What Am I Doing And Why Am I Doing It?

God is the only one that can bring true meaning to life.  It is in Him we find identity, significance and purpose. However, sometimes we tend to forget how important it is to give Him all of our lives. Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'Matthew 22:37 (NIV)
There are some dangers we face as we try to live in the zone with God. We often live our lives seeking the  approval of others. We do this to the point that we spend a lot of our time doing things that will make them happy rather than asking ourselves "what do we need to do to please God?". Another danger is being busy but not necessarily doing the best things.  We get so busy doing so many important things that sometimes we fail to do the best things God has for us. I know in my  life I find myself really busy doing a lot of things.  I need to consistently make an evaluation of my life.  I need to evaluate my motive and my actions.  I need to make sure I am trying to please God and if I am spending my time wisely.  Am I following God's vision, purpose and priorities for my life?

Waiting On The World To Change?

God wants us to be His agents of change. It is easy to look around and see all the things that need to change in our lives, churches, and culture and be overwhelmed at thinking there is no way I could make a difference. John Meyer’s song entitled, Waiting On The World To Change states: “That's why we're waiting, Waiting on the world to change, We keep on waiting, Waiting on the world to change.” Sometimes waiting is the very thing that perpetuates the problem.  Sometimes we are waiting on someone else to step up to feed the hungry, minister to the needy, share the love of Christ, and do acts of kindness. The truth is however, we can make a difference. God has called us to be salt and light to the world. Agents of Change! Jesus said: "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”( Matthew 5:13-16 NIV) When it comes to making a difference, the waiting is over. Let's be agents of change and see what God will do through us and in us.

The journey of NSC continues to be incredible. God continues to change lives at NorthStar and His Grace continues to be manifested among His people. The building project is progressing really well.  Sometimes it seems like it is taking a long time to progress but in reality, we have done a tremendous amount it just seven months.  We entered the empty building to do an initial clean up on January 23 and the rest is history.  In just six months we are just weeks away from painting. God has really blessed us with outside work teams and for this we are grateful. However, the five work teams from our church(made up of over two hundred people) have been irreplaceable. These teams have been faithful in doing the work and moving us closer to completion. NSC Work Teams, You Rock. Speaking of rock, we still have some sheet rock to hang :) Just thought I would mention that.

While all the building stuff has been progressing life at NSC still continues.  We had fourteen go through our membership class this past week and we are seeing many come to Christ in our weekend services. God is so awesome and i love to talk about the things He is doing! In fact, I will be speaking down south in a few weeks to 60 churches on the importance of church planting and what God is doing at NSC. I cant wait to tell them the story of NorthStar.We are real people at a relevant church who connect people to a growing relationship with Christ and each other to fulfill their life purpose.

NorthStar Church, an awesome place to serve.
On the Journey,
T

Give It Up, Pass It On, and Bring It Home

This year has been a whirlwind, but it’s all good. I would not exchange what is happening in my life and in the life of our church for anything. NorthStar is an indescribable place. God is doing some pretty incredible things here at The Star.

I had just run the St. Jude Half Marathon in December and with a hurt knee I decided to lay off running until I found the time for surgery. Yeah, right. I ran New Years Day but not a day since. I am hoping to get back in the swing pretty soon as I hope to run the whole Marathon in December. I went to the first work day at our new building on January 22 and wow did the work begin. Not because I was there of course but because God’s people showed up in force ready to work. After my trip to the Philippines, I hopped back on the work schedule and the rest is history. It is hard to believe it is July already. Things are progressing really well and we are excited about getting in the building for our first service. (Date still undetermined)

We have been blessed to have had four work teams from churches out of state/area that have come in and assisted us with the work. Our people at NSC have given sacrificially of their time to work tirelessly in order to move the project on to completion. We have 5 work teams within the church that are really going after it. They are great! It is going to happen! "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen`~Ephesians 3:20 (NIV) God is doing the work through us.

I decided that it was about time I updated my blog. Here goes! One of the statements we use at NorthStar is: Give It Up, Pass It On, and Bring It Home. We have different ways of saying what we are about at NSC. We believe we are to give it up to God in worship. We were created to bring pleasure to God and one way He is pleased is when we worship Him. I am constantly amazed at the creative and authentic worship that takes place at NorthStar. Both personal and public worship is needed. Pass it on is what we, the body of Christ should be doing in relation to ministry and evangelism. Every believer is a minister and ever believer must pass on the good news of Christ to others. God put us here to love each other and to share His love with others both at home and abroad. Bring it home. We are most effective when we are maturing as His disciples. The early church in the New Testament matured in the faith and fellowshipped together. We have got to do the same.

This blog is probably as scattered in thought as I am sometimes but here is what I am saying. NorthStar is a place where real people in a relevant church connect to Christ and each other in order to fulfill their life purpose. I am thankful for what God is doing here and look forward to what He is going to do next. Give it up! Pass it on! Bring it home!