Travis Agnew

Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.

Bloodlines

by

Pastor John Piper’s newest book, Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian, is now available. Earlier this year Crossway traveled with Pastor John to his hometown of Greenville, SC to revisit the world in which he grew up. This 18-minute documentary takes us through his experience of racism in the 1960’s American South. Watch the video above! …

READ MORE

Don’t Drop Your Kids Off at Church – Now Available!

by

My new book is available today!  Order Don’t Drop Your Kids Off at Church here.

Synopsis: Parents have often developed misplaced priorities when it comes to their children.  Many children in America are so busy with numerous activities that their spiritual lives are unfortunately neglected.  Our approach is to drop our children off at the best church in town which we qualify by which one has the hippest youth minister, most attended programs, and nicest facilities.  For all our efforts, children are still walking away from church once they leave the nest.  There is another way.  Don’t drop your kids off at church — bring them home to it.

READ MORE

Lil’ Agnew #3 is a…

by

The ultrasound was this morning.  The boys have something to share. Lil’ Agnew #3 is a… GIRL! Gloria Beth Agnew is on her way, and her big brothers are ecstatic.  God is faithful.  All for His glory!  

When Church Segregates Families

by

As a church leader, God has really been challenging me lately.  I feel like it is our responsibility to unite the family at church rather than segregate them. The last verse in the Old Testament prophesies concerning the coming of the LORD. “And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and

Cleaning Out the Temple

by


 
What a great day at North Side!  The big idea focused on Jesus’ cleaning the temple.  Whether you realized it or not, we attempted for every element to focus on this passage.  From song selections focusing on the sanctuaries of God, to praying for God’s work with other churches, to the message, we all tried to get this point across.

So appreciative for David Little, Director of Missions of the Lakelands Baptist Association, joining us today to remind of God’s work among our other churches.  It was wonderful to pray for other churches in our city.

Today, we worshiped to:

READ MORE

Fighting for Your Family

by

When Nehemiah led a group of exiled Israelites to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, he probably never anticipated the level of resistance that he would face.  Opposition came at them from every side.  As enemies conspired against the progress (Neh 4:7-8), Nehemiah had to protect God’s people without an army.

Nehemiah was forced to rely on men with varying levels of military prowess.  In a stunning move, Nehemiah places every able man in the exposed places of the wall and tells them to fight.

In order to obtain the ferociousness needed to win the battle, Nehemiah placed every man near his clan as the last line of defense before the enemy could reach that man’s family (Neh 4:13).  Before the battle began, Nehemiah reminded the people, “Do not be afraid of them.  Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (Neh 4:14).

In this holy moment, God’s people obtained victory through the hands of some fathers who held the line and refused to let any threat past them and endanger their families.

READ MORE

Do Children Make Good Converts?

by

How many mission trips have you been a part of in which the evangelistic focus was centered around children?  In my mission and ministry experience, the most common demographic for evangelistic efforts are children.  Energetic teams hop off a bus armed with balloons, refreshments, and gospel presentations ready to win the next generation to Christ.

Going through different ministry trainings, I heard numerous times that the chance of someone becoming a Christian dramatically decreases once that person reaches the age of 18.  In my experience, I would agree with that assessment.  Due to that belief, great focus is reasonably put on reaching younger people with the gospel.

But is it the best approach?  Imagine that one day, on your drive home from work, you notice a lot of activity in the park near your neighborhood.  As you drive by this festival-type atmosphere, you realize that your 7 year-old daughter is sitting down with a bunch of other children listening to some type of story time.  You recognize many of the children, but the storyteller is unknown to you.  After parking your car, you see your daughter raising her hand.  One of the adults begins to talk with her and it looks as if they are praying together.

Curiosity turns into concern, and you start to pick up your pace a bit only to realize that a group of Bahá’í missionaries have just converted your daughter to the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh without your permission or approval.  Outrage is an understatement.  You are considering calling authorities to address this unthinkable situation.

I paint that picture because our method of carrying out the Great Commission must be addressed.

READ MORE

Water You Turned Into Wine

by

What a great to day to be a part of North Side!  Grateful for all the wonderful things going on!  Remember: 1. The Fall Festival this Saturday from 3-5.  Thanks Georges for reminding us!  2. Africa interest meeting tonight at 6 pm in the chapel.  3. Families are growing stronger since this move to united worship.  It was awesome hearing those stories today!

Jeff’s message was the BEST message I ever heard on John 2 when Jesus turned water into wine.  It was the ONLY sermon I’ve ever heard on that passage, but even if I had heard tons, that dog would hunt (that’s country slang meaning it was great!).  I never knew all the implications of what happened.  Huge message!  Check out this Baptist preacher talk about alcohol in a completely different light!

We had a great family worship last night where we talked about this passage.  Getting ready for services this morning, I asked the boys, “What did Jesus turn water into?”  Since wine isn’t a word we use around the house often, they were trying their hardest to come up with it.  I helped them out by starting with the “w” sound.

Obadiah said, “Waffles?  Jesus turned water into waffles.”

Almost.  Well, he could have if he wanted to!

Today, we worshiped to:

READ MORE

Worshipers on Boycott

by

It’s intriguing to see how encouragement and ministry happens over the Internet.  When I started sharing North Side’s journey of uniting our church concerning worship styles, services, and preferences, I mainly was attempting to share our thought process with the people of North Side.  Along the way, I began to receive correspondence from other pastors desiring to unite their churches but were afraid of the fallout.

We are still in awe of how God is doing more than we could possibly imagine during this time of transition in our church (Eph. 3:20).  Sunday was our 7th united worship service schedule, and attendance is up.  Involvement is up.  Excitement is up.  Of course, there are people who are not raving fans of the changes, but it is very minimal.  God is challenging all of us to strive for a united church.  It’s been a great thing.

I was asked last week by a minister in another church: “What do you do with disgruntled worshipers?  They are boycotting the music.  We have members waiting outside until the music is over to come in.  Some cover their ears.  Some refuse to sing certain types of songs.  Some won’t even stand up and sit there with their arms crossed.  It’s offensive to me.  What should I do?”

My first word of advice: “Stop being offended because those people’s actions are not against you.  They are against someone else.”

READ MORE

The Hippest Church in Town is Not What Your Child Needs

by

Something exists in the heart of children to watch their parents do what they cannot do yet.  They stand in awe at early ages of what their parents can do.  I desperately want my children to stand in awe of the way I live for God.  I don’t care if they are impressed by the

+ MORE POSTS