Last week, I got the privilege to go with the band to lead three chapels at Greenwood Christian School (Wednesday-Friday). I always love going to GCS because there are a lot of the North Side crew that goes there and also some Submerge peeps, and just some outstanding teachers and students. I love playing with Cory, Jamie, and Wes. We …
Maybe you’ve seen the signs up around church about North Side University. We’ve a lot of questions, and I thought that I would give you a little heads up about this great upcoming option for our North Siders and their buds. If you have ever said, “I want to go a little deeper…I want to have a couple more tools …
That’s about all I can say – wow. We helped design the building so that people would say “wow.” We wanted people to be intrigued by the outside and come inside. We wanted people to walk in and feel at home and desire to stay a while and build community. And today we saw all of that happen. But we …
The time of waiting is over! We are moving into the new worship center at North Side next Sunday, September 16! The new service times will be 8:15, 9:45, and 11:15. Please help us get the word out to all your friends, family, and neighbors. It will be an exciting next step in what God is doing at North Side. …
The following article is from the Index Journal on the Facts of Life event last night at North Side. It said our praise band got the crowd “pumped.” Thanks for the shout out Kenny. We actually got them soulful by starting out with Sister Sledge’s “We are Family.” We had all those people swaying and singing. Beforehand, I told Cory …
GwdToday.com is a fairly new website that has some info on what is happenning in the growing metropolis of Greenwood, SC. They had a great article on North Side that someone pointed me too. I have the article below or you can check it out here. Posted on 31.AUG.07 Northside Baptist Church is growing by leaps and bounds….and numbers are …
This was our second week in The Wow Factor and today’s service was all about “The Faith Factor.” John Thompson, a member at North Side, shared his story. It is a story of ups and downs, great moments, not-so-great moments, but they were all moments that pointed him closer to God. He shared an incredible story of a man who …
Notes from Fusion’s message tonight: 02 – The All-You-Can-Eat Buffet Godipedia (01 of 04) If Jesus is to have all of you, you must desire all of Him. John 6 ME Brazil – Sal E Brasa – Churrascaria – all-you-can-eat buffet where they bring the food to you Green button – yes please; Red button – no thanks YOU We …
What a great day of worship! It was so exciting being able to worship as a family together this morning. I had a lot of people come up and ask about different songs or the videos we used, so I thought I would just post them all. Enjoy! Worship songs: My Savior Lives – New Life Worship Not to Us …
At North Side, we’re starting a new series in the morning entitled, “The Wow Factor.” With a lot of attention going into our new building about to open, we feel like at the start of school we are going to have a lot of occasional visitors to come back to church. They are the people who live one “wow” to …
My wonderful wife, Amanda, has slaved so very hard as of late and is about to graduate with her Master’s from USC in Music Education this Saturday. We are so very excited now that we will have Monday evenings where one of us is not in school and every free moment is not dedicated to some book to be read …
Here is a neat testimony that happenned the other night at Engage when we presented the gospel with those kids: Janel and I had the opportunity to talk with three girls, only one who was really old enough to comprehend the gospel. The other little girls just sat there on our laps and played with the grass. However, one girl …
Jim Wideman recently shared 3 questions he often asks to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of his ministry: What am I doing that someone else can do? What do I need to be doing that only I can do? Is there a better way to do what we are doing? Train yourself to regularly ask these questions. If you do, …
Jamie Parler, our Community Pastor, sent me this article he found. It was written from the perspective of a nonreligious man attending church with what possibly he might want the church to know about him. Very interesting read: Hello there. My name is Nonreligious Guy and I’m going to attend your church tomorrow. Here are the things you need to …
Reading in Galatians this morning, and I came across a fitting verse for this morning. It reads, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?” (Gal. 4:9). How …
If you were at North Side yesterday, you were in for a treat with Jamie Parler giving the word on community. Jamie is our Community Pastor and showed that, like a drum set, individual parts just don’t sound good. They need community. I love Jamie for many reasons: 1) he is an awesome drummer, 2) he loves Jesus, 3) he …
How do we view prayer? Do we see it as our steering wheel – it steers everything we do or do we see it as a last resort spare tire when we’ve done everything we can possibly do? It is very interesting that Jesus’ disciples never asked for teaching how to exorcise demons, preach, heal, divide food, walk on water …
After the message on Sunday on worship, Amanda and I had to jet to Columbia because she was singing in a concert. But I did get to steal away for a moment and do what I promised to do: I sought God and asked Him was He pleased in worship today? As I prayed and allowed the Holy Spirit to …
The thief comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy, but I have come to give life and give it abundantly. -Jesus (John 10:10) In class today, we are talking about Satan’s attacks against God’s church. Dr. Lawless is giving so many good stuff on this topic, I am keeping a running list here in class, so it may seem …
Only four more Sundays before we move into our new auditorium. The construction guys are working feverishly, the staff is making final preparation, and all we need is some people to fill it up three times. The new auditorium at North Side will be opening up on Sunday, July 29th. Official festivities, times, etc. will be posted later. We are …
Got some good stuff in class today from the Evangelism Director for the Illinois Baptist Convention, Randy Mullinax. He said that one of the things that he has noticed over his time in ministry is that ministers who are transforming lives are having lives that are being transformed themselves. I will repeat: Ministers who are transforming lives are having lives …
An interesting conversation developed today in class. The school at Southern Seminary at which I am getting my degree is called the Billy Graham School of Missions, Evangelism and Church Growth. The dean was asking us about what kind of connotations the term “Church Growth” gives. Some people, believe that the Church Growth Movement (labeling anything as creativity or different …
“We should be less concerned about making churches full of people and more concerned about making people full of God.” -C. Kirk Hadaway and David A Roozen
Missions is going crazy this summer! I love it. I just have been reading up on our Romania team at their blog, it’s great stuff. Most of this team have never taken a trip like this, so it is incredible to see all that they are doing – pray for them and check them out here: Romania Team’s blog.
