00:00:00Rebecca: Awesome, so do you mind if I start by briefly introducing who you are?
Jennifer: Yes.
Rebecca: So, I am here with Jennifer Ranson. She is the, correct me if I am
wrong, the Chief Operating Officer for the Bridge Ministry in Nashville.
Jennifer: That is correct.
Rebecca: Would you be able to give us a little background on what that is and
what you do within that?
Jennifer: Yes, absolutely. The Bridge Ministry is an outreach to the under
resourced and homeless in the greater Nashville area. We complete that mission
through four phases, which is Church Under the Bridge, which is just what it
says, Church under a Bridge. We distribute a hot meal. Then, we have a powerful
church service, and then we give away life sustaining resources like emergency
camping supplies, food, clothing, toiletries that kind of thing. That is Church
Under the Bridge. Bridge to Kids is one of our largest programs. We partner with
educators and after school programs, and we are currently providing over 4,000
weekend food bags for students that struggle with food and security when they
are not getting free breakfast and lunch at school.
Rebecca: That is incredible!
Jennifer: Yeah, each of those food bags contain four entrees and six snacks, and
this year we will have served in over forty different schools and after care
programs by the end of the year. Our Bridge to You Program grew really during
the pandemic because everything had to shift, and we all got to pivot, and it
was all unprecedented. Did I get all of the cliché words in there for 2020? We
really had to start going more to some of our individuals where they were. So,
we serve in under resourced apartment complexes. We do grocery giveaways. We
serve in two different encampment areas, so Centennial Park in downtown
Nashville, and then Belfry Court, which is off in the Murfreesboro Road area
sort of downtown but not really. It is a little bit out from downtown, and those
are both homeless encampments. Everybody that we serve there are unhoused. We
provide a hot meal. We serve along with shower up, so they can get hot showers
or cold showers whichever they prefer, and then clothing and emergency camping
supplies. Our Bridge to Community is where we partner with other like-minded
organizations that may be experiencing a supply gap in what they need to
complete their mission, or perhaps they have a client or someone they are
serving and they need food or toiletries or clothing, things that we have on our
shelves in our warehouse, but they maybe do not have it with their organization.
An example of that would be Centerstone. They do a lot of housing for homeless
veterans, but they have no funding for food resources, so when they move a vet
into a home often times, they still have not figured out their food yet.
Rebecca: Yeah
Jennifer: So, we are able to partner with them. Every week they have case
workers that come here, pack food boxes, take those to those vets that they just
moved into housing, so that is an example of our Bridge to Community, and then
we have just expanded into the Chapel Hill area, and that is a once a month
outreach right now. It is a drive through event. It was created during COVID,
and drive through was perfect for COVID. We serve a hot meal, and then do a
grocery distribution to those that are struggling with food insecurity, and more
in that rural area where there is really a gap of resources and a gap of other
non-profits that are there doing the work.
Rebecca: That is amazing, so cool.
Jennifer: Very good, so did I answer the question?
Rebecca: Yes, that is perfect.
Jennifer: Perfect
Rebecca: My next question would be: What part of your personal biography or
background led you to this position?
Jennifer: Absolutely, I was a staff pastor at another church here in town, and I
had a volunteer at the church that came and was like, Pastor Jennifer you have
to come under the Bridge. I went with a friend, and you have to come under the
Bridge! You just have to. I want us to add this to our outreach, because I was
the outreach pastor. I was thinking how in the world are we going to add
anything else to what we are doing, but then I went under the Bridge, and as I
was standing there under the Bridge with this beautiful melting pot of
individuals, I was like not only is this something that I want to do, this is
something that I must do because I think it looks a whole lot like heaven. There
are the richest of the rich and the poorest of the poor. There is every color
imaginable. There is every different background, and we meet under that bridge
as one family, and I do not know how to describe it other than it is beautiful.
So, I started bringing teams of volunteers there with us underneath the Bridge,
and my life was even transformed there because I got to start seeing God move in
ways that I had never seen Him move before just because the situations of the
people that we were serving were so drastic. I also got to see volunteers that I
was bringing, people that were struggling in their own areas, I started seeing
them have breakthrough as they were serving, and I am like oh yeah, this is
where it is at.
Rebecca: I love that! That is so cool. The next question then would be: what
does leadership mean to you?
