John Paul Jackson is Given The Pinnacle
John Paul Jackson is the founder of the Association of Bridge Churches and Streams Ministries International. On October 7, 2000 John Paul was given possession of a high hill in Sutton, New Hampshire called “the Pinnacle”. It was clear from the beginning that this was no ordinary piece of property. Shortly after receiving the land, John Paul moved his entire ministry to New Hampshire. They came to discover that the Pinnacle mountaintop had been used for perhaps a couple of centuries as a place of ocultic worship. John Paul and Streams ministries took back the land for the purposes of God, developing and cultivating the land as well as the spiritual atmosphere. The Pinnacle was then dedicated to the LORD as a place of prayer and personal encounter with God.
John Paul Entrusts the Pinnacle to the Church
After eight snowy winters and eight wonderful summers in New Hampshire John Paul was called by the LORD to move back to Texas. It was his plan to maintain ownership of the Pinnacle even living in Texas, but the LORD had other plans. Scott Evelyn, pastor of the local church that John Paul had planted when he first came to NH, was told in a heavenly encounter that God would give him the Pinnacle. At the time of the encounter, it seemed unlikely to happen in the natural, but eventually, John Paul heard from the LORD to do that very thing. So, on June 29, 2008, John Paul signed the Pinnacle Mountain over to Scott and his church – known then as the New London Bridge. The NL Bridge, taking on this new charge with excitement and sobriety, shortly thereafter changed their name to The Bridge Pinnacle Mountain.
The Church Moves onto the Mountain
When the NL Bridge received the Pinnacle, it was still holding church services at the local high school, but before long a used party tent was put up on the mountain and the late summer and fall services were held under it's bright yellow canopy. As winter approached, the people were faced with staying out in the cold or going back into the high school. Surely the people loved being out in the beautiful forested mountainside rather than a window-less auditorium, but something more was going on. The people were finding that their identity as a church was wrapped up in the destiny of this special property and it was becoming clear that being in the school just wasn't enough anymore.
So, late that fall, two army tents were put up – side by side - making a 36 x 52 foot space for worship and fellowship. The tents were heated and kept the cold winter winds out, but required a great deal of maintenance and often re-framing in order to make them withstand the elements of a New Hampshire winter.
So, Why be on the Mountain instead of the School?
Such labor and often struggle have gone into the tents that one could ask – is it worth it? Why not go back to the school until there is money to build a building on the Pinnacle? But, ask a member of the Bridge Pinnacle Mountain and you'll find that the very challenge of being on the Mountain is what has shaped the people to be ready for what God wants to do among them. God has gone to great lengths to transform them as individuals and as a body in order that they be prepared for what He wants to do among and through them. That is so very worth it.
A People Transformed
At this point in the story, The Bridge Pinnacle Mountain has been meeting in those army tents on the Pinnacle for almost two years. Though much labor has gone into maintaining the tents, much more fruit has come about in the lives and character of the people. God has a great purpose for the Pinnacle Mountain and He desires to have a people on it who will cooperate with His desires for the earth. This has made it a very transformational experience for the members of the Bridge. The discomforts of holding church services in a tent has facilitated the perspective we all should have - that worship is not about us, our comforts, or how we feel. It is about giving God the glory, honor, and praise He is worthy of. The people of the Bridge Pinnacle Mountain now know this with greater clarity than they ever have before and they agree that it is very good what God is doing among them!
