Shane and Shane – We Love You Jesus Video

We’re just a little over a week before Shane and Shane come to North Side along with a whole crew full of talented ruckus. Remember you can get your tickets online, or you can get them in the North Side bookstore for $12, but $15 at the door. Here is a little video for you to enjoy them teaching their …

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The Bride of Christ (Images of the Church – #2 of 7)

In the second installment of images of the church found in the New Testament, we come upon the bride of Christ. This phrase is used a lot, but how often do we really look into what it means? While we are servants and laborers to Christ, he is also chosen to call the universal church his one and only bride. …

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#3 Conviction on Worship by Rick Warren

Third conviction concerning worship by the iconic Rick Warren: 3. There is no correct style of worship. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 12: “There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men.“ God gives us only three requirements for worship. It …

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Week 28 (3rd Trimester is Here)!

The third trimester is finally here!  Amanda is at 28 weeks with the lil’ “Obster” on the way!  She is doing fantastic, and Obadiah kicked me last night when I was shining a flash light at her belly and singing songs to him.  I already love this kid’s personality! How your baby’s growing: By this week, your baby weighs two …

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Original Blues – Circumstantial Blues

We started a new series today at North Side called “Original Blues.” So many people are dealing with depression, sadness, grief, fear, or other emotions that cripple them. The Psalms are beautiful examples of how godly people dealt with honest emotions. We worshipped to the following songs today: Blessed Be Your Name – Matt Redman Made Me Glad – Hillsong …

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The Family of God

I’m working on a doctorate degree which means I have to write a whole bunch and read even more. I looked back over some of the stuff and I’ve written, and I think it might be helpful to our church to read. So I’m going to take some selections from some of the papers I have written and share them …

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“Are You Who You Want to Be?”

Switchfoot’s CD, “Beautiful Letdown,” is still one of my favorite CDs of all time.  It’s not often that you want to listen to a CD all the way through and rethink your life in the process.  So many of Jon Foreman’s lyrics are crying out for people to live for more than what they are currently living. The song, “This …

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Time Management Helps

Have you ever felt like you didn’t have enough time to get done what you wanted to get done?  Lately, I have been on a big time management kick.  I’ve been trying to look at what I do and see what I could do better. The reason to evaluate is that I have one life to live and I want …

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Bethany Dillon Coming to North Side

That’s right – we are only a couple of weeks away from Bethany Dillon coming to North Side with the likes of Shane and Shane, Starfield, and David Nasser. The concert will be Sunday night Feb, 24 at 7pm. Doors will open up at 6. Tickets are $12 advance and $15 at the door. You can get the tickets at …

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National Symphony Orchestra

For any of you cultured people who read my blog, a friend of mine, Beverly Psomas, who works with the Fine Arts of Lander just sent me this promo.  I said I would help get the word out. GREENWOOD—The National Symphony Orchestra only tours in one state each year. This year that state will be South Carolina, and Lander University …

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“All We Have Left to Do Now is Pray”

The phrase – “all we have left to do now is pray” – is one of the worst sayings in the life of a Christian.  Tonight we talked at Fusion about how that shows the smallness of our depiction of God if we honestly believe that prayer is a last resort after we have done all we know how to …

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Week 27

How your baby’s growing: This week your baby weighs almost 2 pounds (like a head of cauliflower) and is about 14.4 inches long with his legs extended. He can now open and close his eyes, and he sleeps and wakes at regular intervals. He may suck his fingers, and although his lungs are still immature, they would be capable of …

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Surrendered Life (Only Way to Get Satisfaction)

Today, we finished up our Satisfaction series at North Side. What a great way to begin 2008! The last four weeks, we have shown some of the areas from Solomon’s life recorded in the Book of Ecclesiastes where he tried to find satisfaction but could never find any. As we read through the book as a congregation, it was amazing …

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“Allow Me to Introduce Jesus”

