Travis Agnew

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

Stages of Discipleship

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What an incredible day at North Side!  We jumped into week 2 of “Intentional Discipleship” as we studied the stages of discipleship.  It was one of the most incredible days I can ever remember at our church!

I was shocked at the growth in our services.  God keeps bringing such a diversity of people to be a part of our church and watching God unite this congregation is amazing!  Jeff’s message on the different stages of discipleship was so powerful.  It made me evaluate where I was on that circle, and I’ve got a long way to go!

Nancy West shared her testimony, and God used her so much!  She was so passionate, articulate, and authentic.  Knowing Nancy even makes it even more powerful.  Her testimony was powerful, her life is even more powerful!  I have loved watching her stay faithful to God during these years.  If you ladies want to sign up for the Beth Moore event, you can do so here.

Today, we worshiped to:

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My Boys Have Something to Share…

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My sons have a message they want to share on their t-shirts – they are going to be big brothers!

Amanda and I are thrilled to death that God would allow another Agnew to come our way.  We are a little over 7 weeks along putting Lil’ Agnew #3 arriving approximately April 2, 2012.  With technology improving every year, we just left the doctor’s office and got to hear the lil’ bambino’s heart pumping away.  Everything looks great, and we are simply beside ourselves with joy!

We bought these t-shirts a few weeks ago to let our parents know we were pregnant.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work the way we hoped with all the family members.  As we pointed out their shirts, the comments were, “Yes, you are a big brother.”

“No, Eli is a big brother too.”

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Why I’m Not a Fan of Blended Worship

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You may or may not have heard that North Side is going through some changes now.  Many have asked me, “Are you guys getting rid of the traditional service?”  The short answer is yes.  The other part of the answer is: we are also getting rid of our contemporary services.

We are uniting our church from 3 services into 2.  There are many theological and logistical reasons of which this one post cannot address.  Succinctly, we believe that God is more honored when we unite in worship regardless of our preferences (theological), and we have accommodated preferences to a point where our schedule is actually a hindrance for many families in our attempt to please everyone (logistical).

So, no traditional.  No contemporary.  So everyone assumes that we are doing blended worship.  The only problem with that is North Side’s worship pastor (me) is absolutely disgusted by that format.  Let me explain why:

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How to Fix Lethargic Worship

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(Whenever I am trying to remember how big God is and if he can handle my current problems, I look at this picture and remember: God is good.)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim
that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe

3 and has gathered them from the lands-
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.  – Psalm 107:1-3

How to Fix Lethargic Worship

The cure for lethargic worship is a good memory.

In Psalm 107, the psalmist expresses praise to God based upon his faithfulness in the past. He reminds the worshipers that God is always good and deserves our gratitude.  He had rescued them from the hands of their enemies.  He had rescued them from their circumstances and gathered them back together again.

Have you ever felt in worship that you were just going through the motions?  You stood up and sat down when you were instructed.  You mouthed the words to some songs on a screen or in a hymnal.  You left the same way in which you entered.  The best way to describe your worship was lethargic.

The cure for lethargic worship is a good memory.  God has shown up all throughout your life. When you have called on God, every time he delivers.  The only proper response is worship.  Each new day is a reminder of God’s faithfulness to us.

When we were in the middle of our adoption process, I was forced to remember this fact often.

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Discipleship 101

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What a great way to start out the new school year today at North Side!  We had packed worship services with passionate worshipers – what else can you ask for?  We started a new series entitled “Intentional Discipleship” geared towards people who are ready to stop being stagnant and start growing in Christ!

Some service highlights were having Ben Ridgeway, one of our high schoolers, pray for all students, teachers, and faculty members going into their mission field tomorrow.  It was great having a video testimony of my buddy, Brian Rackley, who was a self-proclaimed “back row Baptist” until God called him into ministry.  This morning he wasn’t with our church anymore because he has accepted a call to preach at Bethany Baptist.  The whole service was geared around following Christ with no turning back.

Today, we worshiped to:

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My Birthday Present Arrived in the Mail!

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Many of my family members pitched in some money for an instrument savings I had been working on to purchase a birthday gift.  Yesterday, it finally arrived in the mail.  I am the proud owner of a hammered dulcimer.

Since I opened it yesterday, I haven’t had too much time to play it because two little eager boys see this as the perfect instrument to use since it is melodic and they have “drum sticks” with it.  Hopefully, when they go to bed, I will be able to figure this instrument out!

I have always loved Rich Mullins music which was the first thing that got me interested in this mountain instrument.  When I was a teenager, I spent some time in a music store in Tennessee that confirmed my love for it as I tried to figure out how to play it.  After many years, I can finally start hammering away at this beauty.

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Planning for Impossible Worship Services

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Sunday evening, I felt led to share how God has challenging me concerning North Side’s upcoming worship change.  It was undeniable that the Holy Spirit was leading me to share, and I pray it was a blessing.  I’ll try to summarize my thoughts from that evening.

North Side has decided to unite their worship services.  We have done traditional and contemporary well, but we desire unity more giving people options.  We are not going to a blended service (I’ll post on that later concerning why I hate the terminology and approach).  It will be united.  Here’s been our steps as of late:

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1 Week Offline (And the Return Back…)

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We had a family vacation at the end of July.  It was great.  I decided to turn my email off and really, really be on vacation (which by the way, is a great recommendation for all).  I replied to all emails Sunday night around midnight before vacation officially started.  I went on vacation on Monday.  On Friday night, I decided to turn my email back on, and it kept rising.  Below is the number of emails that I received that week:

743.  Within 5 days, I collected 743 emails.  When I started going through those emails, I was overwhelmed and excited all at the same time.  And here what was in those emails:

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Revival Through Worship

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Tonight, we brought our Revival summer services to a close.  These services have been a wonderful chance for our church body to unite together in worship and study the psalms.  We finished up with a hoedown.  Great times!  Jeff’s message on Psalm 150 is one I wish every believer could hear on what biblical worship is supposed to be.  Incredible!

Tonight, we worshiped to:

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Major in the Minors: Malachi

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What a wonderful day of worship!  We finished Major in the Minors today with the study of Malachi.  So good!

The worshipers were ready today!  I was overwhelmed with the volume and the passion of our worshipers today.  We had a scaled down acoustic set, but it was way heavy on the worshiper side.

Today, we worshiped to:

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