May is here! This is going to be one of the most exciting months of May in our history.

May 6^this our Above and Beyond celebration. It is truly a miracle what the Lord has done through our Above and Beyond capital fundraising campaign. We look forward to the completion of our educational facility. This building will open up huge opportunities for our fellowship to be more effective in the disciple making and evangelistic process. May the 6^th is the date for this special event. Please invite someone who needs to know the goodness of the Lord to be your guest. We will have lunch together and celebrate together.

The evening of the 6^th our own Tory Nickerson will be preaching and our Children’s Choirs will sing for their annual Children’s Choir Celebration. These precious children are the future of our church.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear of Tory’s work. Tory, Gilianny and Noah are a sweet and precious family whom we have prayed for and loved for many years.  We will take a special love offering for Tory’s ministry at this service.  Please give generously in this offering knowing that these funds will touch those around the world.

May the 13^th is Mother’s Day! What a privilege to honor our moms on this day. No evening activities on this day.

May 20, 2012 in the PM Service we will show the movie Courageous. There are many of you who have not seen this fabulous movie.  We have prepared an evening of excitement as we watch this movie together.  Courageous is a powerful movie of challenge for dads and families to follow the Lord’s will.  It is an inspirational film that will bless you.  We look forward to having a wonderful time together watching the movie Courageous on Sunday night, May the 20^th.

May 27, 2012 is our annual Beach Baptism at Frank Butler Park East at Crescent Beach at 5:30pm. We already have a number of our people who want to be baptized.  If you need to be baptized contact the church office to be included in the Beach Baptism.  Last year 75 people joined us at the beach to witness this great event.

The Peru mission trip takes place May 7 – May 20, 2012. We are so proud of this group of college students led by our college director, Robert Privette, as they make an impact for Christ in Peru.  Let’s keep them bathed in prayer.

Summer is here! Here are some highlights you can look forward to.  Summer nights at North Central begins with the movie Courageous and continues all the way through the summer with special events on particular Sunday nights.  You can find this list elsewhere in our Lifeline.  Aviation Adventures is our fabulous Wednesday night program for children.  This compliments our normal youth activities and Conversational English ministries, in addition to our 4:00pm Prayer Meeting and our 5:00pm Family Supper.  Don’t miss Wednesday nights at North Central this summer.

We’re building in the summer towards our fabulous Vacation Bible School entitled “Amazing Wonders Aviation” July 30 – August 3, 2012. VBS Family night is Sunday night, August the 5^th; it will be a wonderful, wonderful time.

Congratulations to Christie Harrod on her 1^st Anniversary as our Office Assistant. She does an outstanding job carrying out many ministry tasks here at North Central. Take an opportunity to express your appreciation for her dedicated service.

Dave Wright has faithfully worked with our set up team for 3 years. He recently obtained other work and has had to limit his work at North Central to the other many ways he has helped us as a volunteer! We will miss seeing him set up but will pray that the Lord will bless him in his new endeavors! Please express to Dave our heartfelt thanks for all he does!

It is truly a joy to Pastor such a wonderful fellowship. I’ll see you Sunday. You are a blessing to me.

Pastor Calvin.

I marvel at the impact of the body of Christ. Last week I had the privilege of baptizing two of our young men who recently trusted Christ as Lord and Savior. They were among 12 who trusted Jesus in the morning service on March 18. Most of these came as a result of a personal invitation. We have work to do to follow up on these special folks who need the watchcare and encouragement of our church family.

Connecting our Community to Christ and the Church is what we are calling our C4 Emphasis. We have five C4 Sundays that are coming up and I would like to highlight them for you, with the purpose of challenging us all to invest in others for the gospel’s sake.

1. April 8 is our Easter Celebration! On this day I will bring a message entitled: “A Guilty Man Goes Free”. In scripture we find a powerful story of sacrifice and redemption. I hope to share this with you and your family and friends on Easter Sunday. The Music will be wonderful on this day! Our Celebration Choir and Orchestra is preparing special music for this day. We also will have special children’s activities that they will love and will also have a photo station set up to capture a family Easter pic for you—free of charge!  Don’t miss Easter at North Central!

