08/21/2026
There Is Something Powerful About Showing Up
Thursday evening marked another week of our Fall semester at Okmulgee Bridges, with about 40 people gathering at the True Life Center—our Class 2 Getting Ahead Investigators, Staying Ahead participants, spouses and children, facilitators and volunteers.
A few weeks into the semester, one of the things I find myself appreciating most is something that sounds pretty simple: people keep showing up.
Our Class 2 Getting Ahead group ultimately began with 10 Investigators, and I'm incredibly proud to see those 10 continue to walk through the doors each Thursday evening. They made a commitment when they applied and interviewed for the program, but ultimately the most important commitment they made was to themselves. Week after week, they're honoring it.
We also have four graduates from our first Getting Ahead class who decided that graduation wasn't the end of their journey. They are continuing this semester through Staying Ahead and are currently studying Boundaries by Henry Cloud. They're still learning, still examining their lives and relationships, and still investing in what comes next.
And they're not the only ones who keep coming back.
This week, Okmulgee First Free Will Baptist Church returned to provide our Thursday evening meal. Several of our churches and organizations have enjoyed being part of Bridges enough that they've signed up to provide dinner more than once, and we are incredibly grateful for that continued commitment.
Week after week, many of the same people gather around these tables. Investigators and their families, church members, volunteers, facilitators, community and business leaders. There are some different volunteer faces from week to week, but increasingly there are also people who recognize one another, know names and sit down together in conversation.
I've said before that one of the things I love most about Bridges is the intersections it creates between people whose paths might otherwise never cross. Those intersections become something more when they happen again and again. Strangers become familiar faces, familiar faces become relationships, and relationships become community.
At 6:00, everyone heads in different directions. Our 10 Class 2 Investigators begin Getting Ahead, our four Staying Ahead participants continue their work, children head to childcare, and volunteers begin cleaning up and restoring the space.
Then everyone comes back the next Thursday.
There is something powerful about that kind of consistency. Real change usually doesn't happen because of one big moment. More often, it happens because someone decides to show up for themselves—and then makes that same decision again the next week.
Thank you to Okmulgee First Free Will Baptist Church for coming back to the table with us this week, and to all of the churches, organizations and volunteers who continue to show up alongside our Investigators and their families.
If your church, business, organization, family or group of friends would like to provide a meal on a future Thursday, contact Cindy Lane, Meals Committee Chair, at 918-759-8430 to learn about available dates and more information.
And if you're curious about Okmulgee Bridges, you're welcome to join us between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. on Thursday evenings. Perhaps you'll want to learn more, perhaps you'll find a place where you'd like to volunteer, or perhaps you'll simply enjoy the energy and spirit that continue to grow in this space each week.
