NS turns 3

Northside Church

Birthday Celebration

Jamey Mills

2/5/23

Good Morning Northside…

Look at you all… turning 3.

Happy birthday Northside… today we are celebrating Northside's third birthday!

Not gonna lie, you all look good for 3.

I did some research…

Here are a couple things you can expect at 3…

4-6 pound weight gain…

We might grow 2-3 inches this year.

Here are a few things we should be able to do,,,

Run and Jump easily

Walk up stairs on our own

Ride a tricycle

Wash and dry our hands

Stack 10 blocks

Easily draw straight lines and circles

Stand on our tip toes

Can concentrate on tasks for more than 8-9 minutes

Bladder and bowel control established

May sleep 11-13 hours a day…

We are willing to provide a note for employers…

We are really progressing…

If you were to ask me a couple of years ago… if I thought we’d be here despite all that had happened… you would have gotten a long pause… I’m not sure I ever would have chosen to plant a church through…

Covid, lock downs, riots and protests, so much division and distrust… even the fire was so hard.

13 years ago… God began to poke my heart about church planting. Several things got in the way… I love the church I was in, fear, and my own insecurity were the big ones.

I will never forget… It was probably 6 years ago that my wife and I began to feel that God was calling to a different form of leadership… it didn't all pan out the way we thought it would… and that was a hard process… but little by little God began to reveal his plan and remove the obstacles…

Suburban (our mother church) sent Brandi and I to CP assessment…

Spiritual warfare… my kids, my mom fell, really hard things… Never in my our married life have we so clearly seen the reality of Spiritual warfare.

We had to raise a significant amount of money… At one point, we had to raise 100k in a week. The lord provided it in two days.

God brought together the leadership team, the staff, and led us to Stadia… all miraculous… amazing things. If you are unaware of what NS leadership is made of… or the giftedness of this staff team… we need to fix that.

There was no place to meet in NA at the time… God put OGE on my heart but it was too small…

I will never forget that day I was driving to Suruban… and that school, literally overnight… had been torn down. I called the school, found out they were building a new one (PICTURE)… and that they would LOVE to talk with us…

From a timing perspective… It was almost like God did that for Northside. We literally walked right into it… and were some of the very first to use it.

Our relationship with the school has been such a blessing…

I want to introduce two people you may not know… two people that are more responsible for our relationship with the school than anyone else… two people… who have quietly prayed for, served, fought for, provided for, stayed up late for, brought keys for, and encouraged… whose answer is almost always… yes or we will figure it out. They have played a HUGE role in where we are today…

Eddie and Joann… would you guys stand up. NS… would you help me say thank you to them.

The NS team loves you… we are thankful for you… You make a difference. And you do it with such integrity… honoring your job and being such a great resource for us.

Part of why OGE is such a special place is I know you put that same care, prayer and attention in the way you serve the school. You both are rare and wonderful people. We are better because of you.

We had a launch team ( (PICTURE) of about 60 people… that met in a few locations.

We held 3 preview services… and our very first Christmas eve service… before we officially launched on Feb. 9th 2020.

Just 5 weeks in and Covid hit. I remember sitting around a homemade table at a staff meeting as we found out that the school was no longer an option… there was a part of me that felt like Northside might be over just as quickly as it started…

I remember looking at the staff… and watching their reaction… they were and are… all in. they didn't flinch or fade… immediately… they started planning… praying… within 3 days, Northside produced its first ever online service…

It was so discouraging to have this new church that we couldn't even meet with…the protests, the fires… so much division… churches were falling apart… The staff began to feel like we really needed to get the church together and pray… at the end of an online service… I said… we are waiting at North Albany park for you… right now…

I remember sitting on the bench… waiting… watching… I would have been thrilled to have 12 people show… that is what I was praying for…

It was the exact moment I knew NS would be ok… (Picture) It's when I found out what NS was made of. It felt like all at once… you all began to show up from every direction…

We had about 80 people… come to pray that day… which is about as big as Northside was at the time.

I am blown away as to the way the Lord has led, protected and provided… From there we ended up…

Meeting in a field at NACC (picture)

Then in their Gym

Then in thief field

Then outside at OGE (Picture)

Christmas eve outside… below freezing… huge turnout tried to preach while shivering…

With heaters… it was incredible…

Then finally… coming back…

Little by little… NS has continued to grow.

Today… Northside is an incredibly healthy church….

