Ministry

Sunday Best (Does God Care What I Wear to Church?)

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Everybody knows that when you go to church on Sunday you are supposed to wear your “Sunday best.”  Right?  I always heard that you dress up in your nice clothes on Sunday morning because God deserves our best.  So find the most expensive, formal attire and wear that on Sundays because it honors God. Does it?  Have you ever wondered …

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Praise Break (Snoopy Style?)

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A friend shared this video with me the other day, and I thought you would enjoy it.  I’m pretty sure I’ve been to this church…

Stages of Discipleship

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What an incredible day at North Side!  We jumped into week 2 of “Intentional Discipleship” as we studied the stages of discipleship.  It was one of the most incredible days I can ever remember at our church!

I was shocked at the growth in our services.  God keeps bringing such a diversity of people to be a part of our church and watching God unite this congregation is amazing!  Jeff’s message on the different stages of discipleship was so powerful.  It made me evaluate where I was on that circle, and I’ve got a long way to go!

Nancy West shared her testimony, and God used her so much!  She was so passionate, articulate, and authentic.  Knowing Nancy even makes it even more powerful.  Her testimony was powerful, her life is even more powerful!  I have loved watching her stay faithful to God during these years.  If you ladies want to sign up for the Beth Moore event, you can do so here.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Why I’m Not a Fan of Blended Worship

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You may or may not have heard that North Side is going through some changes now.  Many have asked me, “Are you guys getting rid of the traditional service?”  The short answer is yes.  The other part of the answer is: we are also getting rid of our contemporary services.

We are uniting our church from 3 services into 2.  There are many theological and logistical reasons of which this one post cannot address.  Succinctly, we believe that God is more honored when we unite in worship regardless of our preferences (theological), and we have accommodated preferences to a point where our schedule is actually a hindrance for many families in our attempt to please everyone (logistical).

So, no traditional.  No contemporary.  So everyone assumes that we are doing blended worship.  The only problem with that is North Side’s worship pastor (me) is absolutely disgusted by that format.  Let me explain why:

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How to Fix Lethargic Worship

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(Whenever I am trying to remember how big God is and if he can handle my current problems, I look at this picture and remember: God is good.)

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim
that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe

3 and has gathered them from the lands-
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.  – Psalm 107:1-3

How to Fix Lethargic Worship

The cure for lethargic worship is a good memory.

In Psalm 107, the psalmist expresses praise to God based upon his faithfulness in the past. He reminds the worshipers that God is always good and deserves our gratitude.  He had rescued them from the hands of their enemies.  He had rescued them from their circumstances and gathered them back together again.

Have you ever felt in worship that you were just going through the motions?  You stood up and sat down when you were instructed.  You mouthed the words to some songs on a screen or in a hymnal.  You left the same way in which you entered.  The best way to describe your worship was lethargic.

The cure for lethargic worship is a good memory.  God has shown up all throughout your life. When you have called on God, every time he delivers.  The only proper response is worship.  Each new day is a reminder of God’s faithfulness to us.

When we were in the middle of our adoption process, I was forced to remember this fact often.

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Discipleship 101

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What a great way to start out the new school year today at North Side!  We had packed worship services with passionate worshipers – what else can you ask for?  We started a new series entitled “Intentional Discipleship” geared towards people who are ready to stop being stagnant and start growing in Christ!

Some service highlights were having Ben Ridgeway, one of our high schoolers, pray for all students, teachers, and faculty members going into their mission field tomorrow.  It was great having a video testimony of my buddy, Brian Rackley, who was a self-proclaimed “back row Baptist” until God called him into ministry.  This morning he wasn’t with our church anymore because he has accepted a call to preach at Bethany Baptist.  The whole service was geared around following Christ with no turning back.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Planning for Impossible Worship Services

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Sunday evening, I felt led to share how God has challenging me concerning North Side’s upcoming worship change.  It was undeniable that the Holy Spirit was leading me to share, and I pray it was a blessing.  I’ll try to summarize my thoughts from that evening.

