This second week in the “Dear God” series we heard Jeff’s 2nd prayer for our church: “Dear God, make us one.” In a church, truth, convictions, and preferences are always present. Unfortunately, we normally focus on our preferences or convictions more than we do the truth. If our church is truly to become one, we must lay aside our preferences …
We started recording for “Overcome” this week! I uploaded all loops and finalized all arrangements with Anthony Gravley. I laid down scratch guitars and vocals on all tracks to serve as a guide. Jamie has started to come in and lay down some sick beats! Here’s a video for you to enjoy to update you of our progress – please …
That’s right – I’m sending you back to school! Maybe you won’t be able to enroll in seminary, but have you ever had a subject in Christianity that you wanted to go deeper in? Have you ever wanted to know more about a certain subject? Have you ever wanted questions clarified about a subject in our faith? If so, I …
Yesterday, we introduced a new song at North Side called “Worship You.” Written for our upcoming album, this song is all about lifestyle worship. Angela McCall sang it for us and will be singing it on the album. I liked the song as a simple tune with my acoustic guitar, but as I worked on finding the right key …
As our church focuses on prayer in the “Dear God” series, our pastor has four prayers for our church that he wants answered. The first prayer is: “Dear God, I want to please you.” Too often, we come to God just to fix our problems. God wants to fix you, not your problem. In Colossians 1:10-12, Paul reveals four …
One question: what’s keeping most churches from experiencing true unity today? On your mark, get set, go.
As the United States soccer team was eliminated from the World Cup, America must wait another 4 years to impress the world with our skills. An interesting set of 4 games that they played still had them losing in the first knockout round. Americans don’t like to lose. America’s reputation is often that we think we are the best …
What a great Sunday! One of my favorite things was we got to ordain Luke Tolbert into the ministry. Luke, Patty, and Anna Kate have just finished seminary and accepted the call to service at Malvern Hill Baptist Church in Camden, SC. I LOVE this family so much and wherever they go, the church is better discipled – excited about …
Genesis. The first book in the Bible. What Jews and Christians claim as the authority on creation, origin of mankind, etc. I’d say it’s a pretty important book concerning the history of our world. In September-October, North Side’s life focus will be on two series walking through the Book of Genesis (Origins: Genesis 1-11, Ancestors: Genesis 12-50). While the sermons …
Our worship team has recently been through some changes. A few months ago, I felt the need to step it up a few notches. So I fired everybody. Everybody. I even fired my wife. No matter how long everyone had played or sang, everyone lost their job. I told them I would be willing to rehire them, but the commitment …
This is the time of year when we focus on our country’s freedom and liberty. While it is fitting and appropriate to celebrate our freedom, many people in our society turn the focus on freedom to a self-indulgent focus on “my rights.” Freedom becomes a focus on individual freedom, which unfortunately becomes an emphasis on a person’s freedom to do …
Happy Father’s Day! We had a great day celebrating fathers and the church. Great moments: The Spearmans Testimony – So great to see a father and sons going and serving on mission together Romania Commissioning – Great time commissioning the Romania team for their trip – they leave on Saturday Worship – It was a great time of worship, so …
North Side’s senior pastor, Jeff Lethco, does a lot of things well. Recently, he added authoring to his credits as he finished his first book, Before You Change a Thing. Book description: Church leaders today are being bombarded by a growing number of voices about how to lead effectively. Unfortunately, some things that need to be said aren’t being said …
I get to talk with church leaders a bunch about how North Side does ministry. I would love to hire a ton of people on our staff to do all the ideas we have, but that’s just not feasible. So we cheat a lot. What I mean is we find good resources that make what we do better. Sometimes we …
Item #3 that could kill North Side: looking the other way. What can bring a congregation down? When we fail to engage in church discipline. Yes, you could hear a pin drop today in services. In his message, Jeff preached on the need for discipline within a local church body. To his admittance, he stated that the concept of church …
Last night, we had the members of the North Side Worship band over to the house. We canceled normal practice to eat, hang, sing, dream, and pray. We have been planning to record again this summer, and this was the official meeting to kick things off. Sitting around a circle in the floor last night, I laid out the plan …
My buddy at the South Carolina Baptist Convention office, Mark Powers, called about a month ago to ask a favor. He is the director or worship and music for the state. Each year, he puts on an event called the Worship Summit (click the link to sign up for the conference) which equips worship teams to go further in their ministry …
Passionate, honest day about being the church at North Side. 2nd week into our “5 Things That Will Kill This Church” series and we stated the 2nd thing that could kill this church: “Looking Out for #1.” When selfishness infests a church, it is a dangerous place to tread. Today, we worshiped to: Kingdom Come – Travis Agnew Marvelous Light …
This year, American Idol’s ratings dropped severely. Was it due to not as much talent as previous seasons? Was it the arrival of Ellen? Was it the soon-to-be departure of Simon? Maybe it was that and a lot more. The show’s viewership dropped 50% from 2006 (50.6 million) to 2010 (24.5 million). Can it be saved from such a …
What a fabulous day with the North Side family! We kicked off a new series called “5 Things That Will Kill This Church.” Today, we worshiped to: How Great Thou Art – Paul Baloche Let God Arise – North Side Worship (Tomlin) Center – Charlie Hall Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) – North Side Worship (Tomlin) Amazing to hear …
