Church

Worship Preferences

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The process of picking a place to worship has kind of become like picking a place to eat. We all have individual preferences, but when did worship ever become about what we got out of it?

When the Church Vote Doesn’t Go Your Way

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I posted yesterday concerning the approval at the South Carolina Baptist Convention of the Great Commission Resurgence.  This approval met with a very significant majority vote (which shocked me personally).  While there are many different changes, the one that keeps me focused is that it changes the budget for more emphasis on sending more missionaries to the field.  It takes away some money from our institutions but also gives them allowance to raise money in other avenues.

The vote was a significant majority, but everyone involved are not raving fans (I know you’ve never heard of a situation like that in a church setting ;)).  I’m sympathetic to both sides.  I have dear brothers who were a part of leading the change and I have dear brothers who tried to stop it.  I see both sides, but the reality is, the change has happened now.

So, what do you do when the church vote doesn’t go your way?

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Cleaning Out the Temple

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What a great day at North Side!  The big idea focused on Jesus’ cleaning the temple.  Whether you realized it or not, we attempted for every element to focus on this passage.  From song selections focusing on the sanctuaries of God, to praying for God’s work with other churches, to the message, we all tried to get this point across.

So appreciative for David Little, Director of Missions of the Lakelands Baptist Association, joining us today to remind of God’s work among our other churches.  It was wonderful to pray for other churches in our city.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Worshipers on Boycott

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It’s intriguing to see how encouragement and ministry happens over the Internet.  When I started sharing North Side’s journey of uniting our church concerning worship styles, services, and preferences, I mainly was attempting to share our thought process with the people of North Side.  Along the way, I began to receive correspondence from other pastors desiring to unite their churches but were afraid of the fallout.

We are still in awe of how God is doing more than we could possibly imagine during this time of transition in our church (Eph. 3:20).  Sunday was our 7th united worship service schedule, and attendance is up.  Involvement is up.  Excitement is up.  Of course, there are people who are not raving fans of the changes, but it is very minimal.  God is challenging all of us to strive for a united church.  It’s been a great thing.

I was asked last week by a minister in another church: “What do you do with disgruntled worshipers?  They are boycotting the music.  We have members waiting outside until the music is over to come in.  Some cover their ears.  Some refuse to sing certain types of songs.  Some won’t even stand up and sit there with their arms crossed.  It’s offensive to me.  What should I do?”

My first word of advice: “Stop being offended because those people’s actions are not against you.  They are against someone else.”

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“So, How Did the Change REALLY Go?”

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In the recent weeks, I have learned that there have been 3 people very interested in the changes going on at North Side.

  1. North Siders – This group has been interested in how all of it would look when the dust settled and the new day was here.  What would worship be like?  Where would their families go?
  2. Other Greenwood Churches – We also have heard that it’s been quite the conversation among other churches, and even in some churches, people have attempted to lure people to their congregation because their worship style was something they would enjoy better (that’s on both the contemporary and the traditional side).  I guarantee if someone leaves one church because of music and find refuge in another, those are the type of members who leave the 2nd church one day as well.  It’s like young ladies who feel like they have to advertise to get a man.  Whatever it takes to get him will be what takes him one day.  The same is true with churches.
  3. Other Church Leaders – Along the way, I’ve been contacted through this blog, Facebook, or email with questions how we are going about these changes.  It seems there are a lot of churches who desire unity as well.  Many congregations are tired of the church buffet lines, but we served as the “guinea pig” to many of them.  If it works here, maybe it could work there too was the thought process.

So, I posted on Sunday that Sunday was a great day, and it was.  I believed it was going to be a great day, but I didn’t think it could have gone that smooth.  But many people emailed me on Monday morning and said, “OK, you can tell me, how did the change REALLY go?”  As if Sunday everyone would be all smiles, but then Monday morning, our inboxes would be overflowing with hate mail.

So, how did the change REALLY go?