Jennifer: That is a great question. I think that it is empowering those who are
following you to be their best selves and doing everything within your power to
provide them with the tools to be successful in whatever their endeavor is. I
look at leadership of my children looks very very different than leadership of
my staff, but those principles--
Rebecca: Yeah
Jennifer: They are present in both.
Rebecca: Yeah, definitely, so how have you learned from obstacles and challenges
faced in that?
Jennifer: I have learned more through failures and obstacles
than I probably ever have through a success. I think because I am a leader of
people, there are a lot of obstacles that present themselves because each of us
as individuals we come with a set of lenses that we view life through, that we
hear instruction through, and in that there are a lot of obstacles, but I think
that I have learned to be a better communicator; I have learned to be a kinder
leader, and I have learned that it is worth the challenge. The people are worth
the challenge, and what we can accomplish is absolutely worth the challenge
because it is way way more than I could ever do on my own.
Rebecca: Yeah, that is deep.
Jennifer: Does that make sense?
Rebecca: Yeah that makes a lot of sense; that is so cool. Do you have any
examples of a challenge and a way that it was overcome?
Jennifer: Yeah, let me see how I can couch it for a recorded interview.
Rebecca: Sorry, yeah that one was not on the paper.
Jennifer: I had an employee that I had the opportunity to work with, and we were
just communication styles, we could not have been more opposite. Temperament, we
could not have been more opposite, and I am like Jesus, help me because I want
to be a good leader, and it was not until I got to the place that I was willing
to acquiesce to some of my preferences, that I could properly lead that
individual, and in doing so as we started being able to work together more
peacefully and finding some common ground, when I say peaceful, we were not like
at each other's throats.
Rebecca: Yeah, Yeah.
Jennifer: But it just was not fun.
Rebecca: That makes sense.
Jennifer: I like to have fun, and so it just was not the peaceful communication
that I wanted. Everything seemed to be a challenge, but when I took the
initiative to put aside some of my preferences and start using some of her preferences.
Rebecca: Yeah
Jennifer: So much more work got done. There was so much more benefit to this
organization because we were enough different that as we were able to leverage
those differences, we were a better asset to this organization.
Rebecca: Wow, yeah. That is amazing. This kind of ties into the next question:
What experiences have shaped you as a leader?
Jennifer: One of the most powerful experiences that shaped me as a leader came
from when I was on a mission trip years ago. I was not even thirty years old
yet, and I am almost fifty-two now, so decades ago. I was on this missions trip,
and I remember as I was in my quiet time that morning, I was like, Jesus, really
help me see the people that we will be ministering to today and the way that you
see them.
Rebecca: Yeah
Jennifer: It was not this big long lament. It was just kind of a passing thought
that I had. Later on, that day, we went to an orphanage. It was an orphanage
that ministered to children that had severe special needs. I remember walking
into this room, and I was drawn to this little girl that was in this bed. To
this day I can remember the picture of how I saw her. I sat there with this
little girl almost our entire time at the orphanage. I sang to her. She was
non-verbal had very little control of her body, and she was bed-ridden. I just
loved on her. I held her hand and talked to her. It was this beautiful
experience. They told us it was time to go. I am like weeping because I am
leaving this precious baby. She was probably pre-teen age, but she was much
smaller in stature because of her severe disabilities, so we walk out, and two
of the other pastors that were with us that I was on staff with, they looked at
me and were like, I do not know how you did that.
Rebecca: Oh, yeah
Jennifer: I was like, what do you mean? They started describing what they saw,
and what they saw, and smelled, and heard, she was evidently making these
screechy noises the whole time that I was talking to her, and she was in a bed
full of feces, so the smell was evidently horrid, and she was really terribly
disfigured, and I thought, What in the world did they see because that was not
what I saw. That was not my reality, and then later when I got my pictures back
because I had snapped pictures with this little girl, her bed was covered in
feces. It was exactly as they had described, and I realized that is how all of
us are, but if we can put on the lens that God sees us through, and how he
created us, then we can spend time with people and work with them and do life
with them even if it is not present. When you see them as God created them to
be, it may be not what life has transformed them into and help them get back to
what God created them to be. Does that make sense?
Rebecca: Yes, that makes so much sense. That is so amazing. So cool. How would
you characterize your leadership style?