2. April 15^th our wonderful Sunday School will be hosting a Snack Breakfast fellowship for our church family in the classes. Both the 8:15 and the 10:55 Sunday school groups will have special fellowship.  We will begin a study in Nehemiah on Leadership in the church on this special day.

3. April 22^nd our Celebration Choir and Orchestra will present the musical “You are Holy”. This musical is designed for encouragement for the church and an opportunity to bring someone needing encouragement. Let’s get someone on our heart that we can invite to hear the gospel. I will share the clear gospel message at the conclusion of the musical presentation on this day.

4. April 29^th is Orange Bucket Sunday! On this day our folks will be challenged to bring buckets full of food items that will be given to needy families in our community. We are giving this food to Hidden Oak Elementary School to distribute to the families that they have identified who will need extra help during the summer months. We have a partnership with Hidden Oak and this will be a great blessing to them. You can get your bucket for just $2 beginning on Easter Sunday. I encourage each person/family to make a difference by participating in orange bucket Sunday! When you get your bucket a flyer will be in it to tell you what is needed for the families. (estimated cost $20-$25). This will give us some time to fill it so we can bring it back to church on the 29^th—Orange Bucket Sunday!

5. May 6 is a church-wide lunch celebrating our Above and Beyond 1^st Anniversary! Mr. Ben and Mrs. Ann will fix us a wonderful lunch we will rejoice in all that the Lord has done in our Above and Beyond Campaign. We will also give out the pics that were taken at Groundbreaking Sunday! Every family gets one!

What a joy to serve the Lord with you! I want to encourage you to be involved in each of these C4 events over the next 5 Sundays! God wants to use us to make a difference in our community for the Gospel!

It is a joy to be your Pastor!

Pastor Calvin

Dear Church Family,

The Lord is blessing our church family during these days. I rejoice in the recent baptism of two of our elementary age children who have come to know Jesus. We are constantly reminded of the importance of winning people to Jesus. Not only must we win them, but we must disciple them to know and love Jesus.

Our Groundbreaking service is March 4th. We will have a wonderful time together on this historic day. We will baptize and partake of the Lord’s Supper before we exit the auditorium to break ground on the site. Don’t miss the picture that we will take together outside. This will be the first thing we do once we dismiss the service. Paul Privette has agreed to take the picture from the roof of the auditorium! This will be a historic picture as we all gather together! Don’t forget to bring your shovel! Following the picture, groundbreaking, and prayer, we will all proceed to the Bible Study hour as usual.

Connexion Sunday is March 18^th. Rev. Tim Williams will be with us in both the morning and the evening services. Connexion day is designed to connect people to Jesus Christ and His church. We are having “High Attendance Day”  in our Bible Study classes. Every class has set goals for this big day. Breakfast in the class rooms await you and your guests. All of us are participating. Don’t miss it! There will also be special activities for youth at 4:30pm and for the college ministry following the evening service. Let’s bathe Connexion Day in our prayers. We are fasting and praying on Fridays at lunch on March 2, 9, and 16^th and using that time to pray for many to connect to Christ and His church. Won’t you join us in this prayer effort?

Congratulations to Rev. Michael Anderson on his anniversary as our Associate Pastor of Worship. February marked his 6^th year that he has been back with us since seminary days! For 5 of those years he has been in a part time capacity. I am thankful that he is now full time and that the Lord gave me such a fine brother to serve on this wonderful staff team. Congratulate Michael and Karrie and let them know how much we love them.

His…yours…

Pastor Calvin

Dear Church Family,

What a joy to write to you today. I’m writing this on Monday following a wonderful day of worship together. We had a great celebration of the Lord’s Supper. I’m thankful for decisions being made for Christ in recent days. This is a blessing for our fellowship. We always want to pray that God would give us souls. Our passion is to “make disciples” as our Lord commanded in Matthew 28:19-20.