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Reminders for Sunday’s New Schedule

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Just a reminder about Sunday’s new schedule at North Side.  We have worship and discipleship groups for all ages at both 9:30 & 11:00.  Get there early to make sure you and your family are in the right spot at the right time.

Here’ some additional notes for you to remember:

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“We Said We Would Never Visit North Side…”

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Yesterday, I talked about how North Side is experiencing incredible growth even during a time of transition.  Normally, you are supposed to lose people when you make changes to your church, and in reality, we are gaining people.  Lives are being transformed by the gospel.  People are being baptized.  All ages are signing up for discipleship groups and service groups.  It’s been amazing to watch!

I wanted to tell you one story that we have heard through this time of change.  A couple recently moved to Greenwood who had been church leaders in another state.  As they began their time of searching for the right church, someone invited them to come to North Side.  They checked out the website, asked some questions about the church, and told this person they wouldn’t come.  They had doctrinal stances they had to ensure which our church met with no problem.  But they had one other criteria as far as looking for a church that was a non-negotiable for them.

Do you know what the one criteria they had that was hindering them from coming to North Side?

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Aren’t Churches Supposed to Lose People When They Change?

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When I was in seminary, I was taught that before you ever make a change in your church, you need to calculate how many people you would lose if you changed.  An honest look at how those departures would affect attendance, volunteers, and especially budget should give you an indication of whether or not you should change.

North Side is in the middle of a change (if you haven’t heard ;)).  We are going from 3 worship services to 2.  2 worship styles to 1.  We are having a simple flip-flop schedule with worship and discipleship groups for all ages at both 9:30 & 11:00.

We decided to change for 2 basic reasons:

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Definition of “Church”

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Honestly, it is one of the most confusing terms in American culture.  Most people have an answer.  Most people are convinced of their answer.  And most answers are very different from each other. So I want to hear from you. What is the definition of “church?”

Robert’s Rules of Order vs. the Holy Bible (Which Guides Your Church’s Meetings?)

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I’m still in awe of a meeting we had at church last night.  A group of 100 leaders from our church have been gathering together to pray and to plan in this One Initiative our church has been going through.  Last night, we discussed some possible changes that would affect everyone.  From the report that I get from friends, if those type of changes were being discussed in some congregations, it would have gotten ugly.

Let me give you an example.

A friend called me a couple of years ago after a church business meeting.  In tears, he retold of the ungodly things stated among the people of God.  He told me concerning personal attacks that took place.  He told me of the name-calling, the cursing, and the selfishness that pervaded the entire meeting.

He asked me what I thought went wrong.

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Derailed by Disunity

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Each week, I start out my post from Sunday talking about how great a morning it was.  This week was no different.  The services were a great outpouring of God’s goodness, but I must admit the entire day was amazing of watching the church in action.  In addition to wonderful services, I watched a volunteer team give it their all amidst great setbacks, a Spirit-led business meeting, and a group of guys pushing each other on to selflessness.

In short, I love our church!

Today, we started a new series entitled “Derailed,” where we began our study of 1 Corinthians.  While we looked at Ephesians as a church who got it, this church is the exact opposite.   In 1 Corinthians 1-2, the Corinthian church found themselves way off track from where Paul had planted them.  One particular way they had become derailed was in the area of disunity.  Their preferences of different styles of ministry kept them from unifying around Jesus.  We would be wise not to follow their example.

Today, we worshiped to:

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Confessions of a Narrow-Focused Church Member

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I have a confession to make: I am a narrow-focused church member.  I look at all the possible changes at our church at how it would affect me and mine.  I judge the worth of programs based upon how they benefit me and my family.  If it can make me feel better, I’m all in. I tend to refuse to …

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Why God Might Be Out to Get Your Church

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Your church bears the name of Christ.  Most likely, your church was founded for his glory, was organized the way it is for his glory, but churches can get off track.

Our assumption is that God is for every church.  The very fact that it is called a church automatically receives God’s blessing, right?

