One of the most frequented asked questions I receive from people concerning giving is: “should I tithe while in debt?”
My short answer is yes.
Now, here is the medium answer concerning why I say, “yes.”
Travis Agnew
Fathers: It’s Better to Attempt Than to Regret
Last week’s evenings were pretty full for our family, and so I took off early last Tuesday to do something special with the Agnew boys. Some of the guys in our college Bible study play for Lander’s baseball team, and so I decided this would be a great trip for us. We had been playing a lot of baseball in the yard as of late, and I thought the game would mesmerize the boys.
After loading the boys in the truck, finding our way to the field, I realized something about taking 2 almost 3-year-olds to a baseball game:
It’s a horrible idea.
Lift Recap
Words can’t even express how humbled I was to be a part of Lift.
Having North Side’s own volunteers give up their Saturday to work on things they already do so well is a reminder of the quality of people we have. Having groups from the Carolinas travel from up to 5 hours away to spend their Saturday to learn with us is a reminder of stewardship in the Body of Christ.
At Lift, we worshiped to:
Derailed by Lawsuits
I love loud worshipers, and North Side got after it this morning!
Wow, what an incredible time together. 4th week in our Derailed series through 1 Corinthians, and today we landed on lawsuits within the church. You gotta love the Word of God that makes it so clear for us to follow!
In addition to a great message, we also got to hear wonderful testimonies and promo for our Priscilla Shirer simulcast next week, commissioned some more college missionaries, and sang our faces off! For the entire flowsheet, go here.
Today, we worshiped to:
Definition of “Church”
Honestly, it is one of the most confusing terms in American culture. Most people have an answer. Most people are convinced of their answer. And most answers are very different from each other. So I want to hear from you. What is the definition of “church?”
Praying With Your Eyes Wide Open
When we were little, adults taught us to pray with our eyes closed. I suppose it had something to do with eliminating distractions or focusing on the One that we can’t see physically.
My son, Eli, has a different approach.
And I don’t plan on stopping him.
LIFT is This Saturday!
I was so encouraged yesterday hearing about the building excitement for Lift this Saturday! We are only days away. Our team is putting last minute touches on the event, and we could not be more excited!
On March 26th we will have a free worship workshop held at North Side Baptist in Greenwood, SC. Bring your whole team and get equipped on how you can lift your worship, your team expectations, and your team’s abilities. Tracks in musicians, vocalists, technicians, host teams, etc. Good for choirs, bands, and anything in between!
The day has a funnel type schedule focusing on music, tech, and host teams that work in worship settings. We start large, go to medium size, smaller groups, and then back all together.
This workshop is for seasoned worship team members and also for those who are just curious if they have the skills needed to join. It’s free lessons, so nothing to lose! Not only will we have a lot of information, we are going to have a lot of fun!
Here is our promise: we are teaching principles, not models. We don’t want you to copy what we are doing, we are going to teach principles that we have been learning that can be applied into any context. If you want to reserve your spot, you can do so here.
See below for the information on all the classes:
Derailed by Negligence
Within the church, a sin that can wield more damage than immorality is that of negligence. When Christians don’t confront sin within the church, unholy living can become widespread. The Apostle Paul handles this situation in a surprising way in this ignored passage (1 Corinthians 5).
Today’s service was all about being “Derailed by Negligence.” We put the whole service together dealing with how do the people of God handle sin committed by the people of God.
In addition to a video on temptation, we had a prayer time for people who we knew that were getting far away from God. Using James 5:19-20 as our prayer focus, we prayed and planned how we would lovingly confront that person.
We also used some help to start out the message today. Using a mom, coach, and sheriff, we got everyone to imagine what those environments would look like if there was no discipline. Jeff came up then and asked would a church would look like without any discipline. Powerful message. The 1st time I have ever heard a pastor preach on 1 Corinthians 5.
Today, we worshiped to:
Book of the Week: Christian Beliefs
This week’s book of the week is Wayne Grudem’s Christian Beliefs: 20 Basics Every Christian Should Know. This book is a condensed version of the condensed version of his first systematic theology textbook. The big one that I read in college is 1,290 pages, and he has a condensed version of 528 pages. This volume is down to 159.
I’ve always known Grudem had a brilliant mind. Just recently, I discovered he’s my hero as he shared a testimony concerning marriage at Family Life’s Art of Marriage conference. He is truly loving his wife the way Christ loved the church. Never imagined this great theologian as such a romantic!
So much good stuff in here. A short chapter on each belief. Lots of scripture references and study. I’ll give you 10 great lines from the first chapters to whet your appetite!
10 of the 20 Chapter Summaries:
Sometimes the Best Notes Are the Ones Not Played
Sometimes the best notes are the ones not played.
It is very easy for a band to get too busy while leading songs. Every musician has something to offer or else they wouldn’t be in the band.
What tends to happen is that at a turn-around in a song, every instrumentalist thinks it is their turn to contribute. Leading from the verse to the chorus, oftentimes, a band will have a drummer going on a monster roll, the guitarist bending strings like never before, the bassist sliding up to a fret that’s not even on the neck, and the keyboardist ripping and roaring down the ivories.
Vocalists can get up in the trap too when they silently compete to hear who can hold at the note the longest and the loudest.
While your group members may not be intentionally trying to steal the show, inability to understand and create powerful dynamics can ruin a song. The end product can sound more like a group of independent musicians than an actual unified band.
Here are some questions to ask:
You must be logged in to post a comment.