Some of you may have seen this video clip of Steve Harvey. For those of you who have not, prepare yourself. I don’t know personally if Steve Harvey is really living for Jesus or not, but this video at least gets me out of my chair and running around my living room turning cartwheels preparing me to go and either …

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#2 Conviction on Worship by Rick Warren

2. You don’t need a building to worship God. For 15 years we didn’t have a building of our own. But I guarantee we did a lot of worshipping during that time. The Bible says, “The God who made the world and all things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made …

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Captivated by Relationships (BCM Converge)

Saturday, I got to lead two breakout sessions at the South Carolina BCM conference, Converge, on relationships. I had a blast getting to know different college students from across the state. We looked at what God had to say concerning dating and preparation for marriage, and I was so encouraged by the feedback I got. I am working to get …

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Hide God’s Word in Your Heart

Tonight at Fusion we discussed the need to hide God’s word in your heart (Ps. 119:9-11).  Sure we’ve heard about it and people are always telling us it is wise to memorize scripture, but when are we actually going to resolve to do it? The time is now. Just like we leave in the morning with the things we need …

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Week 26

How your baby’s growing: Your baby now weighs about a pound and two-thirds and measures 14 inches (an English hothouse cucumber), from head to heel. The nerve pathways in his ears are developing, which means his response to sounds is growing more consistent.  [We have definitely noticed this reality.  I will start singing to him, and he starts acting up.  …

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Freshmen 15 Table of Contents

If you’ve been reading my blog lately, you know that I am currently working on a book entitled, “Freshman 15.” You can read some rough excerpts from it here. The reason why I am writing it is that I love college students. They have the passion and excitement as students in the church coupled with the maturity of the adults. …

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Get Acquainted with Starfield

At the Shane and Shane concert going on at North Side on Feb. 24, the wonderful worship band, Starfield, will also be leading. You can get your tickets to the event here. In an attempt to acquaint you with the people leading this event, I want to show you a clip of Starfield that I found on YouTube. Hope you …

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Article on North Side

High school student and a buddy of mine, Sara McGee, wrote the following article for gwdtoday.com about North Side. We are making a difference folks! And we still have so much more left to do! Northside Baptist Church Shines in the Spotlight   Sara McGee – Staff News Writer 17.JAN.08 Northside was founded in 1966 by members of another Baptist …

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Shane and Shane Tickets Available Online!

Shane and Shane tickets are available now!  They will be accompanied by Starfield and David Nasser on Sunday, Feb. 24 @ 7pm at North Side in Greenwood, SC.  This is a great event come by yourself, with your family, with your church group, whoever.  But you want to get your tickets quickly because we are anticipating selling out!  This even …

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Inevitable Change

Thanks so much to all of you who came out to our 5:00 service Sunday night. So sorry for any of you who didn’t get the news and came out this morning. Here was all the stuff that led to the decision: There was some snow, but alot of slush in the roads last night. It was going below freezing …

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Week 25

How your baby’s growing: Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. His weight — a pound and a half — isn’t much more than an average rutabaga, but he’s beginning to exchange his long, lean look for some baby fat. As he does, his wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and he’ll start to look …

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North Side’s Service CHANGED to 5:00pm!

We are going to cancel all services in the morning due to the 21 degree iced parking lot we will have in the morning (we don’t want anyone sledding down the hill in front of the auditorium), but we are going to do a 5:00 pm service since it will be above freezing by that time. We will have nursery …

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Nothing Can Stop Our God

A few months ago, I had been reading some different scripture passages and reflecting on how unstoppable God is.  We tell him he is loving and great, but I was caught off guard by those passages that just state unashamedly – our God is the biggest and baddest (“bad” in a good way), and we will shout it from the …

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Taking Out the Trash in Ol’ Kentucky

I’m in class this week up at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY where I am currently working on another degree.  I know.  I am a glutton for punishment.  The class centers on biblical and theological issues pertaining to evangelism and church growth.  Dr. Timothy Beougher is the lead professor with guest lecturers also leading our class.  I’m learning a bunch …