North Side has decided to unite their worship services.  We have done traditional and contemporary well, but we desire unity more giving people options.  We are not going to a blended service (I’ll post on that later concerning why I hate the terminology and approach).  It will be united.  Here’s been our steps as of late:

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1 Week Offline (And the Return Back…)

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We had a family vacation at the end of July.  It was great.  I decided to turn my email off and really, really be on vacation (which by the way, is a great recommendation for all).  I replied to all emails Sunday night around midnight before vacation officially started.  I went on vacation on Monday.  On Friday night, I decided to turn my email back on, and it kept rising.  Below is the number of emails that I received that week:

743.  Within 5 days, I collected 743 emails.  When I started going through those emails, I was overwhelmed and excited all at the same time.  And here what was in those emails:

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Revival Through Worship

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Tonight, we brought our Revival summer services to a close.  These services have been a wonderful chance for our church body to unite together in worship and study the psalms.  We finished up with a hoedown.  Great times!  Jeff’s message on Psalm 150 is one I wish every believer could hear on what biblical worship is supposed to be.  Incredible!

Tonight, we worshiped to:

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Major in the Minors: Malachi

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What a wonderful day of worship!  We finished Major in the Minors today with the study of Malachi.  So good!

The worshipers were ready today!  I was overwhelmed with the volume and the passion of our worshipers today.  We had a scaled down acoustic set, but it was way heavy on the worshiper side.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Courageous is Coming to Greenwood

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I was thrilled to find out the other week that the movie Courageous will be showing on opening weekend in Greenwood!  We were able to get a private screening for leaders in Greenwood, and the response was incredible.  Church, ministry, and business leaders got behind this and we made a plea to get it here, and God obviously wants this movie on fatherhood to impact this community.

We are working out the details for advanced tickets, and I should be able to give you some info on that soon.  I am indebted to Alan Quigley and others for doing so much to help get the movie here.  This movie will impact homes, and churches need to be ready for what the next step is if you can get the people to the movie.  It’s a great, emotional experience, but don’t leave it there!

For those of you who follow my blog, you are aware that I have been blessed to be a part of writing a Bible study to accompany the movie entitled “Honor Begins at Home.” Since so much of the study has critical clips to the movie, it won’t be released until after opening weekend.  I am planning on leading the study at some time in some place, but just waiting on some few details.  So any fathers, aspiring fathers, mothers, empty-nesters, etc. who want to hear more of what God expects in the home, I would love to have you join me in this 8-week curriculum.  You can see an early sample of the curriculum here.

Here’s the synopsis of the movie:

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Why Your Church Needs More Percy Sledges

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It’s one of my most anticipated and most dreaded times of the week all at the same time.

It’s Sunday mornings.  I walk across the stage, tune my guitar, turn on my microphone, and attempt to lead people in worship.  What’s so conflicting about my job is that so many people are continuing the song they have been singing all week long, and others are eagerly waiting the opportunity to sit back down.  I love it and dread it all in the same moment.

No matter what service you frequent, when someone asks you to stand and sing, I think you need to open your mouth and give it everything you got.  And here’s why:

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Revival Through Intimacy

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Had another great worship experience last night at North Side!  It was wonderful to watch our team lead without me there!  They are so talented and have such wonderful hearts, they didn’t miss a beat!  Loved it! Jeff’s message walking through Psalm 139 was fantastic!  Listen to it online if you didn’t get to hear it!  So good!  My time …

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Major in the Minors: Zechariah

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Had such an interesting experience at the church house today – I worshiped from the other side of the stage.  After a week of vacation, I got in the van with my family, took my boys to the nursery, and worshiped with the congregation next to my wife.  It was great!

I loved watching our wonderful workers in the nursery love my boys and teach them how to pray for others.  I loved being made to feel at home by our wonderful host team.  The tech team was so seamless with their tasks, I didn’t even notice they were there!  The Shake-n-Shine band did a wonderful job leading worship (wish I was as talented and mature as those students)!  Jeff’s message was powerful.

I might take vacation more often 😉

Today, we worshiped to:

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Revival of the Heart

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No picture from tonight’s services.  I got the wonderful privilege to preach at South Main about Courageous and fatherhood.  I got to share communion with our worship team and listen to them practice and then head out. I heard the team did great.  They just led worship with everything they had – nothing surprising there.  I heard Jeff’s message on …

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Major in the Minors: Haggai

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What a great day at North Side!  I was so honored to lead in worship with a group from this summer’s Worship Academy.  This is part of the crew that studied together for 7 weeks this summer.  We’re missing a few more, but it was great to get most of them together and lead our church in worship.

Honestly, we stayed more in the Bible than on stage during training (first things first).  We only got our instruments out to play together last Wednesday.  Many of them had expressed interest in playing together, so it was a great time to let this crew lead.  They did a wonderful job!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Sheep-Stealing Tactics

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I love the Body of Christ, but sometimes some of the members make me require an Advil.