These messages on the Home are a great challenge for us. We must look to the Scripture to understand our role in the home. There is no place like home is more than just a catchy phrase. Truly, when we live according to the Word of God, our homes will thrive.

We continue the “Truth Project” on Sunday nights at 5:55pm. We are beginning the services five minutes early in order to dismiss us on time. We know that our little ones need to get off to bed and we are trying to help with this. I encourage all of our people to avail yourselves of  these great studies.

If you know of a new member or someone who is interested in our church, please invite them to our NCBC 101 class. We would be thankful to meet all of our new guests at this meeting. If interested, please contact Pam in the church office.

The Real Men’s Event is scheduled for Feb. 25^th. There is a sign up sheet in the foyer. Let me encourage you to sign up. I also encourage you to bring your sons with you.

It is truly a joy to be your Pastor,

Pastor Calvin

Dear Church Family,

We all love new things! Now we have a new year!

This New Year will be strategic in the life and growth of our church family. We have been working as a church to add educational space to our facilities. In December 2011, the church family voted to give the green light to the building committee to proceed with the construction of a 16 classroom facility that will greatly enhance our effectiveness in reaching and teaching people for Christ. All of this is contingent on the assurance that the church will not incur any long term debt for this facility. We will engage in interim financing for the purpose of avoiding added costs associated with delaying. We will spend our own cash and only borrow in the interim to keep construction moving with the intention of paying it all off before our Above and Beyond Campaign ends. Our people have proven their excitement by their miraculous giving to the Above and Beyond Campaign. To date our folks have given $239,655.14 to this effort in just nine months. In addition, our budget offerings have grown at a greater pace than in the 3 previous years—All of this in an economic downturn! Folks, this is nothing short of a miracle in our church life. God’s people at North Central, we are blessed beyond measure.

As exciting as these financial miracles are, we must not forget that we are first and foremost committed to following the Great Commission of our Lord. Jesus didn’t commission us to build buildings. Buildings are tools in the hands of the Lord to enhance something that Jesus is most passionate about—making disciples. We are to go after people. Folks, we are in the people business. How have we grown without this building? By loving people and telling them about the grace offered to them by Christ. If we build a building and lose our love for lost people and each other, we’ve lost the heart of the gospel message. I’m committed more than ever to equipping us to be effective in loving our lost friends and neighbors to Christ. We must love each other and pray for one another. We need our new building to give us a more effective place to teach God’s Word to the folks that we reach. This is why we are so excited about our new educational building. This new tool will only be effective as we continue to obey the Great Commission of our Lord.

Some dates that I want to highlight for you in January.

Men’s Breakfast on January 14! Our men love to get together for encouragement. Mark it down men!

Celebration Choir and Orchestra Retreat on January 20-21.

Don’t forget the election on January 31. I don’t know if there has ever been a more important time for Americans to vote than in this year’s presidential election. If you are not registered, be reminded that it is your Christian duty to stand up for Godly principles and government in our country. If God’s people would stand up for right, much of the mess that government has gotten us into could be changed. We Christians are to blame if we don’t take our stand for righteousness! I exhort you to register to vote and vote for Godly candidates!

It is truly an honor and privilege to be a Pastor. To be your Pastor is icing on the cake!

I Love You,

Pastor Calvin

Dear Church Family,

Christmas! Is there anything like it in all the world? This is one of my absolute favorite times of the year. I think about the greatest gift of all–the Lord Jesus. I think about how the world is so open now to hear the Christmas Story.

