🧰 Resources

Enter His Gates

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Enter His Gates is an in-house recording where we worked on a few different types of songs: 1) Psalms – Many of the songs are taken directly from the Psalms or other passages of Scripture, 2) Instrumentals – We have 3 instrumental tracks which are proving to be some of the people’s favorites as we took the psalmic idea of the instrumental selah pauses in …

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Updates from the Frontline

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Last night, I shared a quote in our community group from a book I’m reading entitled Total Church: A Radical Reshaping Around Gospel and Community by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis.  Interesting read about what these guys are doing with The Crowded House network of home churches in the UK.

Here’s the quote that woke me up concerning missions:

“If someone was being sent as a missionary to a hostile context overseas, our attitude would be something like this: We would expect to pray often for them.  We would expect progress in building relationships and sharing the gospel to be slow.  We would be excited by small steps – a gospel conversation here, an opportunity to get to know someone there.  We would thrive on regular updates from the front line.  But the truth is that the lives of many Christians in work, and play, are just like the life of that far-flung missionary!  They are lived out in tough environments where progress is often slow and many factors make evangelism extremely difficult.  The challenge is to make news from the staff canteen as valued as news from the overseas mission field.”  –Total Church, p. 36

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Free Chapter from Freshman 15

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Ministering to college students since I began working at North Side has shown me that there aren’t many new temptations facing college students.  In fact, the same things that I teach on or counsel concerning one year or the same issues being addressed next year.  That’s why, a few years ago, I decided to write what the Bible says about 15 areas in which college students struggle.  I titled the book Freshman 15.

Freshman fifteen is an Americanized concept proposing that when students conclude their freshman year at college, they are approximately fifteen pounds heavier than when that school year began.  The theory rests on the fact that many college students experience an increase in their weight due to an excessive amount of alcohol, lack of sufficient exercise, and the consistent consumption of unhealthy food eaten at an unwise time and in exorbitant amounts.

My theory is that every college student will gain weight in college, but that doesn’t have to be a negative thing.  People in the ancient world spoke of giving weight to something as giving it glory or heightening it to a place of significance in one’s life.  You give something weight by valuing it.  In your time at college, you will put on the freshmen fifteen.  I would just recommend that you put it on in all the right places.

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How to Be a (Self) Published Author

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The boys were learning the word “author” the other day at the library.  Mommy told them that Daddy is an author.  It’s about the cutest thing to hear my sons say “author.”  The word is just funny from their mouths.

It’s true – I’m a published author.  A self-published author.  I’ve been asked before how to get a book published, and my response is – do it yourself.

I recently had an email from a friend wanting to know how to get started.  Thought I would share that info with you if you ever wanted to write something yourself.

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The Manifold Wisdom of God

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This project focuses upon the teaching ministry of North Side. These 10 tracks were taken from 10 pivotal messages preached to our congregation in 2011. Our worship team then trimmed the messages down, arranges, composed, and recorded some music to accompany these biblical truths in an attempt to further disciple those who would listen. As a result of this project, …

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Songs of Our Faith

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Few songs endure for generations. A rare few endure for centuries. Many songs that we sing today will not be sung in five years. So if a song has served as a voice for many generations as God’s people have proclaimed worship to Him, that’s something special. Now, when it comes to arranging and recording hymns, there is hesitancy involved. …

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Honor Begins at Home

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Honor Begins at Home: The Courageous Bible Study Member Book guides the participant through this compelling Bible study based on the movie Courageous. This 8-session study will take individuals and small groups deeper into biblical truths for a godly family, exploring topics such as redeeming your history, walking with integrity, winning and blessing the hearts of your children, and more. Every …

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Honor Begins at Home

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What an incredible weekend!  With a limited number of theaters showing the film Courageous, it was the top 5 movie in the box office this weekend!  That is unheard of!

If you got to see it, you know the range of emotions you experience during this roller coaster ride.  It is absolutely powerful.  We watched it with a Friday night showing at 7:00 that North Side rented out.  It was great to watch it and experience it with my church family.

Many of asked about the Bible study I worked on.  You can purchase “Honor Begins at Home” with LifeWay stores now.  It is an 8-session study that highlights principles in the book.  You can actually download a copy of one week’s lesson for free here.

But there is a slight catch.

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Don’t Drop Your Kids Off at Church

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Parents have often developed misplaced priorities when it comes to their children. Many children in America are so busy with numerous activities that their spiritual lives are unfortunately neglected. Our approach is to drop our children off at the best church in town which we qualify by which one has the hippest youth minister, most attended programs, and the nicest …

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Book of the Week: God is Not One

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This week’s book is God is Not One by Stephen Prothero, professor of religion at Boston University.  Prothero is not an evangelical.  His book is not a Christian world religions book.  I think it is always wise to read people who think differently than you to see if your faith really has substance.

I read this book, because his introduction blew me away.  Here was a very well-respected non-evangelical speaking of world religions with some actual solid reasoning abilities.  In a post-modern world where everyone wants to claim that all religions are the same and maintain religious tolerance, Prothero thinks that type of thinking is ignorant and dangerous.  A simple look at these religions show that there are remarkable differences in what they believe and how they practice.  I literally was jumping out of my chair reading the introduction because someone in a different thinking community spoke solid wisdom concerning this religious dilemma.

Below, you can hear Colbert interview him concerning the book.  Very intriguing:

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