News from the Journey

Sermon - "The Beast" - Daniel 11

Series - Into the Lion's Den #23

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Sermon - "He Saves the Day" - Daniel 12

Series - Into the Lion's Den #24

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You did well!  You made it through two years of sacrifice, giving generously to support the building plans of your church.  Many of you completed your pledge.  Many are very close to completion and plan on honoring that commitment beyond the pledge drive.  The amazing thing about this is that you gave even though it became clear that a new building would be beyond our current reach.  You kept your promises and I am certain that God will bless your faithfulness.

In recent days, our church has taken a decidedly different direction, one that is far more prudent.  This past Sunday night, you overwhelmingly decided to pay off our current indebtedness.  It was an action that will save the church from paying more than $70,000 in interest and fees.  If you were not here on Sunday night, then you missed a true blessing.  As the pastor of this church, I am proud to say that we chose prudence. 

In case you missed it, I wanted to spell out how things will look from here.  By the time you read this, you will have paid nearly $196,000 toward current indebtedness.  That money will be distributed to the bond holders on March 1, 2010.  That will leave us owing somewhere in the neighborhood of $65,000.  Currently, the plan is to pay the remaining balance by December 1, 2010.  Doing so will have our church completely debt free by the start of 2011. 

The immediate question is, “Where does that $65,000 come from?”  That answer depends completely on you.  Our finance team has budgeted $55,000 to pay towards debt this year.  As long as giving remains consistent, that money will be available to pay toward the remaining balance.  The rest requires a prayerful sacrifice on your part.

Can you help us raise an additional $10,000 towards the debt?  Perhaps you can do so through your pledges.  My family has chosen to continue our pledged amount through the end of this year.  We will designate those pledges toward the debt retirement.  Perhaps you could make a one time gift out of your income tax refund.  Perhaps you could make a small addition to your regular gifts, sacrificing a dinner out per month.  There are countless ways you can help meet this very wise goal. 

I want you to know that the same principle applies to this as applied to our pledge drive.  I am an advocate of sacrifice, but not undue hardship.  Don’t give to the church’s debt retirement if doing so causes you to have financial hardship at home.  If it comes down to paying your mortgage or giving to the church’s debt retirement, of course you should pay your mortgage (or your rent, or your car note, or your student loans, or your grocery bill, etc).

I am not saying that you should stop giving during difficult times.  Many people make that mistake, and they often find themselves in worse shape as a result.  There is a huge element of faith in giving.  Someone once said, “Don’t give until it hurts, give until it stops hurting!”  What I am saying is that when the church takes special collections for special projects, give as the Lord would lead you and let that be your guide. 

I truly believe that God is raising up families who can help us reach this $65,000 goal – perhaps even before December 1.  Is God raising you up?  Has God given you the resources to take part in this?  If so, I hope and pray that you will be obedient to His leadership.

Awaiting a note burning in 2010! 

                                                          Pastor Brian

Sermon - "The War Part 1" - Daniel 10

Series - Into the Lion's Den #21

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Sermon - "The War Part 2" - Daniel 11

Series - Into the Lion's Den #22

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Budget busting mortgages.  Foreclosures.  Financial shortfalls.  That may sound like the climate of the business world, perhaps the personal finances of you or someone you know.  The truth is that it sounds like the church world too.  We do not have to travel too far to find these problems manifested in sister congregations, in fact we need travel no farther than just down the street.  What a sad sight to see in the Kingdom of God. 

Who had any idea about how quickly the financial boom of the mid-2000’s would come to a crashing halt in November of 2008?  Who knew that unemployment would rise to 10% and underemployment would add an additional 7-10% to the total?  Who ever anticipated that charitable giving across the board would drop as it has?

As you are well aware, our church entered into a pledge drive for a new children’s center two years ago.  At the end of this month, that pledge drive ends and we are left with a great big question, “What do we do now?”

Obviously building our new children’s center is not an option.  The amount of debt we would have to add to our budget would be disastrous.  It would take no time at all for an angry bank to put a big “for sale” sign in our front yard.

Building a smaller building is feasible, but we would end up paying much more over the long haul.  A substantial amount of the cost of the original plan was tied up in design and engineering, something that would have to be done anyway, even on a smaller scale project. 

We can always maintain the status quo, worshipping in a building that we do not yet own with enough money in the bank to build half of a new building.  Obviously, that’s not a great plan either.

