***(For a link to the pastor's sermons or to view a printable copy of a sermon see link below "From the Pastor")***
From The Pastor
Welcome Visitor! There are many ways to tell the story of what God and God's people may be up to as Northside Drive Baptist Church lives into our calling as a congregation.
Here is my approach. I call it 'The Three R's.'
I love pastoring Northside Drive Baptist Church (NDBC). Even on the bad days, I love living into the 'pastoral calling' that comes from God and this congregation. As I think about it, here is why I relish the place, people, and vocation so much:
The first R is robust. Our congregation and our ministries are robust. Worship is full-bodied and intentional as we pay attention to God. I describe our worship service as formal but friendly…but the main focus is God. Whether we laugh or cry or grieve or praise…the meeting place is God. And the prayerful question that beckons us is, 'How might God be at work in my life—our lives—today?'
Our inter-generational mission efforts rise out of who we are. We don't do missions to 'fix people.' Rather, as we build Habitat Houses or help with literacy or work in the poorest county in all of Georgia, we do so because our sense of Christian discipleship asks that of us. As we go, we grow.
Plus, our Christian education weaves both the basics as well as new, angular expressions of the Christian spirituality. For example, we took the NPR program, This I Believe, and did our own spin on it. The depth and width of church members' personal faith moved me deeply. Robust.
The second R is relationships. Whatever else spirituality is, it is relationships: to ourselves, to God, to God's world, and to other persons. Whatever we do—worship, missions, Bible study, caregiving—we do relationally.
Some folk need church to be more seminar-like; others want more anonymity. However, these folk don't end-up staying in NDBC. After fourteen years as pastor, I've noticed that the folk who stay are those who want to be known and want to know others. Friendship is a primary mode of our spirituality.
The third R is religion. Yes, I know religion has become a bad word, synonymous with boring. Most prefer to say, 'I'm spiritual but not religious.' However, at NDBC we've redeemed the word. The word religion means 'to connect together again.' And that is what we do. We connect. We connect missions with worship and friendship with faith and avant guarde topics with good ole' Bible study. We connect the 'stuff' of everyday life with faith in God. A faithful life is a full-bodied one.
If you want to know about the church's vision or my beliefs or why I think we are the way we are…then ask me. Email me at james@northsidedrive.org. I especially like conversation about 'what really matters' over coffee.
Peace,
James E. Lamkin, Pastor
Click on the graphic to go to the "mulitmedia" page with the sermons on audio and pdf.
Day1 is a ministry of the Alliance for Christian Media
Click here to listen to The Rev. Dr. James Lamkin - Day1 Conversations with Peter Wallace wich was recorded on January 2, 2011.
