You can’t really appreciate the light until you fully comprehend the darkness. There are warning labels on just about everything. Jeff had a bag full of items with warning labels on them. Everyone is warning us about something, but no one is saying a word about the most dangerous thing out there. CNN won’t talk about it. Schools won’t educate …
The Golden Compass is a children’s movie that is coming to theatres on December 7th. The following post is not a PR statement on whether or not to watch the movie. You will have to decide if you want to financially support the movie. This is not a political post trying to sway you on whether or not the movie …
What would happen to Greenwood tomorrow morning if North Side Baptist Church ceased to be? What would take place in our community if our church’s presence in the community completely vanished? Would it be tragic or even noticeable? Would people miss a building or would they miss a movement? Would they realize only the numbers missed versus the lives transformed? …
In our Thanks for Nothing series, we concluded today with “Nothing Separating.” We’ve learned some amazing things from God’s Word in the past few weeks, and today was no exception. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. I love it when Jeff asked the question: “are you saved?” and made it so simple. There are five steps in …
Amanda and I probably got 87.7% of our Christmas gifts bought today! And what’s even more amazing is that we never left Greenwood! I know – it is unheard of but tis true. It was fun and not too crazy, but we had our budget, and we started working down the list and we were pretty happy with all that …
In today’s service, we focused on the fact that with Jesus, nothing is wasted. No hurt, no circumstance, no pain, no insult, no distress, no disaster, and no devastation is wasted for those who love God and who are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28). In some amazing way, only Jesus is able to take our hurts and pains …
Jeff is on vacation in Texas, and so I am preaching at North Side on Sunday. I love sharing God’s Word with people . I love our church. And I love this series that we are currently going through at North Side, “Thanks for Nothing.” The last two weeks have been on “Nothing Required” and “Nothing Separating.” Tomorrow, I am …
Most churches look around on a Sunday morning and count who is in attendance. But how many churches look around to notice who is not represented there? How many church members look at the age brackets of their church and become worried? If you haven’t looked around lately, it’s time that you did. 18-22 year olds are missing from most …
I am currently working on another degree through Southern Seminary. Southern’s president is Dr. Al Mohler who you may have seen debating it up on the Larry King Live show or other talk shows. He is a brillant man and also has a blog that he updates everyday. Today’s entry is a great read for our Hermeneutics Class since we …
Just a reminder that North Side is having its Thanksgiving Dinner this Sunday at 5:30 pm at the YMCA. If you haven’t signed up, please sign up here so that we know how many to expect. It’s going to be a great night just because I love getting together with the whole family to thank God for all he has …
Tonight at Fusion, we talked about how greed affects how we make a difference in the world. It’s hard to change the world if that takes finances that we are reluctant to give back to God. One of the main reasons college students and 20-somethings have a hard time giving financially is because they have gotten themselves in huge financial …
I was reading this week an interesting study done out at Willow Creek Community Church. Willow Creek is known for its role in the seeker sensitive movement. They are loved by some, hated by others, but regardless of one’s opinion on them, they have reached numerous people for Christ over the years of the church’s existence. Not only that, but …
Today was the second week in our Life Focus, “Thanks for Nothing,” where we focused on another great biblical thought that there is “Nothing Condemning.” In Romans 8, Paul gives us the great words that “there is now no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” I can’t think of a better biblical promise than that. So …
We’re singing the Crowder song, “O Praise Him” at North Side on Sunday and I am really excited. I’m excited because I remember the first time I heard it. I put the new Passion CD in my CD player and almost had to pull over on the side of the road. There’s something special about a song here on earth …
Some notes from this morning at North Side: “It seems like every time I come up to something that is required, I just come up short.” -Jeff We all come up short at so many things in life. But the beauty of Christianity is not in what you can bring, but it’s in what has already been received. When it …
EPIC Parents: I wanted to tell any parents of our lil’ Epicteers about a great new resource for your family. Polly Brown, our fantastic Epic director, has posted some info on what your kids are learning for the next few weeks at Epic. Epic is our worship service for 1-5 graders, and I love hearing from kids all that they …
Do you ever feel shameful concerning your attempts (or the lack thereof) of sharing your faith? It’s one of those areas that everyone feels guilty that they could be doing more. And it’s probably true. This is something I struggle with often. It’s great that Paul gives us some tips out of Colossians 4 on how to begin to share …
Triangle Construction (our building contractors) took some great pictures of the Worship Center here at North Side and posted them for your viewing pleasure. You can look at them here.