We started our backyard Bible club in Abbeville last night for n*gage. We are taking college students and 20-somethings to a park and investing in these kids’ lives for the summer on every Tuesday night. Last night was great. The kids were wonderful. So much fun. I got to meet some of their parents last night who were very appreciative …
So, I gave a pretty exhausting testimony/message at North Side on Sunday. It had to do with my relationship with my dad and God teaching me what forgiveness truly means. I think the message is online now at the church’s website. While in some ways I was dreading speaking on this topic because I couldn’t be “preachery” but I had …
Tonight we started the mission project for 20-somethings in Greenwood called n*gage. On Tuesdays this summer, meet us at the Lander Baptist Student Center for free Chick-fil-a, Bible study, and then to go out on a mission project. Next Tuesday we are going to run the Mega Relay for our Shake-n-Shine camp. And then the next eight weeks, we will …
This Sunday, we will be singing “The Heart of Worship” written by Matt Redman. Many of you probably know the story behind the song, but if you don’t, I have it included below. Like Redman’s church, it’s so easy for churches to get into worshipping their worship. Whether it’s a style, a preference, a feeling, or whatever, we come describing …
I was listening to a message from Andy Stanley the other day that made me laugh so hard and think a whole bunch. He was talking about the different types of church government. When he got to the congregational style government, he said that there were three times when God’s people took a vote in Scripture – see if these …
So after I preach, I often have alot of doubts, second thoughts, and questions that I mull over. “Did that make any sense…did that connect with anyone…was I too pushy…was I bold enough…did I represent God well…did I misuse God’s Word…is anybody going to do anything with what I said today?” You know, nothing big or anything… But some of …
I just submitted my last assignment for my master’s at seminary. The air is fresher right now. The sun seems a little brighter (even though it is cloudy). My calendar seems a little more free. Tis the summer of Trav.
I was reading some highlights from the Q Conference in Atlanta and read this: The mysterious and anti-just-about-anything Rob Bell led Q attendees in a meaning-filled time of communion on Thursday night. I really appreciated his rhetorical question that asked “If [y]our church was removed from [y]our community, who would protest?” Pow! That’s a pretty interesting thought. If North Side …
“Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” Jeff gave a devotion on this passage in this morning’s staff meeting. It was much needed. I think it is hard sometimes to explain to people what goes on in the lives’ of people leading at a church. You …
I got to play bass at North Side yesterday morning, and I am beginning to notice something: you people sing really loud! I love it. Yesterday I felt like we all just had to tell God how much we loved him and how great he was, and just quiet voices couldn’t get it done. I love Fred Hammond. He’s a …
I read this blog today that I thought was very revealing. It is 10 ways to avoid building community at church. The first 5 are: 1. Keep conversations short. 2. Always sit in your “assigned” seat. 3. Avoid new people. 4. Come in late. 5. Leave immediately after the service (or early). If you want the whole article and the …
We are in the middle of a Life Focus series at North Side entitled “Invest and Invite” focusing on relational evangelism. I was reading a book by Thom Rainer called Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and have read some…uh…surprising insights from the unchurched. In the area of reaching out to the unchurched, I came across a staggering statistic: “Only one …
I have been reading a book on worship by A. W. Tozer lately and I came across a quote that really challenged me. He was talking about how consumer-oriented we tend to become concerning worship. If we like the songs or if the message really connected with us, we equate that with “good” worship. But worship is not an event. …
One reason why Submerge went so great was that it was about the Kingdom. There were churches there, but it was just one big family. No one was terratorial. No was defensive. We just all saw it like one big happy family. 230 people, over 9 churches together – just to go deeper in our relationship with Jesus. I love …
I can’t wait to celebrate with the family tomorrow – HE GOT UP!!!
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