Travis Agnew

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

Fighting for Your Family

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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.

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Do Children Make Good Converts?

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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.

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Water You Turned Into Wine

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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:

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Worshipers on Boycott

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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.”

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The Hippest Church in Town is Not What Your Child Needs

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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 house in which we live,

God Did NOT Tell You to Do THAT

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Recently, I was made aware of a situation involving fellow ministers of the gospel.  Someone told me a piece of a conversation, and before I jumped to any conclusions, I decided to go to the source directly.  Sure there had to be a reasonable explanation or a miscommunication, I assumed all would be cleared up with one simple phone call.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t cleared up.  Justifying his thought process, he explained to me what went down between them.  I thought that a brother confronting him would be enough to show some type of remorse, but that’s not what happened.

Actually, he informed me that God told him to do what he did.

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The Call

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What a great day at North Side!  As we focused on Jesus’s saving nature and the fact that he still calls out disciples for his work, we got a chance to Skype in with one of our own serving on the mission field, Kim Tomlinson.  Serving in the American Samoa, Kim is reaching many families for Christ.  By her saying yes, she was not only obedient to Jesus’ call, but she served as such an inspiration to our church.  Kim’s Facebook status: definitely worth it to stay up from 130am-430am here in Samoa to be able to skype with my church family in Greenwood 🙂 🙂 So thankful to have an amazing church family that supports me 🙂  

This is a picture of the baptism service she talked about yesterday – I hope her description impacted your worship yesterday like it did mine!

Today, we worshiped to:

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“Why Isn’t Your Name on the Cover?”

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As Courageous has been making headlines around the country for the success in the box office, I have been rejoicing at all that God is doing through it.  I’ve kinda been surprised that my small role in the ministry aspect of it has caused me to be interviewed by a few different sources.  The Bible Study book that I worked on is available now, but the whole kit with the DVD and extras won’t be available until Feb. 2012.

In a phone interview last week, someone had already picked up the book and asked me this question: “Why isn’t your name on the cover?”

As you can see by the picture, the  leaders for Sherwood Baptist Church and Sherwood Pictures names are on the cover, and this inquiring mind on the other side of the phone wanted to know where mine was.

Well…

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Preachers’ Kids

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Our culture has a stereotype of pastor’s children that is the complete opposite of this biblical expectation.  When people mention a “preacher kid,” they are normally referencing some rebellious hellion bent on tarnishing his father’s reputation in the community.  This stereotype reveals more than an unfortunate circumstance, it shows unbiblical perspectives and qualifications present in the church today.

Repeatedly, many preacher kids reveal a father who took care of the needs of everyone else except for those living in his own house.  In attempts to appease this member or that family, he neglected his own wife and children.  As the years went by, not only does the minister’s family resent the man of the house, but they also resent the church and many never return once they leave home.

Your pastors need to care for their own children more than they care for your children.

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