I believe in the Church of the capital “C.”  That means that all of the local churches all belong to the big Church – the universal Body of Christ.  That means that we are all on the same team.  That means that we aren’t in competition with the church down the road.  That means that when someone leaves a church to come to ours, we challenge them to work things out with their family.  That means that we celebrate when other churches around us grow.  Big “C” mentality.

That’s where the Advil comes in, not everyone thinks that way.  I was talking with some college students a couple of months ago who were put in a very awkward spot by another pastor.  This pastor was telling them to leave North Side and come to his church.  The words they shared were, “North Side is big.  They don’t need you.  We need you at our church.”  There were other things that the pastor shared, but basically saying that their church was way better and way cooler than ours and that reason should cause them to leave North Side.

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What’s North Side’s New Schedule Mean for My Family?

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You probably have heard that we are going through some changes at North Side.  I’ve got lot’s to blog about where we are heading.  To make it simple, we are uniting our church.  3 services down to 2.  2 styles of worship down to 1.  Adding some programming so that we can have a flip flop schedule on Sunday morning which will help families worship together and grow together.

Let me talk to you concerning how this affects families with children still at home.  I was asked this weekend by a church member if the additional hour of children’s programming will be something different than the first hour.  The answer is yes!

This united schedule provides an hour of worship and an hour of discipleship for EVERY age.  Many people are choosing to spend an hour at worship and an hour at service.  Either way, there is something different.  All of the options, except for Sonshine service, will be repeated.

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Revival Through the Word

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We had another great Revival service tonight!  We focused on Psalm 119 and saw how powerful the Word of God is yet again!  The band, singers, choir, tech team, and host team did a fantastic job tonight!  It was a powerful time of worship as we celebrated together.

Tonight, we worshiped to:

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Major in the Minors: Zephaniah

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1 week after our “Finding Your Place” volunteer recruitment, I am happy to share that we are already 56.5% complete of our new volunteer needs.  As we started there this morning, many more gathered together to fill in the other spots.  I am not sure the final number from today, but we are getting closer!  Amazing to see hundreds of volunteers signing up!  If you haven’t signed up yet, you can do so with the list online here.

It was great to watch the God story from commissioning one of our own to the American Samoa islands, hearing testimonies of volunteers, and watching the worshipers love on Jesus!

It was another great day of worship!  As we focused on Zephaniah, we were reminded of a God who disciplines us and yet rejoices over us with singing!  We worshiped to:

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Bad Church Sign: It’s Not That Bad

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This week’s bad church sign comes from The Potter’s House.  The tag line reads: “You should come, it’s not that bad.” Before I comment upon this statement (there are a few angles to look at it), I want to hear from you.  What does this statement say to you?

Revival Through Worship

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We had a great night last night at our Revival service!  We had a great time worshiping together.  I pulled out one of my favorites (“Shout to the Lord”) and some other great songs.  Our band worked out some intricate “Amens” at the end of a new arrangement to “All Creatures.”  The above picture is a snapshot of some of …

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Major in the Minors: Habakkuk

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What a great day at North Side!  We started off our “Finding Your Place” campaign.  The picture above is our gigantic need wall where we are taking volunteer recruitments.  This is how the wall looked this morning – empty!  But once I left after services, it was filling up quickly!  We still have some more spots to go.  The Pendleys did a wonderful job sharing how they serve once a month on the tech team even with 3 kids 5 and under and 1 more on the way.  They love giving back to the church that has given so much to them!

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Next North Side Worship Recording

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North Side Worship has been working pretty hard behind the scenes as we have begun another worship recording project.  The focus of this next recording: hymns.

Last year when we worked on Overcome, we had many conversations concerning where we would go after the next project.  During that summer, we began talking about doing a hymn project celebrating some of the most enduring songs of our faith.

Little did we know what God would be doing in our church in the coming year concerning unity and bridging the gaps among all of our generations.  We didn’t know it, but God did.  So as North Side moves forward to a united worship in the near future, God has seemed to ordain it that we celebrate the songs of some of our spiritual fathers and mothers.

Few songs endure for generations.  A rare few endure for centuries.  Many songs that we sing today will not be sung in 5 years.  So if a song has been a voice for many generations as God’s people has proclaimed worship to him, that’s something special.

Now, when it comes to arranging and recording hymns, there is hesitancy involved.  t’s a dangerous thing touching a classic.

