If you’ve noticed all the improvements going on at the old Brotherhood Presbyterian Church, 13th and Grove, Wichita, we have the scoop. It will be the new home of The Bridge Church, a non-denominational, multi-ethnic church, under the leadership of Rev. Brandon Redic.
The Bridge, formed in 2014, had been worshipping in rented space at 1156 N. Oliver. That facility was purchased this summer by Pastor Fred Hayes Jr. and New Life Church. They’re still continuing to office and worship there while their new church home is renovated.
They expect to be in their new home by December.
Planted Church
Redic, 34, grew up in the Dallas suburb of Waxahachie, TX. He comes from a family of preachers, and as a youngster, his nickname was Preacher. So it’s not surprising that in 2005, whiles he was a student at Texas A&M, he heeded a call into the ministry.
After graduating in 2007, he worked full-time to help support his wife and young family, while attending Dallas Theological Seminary. It took him seven years to finish the program, but it was right on time to apply for and accept a position advertised by West Evangelical Free Church in Wichita.
“I remember telling the Lord, ‘Wherever you want me to go, I will. Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do,’” says Redic. Still, he didn’t know what to expect when he first heard of the opportunity.
West Evangelical, located at 13th and Maize, is an all-White congregation, and they hired him for a one-year position as Church Planting Resident. The idea for the position was to prepare a minister to go out and start a new church.
According to the magazine “Christianity Today,” church planting has replaced crusade evangelism as the preferred evangelistic method in North America today and it’s working.
“Studies have shown that newer churches are receptive at reaching lost people,” says Redic. “So what many churches have done to reach the lost is start new churches.”
Redic is the first Black, and the fourth minister, the church has trained and groomed through the seeding process.
“We are an independent church and self-governed, but there is a close connection between us,” says Redic. “We’re their daughter church and they want to make sure we get to a place where we’re healthy, but we are self-governing.”
Daughter Church Thriving
After a one year “residency,” in 2015 Redic was able to take 10 families from the West Evangelical congregation to start his own church. From those original members the church has grown to average 140 worshippers each week.
Redic says he’s intentionally working to build a multi-ethnic church. It’s something God planted on his heart. For that reason he intentionally works to be open to people from different ethnicities by accommodating different worship styles.
The church has a diverse “stage,” with Black worship leaders, White singers, an organist, and an acoustic guitar.
Even though the church is multi-ethnic, Redic says they chose to be in the neighborhood with the goal of lifting up the community in a tangible way. From an outreach perspective, the church has partnered with both Spaght and Adams elementaries “to love the kids, the staff and their families too.”
“Our hope is that long term, this will be the most desirable part of Wichita,” says Redic. “We want to play a role in healing racial hostility here in Wichita. We’re doing some of those things right now.”
Currently the church is approximately 55% White and 45% minority.
Building Improvements
This summer, The Bridge purchased the building from the Presbyterian Diocese and they’ve been working on renovations ever since. They’ve moved the main entrance of the church to the north side, and they’re also installing an elevator to make the church more accessible. They removed all the old pews, and they’re replacing them with chairs, to make the main worship hall more multi-purpose. They also removed two choir rooms, the old choir loft, and pulpit and replaced them with a platform.
They also knocked out a wall to enlarge the sanctuary space, paved the parking lot, and installed a brand new, state-of-the-art audio and visual systems to include LED screens.
The coolest part of the story is: someone donated the money to pay for the building and another sizeable donation covered about one-third of the cost of the renovations.
Neither of the donors had ever been to the church, says Redic.
“They just believe in what we’re doing.”
