I love the Body of Christ, but sometimes some of the members make me require an Advil.

I believe in the Church of the capital “C.”  That means that all of the local churches all belong to the big Church – the universal Body of Christ.  That means that we are all on the same team.  That means that we aren’t in competition with the church down the road.  That means that when someone leaves a church to come to ours, we challenge them to work things out with their family.  That means that we celebrate when other churches around us grow.  Big “C” mentality.

That’s where the Advil comes in, not everyone thinks that way.  I was talking with some college students a couple of months ago who were put in a very awkward spot by another pastor.  This pastor was telling them to leave North Side and come to his church.  The words they shared were, “North Side is big.  They don’t need you.  We need you at our church.”  There were other things that the pastor shared, but basically saying that their church was way better and way cooler than ours and that reason should cause them to leave North Side.
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You probably have heard that we are going through some changes at North Side.  I’ve got lot’s to blog about where we are heading.  To make it simple, we are uniting our church.  3 services down to 2.  2 styles of worship down to 1.  Adding some programming so that we can have a flip flop schedule on Sunday morning which will help families worship together and grow together.

Let me talk to you concerning how this affects families with children still at home.  I was asked this weekend by a church member if the additional hour of children’s programming will be something different than the first hour.  The answer is yes!

This united schedule provides an hour of worship and an hour of discipleship for EVERY age.  Many people are choosing to spend an hour at worship and an hour at service.  Either way, there is something different.  All of the options, except for Sonshine service, will be repeated.
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“We must face the sad fact that at 11 o’clock on Sunday morning, when we stand to sing…we stand in the most segregated hour in America.”  -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoken in 1963

Almost 50 years ago this line was delivered, and have we gotten any better?  Are more churches open to multiethnic congregations than before?  I think more are open to the idea, I would imagine it would still shock us to how many churches would rather not even talk about this subject.  I think we would be devastated if we understood how much this would still be a problem for many.  I imagine more are open to the idea, but few are doing anything proactive about it.

Let’s face it – our worship on this earth does not look like the worship in heaven.  Worship in heaven will be characterized by every nation, people, tribe, and tongue worshiping together as one family (Rev. 7:9-10).  Most worship experiences in our world are filled with people who look just like us and live in neighborhoods like us.
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This summer, we are praying for a revival!

During the summer, we will be having Sunday evening services from 5:30-7.  We will be teaching through the Psalms in a series called, “Revival.” All ages will be studying the Psalms in order to revive our hearts towards God. The schedule will only have two breaks during the summer (June 19th for Father’s Day and June 26th for the Homeland Choir Concert at North Side).

Here’s the summary of the time together that will begin on May 22nd:
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We had our last college Bible study of the semester last night.  What a great year we have had.  It’s been amazing to see these students grow in their love for the Word and the world.  I shared some dates last night that I wanted to make sure everyone knew about (actually, all of these apply to you whether you are in college or not), so here’s some dates to remember:

GOOD FRIDAY

On Good Friday (April 22nd), spend your evening at North Side with a special service spent remembering the cross.

Baptism & Lord’s Supper. We will include baptism and an observance of the Lord’s Supper this evening.  If you would like to be baptized on this date, please comment below.  Your RSVP is helpful too as we prepare for the Lord’s Supper.

John Kennerly in Concert. After the service, we have a special treat that we will have an acoustic show by our very own John Kennerly at the Junction coffeeshop.  Make plans to spend time connecting with your church family for the evening over some music and beverages.

EASTER

Come join us as we celebrate the resurrection and finish up our study of 1 Corinthians.  The gospel will be presented and a great opportunity to respond for life change!  We will have 3 services on Sunday – 8:45, 9:45, and 11:15.  Bring a crew of people with you!

SUMMER GROUP

We will be continuing a college group on Sunday evenings over the summer.  Here’s the summary of the time together that will begin on May 22nd:

• 5:30 – Worship
• 6:00 – Teaching
• 6:30 – Prayer (Ideal for Sunday night C-Groups or anyone else wanting to pray and fellowship with one another)
• 7:00 – Fellowship (Junction and Family Life Center will be open for families to hang around, play ball, and share life with one another)

During this time, we will be teaching through the Psalms in a series called, “Revival.” The schedule will only have two breaks during the summer (June 19th for Father’s Day and June 26th for the Homeland Choir Concert at North Side).

STAY CONNECTED ON THE CITY

We have a college group on the City so we can share prayer requests and keep you updated during the summer.  Go here to sign up (for whatever reasons, Lander email addresses aren’t working well with this, so if you have another email account, use that one).