Here’s a little tip for the city of Panama City Beach. See if you can’t spring for a couple of bucks to send the help to some of the excursions–ANY of the excursions. Basically, the lady(ies) who helped us had not been to ANY of the tours or whatnot in the town. “They were too busy working to have time to go on those things.” What!?! Isn’t that your job to know what tours are good and what tours stink?? Shouldn’t you be able to steer people clear of spare tours and tourist traps?? Seriously, you can be more help than “I think there are some brochures over there on that kind of stuff!”

For what it’s worth, I think that we in the church are a lot like that aren’t we? We are representing something that many of us aren’t really that enthused about, let alone even experienced!! To put it the way Rob Bell puts it, “we aren’t ’smokin’ what we’re sellin’.” You can’t talk about an experience with Jesus until you have come face to face with Him and He comes in and changes your life. This isn’t simply something that you “do” . . . this Christianity thing! It is your “LIFE!” Every time someone comes into one of our environments (churches), people ought to get an “insider’s” view of the Gospel–EVERY TIME! They shouldn’t just hope they “get the good one [volunteer]” or not get the “guy having a bad day, ur, life.” Think about the consequences of not having an insider’s view of the Gospel at your church. Who is there because they had an insider’s, “I once was blind, but not I see” kind of person helping them to understand this crazy thing called the Gospel and the Church? Is someone there because you are “smokin’ what you’re sellin’?” Or are they turned away unsatisfied because you are no better than a bunch of brochures sitting all neatly in a row–lot’s of information, but no passion of an insider’s perspective.

Something really funny was said by the pastor. Russell and Carolyn Newport were given a really nice appreciation during the service. The pastor said that Russell was the interim music pastor for 14 years!! Pastor turned to Lynn Worthen and said, “Pastor, I’ve learned that you can stay for as long as you want here at First Baptist . . . if you are an interim.” Classic line!

I also noticed something that is very unsettling to me. They had the names of all of the church plants that they had sponsored/been a part of over the years. There are a TON of churches around here because of First Baptist’s planting heart . . . until the mid 90s. Something happened after they planted Ridgecrest. (I can still remember the excitement and weekly reports of Ridgecrest and of how it was going “in the white house off of Republic Road”. Maybe that was the first glimpse for me into church planting as a junior high student!) Something happened in the mid 90s . . . but no one could put a finger on it then. In the mid 90s, there was a big fight over “important” things like what kind of music we are going to sing, who’s liberal and conservative and who’s not. It was a very similar fight that many have been apart of all over this country in SBC life. It turned toward staff and pastors. It was quite sad. During that time, the church turned inward, stopped planting churches and decline began to happen. Obviously I am a church planter, so what I am about to say is pretty biased. But when a church stops looking to expand the Kingdom of God and looks to guard their own little kingdom, God removes His hand from that place. Have people been saved in that place since the mid 90s? Absolutely. Were they a part of works after 1985? Absolutely. But I wonder what “could have been” if “we” hadn’t lost our focus on the real goal–reaching unchurched people for Christ. I say “we” because I am a part of that place. I always will. Jenny and I were married there in that sanctuary in 1995. I was a part of the youth ministry there. Jenny and I were baptized there. I surrendered to full time Christian service there. I began my ministry career there teaching Sunday School. I helped with Summer Celebration during two summers. I love that place! I love the people!

I say this because I love that place . . . there could be so much more (future tense). What an exciting place downtown Springfield has become! I sure hope and pray that we truly can change for the better and that, if the Lord tarries, she will have many more years of effective ministry in downtown Springfield.

If our little “baby church” can learn anything from a 155 year old church it is to remain faithful to the GOSPEL. When we begin to focus too much on insider information, we lose the hand of God. I pray for Finley Crossings that we would remain focused on those on the outside looking in. That we would not lose sight of the vision that we have tons of people coming to a relationship with Jesus Christ through this church family. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a 155th anniversary for Finley Crossings? Think of the LEGACY that we are leaving behind for generation after generation to come. REMAIN FAITHFUL . . . that is what I learned from an old bride this weekend.