Jennifer: Probably empowerment because I just want to empower leaders. I want to
lead leaders because you can get so much more done leading leaders than just
leading followers that are only going to do what you tell them to do. I try to
look at my staff, or like I am youth leader at church with the youth, but you
know just look at those individuals. What can I do to add value to their life
and empower them to be their best selves? Like how can I do that, and then I
just try to focus on whatever those things are, and it changes from individual
to individual because what you need would not be what I need and what I need is
not what my daughter needs and what my daughter needs is not what my son needs
and so, just trying to tailor fit that to work with people.
Rebecca: Definitely. What are your professional strengths and weaknesses?
Jennifer: I think that one of the biggest strengths that I have, well, there are
two. One I genuinely love people, so people always over process. People, people,
people first because they are humans. I think that helps because it becomes the
filter by which I lead. Secondly, I have the ability to go from the eagle eyes
view and see what the ripple effects will be of a decision, what the ripple
effects will be of a process, what the ripple effects will be of an event both
positive and negative, and being able to see far and wide helps me be an
effective strategist, and it helps us stay the course of the right direction.
Rebecca: That is so important. That is awesome, yeah. Do you have any
professional weaknesses?
Jennifer: Tons of them!
Rebecca: Ok
Jennifer: Tons of them! I think that deep love for people can sometimes make me
slow to make hard decisions of cutting ties with someone in an employee/employer
way because I just keep holding out hope.
Rebecca: Yes.
Jennifer: Sometimes it makes me slow to cut those ties, not so much so that it
is a detriment to the organization. I try for it not to be that, but often times
it can prolong the uncomfortableness because you know when somebodies not the
right fit, they are just not the right fit, and so I think that is a weakness.
Another weakness is I do not want to inconvenience my staff, and sometimes that
puts me in a position where I am doing things I really should not be doing. My
time would be spent better somewhere else.
Rebecca: Yeah, wow that makes a lot of sense. What or who has been your greatest influence?
Jennifer: I had a colleague that later became my boss. Her name was Linda
Hilliard. She has by far been one of the most influential people in my personal
life as well as my professional life. The first time that I ever came into
contact with Linda, I worked in the music industry before, and she was actually
working for another non-profit, and that non-profit was the tour sponsor for the
tour that we were on. I feel like that was the first time the Lord tried to put
us together tried to bring great benefit to my life, and I was not having it. I
totally missed out on the beauty of Linda's value in my life at that time, but
just like the Lord is so gracious, He brought about another opportunity. When I
was not on staff at Christ Church, we had the opportunity to work together, and
Linda allowed me to be in the space of wherever she was. At first, I didn't
understand it. I would go to all these meetings, and so I would still have all
this work to do, but she would invite me to be a part of all these meetings.
Then I am like, I cannot meet all day and get all of my work done, but after I
left Christ Church and I was the administrator and then the executive pastor at
this church, I realized that by her allowing me to be involved in all of those
things, it was her being obedient to the Lord, and it was my preparation. There
is no amount of schooling that could have prepared me for the situations that I
found myself in since I have worked separately from her, but so many of the
environments that she intentionally allowed me to be a part of prepared me to do
what I even do today. There is not a day that goes by on the job that I now hold
that I don't use something that she taught me or allowed me to be exposed to,
and I am eternally grateful.
Rebecca: Wow, that is amazing! Yeah, what an important legacy.
Jennifer: Yes
Rebecca: How has your personal faith impacted your leadership?
Jennifer: I think you go back to that story that I said about, God let me see
the people as you see them, and it increases my patience and it increases my
tenacity to want to empower people to be their best selves, and it has become
this stake in the ground guidepost for me.
Rebecca: What are two or three action steps you believe are essential to enable
others to be successful? We have probably already talked about that a little bit
with empowerment.
Jennifer: I think Identifying, those that you are working with, identifying
their weaknesses as well as their strengths, and allowing them to have great
wins in both areas because that will keep them motivated to continue to be
better and continue to be effective and more effective and more effective.
Rebecca: That is awesome.
Jennifer: Another thing is to invest time in people and to have relationship. I
have read schools of thoughts on both sides; keep separation between leadership
and those you lead, but for me and my leadership style and what I feel like the
Lord has called me to do and that deep love for people, sometimes it gets a
little bit messy, but I truly care about those that I lead, so I take the time
to have relationship with them like today. You can probably smell the chili that
is cooking because I got up at 5 o clock this morning and made chili for our
staff and we are going to have lunch together, and so those things are important.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Jennifer: Another thing that kind of goes along those lines is in the hierarchy,
yes everybody that works inside this building answers to me, but I work
alongside of them.
