I want thank the Lord for His Grace and Mercy, and His patience in every area of my life. I was raised in an Old fashioned Preachers home. My father Ed Bridges pastored for 28 years in Georgia and Alabama until the Lord called Him home in December of 1999. My mother Kathy Bridges Emerson, stood faithfully by Him for those years. She is a tremendous blessing and help in my life. Since my father’s death my mother remarried a great man, VH Emerson, a godly man who also had his wife go home with the Lord. God’s providence brought them together and it is a privilege to call them my family.
Sept. 1991, the Holy Ghost of God began to deal with my heart about my salvation. I had made a profession just to please my parents, but The Lord had never saved me. On a September evening at my home in Dallas, Ga. The Lord reached down to this lost, religious, preacher’s kid and saved me. I am glad he can save religious people as well as the vilest. We all have sinned. Thank God of His saving Grace.
In November of 1994, the Lord called me to preach at Toccoa Falls College, and not long after I was licensed by my home church, Callie Harbin Baptist Church, Villa Rica, Ga., Pastor Charles Williams. The Lord moved me to South Carolina where I began work at Look up Lodge Christian camp and attended North Greenville Baptist College, Tigerville, S.C. With such a longing for the Old Time way the Lord Opened a door to become the Youth Pastor at Westside Baptist Church, Newnan, Ga. Pastor Melvin Payne. While there I attended a meeting at Central Baptist Church, Carrollton, Ga. There at the meeting I met DeAnn Lloyd who later became my wife on May 31, 1997. Thank God for a Godly and precious wife sent from The Lord. Next to salvation, DeAnn is the greatest gift He has ever given. After our marriage we felt the Lord calling is to walk out on faith. So we did, moving back to DeAnn’s home church, Central Baptist, under Pastor Doug Bearden. The Lord knew the preaching we needed and the leadership to grow us.
In April 2002, the Lord called us to our first church, New Friendship Baptist Church, Woodbury, Ga. We spent 3 yrs and 4 months as Pastor. We thank the Lord for a great ministry and the friendships we made during our time there.
In August of 2005 the Lord called us away, not knowing where to go, just to follow. So we journeyed back to our Home church. In Sept. of 2005, the Lord crossed our paths with the people of Son Rise Baptist Church, in Hartselle, Al. Immediately; the Lord mended our hearts to Son Rise. In Oct. the church called us as Pastor. And on the 1st Sunday of November we became the pastor of Son Rise Baptist church. What a blessing it is to pastor some of God’s finest people. We hope the Lord gives us many years to come. We’ve seen souls saved, and lives change. Help us pray that we stay humble and obedient to His voice and Will. IN Christ!!!!
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