Worship

Wise Counsel: Should We Get Engaged?

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Today, we started a new series at North Side called “Wise Counsel.”  Jeff’s description of this series: “As a pastoral counselor for the last 25 plus years, I have noticed that there are some things that just keep causing people problems.  Therefore, I am going to address some of these issues from a biblical perspective and provide some biblical counsel to some very common problems.  Call it group therapy if you want to, but it will also be biblical therapy.  While this series will only be for three weeks, I think it will prove helpful to a lot of folks and give some very specific counsel to some very common problems.”

Today’s topic: Sharing wise counsel from counseling experiences, our pastor shared the answer to a question he has never received: “Should we get engaged?” Marriage is a very serious step, and there are 5 questions each person should think about before going forward.  It was a wonderful message.  The married guys in my C-Group told me they still learned a ton even though they are already married.  You can watch or listen to the message here.

Today, we worshiped to:

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The Purpose of Worship: The Glory of God

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The following is an excerpt from a document North Side’s elders gave out to our church body on April 17th.  As we have prayed concerning the direction of the church and studied Scripture together, we are under conviction that we must be a church according to scriptural mandates.  Our church currently uses different styles of worship to relate to different groups of people.  Our time in the Word has changed our heads and our hearts.  The following is a brief excerpt, you can get the rest of the document here.

A passion for the glory of God is the hallmark of the redeemed. Because it is God’s passion, it must be our passion. To live passionately for the glory of God means that our greatest delight is found in delighting Him and our greatest fear is found in displeasing Him. When we fall short of living for His glory, (Romans 3:23) we fall into a life lived for the glory of self. Living life for our glory is sin. When we lose the great, high, noble calling of living life for His glory, the results are disastrous for the church. Worship is reduced to a consumer-driven personal experience, discipleship is reduced to a self-help program, and evangelism is reduced to a goal-driven sales pitch. Living as a church for the glory of God will redefine our purpose and redefine the methods we use in pursuing that purpose. Corporate worship, or worship as a church family, becomes a priority.

Psalm 133:1 reads, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!”

Most of us have been conditioned to think of salvation in terms of the individual. The truth is, however, that God has saved a people unto Himself.

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Good Friday Service Recap

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I really don’t have too many words to describe North Side’s Good Friday service.  I have never heard our people sing out so much, and I have never seen such expressive worshipers.  We remembered the cross, and we could barely contain ourselves!

We celebrated communion, baptism, read Scripture, and worshiped.  I loved that one of our elders, Jerry Rentz, led the communion.  Most visitors would have imagined he was a staff member by how great of a job he did!  After the service, John Kennerly did a coffeeshop performance for us that was pure delightful.  Great day.

I kinda imagine that may be the 1st Good Friday service in a line of many more.  Just a hunch.

We worshiped to:

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College Students – Dates to Remember

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We had our last college Bible study of the semester last night.  What a great year we have had.  It’s been amazing to see these students grow in their love for the Word and the world.  I shared some dates last night that I wanted to make sure everyone knew about (actually, all of these apply to you whether you

Derailed by Idolatry

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What a pivotal day for North Side.  It was one of those days where God was so clear to me in so many different areas, that it was hard to shake.  Continuing on through Derailed, here is where we landed today:

Derailed by Idolatry (1 Corinthians 10-11).  The Corinthian church had gotten into the habit of gathering together in the name of the Lord but making it all about themselves.  They had become their own idols.  In this message, we hear how this warning still applies to us today and what it means for the future of North Side.

The picture above shows holding a document entitled “The Glory of God.”  As North Side has sought God’s leading on our future, we believe he has spoken to us concerning the future of worship styles at the church.

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Most of My Creative Ideas are Stolen

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I’ve heard so many encouraging words concerning Sunday’s bilingual worship service.  When my worship leading buddy came out and started leading in Spanish after our prayer for the Spanish speaking people in this city, it was an incredibly powerful moment.

I have a confession: I stole the idea.

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Derailed by Rights

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What a fantabulous day to be the church!  Still buzzing from all God did in our midst this morning.

Week 6 in our “Derailed” series as we study through 1 Corinthians.  Today, “Derailed by Rights” in 1 Corinthians 8.  In Christ, we are made free, but what are we actually free to do?  Many areas confuse Christians concerning what is permissible and what is not.  In this message, we learn from the Apostle Paul concerning a life not derailed by personal rights.  Wonderful message.  Check it out!

Today, we worshiped to:

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Good Friday Service

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On Good Friday (April 22nd), spend your evening at North Side with a special service spent remembering the cross. Baptism & Lord’s Supper. We will include baptism and an observance of the Lord’s Supper this evening.  If you would like to be baptized on this date, please comment here.  Your RSVP is helpful too as we prepare for the Lord’s

Lift Recap

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Words can’t even express how humbled I was to be a part of Lift.

Having North Side’s own volunteers give up their Saturday to work on things they already do so well is a reminder of the quality of people we have.  Having groups from the Carolinas travel from up to 5 hours away to spend their Saturday to learn with us is a reminder of stewardship in the Body of Christ.

At Lift, we worshiped to:

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LIFT is This Saturday!

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I was so encouraged yesterday hearing about the building excitement for Lift this Saturday!  We are only days away.  Our team is putting last minute touches on the event, and we could not be more excited!

On March 26th we will have a free worship workshop held at North Side Baptist in Greenwood, SC.  Bring your whole team and get equipped on how you can lift your worship, your team expectations, and your team’s abilities.  Tracks in musicians, vocalists, technicians, host teams, etc.  Good for choirs, bands, and anything in between!

The day has a funnel type schedule focusing on music, tech, and host teams that work in worship settings.  We start large, go to medium size, smaller groups, and then back all together.

This workshop is for seasoned worship team members and also for those who are just curious if they have the skills needed to join.  It’s free lessons, so nothing to lose!  Not only will we have a lot of information, we are going to have a lot of fun!

Here is our promise: we are teaching principles, not models.  We don’t want you to copy what we are doing, we are going to teach principles that we have been learning that can be applied into any context.  If you want to reserve your spot, you can do so here.

See below for the information on all the classes:

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