What if I told you that God was actually against certain churches?  What if I told you that the most powerful being in the world actively opposed certain bodies?

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Platform Ministry Can Never Replace Relational Ministry

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Platform ministry can never replace relational ministry.

This week’s worship training consists of the worship value: availability – leading with presence.

When people are gifted in the arts, oftentimes, they are put on stage to perform ministry.  While time on the stage may be an outlet for ministry, oftentimes, the time off the stage validates the ministry.

Someone can get up in your church and raise the rafters with their vocal pipes.  It will provide emotion, goosebumps, and a positive experience, but it cannot compare with a talented worship leader who is involved in the lives of the people in the church.

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Your Church’s Best Days Are Not Behind You

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I was talking with a friend the other day concerning the future of his church.  As a pastor in another state, he is working with a congregation that has seen some incredible moments in their history.  The problem is – that’s all they think about.

“Remember when pastor so-and-so did this…remember that revival years ago…remember when all those young families started coming…”

His dilemma was that they had seen God move in the past, and all they wanted to do was to tell of the glory days.

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Overcompensation with My Ankle (And Your Church)

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I am still in crippled status.  After 2 weeks in a hard cast, my ankle is still broken from the infamous basketball game.  I am in the boot for 4 weeks gradually applying some pressure on it.  Still on crutches.  Obie said this morning, “Daddy, your crunches go squeak, squeak like a mouse.”

They sure do.

As you look at this picture above, I will ask you, by the look of it, which ankle is hurt?  Of course you would say, the ankle on the left of the picture is the one hurting.

And you would be wrong.

The ankle in the boot feels fine.  No pain, no real discomfort, it’s just annoying to have it confined to a boot.  The ankle that is hurting more is the ankle on the right side of the picture.  I have experienced a real pain deep inside that ankle not confined to the boot.  When talking to my buddy who is a doctor, he said what I’m experiencing is called overcompensation.  Having to put more weight and pressure on the uninjured ankle oftentimes causes more long term damage than the injured ankle.

I firmly believe the principle of overcompensation is happening in your church right now.  You’ve heard of the 80/20 rule.  20% of the people do 80% of the work.  You look at the other 80% of people as if they are broke and so you start putting more pressure on the 20% that isn’t broke.  The problem?  Overtime, you can cause more damage on the 20% if you burn them out.  From the outside, you still can identify those that are not working in the Body of Christ.  Spotting them is as easy as spotting a broken ankle in a cast.

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10 Things That Will Kill Your Men’s Ministry

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Recently, I was talking to a buddy about why or why not men’s ministries work in certain churches.  I tried to condense what we talked about, so here is a list of 10 things that will kill your church’s men’s ministry:

1.  Hypocritical Leadership – You won’t find perfect men to lead your men’s ministry, but you better find men who are consistently striving towards godliness.  Men can spot fakes easily and provides easy excuses for them.
2.  Getting Too Close and Personal – You need to allow them to get close, but don’t force them to act in a manner against God-given manliness.  Your group can be spiritual without group hugs.
3.  Not Getting Close and Personal Enough – While you don’t force men to be something they are not, don’t also settle for anything less than biblical community.  They need to be close enough to push each other to love and good deeds (Heb. 10:24-25).
4.  Cliques – When men come to your church’s functions, you need to remove the clique factor among them.  Make sure to get men with the gift of hospitality (that just means they make people feel welcome) at your doors and get men connected with others in the room.
5.  Trying to Copy the Church’s Women Ministry – Just because your church’s women ministry has a hanging of the greens doesn’t mean you get your guys to decorate the church too.  It works cause it is for women.  Let guys be guys while always challenging them to be men of God.

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Do Buffet-Styled Churches Honor God?

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For years, I have bought into the church growth principle that the more choices you give people in a church, the more successful the church will be.

To agree with that principle, you must gauge a church’s success by the number of people who stay at that church.  But is that true success?

