Varied paths bring three pastors to The Bridge

By Kathryn Rice

The last year has seen pastoral leadership changes at The Bridge Church, 1122 South Main Street, Maryville.

Lead Pastor Chad Mayne and Creative Arts and Children’s Pastor Mark Loeber began their pastoral journey at The Bridge in August 2018. This August, they were joined by Student Ministry Pastor Josh Emmons.

Mayne is responsible for sermons and the overall running of the church. Before Maryville, he was pastor at the Cornerstone Church in Chillicothe for 10 years and youth pastor at Bolivar for five years.

“We were drawn to the style of the church and we love small towns,” Mayne explained on his family’s decision to move to The Bridge.

Mayne stated the previous towns were of a similar size to Maryville and the churches are what he is drawn to pastor. He and his wife, Kortney, have two children, son, Connor, age 13, and daughter, Tessa, age nine.

“We have absolutely loved Maryville and we’ve experienced growth in the church in the last year,” Mayne said. “And we are really just looking to make a difference in our community and surrounding area.”

Services at The Bridge are at 9 and 10:30 am each Sunday. Both services include the BridgeKids and a special service for middle-school-aged youth. The Bridge Collegiate includes the church feeding college-age attendees lunch after the 10:30 am service. On the fourth Sunday of the month at 6:30 pm, the church holds the Gathering, a special service for college-age students.

“Our goal is to allow the college student to call The Bridge their home church while they are in school,” Mayne said. “That’s what we want to be to them.”

The Bridge is starting a service for high school students at 7 pm on Wednesday evenings. The first service will be Wednesday, October 16.

“We want this to be like a family,” Mayne said about the goals of The Bridge ministry. “When new people come, we say ‘welcome to the family.’”

Loeber

Loeber served at the Moberly Family Life Fellowship for five years.

Loeber and his wife, Suzanne, were part of The Bridge in 2013, while attending Northwest Missouri State University.

“We wanted to jump in and serve,” Loeber said. “We were the first interns to serve at The Bridge. Upon graduation, we moved to Columbia, and when the offer came to serve at The Bridge, we gladly took the offer and moved back.”

The couple has three children, three-and-a-half-year-old Jason, two-year-old Titus, and six-month-old Josie.

Loeber co-leads the Sunday morning worship service along with Mayne. He does The Bridge’s social media, files and edits testimonials and Welcome to The Bridge videos. Loeber also oversees and develops the children’s ministry.

He promotes upcoming events, recaps Sunday services and highlights areas on social media. He wants to connect people through social media interaction.

“There’s an awesome experience for the preschool, kindergarten and elementary-school-age children,” Loeber said. “Things that bring people closer to God, engaging, fun and points to Jesus.”

“We want every age to feel welcomed and engaged at The Bridge,” Mayne said.

Emmons

Emmons comes to The Bridge from the Troy Assembly of God, where he was the family pastor for two-and-a-half years. He and his wife, Heather, have two children, 10-year-old Noah and eight-year-old Eden.

“We felt like the Lord had a new assignment for us,” he said about taking the position at the church.

Emmons is instrumental in launching the high school group starting in October and working with the already established middle school and collegiate groups.

“I’m big on discipleship,” Emmons said. “We want to see people not only come into a relationship with God but embrace a culture of discipleship.”

His definition of discipleship is a fully devoted follower of Christ who is also producing fully devoted followers of Christ.

The Bridge is big on leaders, he said, “And giving opportunities for leadership.”

He is currently developing teams for leadership that include high school students as well as adults of the collegiate age.

“We love to have fun and laugh,” Emmons said of the student ministries.

Emmons is inviting high school students to arrive at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, October 16 to start playing games before the service.