David Whiting Live

Latest Pictures from the New Building

Here are some pictures I took on Christmas Eve. The building is coming along:

 

Here is the welcome center. More to do but closer to completion.

Cafe cabinets installed

Carpet being installed in worship center

This gives you a good view of the carpet, front of the stage and the wood on the stage.

A Few Pictures from the Floor - part 2

Here are a few more pictures:

 

 

NORTHRIDGE CHURCH - and some thoughts on Sunday Night

Here are some thoughts about Sunday at North...

• Unofficially, the votes have been tallied and the new name for our church will be NORTHRIDGE CHURCH. Keep writing your checks to "North Baptist Church" for now. We have some work to do before you change that. We will let you know.
• I heard someone was very upset because there is a medical center down the road named "Northridge Medical Center."  I think it is GREAT that other things nearby use the same name.  The more - the merrier... I'd love to see "Northridge Restaurant" and "Northridge Plaza."  The more that people in our city can identify this area as "Northridge" - the better!!  Everyone knows about the "South Wedge" or Rochester. It is a geographic locater.
• We announced last night that Howard Statler left the church over $84,000 through his will! That is just AMAZING, and we are praising the Lord for that! Even in death, his legacy lives at North! In his life, he impacted hundreds at North. In his death, it will be another large impact that can't be measured simply with a dollar figure!
• What about you? Have you considered the role of giving in your will? Feel free to speak to someone on the finance committee about the process of doing that (people like Jeff Mapes or Bill & Sandy Wight). What a great legacy to leave!
• Did you know we had 523 people here for VERTICAL WORSHIP?  If you were standing in the back - I'm sure you aren't surprised.  What an amazing turnout!!
• I will feature some pictures of the floor writing later this week.  Some awesome things were written down. I can't wait to read them all.
• My wife bought a copy of the Irondequoit Post this morning and the picture and article about our church was on the front page!! I didn't know that.  I had only read it online.
• The goal for a move in date was January 10th. That has now been postponed. We will let you know the new date as it becomes more clear (end of January /beginning of February). This was no huge disappointment for us (as a committee). We have a lot of work we are doing by volunteer and this gives us a few more weeks.  We will keep working hard and trusting in God (I heard that somewhere recently).
• This is going to allow me to extend the DEAD KINGS series to its appropriate length!  I think I am going to add one more week to the series (3 weeks left now).
• Please don't forget about our space issue at the 10:00 hour. All three services seemed "above average" yesterday (haven't heard the official count).  Any help you can give us there is greatly appreciated!!
• Finally, don't forget - that the more we can do about our OPEN THE DOOR giving before we get our Certificate of Occupancy - the less we pay in interest on the loan. I heard that our OPEN THE DOOR giving was above $25,000 yesterday!!  THANKS!!

Interview with Local Post Newspaper (Irondequoit Post)

I received a call from the Messenger Post newspaper and an article is appearing in the Irondequoit Post this week. We had about a twenty minute discussion and I'm impressed with the basic accuracy of the quotes. The interview was about our building, but she studied the website before calling and had a lot of questions about changing the name.  See what you think...

Read the article by clicking HERE.

Here are some pictures that appear with the article:

Voting on a New Church Name

Just a reminder: This Sunday night at our Vertical Worship service, we will vote on a new name.  The two choices have been narrowed to the following:

Northpark Church

Northridge Church

All members will be asked to vote on Sunday night. I'm looking forward to seeing how it will turn out!

Mt. Hope Cemetary Video - Video from Sunday

Last Sunday I used a video that we filmed at Mt. Hope Cemetery.  I wanted to put it online for those who listen to my sermons on our our website or on the podcast but don't get to "see" them. This will give you a better feel of the video.

Joel Witwer did a great job filming and editing! Thanks, Joel! If you receive this by email - you will need to click on the title above to see the video.

Church Names - Survey #2

We started with 275 suggested names.  We narrowed that down to 16 options and took our first survey. Based on that survey, we've narrowed the list again.  This new survey has six names.  Please take one minute and vote on your two favorite names.  Take the survey HERE.

Why Does a Church Grow? I'm Not Sure, But Here Is My Best Stab at an Answer

I am often asked why I think North is a growing church (and I mean real growth - not just numbers)...  more AND better disciples...  I probably am asked a question like this about once a month by other pastors or those outside of North.