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How to Stop Having Frustrating Practices

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If you’ve played in a group, you can remember those long practices where everyone leaves more tense than when they came in.  It seems like everyone got frustrated, eyes were rolling, side conversations were happening, and little good came from it except when it was all over.

One main reasons bands and worship teams have frustrating practices is because members come in unprepared.

Here’s a common progression of what happens:

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Revival Through Adversity

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Last night, we picked up our Revival series during the summer months.  It was July 4th eve, a storm was brewing, and we still had a great turnout of worshipers!  I have loved this time together. We worshiped to: All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name – North Side Worship Blessed Be Your Name – Travis Agnew Band Made Me …

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Major in the Minors: Nahum

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We had a great morning at North Side!  Even on a holiday weekend, we experienced three great services as we focused on Nahum.

Jeff’s message on Nahum was powerful.  3 themes he pointed out:

Our God is a sovereign God.  Our God is a righteous God.  Our God is a good God.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Worship Can Happen Before the Service Starts

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At the end of May, we had a united youth worship service that I am still recovering from.  The collaboration from area churches and the unity in the Body of Christ that night was amazing.  The students were such loud, passionate worshipers that night.

We started the service in a unique way that night.  I’ve used this at a camp years before, so I’m sure this idea was stolen from someone, so if you can use it, steal it from me.  The idea all centers around the verses from Psalm 100:4:

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

I love that verse for what it doesn’t say.  It doesn’t say enter into his gates, then start with the thanksgiving.  He doesn’t say get settled in a comfy seat in his courts and start the praise.  The process of entering is is worship.  While we are entering into the presence of God, we should be worshiping already!

That verse spurned this idea.

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When I Die, I Want People to Remember That I Was…

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  I think about my funeral from time to time.  I wonder how people will remember me.  Will I leave a legacy or will I have just taken up space?  Will the world be any different from the time I spend here? I want to hear from you.  Give me a one word response to this post: “When I die, …

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Biblical Songwriting Tips

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As the Worship Academy has been progressing through the summer, we have studied many different roles of the worship leader.

One of those roles is that of a biblical songwriter.  I made a lot of mistakes when I first started writing songs.  I’m still learning so much with each attempt, but I’ve found some things to watch out for when you write a worship song.

Here’s a list of biblical songwriting tips that I shared with the group a couple of weeks ago:

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The Fellowship of the Unashamed

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  I first read this writing when I was in college, and it had a profound impact on me. Stories are disputed upon who is the original author. I have heard that a pastor in a hostile country wrote it on the walls of his house before radical militants came in and killed him.  I have heard other people say the …

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Major in the Minors: Micah

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We had another great week in our study, “Major in the Minors” as we got to the prophet Micah.  Micah prophesied to a people who believed to have a covenant but did not have the conduct to prove it.  In his book, he shows what mature spiritual living really looks like.

Today, we worshiped to:

Since we had a big choir concert this evening at church, we had the stage set for an orchestra, and I couldn’t let those wonderful instruments go to waste!  So, we had a mini-orchestral feel for this morning’s worship.  It was wonderful hearing our people sing out to our God.

In addition to a wonderful message, our church also worshiped through a church vote.  

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Ooh Child, Things Are Gonna Get Easier

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One of my highlights last year was North Side Worship’s Overcome project.  More than a simple album recording, our worship team really worked over and beyond to encourage those who were going through.  As we put together a 16-song album (15 originals) full of hopeful themes, we prayed that it would be encouraging to many people.

Just recently, I got a note from a church member who has had a difficult year.  That’s an understatement, it’s been downright awful.  She sent me a letter and told me that she had listened to that CD every day of the last year and how it had reminded her over and over that she would overcome.

Mission accomplished!  That’s what our prayer was for the project.  In fact, the album artwork was more than a simple design.  We had spent a Sunday morning filling out prayer cards by completing this sentence, “God, if you would only…”  As we lined the stage with those cards, our staff prayed over them that entire week.  The hurt in our congregation was staggering.  As we prayed, I decided to use our prayer cards for another purpose.  Check out the video below to see what we did with them (if you can’t see the video, go here):

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Bad Church Sign of the Week: Loving the…

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Someone sent me this church sign this week.  Theologically, I understand what they are trying to convey, but I am curious in your thoughts. Was this a wise phrase to put up on their church sign?