Today, we wrapped up our Life Focus series, “Leaving Planet Self.” Man, this has been a great journey that God has brought us on! We started out learning that pride kills but humility heals. And throughout the entire series, we have heard so much feedback from people saying that they have acknowledged the grip of pride in their lives, and …
I’m about 15% complete of a first draft of a book I am writing. You are probably thinking, “Travis isn’t that smart about anything, what could he possible write about?” And you are absolutely right. And those are exactly the excuses I have been using for the last year while this idea has been on my heart. So I am …
In my fascination with bad church signs, I once came across this one: It reads: ‘ANAL CONVENTION MAY 9_12 LORD WE – JUST WANT TO THANK YOU” You know, you never really understood the value of spellcheck until this picture, did ya? I guess that is supposed to be some type of abbreviation for an annual convention, but it didn’t …
Yesterday, a group from our staff went to Phil McMinn’s funeral. I posted about the tragedy associated with Phil’s death earlier this week. We went over to South Main and we had to go over to the overflow room because the sanctuary was so full. The overflow room was full as well. The pre-service worship started and through the video …
You can measure your humility with God by measuring your humility with others. Worship Songs for the Day: Humble Thyself – Luna Halo You Must Increase – Matt Redman He is Exalted – Shane and Shane We Exalt Thee – Israel Houghton Your Grace is Enough – Chris Tomlin When I Think About the Lord – Shane and Shane Surrender …
You may have already heard by now, but a brother in Christ has gone to be with the Lord today. His name is Dr. Phillip Keith McMinn, and he is the pastor of South Main Street Baptist Church here in Greenwood, SC. Details are still coming in, but I do know that he was involved in a single-car accident commuting …
You are not reading incorrectly. 2008 is all wrapped up. The picture above is of the whiteboard in my office. On this whiteboard is 52 weeks of big ideas for teaching at North Side designed for 2008. We spent a long time praying, studying, thinking, and talking about where North Side is spiritually and what the Bible says about those …
It’s always a great service when Jeff picks up a guitar. Jeff talked about how great of a guitar player he was when he lived in a town where no one else played the guitar. But then he moved to Greenwood where everyone plays the guitar. He once thought he was really good until he got around people who were …
Coming Spring 2008…
In the last few months, I have really begun to think about where our culture is and where it is heading. Follow my random thoughts for a moment on the undercurrent of our culture’s direction: 10 years ago, the most watched TV shows were comedy and dramas. This genre dominated the airwaves. 10 years ago, the most common use of …
Pride is what God opposes. It’s not something in which he disapproves. It’s not something in which he frowns out. He down right opposes pride according to Scripture. Jeff’s message today was sort of intense. He told Amanda that it is the hardest message he has ever had to preach. The weight that he carried this morning is very heavy, …
Thanks to the peeps who came out on Friday night to worship with us at the O.N.E. festival. We had a blast throwing our stuff on that stage, playing six songs really fast, getting excited with you guys, and then throwing our stuff back into Jamie’s minivan, and going to listen to some hip-hop at the next tent over. I …
We started a sermon series on Sunday entitled “Leaving Planet Self” dealing with the issues of pride. As Jeff and I prepared the message, we tried to think of ways to apply this message and to grab people where they are. But I think the reverse sort of happenned. Since we prepared and delivered that message, God has alerted me …
Cory just informed me that we are going to play at the O.N.E. festival this weekend. The O.N.E. festival is a product of Homemade Genius, a non-profit organization that supports the arts in Greenwood led by Ian and Sarah Morris. So the Travis Agnew Band (we couldn’t come up with another name) will be playing at this festival opening it …
Here are a couple of songs that we are going to introduce/reintroduce to the congregation on Sunday. Take a listen so that you can be familiar with them by Sunday. Can’t wait already (is it only Monday?)!
Today was another great Sunday at North Side. What a great way to start the week worshipping with the family. Today in worship, we sang these songs: Made to Worship – Chris Tomlin Friend of God – Israel Houghton Enough – Chris Tomlin Humble King – Brenton Brown The video that we used today in worship is called “Go Deeper.” …
North Side U is starting next Sunday, and I’m wrapping up some work on the class that I am teaching: Hermeneutics. Don’t let the big word scare you, it’s about reading the Bible for all its worth. I mean it can’t be hard if I’m using stick people to teach it. Have you ever read a passage that you thought …
Just a reminder: Harvestfest is tomorrow. Saturday night at the Connie Maxell farms. For more info, click here. Or you can check out a snippet here:
We led the Transitions Conference at North Side today. I think we are all extremely tired but extremely blessed. Jamie said to me at about 7:00 this morning that he thought we were going to experience what you normally experience on a mission trip. You go in order to bless, but you end up being more blessed yourself. And …
So Amanda and I read this about our baby going through week seven. Crazy stuff: Your Baby: This week your baby is undergoing some extraordinary changes and developments. The head, heart, spinal cord, and some of the larger blood vessels begin to form. As these blood vessels form, the heart begins to pump fluid through them, and your baby’s …
Just wanted to ask you readers out there to pray for our Transitions Conference. We will be having this conference at our church tomorrow (Thursday, September 27th.) This conference is designed for church leaders who desire to help transition their church to change and we pray that some stuff we have learned can help. We hope to share our successes, …
What another great Sunday! Week two in the new worship center proved to see tons of people come out and hear the beauty of the gospel. Jeff’s message was so on. I was so amazed at hearing the gospel presented so clearly and so passionately. It was great to be able to pray and think about all those people coming …
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