I used to struggle to figure out how to answer the question. I could attribute it ONLY to God, but that would make people think there is NOTHING they can do to advance the Gospel in their community. So I needed to figure out how to say, "It is because of God" without minimizing the tasks God has called us to do.

In the last few months, I've finally come up with an answer that I'm comfortable giving... see what you think.

I would attribute our growth to the following four things - in this order:

1. God's blessing... Just as God pardons whom He wants to pardon - He also blesses those He wants to bless. Over the last several years - God has blessed North with more and better disciples.  Without His blessing - the other factors mean nothing and will not give true success. Without God being involved - there will be no eternal fruit. 
2. Commitment to the Gospel... I believe that a continual commitment to the Gospel is crucial for a growing church.  It needs to be proclaimed so it can be embraced by unbelievers and rejoiced in by believers. And I don't simply mean the Gospel being "preached" or an invitation given (we don't do "typical" invitations at North). I mean the Gospel being central in ALL we do. I don't mean a canned Gospel "presentation."  But rather, the Gospel being predominant in the way we talk and live.
3. Commitment to communicating to our culture... It seems that many churches create their own culture that others have to fit into rather than the church taking the unchangeable truth of the Gospel and contextualizing that beautiful message to an ever-changing, messed-up world. This is the controversial part of the list, but the one that is often ignored. 
4. Commitment of the church leadership to a Great Commission vision... I've been reminded lately that without the right leaders around me (pastors, deacons, trustees) - being committed to the Gospel in the language of the culture can't be successful.  I've been reminded vividly through a close friend that if I had to stand alone on what I believe God was calling us to do - I wouldn't be able to do it. I am so thankful for teammates that believe in what God has called us to do. How many of our leaders have been "complained" to, but lovingly but firmly stood by the vision that we are pursuing - more AND better disciples!

Just some thoughts.  What do you think?  What did I miss? 

Should Churches Accept Credit Cards? - part 2

You can read part one of this post HERE.

Wow! I received a lot of feedback on the first post (if you receive this by email or in facebook - go to the blog to read comments). Thanks for all the input. Very interesting discussion.

Philosophically, I have no problem with allowing the use of credit cards.  We don't drop our website because people misuse the Internet. We probably will even allow people to put sugar in their coffee. Just because things are misused doesn't mean that we will keep everyone from using those tools. I would rather see those who live in debt learn to use wisdom.  If they cut up their credit cards - good for them.  They can use their debit cards or carry their envelope system.  I think that is great!

The second issue that I want to mention in this blog is the practical issue.

A very common comment was to only allow debit cards to be used. Philosophically, I am fine with that. But that creates a practical problem - bank surcharges.  Our cafe/bookstore team has done some research.  If someone uses a credit card - it will cost us .22 cents per purchase PLUS 1.67%.  BUT if someone uses their debit card - it it a flat fee of .72 center per purchase.

To illustrate it - think about this.  If we sell a cup of coffee for $1.00.  Here is the breakdown:

• Cost of the coffee to us (23 cents)
• Cost for use of Visa (22 cents)
• That leaves 55 cents that goes to the cafe

BUT - if someone uses their debit card - this is the breakdown:

• Cost of the coffee to us (23 cents)
• Cost of debit transaction (72 cents)
• That leave 5 cents that goes to the cafe

And this does not add cost of the cup, stirrer, cream, sugar, lid, equipment, etc. It also doesn't include the loss that will occur by giving free coffee coupons in our guest packets.

The cafe and bookstore won't be there to make money, but we can't have them lose money either.  Any profit that is made will be put right back into the cafe and bookstore. 

So - here is the question (for those of you who want us to take credit/debit cards): Are you willing to a bottle of water to cost $1.50 instead of $1.00?  Are you willing to pay $1.50 instead of $1.00 for the cup of coffee? Are you willing to have everyone pay 40 or 50 cents more per item?

Based on this knowledge of fees - NOW WHAT IS YOUR FEEDBACK?  Does it change your opinion? What do you think we ought to do? Cash only? Cash and debit only? All three?

A New Name for Our Church

Today (Sunday) our church approved the motion to change the name of our church (North Baptist Church). 79% agreed with the motion.  I thought that was great considering how many love and are tied to the name "Baptist."

We now will begin the process of narrowing down the list of 275 suggestions to a manageable list.  The leaders (pastors, deacons and trustees) have already been working on this.  We will get your involvement in the next week or two.

Thanks for your prayers!