As our worship team strives to be available by leading with presence, this month we have focused on praying for different sections of your church. This week, I want you to continue to pray for church members, but I want you to do something unusual: I want you to pray for the ones you don’t know. I have given our …
You know those moments. It’s those times when you wish the song wouldn’t come to a close. It’s those times you feel like you are going just to be caught up into glory. It’s those times when you choose to worship when everything isn’t alright. It’s those times when no one is around to impress, and you just get after …
We concluded the New Testament 101 series today with another great Sunday @ North Side! I snapped this picture in between services of two of the most dedicated team members anyone could ever ask for. David Hjalmers runs sound most Sundays and is dependable and encouraging as they come. Jessica Griffith Wolfe, serves as my assistant on staff, and she …
Continuing in our quest to learn how to pray, I want to encourage you to pray for other church members this week. You might have a long list – there are a lot of people to pray for! But that doesn’t mean you can’t get started. Don’t pray: “God bless all the church members.” That’s good, but it’s hard to …
Today was a great day to be a part of North Side. The praise band led us in this amazing time of “unplugged” worship (have I told you people lately I am working myself out of a job?!) – thank you Eric, John, Peggy, and Leah. Breathtaking and genuine: Made to Worship – Chris Tomlin Make Me Holy – North …
Continuing in this month’s focus for our worship teams to pray fervently and specifically, I have another prayer point this week: pray for the members of your worship team. Every Sunday before we lead worship, our team huddles up, grabs a hand, prays for the person on their right, then on their left. Prayer is a big deal, but it …
Jealousy: The word stems from the French jalousie, formed from jaloux (jealous), and further from Low Latin zelosus (full of zeal), in turn from the Greek word ζήλος (zēlos), sometimes “jealousy”, but more often in a positive sense “emulation, ardour, zeal” [9][10] (with a root connoting “to boil, ferment“; or “yeast”). The color green is often associated with jealousy and envy, from which the expressions “green with envy”, and “green-eyed …
Excited to tell you today that “Coming Home” has been released on iTunes and Amazon! This musical endeavor was a labor of love comprised of songs that I have written at our church and in our home. I recorded it to serve as a fundraiser for our adoption effort of Eli. I’m now praying to see how the proceeds can …
Today was a great Mother’s Day at North Side. Our family dedicated Eli along with many other families dedicating their homes to new additions. Such a great time to introduce the new Agnew to the church family. The praise band did a wonderful job (without me again – I’m really going to lose my job here). They led us in: …
The prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, was once asked about the secret of his success and he stated, “My people pray for me.” In this month’s worship team training focus, availability – leading with presence, I want to focus on being available to one another through prayer. Today, I want to challenge you to pray for your church staff. North …
I scheduled this post a while back. If all goes according to plan, I’m back in the States with my son, but didn’t get to worship with you this morning. So, I know what is on the agenda: Carl shares his passionate heart about the Gideon’s ministry. Kennerly and the gang leads you in a powerful Jesus-focused worship time. Today, …
How does a worship team balance performing and leading worship? As a group, you are called to engage the congregation, but you engage them not to rally them around your team but point them to God. So how do you know the difference? Once again, I will let the worship leading guru, Paul Baloche, instruct us today:
I get the privilege to talk with worship pastors concerning their worship teams a bunch lately. It is a huge blessing. One of the common questions I hear is: “what if my worship team won’t practice?” This is a temptation for any musician or any vocalist in the system for a while. We tend to get used to the opportunity …
At the beginning of March, I whiteboarded all the major projects that had to be done before picking up Eli. This list included: CD, Honey-Dos, weddings, RELI 101 wrapup, messages, services, etc. I had to map out a plan to get the stuff done, but then I realized something: I can’t get all this done. I need help. And lots …
The state of adoption in our world is in crisis. First off, you have this boy in the picture above who was an orphan once, taken into a home, and then orphaned again by his adoptive mother sending him back on a one-way plane to Russia. The only thing worse than being orphaned is being orphaned twice. Second, Ethiopia is …
The above picture is of Obadiah warming up his daddy’s guitar this morning before worship (if dragging around the guitar and throwing the pic inside the guitar can be classified as warming it up). It’s kind of wild to think that the next time I lead at North Side, I will be taking two boys down to the nursery! Today’s …
North Side is having a ministry fair this Sunday night in the FLC at 5:30. This fellowship time full of food and such will also be a place where you can get more info on how you can get involved in all things North Side. Have you ever wondered if your place to serve in ministry is on our worship …
Today is the day! “Coming Home” is available for your listening pleasure. We are so pleased with how this project came out, and we pray that this CD will be a blessing to you. We pray that it will call you closer in worship, encourage you to say “yes” to God’s call, and think seriously about your role concerning the …
Ah, Monday. The day full of tackling projects and trying to make a difference in the world. Today’s partial agenda: help North Side impact the world when our building’s doors are closed. Many people see the internet as the Devil’s playground. In many ways, it is. While you can waste a lot of time on here and get into all …
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