Rebecca: Yeah
Jennifer: Very few times does that hierarchy of our structure ever have to come
down with a hammer because there is a mutual respect that I have with the team,
and they have a great respect for me. It helps the way that we lead.
Rebecca: I love that you are able to take what your leadership style is and
use that to impact the whole ministry. That is so cool! What advice do you have
for building relationships and trust in an organization?
Jennifer: Taking the time.
Rebecca: Yeah
Jennifer: Doing some things that you might not enjoy. We have one staff member,
and he loves to watch silly videos in his spare time. The repercussions of that
love for watching silly videos in his spare time is that he comes to share them
with us. I do not all the time want to watch whatever that silly video is, but
it adds value to him if I will take the time to watch it. Now, I do not do it
instead of doing work.
Rebecca: Oh yeah.
Jennifer: And then, just taking the moments to check in on our staff. Whatever
is going on in their personal life is going to affect how they are able to work,
and if they want to talk about their personal life for a minute, then that is
fine. I genuinely care. We had a staff member whose son just graduated from high
school, and he is a videographer, but just graduated from high school does not
have a ton of money, and he was trying to buy a new computer, so he was so
excited. He bought one online. Well, my team member came in and said, Is there
any way you can help us because when he wiped the computer, it was not wiped
when he got it, so he wiped it, and when he did, a warning signal came up on it,
and it actually is another organization here in town that I have relationships
with, and it said nobody but X organization can open this computer, so the kid
is like, I purchased a stolen computer I have got to return it to this
organization can Pastor Jen help me? And, so, we took the time. I called my
contacts, and I helped him figure it out. Now, the computer was actually stolen,
but the organization was so kind and gracious. They took the stolen computer
back because they needed it for the police investigation, but then they provided
the kid with another computer.
Rebecca: Wow.
Jennifer: If I had not taken that time to help him, he would have been out 750
dollars. He would not have had a computer, but just taking the time to care
whether its personal or professional just being active in those your leading, in
their life, and I think that it helps them to take down some of the walls to
actually allow you to lead them better.
Rebecca: I agree that is important. What is the most important thing you have
learned during your career and time at the Bridge Ministry?
Jennifer: Probably that flexibility is key. Particularly after the year 2020.
Rebecca: Yes.
Jennifer: It has carried on into 2021, and just being flexible. I heard a pastor
years ago use the analogy that there is beauty in the bend, and he used the
analogy of oak trees and palm trees and a hurricane coming through. An oak tree
snaps in two and breaks, but a palm tree bends.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Jennifer: So, there is beauty in the bend. I try to remember that with just not
being so set in whatever plan or process or thought or mindset that I have. Not
to be so set in it that I refuse to be flexible to move in the way that the Lord
wants me to in a certain situation.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Jennifer: The beauty in the bend.
Rebecca: Perfect. My next question is how do you measure success, and how do you
learn from failure?
Jennifer: I measure success by progress, and sometimes progress does not
necessarily mean you have achieved your goal. It is just progress.
Rebecca: Yes.
Jennifer: And sometimes you can achieve progress through failure. I measure
success by progress. Repeat the second part of the question.
Rebecca: And how do you learn from failure?
Jennifer: I think one of the keyways to learn from failure is to realize often
times that you are part of the failure.
Rebecca: Yeah
Jennifer: And being able to take that ownership and being able to really dissect
whatever that was and find what part you own and what your part of the failure
was and then identifying what parts others that you lead had and then
strategizing on how not to repeat that failure at least in that way.
Rebecca: Yes, definitely. What is your life goal/mission?
Jennifer: To love Jesus first and to be who he wants me to be, and then to put
my hands where he wants me to put my hands to.
Rebecca: That is an amazing goal. My last question is what do you want your
legacy to be?
Jennifer: That I loved God and I loved people.
Rebecca: Yeah.
Jennifer: I am going to get emotional. I am clearly getting too old because at
this point in my life I realize that there are more years behind me than there
are ahead of me, unless I am going to live to be one hundred and four, which no
one in my family has ever lived past one hundred, at least that I know of, so I
think that that is pretty safe to say, but I just want people to know that I
really loved Jesus.
Rebecca: Yeah
Jennifer: And I took that love that he has for me and I tried to show that to others.
Rebecca: Wow, well thank you so so much for letting me interview you.
Jennifer: Absolutely.