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Week 24

How your baby’s growing: Your baby’s growing steadily, gaining about a quarter of a pound since last week, when he was just over a pound. Since he’s almost a foot long (picture an ear of corn), that makes a pretty lean figure, but his body is filling out proportionally and he’ll soon put on more baby fat. Your baby’s skin …

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Never-Ending Work

This Sunday was week two in our Satisfaction series at North Side. The whole morning focused on never-ending work. King Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 2:18-26, spoke of his disappointment with his search for satisfaction in the means of his job. He stated that he worked tirelessly to achieve contentment, but he could never attain through that work. We live in a …

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Submission According to Huckabee

If you didn’t get to see the GOP Presidential debate in Myrtle Beach, SC last night, it was another interesting display of banter between the Republican candidates. One of the most culturally-informing moments of the debate last night was when one of the moderators asked former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee about a statement of faith he signed with members of …

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Bad Church Sign: Turn or Burn

Here’s another sampling of a church sign that is paving the way for the gospel on the streets of America: As we begin 2008, here’s a warm message for all of non-church goers out there – this great church somewhere in middle America, has an important New Years’ message. “Turn or Burn. Happy New Year.” Does anyone see the problem …

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Fusion is Starting Back!

I am so excited about Fusion starting back on Tuesday.  Greenwood began to feel normal again when I saw all the Lander students back in church on Sunday, but having everyone together tomorrow night will even be better cause we’ll have some time to catch up!  If you are a college student or 20-something in the Greenwood area, we would …

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Week 23

Lil’ Obadiah is measuring at 23 weeks today – woo hoo!  We’re getting closer and closer to May all the time!  Last night, Amanda told me he was kicking a bunch, but I couldn’t tell if I felt it or not because she kept giggling. But tonight was different – my son kicked me five times.  My hand jumped – …

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Satisfaction – Worldly Pleasure

We began a new series at North Side today called “Satisfaction.” The picture of Mic Jagger says it all: Mic and the Rolling Stones have been singing that song since 1965. And he is still singing it today. He still hasn’t found satisfaction. And so many of us are in the same boat. We look to find satisfaction in so …

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Dating Woes

Here’s another section out of the upcoming book, Freshman 15.  Hope you like: When I was in elementary school, all of my friends used to play a particular game during class.  You would diagram different columns into who you would marry, what job would you have, where would you live, etc.  This game had one important rule: you had to …

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The Answer

Just a reminder: Shane and Shane, Starfield, and David Nassar are coming to North Side on Feb. 24. Tickets will go on sale as soon as I get them from the Shanes’ manager. I will post it on here as soon as they become available so keep checking back! Here’s a clip of Shane and Shane for those of you …

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Week 22

How your baby’s growing: Your baby now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches (the length of a spaghetti squash) and almost 1 pound. His skin will continue to appear wrinkled until he gains enough weight to fill it out, and the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his head and body is now visible. His lips are …

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Don’t Drop Your Kids Off at Church…

Don’t drop your kids off at church, bring them home to it. On Sunday, Jeff and I tag-team preached on the issue of the family. You don’t have to browse too much on my blog to see that I’m pretty excited about my baby boy that is on the way. What I don’t say often enough is how scared I …

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Christmas Eve Highlights

I think this Christmas Eve was the second time we have done a Christmas Eve service at North Side.  This year, we got to have it in the new auditorium, which was good since we were near full.  It was an incredible time of worship together! We had a couple of fantastic videos to watch, the choir sang four selections …

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Week 20 and 21

In the traveling journey for Baby Agnew, we should be at week 20, but when we saw lil’ Obadiah in the ultrasound, the nurse told us that he was actually measuring a week ahead.  Amanda was thrilled to hear this since the men in my family have normally been large boys at birth.  So, our due date has moved from …

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