When we started with a LAC… the professionals told me our low end goal of 300K was too aggressive and our high end goal was crazy. That a church our age and size couldn't do it. As commitments came in… there was over 600K that was committed to buy land… Land that we believe has been identified…

Last week we told you all about it… and how we are fighting to raise an additional 350K so that we can pay in cash… significant ground is being made… please continue to pray… we still have a ways to go.

Over the last 4 weeks, Northside has averaged about 170 more people than it did a year ago. We had about 450 on Christmas even when there was a horrible virus shutting down a school just down the road…

God has used Northside in powerful ways to encourage people… to work in people…

Even in and through some incredibly painful circumstances….

Real quick… if you’d say that God has used this church to encourage you, mold you, lead you to, or grow you in your relationship with Jesus… would you stand.

There are no words to describe God’s faithfulness… provision… powerful presence… leadership…

I’m pretty aware of who I am… and who I am not.

If you think the fruit of Northside is man made… we need to hang out more. You will quickly change your mind.

Lastly… I want to call us all back to where it all started…

It was the two things that God most put on my heart as Northside became a reality.

Humility. Pray for… it. In my view, the #1 thing that will upend a church is when the people, staff, or leadership begin to believe even subconsciously that this is about themselves… when the stop seeking Him, His direction, His presence and begin to depend on or lean on their own understanding…

The other is found in Exodus…

In ex 32 Moses is up on mount Sinai… receiving direction from God… really it was about how we as people are to relate to God… and while he was there… the people at the base of the mountain were getting restless… impatient… and tired of waiting… and they told Arron… Moses #2 man… to make a god… who can lead us…

So while God was telling Moses…

They cannot have any other God

Or that we cannot make or have idols in our lives…

They were doing that very thing… and getting drunk… and indulging in all kinds of what the bible calls pagan revelry… it wasn’t good.

God told Moses… go back down… the people are corrupting themselves…

Giving this golden calf credit for the things that God had done and provided…

What a powerful reminder… about how easy it is to lose your way… as people… and as a church… when we allow other things… even the worries of the day… take our eyes off of God…

Moses argued with God on behalf of the people…

Went down and confronted them… melted that calf and ground it to a fine powder…

What a great example on how to get serious with sin in our life…

And went back to meet with the Lord…

Here is what is says in

Exodus 33:12–16 NLT

One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’ If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.” The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.” Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

(NLT)

12 One day Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’

Such an interesting… you haven’t told me who is going… you have told me… that you know me, and look on me favorably…

Man, what else do you need to know…

13 If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.”

And I love Moses’ response… if it's true… if you look on me with favor… help me know you more… draw me closer… help me understand you more fully… so that I can live my life in your favor..

In this stressful time… when even God’s people were losing their way all around him… Moses is seeking God… going to Him… asking that God would draw Him closer.

And this is the passage that God put on the heart of the staff as Northside was launching… and it is our prayer even to this day…

14 The LORD replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”

15 Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place.

God… if you don’t go with us, don’t send us. God if this is not of you, about you, for you… don’t send us. God if this is not something you are doing or about… don’t send us.

I cannot tell you how many ways God has answered that prayer over and over again. I hope you all see it clearly too.

16 How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

The one thing that set them apart… the one thing that made a difference… that Moses’ hope rested in… was in the promise of God’s very presence.

Moses saw it as the only difference maker… and… He was unwilling to move without it. As one of the pastors here… as one of the future elders in about 15 minutes…

I am putting that before each and every one of us…

That we look to, rely on, wait for, and won’t move without the very presence of God.

It reminds me of this…

Psalm 127:1–2 NLT

Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.

(ESV)

1 Unless the LORD builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

2 It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep.

It is God who builds…

It is God who watches over

We can wake up early and go to bed late…

We can worry and worry… and be anxious…

But I feel like Solomon is saying in this is…

Our time is better spent seeking Him. Drawing close to Him… seeking His favor…

Learning to follow His lead…

He will build His Church.

He will protect it…

Our best move… our best play… our highest goal and good… comes in drawing near… in being faithful… in seeking His leadership… in trusting Him.

That is what I put before us… all over again.

As your pastor, that is what I am calling you too.

These last three years… I have seen God do incredible things.

Two years ago… I asked this of you and I am doing it again today.

There is a group of people that pour their heart out… that stood firm in face of some of the hardest things that Northside has faced… that prays for you… that loves you…

That God has used in powerful ways to bring Northside to this place…

I couldn't say enough about them… I love them a ton and it is one of my highest privileges to serve beside them… would you help me say thank you and welcome the NS staff to the stage…