Here are the courses that the American church is serving up:

  • Worship – traditional, contemporary, blended, cutting edge, emergent, ancient future, classic, golden, choir, band, hard rock, country western, southern gospel, chandeliers, go-bos, expensive organ, expensive guitar, etc.
  • Discipleship – Sunday school, community groups, small groups, Bible fellowship classes, on-campus, in-homes, co-ed, single, married, guys only, girls only, by hobby-interest, by age, by life situations, etc.
  • Preaching – coat and tie, jeans and t-shirt, podium, table, old, young, hip, wise, screen, video, sermon, message, talk
  • Family Ministries – discipleship times, creative programs, glorified babysitting, “community” sports programs with a side of Christ, men’s ministry, women’s ministry, single, divorced, newlywed, with kids, with small kids, with fussy kids, for fussy kids, puppets, Awanas, GAs, RAs, children’s choir

And the list could go on.

  1. Is God honored when we explain what church we belong to by describing the type of music we like?
  2. Is God honored when we defend our group’s methods within the church rather than celebrating the diversity of the whole church?
  3. Is God honored when we try to woo members from other churches because this program is better than that program?

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What is the Age of Accountability?

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Much debate surrounds the issue of the age of accountability. When the disciples asked Jesus who was the greatest in the kingdom (Matt 18:1), he sat a child down before the disciples to answer their question (Matt 18:2). It would have been pointless for Jesus to exalt a child to hold the mantle of who belongs in the kingdom if …

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Bad Church Sign: God’s Last Name is Not…

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I had to pull over on the side of the road years ago to get this one.  This unfortunate church sign states:

“GOD’S LAST NAME IS NOT ‘DAMN'”

I do agree with “the entire congregation.”  That is not his last name.  And probably like this group, I am bothered when I hear people use God’s name in vain by cursing with it.  “GD” bothers me, but so does when I slip up and say, “Oh, my God” and I am not actually calling on him.  Is this sign the best way to combat what people or doing?  Not sure.

Does it bother you when you hear someone breaking the 3rd commandment: “Do not take the LORD God’s name in vain?”

That is one way to break that commandment, but did you know that there is another one that people use much more frequently?

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I Am Not the Best on the Team

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I struggle with pride when I work with others.

Since my mind is constantly evaluating how to improve areas in any level of ministry in which I am even remotely involved, I often lack patience for long meetings with people deliberating over certain options.  My prideful heart wants to inform people that I have a solution that is so grand that no one should even question my ideas.

I know, I have issues.

While I do not verbalize these thoughts, I can easily become frustrated in meetings that I view as time wasters and mentally disengage myself from others.  Even if the improbable chance of my ideas always being the best were true, my attitude needs to be one of service and selflessness (Phil 2:3-5).

As of late, here’s what I am learning:

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Out of the Darkness

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North Side, 2011 has begun – get ready!  What a great day to start off the new year.  While we had a lot of our crew out of town or out of pocket, our team knocked it out of the park.  Woody even called in sick this morning (that’s why I attempted to play bass and keys – boy, I missed him), and we had to change stuff around, but we a great time this morning giving God praise!

Today, we worshiped to:

We started a new series called “This Little Light of Mine” as we continued through our study of Ephesians.

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Knowing His Work

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It was great to worship today in the middle of the great Greenwood blizzard.  We did experience some snow last night which meant the first snow for Greenwood on Christmas since 1963!  The roads were safe enough to come to services, so we posted on the City our plans and we had a powerful time as the church today!

We concluded the Jesus Loves Me series (the first part of Ephesians) with this big idea:

Knowing His Work (Eph. 2:8-10) – We know that Jesus loves us based upon the work of salvation.  Our salvation is all his work, and none of our good deeds influenced it, but once we are saved, our lives should be characterized by good works that emerge from a grateful heart.

Great message!  Such wonderful grace!  For those who had too much ice or snow on the roads to join us, the message will be here online this afternoon.