I would like to suggest a better plan.  Instead of planning a ground breaking or a ribbon cutting for something that we will not own, let’s plan a note burning celebration for something we can own.  You may or may not be aware of this, but our current building and property is financed through February of 2017.  At our current payment, we will pay out more than $335,000 over that time, of which only $196,500 is principle.  To save you the math, that’s over $138,000 in INTEREST and fees.  By paying off our current indebtedness, the potential interest savings are tremendous, more than $71,000!

The opportunity is before us to rid our body of this huge burden without touching the money pledged to the new building.  The pledged money will remain invested and will one day be used to build a new building.  Once the debt is retired, the finance team will continue to budget the debt payment, transferring those funds into the building fund.  And of course, you are encouraged to continue to give as the Lord leads to the building fund.  Rest assured, when the economic climate improves, then we will pick up where we left off with a substantial down payment on a new building already in the bank.

There are more specifics to this plan that will be shared this Sunday night, January 24, at a conference called specifically to discuss this issue.  I am excited about this possibility.  It is not a new building on the property, but it is a new day at Northside.  Fifteen years ago, a handful of faithful people signed a loan agreement to borrow the money needed to buy this property and build this building.  Today, we have the opportunity to honor the faith of those first cosigners.

                                                Dave Ramsey would be proud,

                                                          Pastor Brian

Sermon - "Inspired Prayer" - Daniel 9

Series - Into the Lion's Den #19

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Sermon - "The Seventy Sevens" - Daniel 9

Series - Into the Lion's Den #20

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I have been known to get on kicks.  I have a set of golf clubs in the basement that do an amazing job of collecting dust. I remember about 8 years ago, I thought I wanted to play golf.  I saved up and bought myself a cheap set of clubs.  I went to the driving range and hit bucket after bucket of golf balls.  I quickly realized that I wasn’t having nearly as much fun as I thought I would.  In fact, I found myself embarrassed at just how pitiful a golfer I was becoming.  I was so pitiful that I never went any further than the driving range. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I pride myself on a pretty mean game of miniature golf.  There’s not a windmill too fast or a hill too steep to interfere with my game.  But my skills on the astroturf simply do not correlate to my abilities on the fairway.  All that remains of my golf “kick” is a set of dusty clubs in the basement which serve as an unfortunate reminder of my lack of inspiration.

There are other kicks that I’ve gotten on that did stick.  A member of our church who will remain anonymous introduced me to a nifty little hobby called fly fishing a few years ago.  I can’t quite explain it, but there was something incredibly peaceful about standing in a pristine mountain stream chasing trout through the currents.  It was a totally different experience when I caught my first fish on a fly from when I hit my first golf ball at the driving range.  It was thrilling.  It was inspiring. 

I am learning more and more these days that inspiration changes the dynamic of just about everything.  When Colt McCoy, the quarterback for the Texas Longhorns, was interviewed after losing the national championship game against Alabama, he didn’t complain about his injury.  He didn’t fuss about the officiating.  He didn’t blame the other team.  He gave glory to God even in the loss.  Many in the world of football give God praise when they score the touchdown or make the interception.  Those playing with inspiration give God glory even with the heartbreaking loss.  Inspiration changes things.

I find that this is especially true in the way we pray.  Do you pray with inspiration?  In Daniel 9, we find Daniel involved in an activity that I hope we continue to this day.  He was studying the scriptures.  He even tells us that he was studying the book of Jeremiah.  Without much effort, we can figure out that he was studying either Jeremiah 25 or 29, maybe both.  He wasn’t just reading the bible as a part of “read through the bible in a year” plan.  He was looking for a word from God.  He was looking for inspiration.  Guess what?  He found it.

As he was studying the Scriptures, he began to pray.  His prayer was not a laundry list of felt needs and shallow intercessions.  He was praying with inspiration.  As you read through his prayer, you can certainly feel the connection Daniel found with the Scriptures. 

We certainly understand that our faith needs a good dose of inspiration.  For most of us, life tends to get in the way of our inspiration?  Do you ever feel like you’re just going through the motions?  Like there’s no connection between your day to day life and the faith you profess?  Like Daniel, perhaps it is time to reconnect to the Word of God under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Maybe it is time to reconnect to the source of our inspiration.

                                                Seeking Inspiration,

                                                Pastor Brian