Ten years ago this month, Dan Mitchell began to bridge the gap between teenagers and God. That’s when he introduced The Bridge.

As a youth pastor for Christ’s Church of Oronogo, Mitchell knew something was needed to connect youngsters to the Christian hope and love available to all. That outreach venue was The Bridge, which opened its doors Sept. 8, 1999, at a vacant supermarket on North Range Line.

With support from his church and other area ministries, Mitchell reached out to teens through activities geared to their likes and lifestyles but on a low budget.

“When we started we had a batting cage, one skate ramp, one foosball table, one air hockey table, a climbing wall, two portable basketball goals, a stage and rooms in which to meet,” said Mitchell, who is not only the founder but also the president, CEO and youth pastor at The Bridge, which was replaced three years ago with a three-building, youth-mall complex at 3405 S. Hammons Blvd.

Today’s Bridge is quite a contrast to the original version.

One building is devoted to indoor skateboarding and BMX bike-ramping. The Autumn Ramp Park is a 20,000-square-foot facility that also has an equipment and apparel shop.

The Foundry occupies another building, which serves as a 7,000-square-foot concert hall. There is a good size performance stage, state-of-the-art sound and lighting system, juice bar, booth and bar seating, box office and pool tables.

Then, of course, there is the signature building anchoring the complex, The Bridge, which has 16,500 square feet on the ground level and 8,900 square feet of mezzanine. Found in this building are a caged court for basketball and volleyball, a 40-foot climbing wall, concessions, Internet cafe and video game and network arcade.

This $5.1 million project became a reality when John Hammons, hotel owner and commercial property developer, donated 60 acres to The Bridge. By the way, during the four-day grand opening, an estimated 10,000 visitors showed up and were assisted by 371 volunteers.

“We have experimented with a lot of things as we have grown and we know now that why we exist is to bring the best of God to teens, and there is no other reason,” Mitchell said. “There is not anything in there that is sacred. What is sacred is what the teens want to do on Friday and Saturday nights.”

The Bridge building is open from 6 to 11 p.m. on weekends with The Autumn Ramp Park available Tuesday through Saturday. The Foundry serves as a concert or special-events site.

“With these three, we have dedicated facilities for skaters, junior-highers, and high-schoolers,” Mitchell said. “What is so cool about what God has done here is that we can dedicate space to junior-highers (The Bridge), high-schoolers (The Foundry) and all ages, sixth through 12th grade, at the skate park. Although we are not totally there yet, we are clearly headed in that direction.”

Mitchell’s original vision has indeed come a long way.

“Really what we were when we started was more like a community youth group,” he said. “We made a course correction and decided that we were going to try and reach the kids who don’t have a church. Our numbers have not really grown. We have always had tons of kids coming but the numbers of kids who are unchurched coming here now are astronomical compared to those who are churched. And that is why we are here.”

Mitchell compared the teens’ activities to their internal belief systems.

“They try them on like clothing,” he said. “At a recent bonfire (behind The Bridge) I had a young man who thought he was a satanist because he found a Web site about Christianity as a mixture of pagan religions that was totally out in left field. And I asked another young man who was a pseudo scientist about his faith and he goes ‘Well, I got an A in science so what does that tell you?’

“One week a guy is a skater, another week a climber and then one week he might be a pseudo satanist and then another week a pseudo scientist. That is what kids are doing.”

And Mitchell said he is glad to be a part of it.

“I believe it is an amazing opportunity when I am here on Friday night and can bring God or Jesus into the conversation when a kid is thinking about these things,” he said. “It seems like it is kind of a tragedy that at the time of life when you are forming your identity deciding who you are that you could do that apart from considering you were created by the God of the universe. You miss out on who a human being is when you can’t at least consider that.”

Mitchell estimated that about 17,500 junior- and senior-high students are enrolled in school within 15 to 20 miles of Joplin.

“In that 20-mile ring there are about 2,500 kids coming who are going to youth groups at churches, so we have a 15,000-kid gap,” he said. “Those kids are from outlying areas like Pittsburg, Columbus and Miami. They all come here and have from the beginning. The first night we opened at the old Bridge, we had 753 kids and since then we have seen hundreds of thousands come. We now have 35,000 forms on file from kids who have come.

“Our biggest accomplishment is to see a teen find God and end up in a community with other people of faith,” he said. “That is the only thing we care about. Nothing else matters to us. That’s our win. Our win is when a kid finds faith.”

Address correspondence to Rich Brown, c/o The Joplin Globe, P.O. Box 7, Joplin, Mo. 64802, or to rbrown@joplinglobe.com.