Church

One Family

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Over the years, we have been blessed to see numerical and spiritual growth in our congregation.  We are at a place where we are not experiencing disharmony, but we are experiencing detachment.  So how can we turn this many people into one functional family? It was a great day all around as we focused on One Family during our One …

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A Church’s Barriers to Growth

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I was told it was a bad idea.

Honestly, I was told it would never work. Young men in the ministry normally don’t find success going back and working at the church at which they were raised. Regardless of those people telling me it was a bad idea, I couldn’t shake that I felt God’s Spirit leading me back to North Side to serve as a minister when I graduated college in 2003.

As a young minister, I was eternally grateful to this church for what they had done to help me grow in Christ over the years. I wanted to give back as much as I could. At the same time, I began my seminary training through extension work.

In one of my classes, the required reading was a book called The Everychurch Guide to Growth by Elmer Towns, C. Peter Wagner, and Thom Rainer. With a large reading load that semester, I intended to rush through this reading but it didn’t happen that way. As I read the pages, I felt like someone had been watching my beloved North Side during the years that I had grown up here and chronicled some of the challenges we had experienced and had overcome.

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Bad Church Sign: Come Hear Our Preacher

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It’s been a while since I commented on a church sign, and many people have complained concerning that fact, so it’s that time again: this is my bad church sign of the week! This week’s sign reads: “DO YOU KNOW WHAT HELL IS?  COME HEAR OUR PREACHER” Now what they probably meant was that their preacher was going to give

One Mission

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I firmly believe that today was the start of a whole new era of North Side as we began the One Initiative.  Today, we focused on what it would mean to have truly One Mission? Our church has always been faithful at engaging in the Great Commission.  But what could happen if we all focused in one direction to reach

Tis the Season to Be Involved

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Since Christmas decorations started going up in stores 3 months ago, I guess it’s time to start thinking Christmas time around the ol’ church house as well.  Our worship team has been doing some praying and planning as of late, and what we have realized is if we are going to pull off what we have in mind for the

Tolerating Mediocre Talent in Church

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We’ve all been there.  Sunday morning, the soloist gets up to perform the special music.  It’s not that it’s not your style, it’s the fact that it hurts.  This person simply cannot sing.  For whatever reason, they got the chance to sing a solo, and you are wishing they were singing so low you couldn’t hear them (sorry, I couldn’t

Authentic Christian Community

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What a great Sunday at North Side as we continued through our 2nd week of “Solitary Confinement” as we focused on the big idea of “Authentic Christian Community.” Some of us struggle to grow in our walk with Christ because we fail to get in the right environments.  In authentic Christian community, God uses other believers to strengthen us.  Are

The Community Life of Jesus

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Authentic Christian community is more than an novel concept, it is a biblical command and practice.  Looking at the life of Jesus, one can find an example on how to share life with others.  It’s more than coming to church.  It’s doing life together. It was a great Sunday as we kicked off the new series “Solitary Confinement.”  The picture

Dry Erase Markers, To-Do Lists, and Unity

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We just pulled back in from a leadership team retreat.  On my desk is a box of legos that were donated to my boys.  I have a list a mile long of to-dos.  I have more ideas in my head than I know what to do with. And I have a new box of dry erase markers. Happiness. I love

3 Essentials for a Humble Worship Team

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Worship is all about God. Whenever we serve in a manner to get attention for ourselves, we are attempting to rob God of his glory. People who are called to lead others in worship must be bent on leading humbly before God and his people. In the humility department of leading worship, I believe 3 things are absolutely key: Genuine Faith –

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