I was also thankful he made it through it.  He told me that a stomach bug had been going through his house and at 8:30, he was feeling a little funny on his tummy.  So, he told me to be on guard.  A couple of pauses of his caused me to start leaning up in my chair, but he made it through and brought it!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Stop Church Hopping

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There is a growing epidemic in the United States concerning church hopping. More churches’ membership numbers fluctuate not due to new converts but due to revolving membership doors. When someone becomes upset with music styles, church programs, carpet color, differences with another member, frustration with a staff member, or any other reason, people move their church memberships like they would …

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Worship Wars

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Many churches are involved in what church growth experts have labeled “worship wars.” Not wanting to lose a particular style of music, many churches find themselves in a battle to maintain their preferential style.  It’s more than contemporary vs. traditional.  It has to do with instrumentation, volume, genre, layout, lighting, etc.  Unfortunately, many churches split over such things. Question: how …

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My Problem with David Platt’s Radical

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Like many people in the last year, I have read David Platt’s soul-searching book, Radical. Make no mistake, I was a David Platt fan before being a David Platt fan was cool.  I got the privilege to hear him preach years before his name got real big.  Back in the day, he loved Jesus and was committed to his mission.

Here’s a video preview of his book:

Pretty intense stuff.  The book is even more intense.  He unashamedly calls the American church to wake up from their pursuit of the American Dream and live out the gospel in their daily lives.  Russell Moore’s endorsement is right on: “Sometimes people will commend a book by saying, ‘You won’t want to put it down.’  I can’t say that about this book.  You’ll want to put it down, many times.  If you’re like me, as you read David Platt’s Radical, you’ll find yourself uncomfortably targeted by the Holy Spirit.  You’ll see just how acclimated you are to the American dream…”

My problem with the book is this: David Platt is living this out in the context of an existing Southern Baptist church.

And people are forgetting that.

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One Family

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Over the years, we have been blessed to see numerical and spiritual growth in our congregation.  We are at a place where we are not experiencing disharmony, but we are experiencing detachment.  So how can we turn this many people into one functional family? It was a great day all around as we focused on One Family during our One …

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A Church’s Barriers to Growth

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I was told it was a bad idea.

Honestly, I was told it would never work. Young men in the ministry normally don’t find success going back and working at the church at which they were raised. Regardless of those people telling me it was a bad idea, I couldn’t shake that I felt God’s Spirit leading me back to North Side to serve as a minister when I graduated college in 2003.

As a young minister, I was eternally grateful to this church for what they had done to help me grow in Christ over the years. I wanted to give back as much as I could. At the same time, I began my seminary training through extension work.

In one of my classes, the required reading was a book called The Everychurch Guide to Growth by Elmer Towns, C. Peter Wagner, and Thom Rainer. With a large reading load that semester, I intended to rush through this reading but it didn’t happen that way. As I read the pages, I felt like someone had been watching my beloved North Side during the years that I had grown up here and chronicled some of the challenges we had experienced and had overcome.

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Bad Church Sign: Come Hear Our Preacher

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It’s been a while since I commented on a church sign, and many people have complained concerning that fact, so it’s that time again: this is my bad church sign of the week! This week’s sign reads: “DO YOU KNOW WHAT HELL IS?  COME HEAR OUR PREACHER” Now what they probably meant was that their preacher was going to give …

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One Mission

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I firmly believe that today was the start of a whole new era of North Side as we began the One Initiative.  Today, we focused on what it would mean to have truly One Mission? Our church has always been faithful at engaging in the Great Commission.  But what could happen if we all focused in one direction to reach …

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Tis the Season to Be Involved

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Since Christmas decorations started going up in stores 3 months ago, I guess it’s time to start thinking Christmas time around the ol’ church house as well.  Our worship team has been doing some praying and planning as of late, and what we have realized is if we are going to pull off what we have in mind for the …

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