Major in the Minors: Jonah

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What a wonderful day at North Side!  So much happened today that we can celebrate our God for!  Focusing on Jonah, we talked about accepting God’s call throughout the service.  We were so blessed to hear from Hope Brown, student missionary, who just returned with a bunch of other students who served at M-Fuge Charleston.

Today, we worshiped to:

I always love worship with a missional focus!  It was great to hear our congregation say, “Where You send us, God, we will go!”  In addition to those missional worship songs, I also included a new song I wrote for my boys called “Like Father Like Son.”  I wanted to make our Father’s Day focus impacting and not something Hallmark.  The words of this song have caused me to think lately and I pray it was a challenge for all the fathers today.

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Will the Southern Baptist Convention Make It?

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The Southern Baptist Convention met this week in Phoenix for their annual meeting. I was unable to go, but I tried to stay informed through Twitter and such to see what was going on.  It was the lowest attended meeting in years (possibly because Phoenix is a far way away from the Bible Belt and the economy).  SBC has had the lowest number of baptisms last year that they have had in 50 years.  Not a good sign.  Many are wondering if the SBC will make it.

I will say this.  I have never seen such a rejection of status quo in our Convention as I see right now.  When theologians who are normally stereotyped for the lack of evangelistic fervor are leading the call for a resurggence on the Great Commission, we are heading in a good place.  When young pastors are heavily involved rather than choosing to steer clear of the Convention, that is a good sign.  When a Convention fights for the nations, ethnic diversity, and a desire to trim the financial fat that has been accumulated, we are heading in a good direction.

I know there are controversies where all this is going.  Many reading may think that some things could be handled differently.  Maybe it could be led better or in a different direction, but I am at least excited about that it is going somewhere!

Highlights:

  • New IMB President Tom Eliff sharing heart for unreached people groups
  • New NAMB President Kevin Ezell sharing strategy for church planting
  • First non-white man elected to office, Luter will serve as VP, many already campaigning for him to serve as President next year
  • Passion to see ethnic diversity in our churches and our convention
  • Desire for a greater sense of unity throughout the convention
  • Great promotion for churches to get behind Courageous

A lot of great things took place, and one of them being David Platt’s message Wednesday morning (his message starts at about the 8th minute).  You can view that here:

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Voddie Baucham’s Problem with Worship Leaders

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When I was a senior at North Greenville, Dr. Voddie Baucham, Jr. was preaching at our weeklong Staley Lectures.  Our campus minister, Dr. Crouse, gave me the gracious opportunity to lead worship for all of the morning and evening chapels that week.

Hearing Dr. Baucham before, I was really humbled to be a part of this event and excited to spend some time with him.  In preparation for the week, I decided to check out his website.  On his FAQ’s page, I found something that scared me to death.

Q. Why do you place so much emphasis on who leads worship at the events in which you participate?

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Revival Through Repentance

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We had an awesome Revival service last night.  The picture above is of 2 of our former church members and 2 former members of my community group.  Jordan Wilson (left) and Brian Rackley (right) didn’t leave North Side because they were disgruntled members.  They left because they obeyed God’s call.  Both of them are on staff at Bethany Baptist Church in McCormick, SC and God is at work in their lives!

Brian, pastor of Bethany, came and shared his testimony last night to remind us all of God’s grace.  When he pointed up to a seat in our worship auditorium and said only a few years ago, he was running from God and now he is pastoring a church, I rejoiced in the gospel yet again!  He shared about leading an 85-year-old war veteran to Christ the other week in his church.  He shared about God using him and Jordan to unite churches together and hold a rally downtown this weekend.  It was amazing to watch God at work from transforming Brian with his grace and then allowing him to be used to change others by the grace of God as well!

Brian and Jordan, thank you for your obedience to Christ!  Your sending church loves you very much!

And that was only one part!  We worshiped to:

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Major in the Minors: Obadiah

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We had another great day at North Side as we studied a prophet that I am very fond of – Obadiah.  Jeff gave me the privilege to preach this message since I have a son with the same name.

The premise of the message was: Either you can humble yourself or you can let God do it.  It’s your call.  God specializes in humbling the exalted and exalting the humbled.  While this book is talking about nations uprising and falling, I gave 5 application points for this message that apply to every believer.

I carefully climbed a ladder during the message to illustrate some points.  I carefully climbed it because we have had 2 staff members fall of a ladder in that room.  We made it through with no more broken bones!

You can check out the message here to say you have actually heard a message preached from Obadiah.

Today, we worshiped to:

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