Meaningful Answers to Prayers: Ocean Bridge

Tim Yaeger
Birmingham, Alabama
Chief Information Officer

Did you know the concept of Ocean Bridge began nearly ten years ago? The idea didn’t have that name until recently, but the challenge of international postal correspondence has been growing over many years. Prayers have been lifted throughout these years from WBS staff seeking a solution. When we take our challenges to God in prayer, he faithfully provides more incredible solutions than we can imagine. God works in His time, but He is faithful to yield fruit.

Prayers were lifted and God opened the doors for dramatic Ocean Bridge expansion. We began 2023 with Ghana, Zimbabwe and Uganda. World Bible School added Nigeria, our highest recruitment country, Kenya, and Zambia. Technically, we didn’t have those three planned in the budget. But, through generous donors’ blessing, God allowed us to print in-country and establish Ocean Bridge operations. This led to WBS recruiting 61,000 Students in the Ocean Bridge model in only half a year. We pray God will yield even more Students in 2024.

Prayers were lifted and God reenergized many WBS programs within congregations. 2023 started with three congregations on Ocean Bridge and ended with 43! Where congregations were continually losing courses in the mail, now they are actively teaching Students deep into the courses and receiving many baptism requests. Where WBS Study Helpers were giving up, more are getting involved, and WBS Coordinators are involving multiple generations of the church, even youth groups, to get involved with WBS teaching. God is yielding fruitful correspondence through His church!

Prayers were lifted and God assembled a WBS team worldwide to execute Ocean Bridge. To mention a few, many of you may know Sherri Hays. She coordinates the transfer of all digital files and Students. Debbie Patek provides quality control for scans before they go to a congregation. Ron Pottberg, Phil Palmer and Machona Monyamane coordinate dozens of WBS workers in Ocean Bridge countries. Andrew Maach, our software engineer, dedicates his time to creating new technology that allows Ocean Bridge to scale. Savannah Howell, our React Native developer, created the icon you see for Ocean Bridge. Marcus McKee is our road and Zoom warrior helping congregations get started on Ocean Bridge. God is yielding fruitful correspondence through His team!

Prayers were lifted and God is building bridges of unity. Through Ocean Bridge, God is unifying teams, leading to more recruitment and more Students. Ultimately, God will yield a fruitful harvest for the Kingdom of Christ through this unity.

Are you ready to start your journey on Ocean Bridge and participate in fruitful international Bible correspondence? Let’s kick off the next 50 years together in a powerful way knowing God will faithfully do more than we can imagine. Start Ocean Bridge today by visiting worldbibleschol.net/oceanbridge or giving us a call at (512) 345-8190.

Click here to learn more about Ocean Bridge