St. Pete State of Mind Music Video

Here is what our youth minister and summer interns did last week to round out the summer. In case you haven’t seen the original video that this parodies, Empire State of Mind, you can view that below too.

Empire State of Mind with Jay-A and Alicia Keys

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Jonah At the Beach

Jonah 10 months old at Saint Pete Beach…

Two Year Anniversary in Florida

Yesterday was our second anniversary at the Northwest Church of Christ in Saint Petersburg. We have been very excited about this congregation and about how God has worked over the last two years. There has been a lot of growth and a lot of seeds planted that will continue to grow for decades to come. Our young adults are growing closer, leaders are being raised up for the future, and the lost are being reached.

During those two years Missy and I have grown as close as we have ever been. We are again expecting a baby and that is extremely exciting. Missy is going to be an amazing mom and I would like to think I will be a pretty amazing dad (but that is just a guess!). In these two years we have purchased our first house, been able to spend more time with Missy’s family, which she hadn’t been able to do in over four years, and make friends that will last a lifetime.

Looking back on these last two years really excites me and I really wonder what God has in store for the future. Continue to pray for our ministry in Saint Petersburg. This may be a beautiful place to live but there is much work to be done and many people to be reached. There are many Christians who need to grow and mature and many leaders who do not yet know that is what they are going to be.

Singing at the Beach

What a glorious experience!

Northwest Church of Christ – New Website

We have revamped our church website. Please stop by and have a look. The design was done by our youth minister Joel Singleton and the content (and a tiny, tiny bit of design) was done by me. Feel free to have a look. Make suggestions here. There are several formatting issues that we are working the bugs out of, especially with the alignment of text. Dreamweaver is not cooperating on that. If anyone knows why dreamweaver shifts text to the left please let me know.

Here is the link for our new church webpage.

One of the things we want is for the site to be useful and functional. There needs to be a reason both members and non-members would go to it. Our members will be able to find out the current prayer requests, if they are serving on an upcoming Sunday of the month, download LIFE group curriculum, find a LIFE group to attend, find out what activities are coming up, etc. Visitors can find out what Bible classes are offered, mapquest to the building, a map of the facilities, information about our ministries, ministers, and elders. People who have no connection whatsoever will be able to use the website for Bible tools and links.

Hopefully its functionality will continue to improve and grow over time and many more of you will find reasons to use it as a resource. Let me know also if there is anything you think would be helpful to add.

Keith Lancaster Praise and Harmony Workshop – Northwest Church of Christ

We had a tremendous weekend of singing and learning how to improve our worship. You will probably not meet two more gracious people than Keith and Sharon Lancaster. Their graciousness was only matched by their ability to draw out of people singing that is from the heart. We had a great singing on Saturday evening. Many people came from surrounding congregations, some from several counties away. Keith’s time with our worship leaders, AV people, and worship planners and coordinators was invaluable. Our worship Sunday morning was rich with song and scripture. It was moving to say the least. If you have an opportunity to host one of these workshops please take advantage of it. This really provided the catalyst for introducing new songs and enthusiasm in our worship while still respecting many of the older songs in our hymnals.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend (For more pictures see Keith’s blog here and his photo gallery…and don’t forget to sign his guest book!). Also see some beautiful pictures Keith took around St. Pete and Clearwater. Keith really taught us the power of effective song leading. I had no idea how much of an impact song leading could have until this weekend. Again, thanks to the Lancasters for the seeds they planted at Northwest this weekend. May four part harmony live on!

Keith Lancaster Praise and Harmony Worship Workshop – Northwest Church of Christ

We are looking forward to a great weekend of worship at Northwest. Keith Lancaster will be doing on of his Praise & Harmony Worship Seminars from February 23-24. This will be a great time of worship and renewal as we praise God together. I have heard great things from other churches about his workshops and am very excited that this even is less than a week away!

We will have a congregational singing on Saturday from 6 to 8 and then Bible class and worship in the morning at 9:15 and 10:15. If you are in the area feel free to come and be a part!