Every Thursday night in The Brew coffee shop at Oklahoma Christian, students come together to worship Jesus in an instrumental worship service, singing hymns and contemporary worship music and spending time together to glorify God. This student-founded ministry is called The Bridge, and all are welcome and encouraged to attend.
Zane Murray, a sophomore majoring in Biblical studies and founding member of The Bridge worship nights, spoke about his experience starting The Bridge with two of his classmates.
“So I am a sophomore. My freshman year, me and two other students who are both juniors now, we were like, man, while acapella worship’s great, it’s just not really what we grew up with, and we knew that perhaps there was a little bit of a gap between Church of Christ and everyone else. Not bad at all, it was just different. So we’re like, ‘What would happen if we could try to bridge the gap between both of these different groups of students? How about we just start a worship night?’ And it was supposed to just be a one-off. We did a worship night, and a lot of people showed up. You know, Church of Christ and other denominations, and everyone loved it, and they wanted more. And so, it started to be a bi-weekly thing, and it grew from fifteen students to sixty students. People just wanted more, and that’s how it started. So I had the opportunity to be one of those quote unquote founders, you know, just to kind of be there and help coordinate things,” he said.
Murray spoke about the other two founding members of The Bridge,
“Timothy Clark Co, he’s actually my roommate now, he wasn’t then, and then Finn Garner. They’re both, like I said, juniors now. Tim is an accounting major, and then Finn is a communications and vocational ministry double major,” said Murray.
The Bridge started last year as a completely student-led ministry. Murray spoke about the progression of the worship nights over the past year.
“So freshman year, it was just students. It was just kind of whoever we could get to speak, whoever wanted to help lead worship,” Murray said. “We started off in the art gallery over in Garvey, and then the thermostat, it just wasn’t set to where we were on schedule. Yeah, it definitely took perseverance to worship in the heat. But we started there, and then we kind of outgrew the art gallery, and then we did a couple under Lawson Commons, the big pavilion, and then just because of weather and stuff, we decided we probably need an inside spot, and so we moved to the brew. So yes, every Thursday night, eight o’clock in the brew,” he said.
Murray spoke about his passion for glorifying Jesus through The Bridge worship nights and the heart at the foundation of the movement.
“This is what I would want people to know about The Bridge: it’s not about being Church of Christ or non-Church of Christ, that’s not what it’s about. It’s not about instruments or acapella, that’s not what it’s about. We never want people to lose focus of what we’re really about. We’re about authentically worshiping Jesus. We’ll sing hymns and we’ll sing contemporary, but the point is that we’re creating a spot for students to encounter Jesus. We’re not trying to prove anything or show anyone up. We just want everyone to come as a community, we have small group time, it’s so beneficial. We’ve gained so much positive feedback. People just love community. It’s a time for each person to be vulnerable, and I’ve seen that as a huge stepping stone for me and the rest of the students here,” said Murray.
As The Bridge has grown, they have begun to work with Oklahoma Christian University to allow for the growth of the ministry as more students get involved.
“We had Oklahoma Christian reach out from their Christian integration office. Sada Knowles and Addi Panter, they both reached out and said they would love it if Oklahoma Christian could partner with us to create this worship experience, maybe to make it a little bit bigger,” he said. “And since we partnered with Oklahoma Christian, we’ve been bringing in other people like Skyline Church, Quail Springs Church, we’ve brought in Crossings, we’ve brought in a lot of different churches. So with that comes, you know, certain leaders and speakers, worship leaders. We had Eli [McCoy], he came in, and then we had Brett and Laura Vanderzee, who also go to the Springs Church, they came in and spoke. We’re gonna have Skyline Church, they’re gonna be here to help lead [this Thursday]. We’re just wanting this to outlast us, and once we graduate, we hope it’s still running smoothly for other students,” Murray said.
Sada Knowles, executive director of spiritual integration at Oklahoma Christian and one of the faculty sponsors for The Bridge spoke about her experience working with the student leaders.
“My role is similar to a staff sponsor for other student-led events. I meet with the students weekly to support planning of the worship nights, help with set-up and clean-up at events, and pray consistently for their ministry,” she said. “This group gathers weekly to sing praises to God, and they also want it to be a place where students connect. I’m excited our students have this opportunity to build friendships around times of prayer and praise,” Knowles said.
She said that The Bridge student leaders reflect on feedback given by those who attend the worship nights and implement changes when necessary to continue to make The Bridge accessible for those who want to attend. Knowles spoke about the Oklahoma Christian mission towards a Kingdom University and how The Bridge fits into that vision.
“My involvement springs from President Jones’s Kingdom University vision. The Bridge is one way to demonstrate that we are a Jesus-centered community, welcoming all who call on the Father through Jesus. The worship style looks different from some of our other worship opportunities on campus, but it celebrates the unity among our students who come from a variety of Christian churches,” said Knowles.
Knowles said that community feedback on The Bridge has been positive and helpful in ensuring that the worship nights continue to be accessible to students.
The Bridge worship nights are held at 8 p.m. every Thursday night at Oklahoma Christian in The Brew coffee shop. The Bridge is open to all members of the community to come together to worship and spend time together.
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