Their parking lot greeters were GREAT! Smiling and welcoming us with a big “Good Morning” and wave. We went in and got Tucker checked in after having a lady from the Hospitality Desk walk us to the nursery check-in. We left Tucker with them, took our security number, and headed to the sanctuary.

Visiting churches with children is pretty much a beating, we decided. (If it isn’t a beating, it sure isn’t as easy if it was just adults!) Taylor, our 5 year old Kindergarten student, rethought his initial “deal” with mommy the night before to be her “undercover agent” for the children’s ministry! Just too much sensory overload with a pretty busy lobby, didn’t know anyone, kind of shy kid anyway. . . so we got to take him into the service with us. He actually did really good . . . he loves worship and therefore loved the band.

When we got into the sanctuary, there was an usher asking how many in our party. He then sent us down to the next aisle down, where another usher pointed us toward the front, where a final usher was at the row ushering us to our seats. I was quite impressed indeed. Well oiled machine. I know that stuff like that doesn’t just happen. . . especially on a Sunday that weather and power outages could have kept many people, and workers away.

The worship was very good. The transitions were excellent from element to element. You could tell it was something they probably worked on a lot. At the first transition, the pastor showed his humor in saying, “welcome to North Point Church, powered by the Spirit of God, and a big honkin’ generator out back!” Sweet line in the midst of a very difficult time of power outages all around that north side of Springfield. Then he tells us that if you are a first time guest, you can go by the Hospitality Center and get a Viewmaster with pictures of the church and the people. No way!! Yeah, it is cool, and a conversational piece sitting in my office!! What a cool idea!
Then the parents’ worst fear. . . NURSERY # 74712 flashed as big as possible on the screen. Tucker Liam was not happy to be at North Point, it seemed! So I set Taylor down, put my head down as to not make eye contact with anyone, and headed back to rescue Tucker from his fit. Again, the usher was really cool as I asked if it was alright to bring Tucker into the service. . . “oh, you bet.” I missed the offering as I was out getting Tucker, but Jenny said “they just skipped us.” Don’t know if that was on purpose because we looked like guests, but interesting. Taylor was all freaked out that we weren’t ready for the offering. . . getting into mommy’s purse to give to the offering. Funny, even the 5 year old knows what is going down when we break out the plate (or buckets in this case)!

Pastor Tommy’s message was absolutely great! God couldn’t have brought a better message topic to tie into Regeneration and what God has been teaching me lately! They are in the middle of a series called “The Winning Hand”– series based on cards. Really cool. . . definitely not a Baptist series, ha! The message was “Learning to Read the Cards,” based on Nehemiah 1-4. His transparency came through as he read excerpts from his journal as they were getting ready to plant the church 3 years ago. His passion, humor, and care for his people was really refreshing to see! It was nice to hear, “great, Tommy. 6 points from Nehemiah. . . great story . . . but what about for me. . . tomorrow . . . in my life.” APPLICATION of Scripture!! One of our core values. And then to top it all off. . . they handed out a jack of hearts playing card with the series art on the back to each person leaving the sanctuary! A memory devise to carry around, put up in front of you, etc. . . . awesome!

On the subject of graphic arts, of which I am a self-proclaimed graphic arts nerd. . . really nice pieces. The graphics used with the worship were subtle, but nice. They had banners in the sanctuary that were five playing cards to go along with each sermon. The “bulletin” was a normal size piece of paper–full color. . . very nice. The informational piece for guests was really well done as well.

Overall, I think it was a great visit for us. It was a good exercise in what it feels like to be a guest. If I weren’t so sure of my calling at Finley Crossings, and lived a bit closer, I would definitely put them on the top of my list of relevant churches that I would love to be a part of. You can’t argue with their unbelievable growth as well as their outreach into the community. Thank you North Point Church for a great visit!

Again, let’s learn together. . . but also like the Kindergarten teacher might say . . . “be nice and play nice with others!!”