Coming January 2027
A New Church Plant Bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Lake Hopatcong Community
Meet Pastor Josh Barlow
Josh Barlow was born and raised in North Jersey. He has enjoyed serving NJ through local church ministry for more than 20 years as a youth director, camp counselor, and family pastor. Josh has always had a passion, joy, and gift to teach and disciple the younger generation, yet his growing desire to lead a local church has come to fruition in planting Stone Bridge Bible Church. His passion is to shepherd others towards a greater understanding of God’s love and life for them in Christ (John 3:16-17, Gal 2:20); encourage others in the faith that has been delivered to the saints according to Scripture (Jude 1:3, 2 Tim 3:16-17); and further joyful fellowship in the home (Deut 6:4-9) and church (Eph 3:10) to display God’s glory and gospel.
Josh is married to his wonderful wife Jamie (also born and raised in North Jersey). God has blessed Josh and Jamie with 4 very energetic and passionate children.
Josh enjoys writing bios like this one, listening to music, playing difficult video games, throwing things, BBC-type dry humor, and following the Yankees.
A Heart for the Lake Hopatcong Area
A growing Green Pond Bible Chapel made a crucial decision in the early 2010s; the elders decided the church was not going to build a bigger sanctuary, add more Sunday service times, or move into an online form of ministry. Rather, the church was going to be a church that planted churches. This was not a new idea in Green Pond, as it was itself a church plant in the late 60s, but it was a blessed transformation in the church’s understanding, culture, and expectations to send members to their own neighborhoods to continue the kingdom work of knowing, trusting, and worshipping God, preaching and teaching the Bible, and loving and serving others.
Our first church plant was a group of 36 members who made the daring choice to go and start a new church in Vernon, NJ. God has richly blessed Highlands Bible Church over the past decade, and many folks have matured in their faith, and many disciples have been made through its faithful ministry.
Green Pond found itself in an almost identical situation after COVID. We had members coming from all around Lake Hopatcong, Succasunna, Milton/Jefferson, Lafayette, and more. The more we looked into the Morris County side of the lake, the more we came to find out there were many people in the area but not many churches to meet the spiritual needs. The churches in the area agreed with this assessment as we reached out to them for further insight. The need was identified, Green Pond felt the burden, and we believed we had the means to meet the need. And so, in 2024, Green Pond elders and members approved moving forward with planting a church in the Lake Hopatcong area, continuing a legacy of serving communities with the gospel through our next plant: Stone Bridge Bible Church.
Lord willing, Stone Bridge Bible Church will have our first service at the Nixon Elementary School on January 10th, 2027. We invite you to come and join us for Sunday worship and see how you can be a part of glorifying God by making and maturing disciples of Jesus Christ.