At North Central, we are blessed with special events and parties that are centered on Jesus. Our church family wants to provide hope and encouragement to all–especially the precious children who need to know that baby Jesus wants to be their savior! Look at these exciting Sundays:

December 4—AM—The Shepherds—The Wonder of Christmas

PM—Children’s Special Music and Victor Nickerson preaching

December 11—AM—The Magi—The Wisdom of Christmas

PM—The Gift of Christmas—A Christmas Dinner Theatre

December 18—AM—Joseph and Mary—The Strength and Heart of Christmas

PM—A Smokey Mountain Christmas with the Privette Family

December 24—6PM—The Annual Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

December 25—9:30AM- The Lord Jesus Christ—The Purpose of Christmas!

Don’t miss the Sunday morning worship on Christmas morning. We will not have Sunday School meetings-just one exciting worship celebration on Christmas Morning centered on the baby in the manger—Jesus!

In addition to these services above our wonderful Sunday School teachers will be sharing in Bible study each week (except on the 25^th) and your place is reserved on Wednesday nights and at Christmas parties and fellowships (check the schedule for meeting times and locations).

I’m particularly grateful that our church has adopted several local children in an effort to get presents for them under their Christmas trees! Thank you church family for leading out in this loving effort!

Our Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal is $20,000.00. North Central is a missions minded church! We give generously to this offering because 100%  of it goes to the International Mission Board of the SBC to introduce the people of the world to the Savior—Our Lord Jesus! This offering supports over 5000 missionaries and their gospel effort.

I want to say thank you for being a wonderful church family. I feel like the most blessed Pastor in the world. I’m thankful for our fabulous staff. These folks do a fantastic job in their area. It is truly a joy to work with each of them. And then I think of you-the precious believers that make up this fellowship. We all have much to be thankful for. I think about the Above and Beyond Campaign. Over $223,000.00 given which represents over 30% of all of our 3 year commitments has been given in just eight months. This is truly miraculous New Testament grace giving for which we must all be thankful. We look forward to a recommendation soon from our committee related to our future educational building. We are truly a blessed people.

I want to remind you that there are some who hurt during these holidays. The special times remind them of days long gone when things seemed happier. Perhaps they lost a loved one this year, or heard bad news that has affected them. Let’s be sensitive and mindful so that we can encourage those that need a good word of hope. The real message of Christmas is infinitely more important than gifts received, and even good family time. It is the message that Jesus came to this earth to provide healing and reconciliation between God and man. We are the broken ones, ruined by our sin and rebellion and in God’s mercy; Jesus loved and gave Himself for us on the Cross. Why don’t you find someone to share this awesome story with today? If you do, you will spread the message of Christmas.

The Joy of the Christmas Season! I’m so glad I have the blessing of spending it with you—the wonderful fellowship of believers here at North Central!

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Calvin

Dear Church Family,

I’m writing this article following a wonderful Sunday of services. The Lord is working in our church in a powerful way. We are grateful for the growth we are experiencing both spiritually and numerically.

November provides us with many opportunities for ministry. We are also reminded of all of the Lord’s blessings in our individual lives and in our church.

The Harvest Festival Banquet is November 20^th at 6pm. Brother David Acton, IMB Missionary will be our main speaker. David has a wonderful history with our church. We are blessed to have him and his wife Chanelle with us for this great event. Mrs. Ann Davis and our hospitality team will be providing the Meat, Bread, and Tea, and the church family will bring the vegetables, casseroles, salads and desserts. You can let us know what you are bringing by signing up in Sunday School.

Our efforts to build educational space continue to move along rapidly. Our church family has given well over $210,000.00 in cash toward our Above and Beyond Campaign. We must pause and give thanks each day for this modern day miracle. In a day when budgets are tight our wonderful people here have given sacrificially to this effort. It really shows the heartbeat of our church to reach and disciple people for the Lord. This new educational building will be a huge help in our effectiveness moving forward.

This Sunday is “Wear Your Colors Day”! With the Gators having their homecoming this is the perfect Sunday for us to celebrate together by wearing our colors. We will have some folks visiting us from out of town. Some of our College student’s parents may be with us as well. We look forward to having these guests with us.

