Travis Agnew

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

Zuckerberg, Lucas, and You

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Something is wrong with the world as we know it.

Facebook has changed yet again, and the Facebook community is in a tizzy.  Disgust and outrage fill status feeds, news reports, and paper headlines.  How dare Mark Zuckerberg keep changing a good thing?

Within days of the Facebook mutiny, global Star Wars fans are distraught that George Lucas has changed scenes yet again in his recent Blu-Ray versions of the Star Wars saga.  Tinkering with some effects is one thing, but when he started changing details in the story lines reopened the scab for those still upset that Han Solo was “provoked” by Greedo.

So, let me get this straight.  Most of the world is hooked on Facebook.  Created by brilliant college student, Facebook is the way people attempt to share life these days and is the most visited website in the world.  It has literally changed how people function in our society.  And we are mad at the guy who made it because he changed it?

George Lucas, who single handedly changed the movie industry, wrote a script that millions of fans have memorized.  When he decides to enhance a story that he wrote, we get mad at him for changing what we like as if he has no rights to the story.

The outrage this week reminded me how we think we are the center of the universe.

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Help the Vias Get Their Daughter Home!

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In college, I was blessed to find many friends that became family.  Two of those were Josh and Tasha Via.  The Vias have led worship at North Side before, so that’s where some of you might remember them from.  They are wonderful worship leaders on and off the stage.  They have 3 wonderful children, 1 bun in the oven, and

Redeeming Your History

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What a great day at North Side as we kicked off our 2 week Courageous series.  In addition to a great prayer time for our Africa team, we had a wonderful worship time together.  Taylor did a great time of focusing our prayers for that team and the unreached people group.  The worship team did great today!  So much energy, passion, and skill.  They led me to the throne – it was fantastic!

Today, we worshiped to:

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“You’re a REALLY Big Bear!”

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Psalm 107:33 He turns rivers into desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 He causes the hungry to settle there,
and they establish a city where they can live.
37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.

38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
He does not let their livestock decrease.

43 Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things
and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.

After reading a book about a family of bears one day, my firstborn came up to me and said, “Daddy, I’m a little bear, Mommy is a big bear, and Daddy, you’re a really big bear!”

In addition to his comments causing me to diet the next week, I also realized the power that perception has in the eyes of a child.  I’m a tall dad.  My toddlers think I am ginormous.  When a balloon escapes their grasp and heads towards the ceiling, they came looking for me.  When they want to soar above the crowd, they come begging to sit upon my shoulders.  Contrastingly, when they are in trouble, I can tell that our height difference also causes them to sit up a little straighter when I walk in the room.

Don’t read anything more into that comment.  The fact is they are small, I am big, and that causes them sometimes to have a reality check.  I believe that’s one of the reasons God makes babies so small (in addition to wanting women to survive labor).  He wants children to have a healthy fear of their parents.  The problem only comes when they think they are my size.

Our problems come when we think God is our size. 

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Don’t Drop Your Kids Off at Church

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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 the nicest

New Book on the Way…

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Only a couple people have known that I have been working on a new book, and I am happy to tell you that it is almost complete.  The next book is entitled: Don’t Drop Your Kids Off at Church: Bring Them Home to It.

Many of you know that I graduated with a doctorate from Southern Seminary in December 2009.  My work centered around parents being the primary evangelists in their children’s lives.  After completing that mammoth project, I was encouraged by my supervisor, Chuck Lawless, to make the material palatable for people other than my doctoral defense team.

Due to this emphasis, God has used the work to impact North Side but was one of the main reasons I was asked to complete LifeWay’s Courageous Bible study “Honor Begins at Home.”  Here’s the premise of the book:

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What They Don’t Teach You in Seminary

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I haven’t been a very consistent blogger this week.  I apologize.  It’s been a crazy week of ministry thus far.  On weeks like this, you realize all the things they don’t train you for in seminary.

Here’s some of the things I have dealt with this week:

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What Do You Wish 2012’s President Would Bring to the White House?

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We’re still a long way off from the election, but the news coverage is already constant.  With the Republican debates going on, President Obama making attempts to salvage the economy, and everyone having an opinion about both, a lot is being promised. At the end of last night’s debate, Wolf Blitzer asked a unique questions: “If you were elected as

The Keys to the Kingdom

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We had a great day as we wrapped up our “Intentional Discipleship” series.  It’s been amazing to hear the stories of people who are taking the job of disciple-maker very seriously.  I love hearing about all the different ways people are investing in others!  We’ve also been amazed at how well family worship has been and how much our children have been getting out of the new schedule.

Jeff’s message was so great.  I loved the emphasis he put on keeping the Sabbath and maintaining rest.  It is definitely something we have to be on the regular to watch out for.  Phil Zigos did a wonderful job leading a prayer time for America on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  We also were able to ordain Dan Flint into the ministry and pray for our mission team leaving next week (Jeff Lethco, Jukie Leary, and Martin Ridgeway).  Love the prayer focus today!

Today, we worshiped to:

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