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Southside Church Is Moving to the Long Center!

This will mark the third relocation our church has done in 14 months, but unlike either of the previous two, this is one we have been planning on and it’s one we are excited to make. See, we had our Easter service there, and things went so well, we signed a one year contract!

If you’ve had the chance to visit one of our services in the past year, you know that we’re committed to making the Bible come alive to people in fresh new ways with modern music, straightforward teaching, and a children’s program that my kids say is their favorite time of the whole week! That’s not going to change with this relocation.

If you’ve visited, you might also have observed some of our growing pains as we continue to push for excellence and sometimes fall a little short. The striving for excellence is also something that won’t change in our new location, but we believe the falling short will change. We’ve been able to sign a full one year contract with the Long Center for the Performing Arts, and that means we have the security of knowing where we will be each week and how to best make use of that space and time.

You can probably tell that I’m excited about this move. I think it’s going to be a great moment in the history of this church and everyone who gets to be there for it.

I hope you can make it for our first Sunday in our new pad. We’ll have our first service there on July 6 at 10:30am, just like normal. Here’s a map to help you find us! We’ll see you there!

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Southside Church is looking for motivated individuals to apply for the position of Director of Children’s Programming. If we hire you, we’ll give you a great deal of freedom to be creative in the implementation of a program for our KidZone ministry on Sunday mornings. You’ll receive support, encouragement, and leeway to make Sundays the most exciting time in the week for the 30 or so kids who come. Here are the details of the job:

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Our First Annual Fashion Show is just around the corner, and there is a lot of work left to do. If you can spare some time to volunteer, there are many small jobs that need to be done and there are also many opportunities for you to promote your business or otherwise be part of this great event. All proceeds will be going to support the Trinity Mission’s Women’s Shelter. Watch the video for more details.

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Today, May 16, 2008, I signed a one-year lease agreement with the Long Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Lafayette! Southside Church is moving northward one more block to finally and officially take us out of “southside” Lafayette.

What an incredible journey it has been! From the start, we seriously thought that God’s will for us was to be on the southside of the county, and we chose our name accordingly, but I have to admit, even before I moved to Lafayette, I drove around downtown and thought to myself, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a church right here!” I basically thought that someone else should do that because we were going to be on the Southside!

Well, just one short year after our Grand Opening Sunday, we were meeting in the Long Center for our Easter Service, and it hit me. “This place is perfect!”

I’m incredibly excited that year two of our church will be in a place like the Long Center. I seriously believe God has some big plans for us and he wanted us to be in a big venue like that, so we’re making the move this summer.

I’m still in negotiations with the Holiday Inn regarding our departure, but we will definitely be holding services in the Long Center by July 6, the first Sunday in July!

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I just want to post a public apology for something I said in my sermon on Sunday. In telling a story about some irresponsible behavior from my youth, I described my behavior as “crippled” and “retarded.” Since my teen years, I’ve learned that those words are offensive to many and don’t accurately communicate the worth of people who face physical or mental challenges. I just don’t think it was the right thing to say, so I’m sorry for it.

Of course, the irony is that the morning’s message was all about forgiving people for wrong they’ve done and making amends to those we’ve hurt. So I thank God for his grace in forgiving me for my many, many foibles, and I thank the people in this church for their grace and the encouragement they regularly give me in this ministry. But I also want to make amends to anyone I’ve injured or hurt. If you read this message and were offended by what I said on Sunday, please call or email so I can personally apologize to you.

We live by His grace.

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