1 Samuel 24. David has every reason and every opportunity to end the man who has been hunting him. When Saul walks into the very...

If you asked most guys whether they have friends, they’d probably say, “Yeah, of course.” But if you poke around a little, a lot of those friendships turn out to be fantasy league group chats and golf trips, and nobody actually knows what’s going on in their marriage, their struggles, or their heart. In Part 2 of our friendship series, Ethan and Josh talk about why so many men end up with plenty o...

David is out of the cave and into the wilderness. He’s been anointed king, but he hasn’t been appointed yet, and now he’s stuck in that long middle stretch between the promise and the throne. In this week’s deep dive, Ethan and Josh talk about the difference between a cave season and a wilderness season. They look at why God led Moses, Jesus, Paul, and David through the wilderness before they step...

David went from killing Goliath to hiding in a cave, and some scholars think the cave of Adullam was close to the valley where he won that fight. In this week's deep dive, we unpack Sunday's message about the caves all of us end up in at some point, whether it's a financial season, a relational one, a job, or a marriage that feels dark and cold right now. We talk about why the cave can...

At some point, life puts everybody in the cave. It's a place that feels dark, isolated, and cold, where you can't see the way forward and you're not sure God is paying attention. Maybe it's a relationship that fell apart, a health battle, a job loss, or a season where nothing turned out the way you expected. If hard seasons have made you question what you believe, this message is f...

A few weeks ago we released "Why You Don't Have a Real Friend," and it hit a nerve with a lot of you. So we're kicking off a mini series on friendship, and we're starting with the hard question: how do you tell the difference between someone who's actually your friend and someone who's just friendly? In this episode, Josh and Pastor Ethan walk through four kinds of fa...

Real trust with God is not saying you are fine with his plan as long as it looks a certain way. It is handing him the pen and letting him write the story, even the parts you would not have chosen. This episode is a deeper dive into Sunday's message, "On the Run." Watch the full sermon here: https://youtu.be/JOaCVkHc3rM Ethan and Josh talk through the drawing from the sermon, what it...

Following God does not always mean life goes up and to the right. Sometimes it means being attacked for doing the right thing, losing people and things you love, and watching your life move in reverse. This week we continue our study through the life of David. After defeating Goliath and gaining a friend in Jonathan, David now finds himself running for his life from the very king he once served. W...

Most of us care more than we would like to admit about what other people think of us. Ethan and the team continue the conversation from last week's message on people who turn against you, this time digging into why we fight so hard to be liked, what it actually costs us, and what it looks like to live for God's approval instead of everyone else's. This episode is a deeper dive into Sun...

Some of the deepest pain in life comes from people you trusted turning against you. Not strangers, but the ones closest to you. A spouse, a friend, a family member, a business partner. This week we continue our study through 1 Samuel 18. King Saul, the very man David had faithfully served, turns against him at the height of David's success. We look at three things David shows us about how to r...

Most people have plenty of connections and no real friends. Ethan and Josh talk through the difference between a real friend and a deal friend, why insecurity keeps people from letting others in, and what it actually takes to build a friendship that lasts.__ This episode is a deeper dive into Sunday's message, "Who Will Join You in the Fight?" We go past what made it into the sermon...

Not everyone who's close to you is actually for you. That's the hard lesson David learns after killing Goliath. Instead of universal celebration, his success creates both a lifelong friend and a dangerous enemy, almost overnight. This week, we look at 1 Samuel 18 and the story of Jonathan and Saul. The same guy who hands David his sword, now is the one who throws a spear at his head. What...

If your life right now feels like it's not really going anywhere — same routine, same job, same four walls — this episode is for you. Kirk, Ethan, and Josh dig into what happened in the years before David ever fought Goliath: the quiet, unnoticed seasons of tending sheep, throwing rocks at trees, and just staying faithful in the boring stuff nobody was watching. Turns out, none of it was waste...

David didn't beat Goliath by accident. Long before that rock ever left his hand, he'd spent years alone in the wilderness, training with a sling nobody was watching him use. When the moment came, he didn't rise to the occasion he fell back on the skill he'd already built. In this message, Pastor Kirk Morgan continues our study through David's life, looking at what David's story actually says about...

Most people read David and Goliath backwards. You put yourself in David's shoes. You picture your Goliath and get ready to fight. But that's not the point of the story. In this episode, Josh and Ethan break down why David and Goliath isn't a story about you finding the courage to face your giants. It's a story about Christ. David isn't the hero. He's a shadow of the real on...

Fear magnifies what stands against us, but faith sees beyond the obstacle to the God who is greater. In this sermon, “The Goliath of Fear,” we’ll see how David’s courage came from knowing God’s heart, trusting God’s power, and refusing to let what he saw become bigger than what he believed. And ultimately, David points us to Jesus, the true Champion who stepped into the battle we could never win a...

Every Sunday for the next year, we're walking through the life of David. This episode picks up right after week one and gets into the thing that struck us both afterward: there's a 15 year gap between the moment David gets anointed and the moment he actually becomes king. Fifteen years of serving under a king who hated him before the crown ever showed up. We talk about what it actually loo...

In today sermon, “God’s Man,” we begin the story of David by asking a question that reaches far beyond him: “What if we’re wrong about what matters?” In 1 Samuel 16, God overturns human assumptions about greatness and shows us that he values character over image, obscurity over notoriety, and serving over striving. From the very beginning, David’s life also begins pointing us toward a greater King...

Is tithing still relevant for Christians today? Or is it an Old Testament principle that doesn't apply anymore? It's one of those questions that a lot of people have but never ask out loud. In this episode, Pastor Ethan sits down for a candid conversation on what the Bible actually says about the tithe, why the New Testament doesn't reduce the expectation of generosity but actually rai...

Money problems usually don’t begin with one catastrophic decision, but with a thousand small choices about work, comfort, spending, and preparation. In Proverbs 6, Solomon tells us to learn from an unlikely financial coach, the ant, who works hard, thinks ahead, and does today what tomorrow will require. In this sermon, “Money Like an Ant,” we see how financial freedom isn’t luck; it’s built one w...

Pastor Ethan joins the conversation for a deeper dive off the back of this week's message from Proverbs 6, unpacking debt and what it actually costs us. In this episode:- Why Scripture won't let you separate spiritual maturity from financial health- How debt culture went from rare and difficult to normalized in one generation- The Proverbs 22:7 principle: "the borrower is slave to the...

Financial stewardship is not separate from spiritual maturity. God’s people should seek to handle money God’s way with the same seriousness we bring to prayer, Scripture, generosity, and every other area of discipleship. In Proverbs 6, we’ll begin building a biblical foundation for financial health by confronting one of Scripture’s clearest warnings: debt is dangerous.__The Bridge Church exists to...