Bridget’s love of music originates from her first listen to the great jazz singers: Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, and Ella Fitzgerald. She grew up with her mother singing the songs of Billie Holiday, Bonnie Raitt, and Barbara Streisand. Her influences vary from those jazz greats to Eric Clapton and James Taylor. Bridget loves a good melody and is evident in her songs with strong melodic lines.
While taking a voice class at San Diego State University just for fun, her teacher had commented that he would pay to hear her sing. That class in 1995 stirred up in Bridget a desire to study music. She realized that it wasn’t too late to develop her gift.
It was in 1996 that she seriously pursued the development of her craft in music by taking private piano and guitar lessons and the Lord began to give her songs. After a serious shoulder injury in 2002, she was unable to continue playing the guitar, but still hopes to pick it up again soon.
She has either participated as a keyboardist and/or vocalist on worship teams with her mentor Chris Falson, as well as with Gary Arthur of The Way, and Chariya Bissonette and is currently a keyboardist on the church worship team lead by Mark Perez.
Aside from being a help mate to her husband of twelve years, Mercier Willard, a pastor and head of Pardoned Prodigals, Bridget’s main gifting and calling is for leading worship and exhorting and encouraging believers to be active with their gifts and callings from the Lord. She has lead worship with children, teens, and women as well as in prayer meetings, retreats, and small group Bible studies since 1996.
Bridget has taught children, teens, and women’s Bible studies including organizing, facilitating, teaching, and leading worship for several women’s retreats.
Mercier and Bridget’s home church is Calvary Chapel San Juan Capistrano where most of her songs were written and where she blossomed into a worship leader in Children’s and Women’s Ministry.
She is part of an outreach called Pardoned Prodigals that has been reaching out to the community of Anaheim for the past few years at the Friday Night Motel Outreach through song, prayer, and Bible class for children, depending on the season and the move of the Spirit
She is also an author and her essays and poems are posted on her site moreofjesus.com along with chord charts, song lyrics, mp3 samples, and song stories from her debut CD.
Bridget is also working on the final stages of a devotional journey for worship leaders entitled ON THE MOUNTAIN.
