Impact Loses a Beloved Family Member:  

Winston Bridges (1939-2010)

The following letter expresses the sentiments of so many here at Impact.  

"My Friend Winston"  -by Jenny Winter

There are people in our lives who make a difference and then there are people who change us forever.  Winston changed me forever.  Not in a grand and adventurous way but  in the simple ways that I watched Jesus working in Winston’s life.

When I first saw Winston he was eating with the outdoorsmen and listening to one of Les’s sermons.  He looked about the age of my Grandfather and I supposed he was one of the ministers at Impact  just helping out.  I was shocked to discover that Winston was an outdoorsman himself.  I couldn’t believe at his age he could survive without a roof over his head at night.  I was even more shocked to find out that he was without family.  He looked for them, but never found them.  No family…no home…How has he survived?  When I introduced myself to Winston he pulled on the corner of his baseball cap and shuffled his feet and told me how he was feeling and what was going on in the kitchen at Impact.  And so it was for ten years.  Almost every day I worked at Impact he would find me and say hi and pull on the corner of his baseball hat and shuffle his feet and tell me how he was feeling and what was going on in the kitchen at Impact.  Every once in a while I could get some stories out of him about his days working with horses in the circus and pranks he played as a child, but mostly our relationship consisted of our simple hellos and me watching and learning.

I watched him when we started working with Doug Williams in the kitchen at Impact.  He took ownership of his job and worked hard.  He was proud of himself and the people he worked with.  I went to visit him when he and Felton moved into their new home close to the church.  He was comfortable there.  He seemed content to share his new home with friends.  I listened to his stories of the holidays he spent at the Williams house or at Impact.  Of what Bethul cooked for him and what he did and what his roommates did.  He was happy over the holidays.  I watched him pass out Christmas, birthday, and thank-you cards to many people at Impact over the years.  They all contained just his simple signature and for all of us that was enough.  When babies were born he would buy them gifts.  He always gave the gifts secretively, but we knew who gave them to us.  For years I watched Winston be generous with his time, his money, and his love.  He had this unique ability to make everyone feel loved and important even when he was tired and sick.

When Winston started getting sick fairly regularly I would visit him in the hospital.  Sometimes I would ride with him in the ambulance and always the first question the staff would ask is, “Does this man have family?”  My answer was always, “No, he does not have any family that we know of.”  But something always bothered me about this answer.  Over the years I had watched Winston go from no family to a whole church that considers him his own, from no job to working regularly, from homeless to a house of his own.  So when Winston got really sick and went to the hospital for the last time the nurse looked at me and asked the same question, “Does this man have a family?”  And for the first time I answered that question truthfully, “Yes Ma’am.  This man has more family than most of us ever will.”  Impact is Winston’s family.  Winston is our family.  Winston is my family.

Winston taught me a lot of things in this life, but the most valuable lesson I learned from him is that when you fill your life with Jesus Christ it does not matter how much you have or don’t have.  God will give abundantly from His riches to provide for all of your needs.  Winston found family and home at Impact and the love Jesus put in his heart was shared with all of us.  I already can’t wait for the  day when Winston will pull on the corner of his baseball cap and shuffle his feet and tell me hi and how he is feeling and what is going on in the kitchen in Heaven.  I miss you already my friend…my family.”

 

The variety of people who came to Winston Bridges’ funeral is a testimony to how one humble life can have an impact on so many people.  Young, old, rich, poor, black, white, or brown; all were precious to him.