A Call to Freedom

Scripture tells us, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). I have been giving a lot of thought to this truth as of late. God is calling us to walk in a relationship with Him that is reflective of the parent/child relationship. Obviously, this is not a call to immaturity, but a call to trust. We are to trust our God like a child trusts his or her parent. If we can really lay hold of this, it will dramatically impact our lives.

Children do not worry about paying house notes or rent. I assume they know that they get paid, but it is not their burden. Children are not fretting about whether or not the bills are going to get paid, they just trust that they will get paid. Children do not spend a lot of time fretting over family dynamics, they just live in their own little joyous world.

It seems that God is calling us to trust Him in a way that leads to dependence. Yes, we have a house note or rent, but we must trust that He will provide. Of course we have bills, but we must trust that He will provide for those as well. Anyone who has lived more than a few years knows that family and relationship dynamics can be complex, but we must trust that God will move in His time and His way when these become strained.

The call of Christ is not a call to ignorance or oblivion, but a call to faith. It is not that we are unaware of responsibility or complications, but that we are to walk in freedom in spite of these things. When the weight of life really begins to bear down on us, we should be able to step back and say to our Heavenly Father, I trust you. I do not know how or when this will work out, but I trust that it will and that it will be according to your plan.

If you hang around the church or Christians very long you will hear a lot of trust talk. The question for those of us who claim to be Christ followers is this; do we truly trust? That is not a question that I want to answer many times. However, we must recognize that the call of Christ is a call to freedom. Not just a freedom from sin, but a freedom from fear, worry, and uncertainty. Let’s make it our goal today to walk in childlike faith.

Honored to be your pastor,

Darrell

Mission and Vision

I was recently reading some information about church vision, mission, goals, and process. One of the things that the piece brought out is that a church should be able to communicate these things in such a way that it could simply be written on a napkin. That got me to thinking, what would our napkin look like? Is the process we would like our members to go through clear? Are our expectations clear?

This prompted me to take a moment and write it out. I wanted to make sure we understood what we are trying to accomplish at Northside Baptist Church. Simply put, we want every member to be involved in worship (Journey UP), involved in Group Life (Journey IN), and involved with a Ministry Team (Journey OUT). The one area of our process that really needs some work at this time is in the area of Ministry Teams. Look for the development of these teams in the days ahead and be prepared to get involved.

Below is how I picture our “Napkin”:

OUR NAPKIN

Journey UP – Attend the Worship Service

This is the most obvious front door to our church. We can easily invite people at special events (Upward, Fall Festival, TMOC, Christmas Eve, VBS Parents, SMC Parents, Etc.) to our worship service.

Journey IN – Get Involved in Biblically Based Small Group

We have three types of groups. We have Sunday School Groups, Discipleship Groups, and Journey Groups. Get involved in one. There is no need in pushing a sequential order unless someone ask for it.

Journey OUT – Join a Ministry Team

These can be as numerous as our imaginations: Parking Lot Team, Greeting Team, Nursery Team, Children’s Ministry Team, Youth Ministry Teams, Mission Teams, Work Day Team, Decision Time Counseling Team, New Member/Guest Luncheon Team, Etc.

Honored to be your pastor,

Darrell