This coming Sunday evening, November 6, we will be celebrating the Lord’s Supper together as a church family. We want to encourage you to bring food for thanksgiving baskets during this month. You can place it on the stage. We will begin this on Sunday. Sunday PM would be a great time to bring some can goods as part of the Lord’s Supper service.

Our College students are heading up to North Georgia for a retreat on Nov. 11-13. Robert Privette and our entire team are doing a fabulous job reaching out to our students. They will have a blast and be challenged from God’s word. Students, get signed up for this great event.

Our Music Ministry is growing! Auditions for new instrumental and vocal groups are happening so let brother Michael know if you are interested. Use your gifts and talents for Jesus!

Kelly and I want to thank you for the way you have expressed your love to us. Brother Holt Browning’s presentation on behalf of the church family was very special to us. Thank you for being a wonderful congregation. It truly is an honor to be your Pastor.

Calvin Carr

Our studies in 1 Thessalonians have been very profitable. I hope you will join us for every study. It is imperative that we know exactly what our purpose is as a church. Paul wrote his letter to the Thessalonians to give them insight in how to “do church”. We do not meet just for meetings sake. I’m thankful for a host of leaders here at North Central who take seriously our calling to do spiritual work in this local fellowship and community.

Sunday, October 9th at 5pm we welcome Rev. Lewis Miller to North Central for our Church Wide Leadership Summit. Rev Miller will be sharing with us the importance of our small group organization and ministry. He will be doing this in two sessions-one at 5 and one at 6pm. There will be an exciting activity for all members of the family during both hours. The Preschool and Children’s Choirs will be meeting for one extra session so that moms and dads can come to the Summit. Our youth will join us in the Summit. You may say, “Well, I’m not a leader in our Sunday School so why should I attend?” You should attend so that you can become the best member of your class that you possibly can be. Your teacher needs you there! These principles of leadership are timeless and transferable to all aspects of life.

On Saturday, October 22 we will be having a men’s breakfast at the church at 8:30am. Come and have a wonderful full buffet breakfast for $3 and hear about the powerful influence of encouragement in the lives of our North Central men. We will meet from 8:30am to 9:30am-Just one hour! You can get home for all of your Saturday chores!

Our Church will be hosting a Halloween party for the kids at Santa Fe Oaks on Halloween, Oct 31st. Karrie Anderson is taking the lead in this effort supported by our entire church family. Let Karrie know of your interest in helping in this awesome outreach. You can reach her by calling the church office 352-373-3341.

Continue praying for our Building Committee and for our Above and Beyond effort. Our people continue to faithfully give to this awesome effort to build our educational building. We need it. We are in the permitting process. Our committee is working hard to be ready to give once the funds are adequately in place to move forward. It is a joy to watch the Lord work.

It is a wonderful blessing to be the Pastor of such a wonderful church! Kelly and I are ever mindful of the treasure of the gospel that has been entrusted to us and to you.

Love in Jesus,

Pastor Calvin

“I dare you!” Do you remember when someone would say that to you? It would cause you to be challenged to go beyond the normal effort. Effectiveness in leadership is linked to the success of any organization. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians gives a defense of his ministry there. We see him defending his Lord and his manner and methods of sharing with that city. The great blessing of this chapter is that we can glean the qualities of great leadership that Paul demonstrated.

I am really enjoying this study in 1 Thessalonians. Paul was a daring leader. Most of what is done in the world that is of huge significance is by daring, bold leaders. If you would like to study along with us you can access our messages on this site using the media link.

Blessings,

Pastor Calvin

Dear Friend,
We are studying one of my favorite subjects–the Church! I love my church. I was saved because of the heart and passion of a church. I was called to preach in a church. And now I pastor a church!

But what is a church really supposed to be like? What should we expect to do in a real church? What do the believers or members “do” in church? What does the Bible say about the church? These are the type questions that I hope to answer in this series of sermons entitled: “So you Wanna be a Church?”  I’m so glad that you have visited our website.

This week’s message will talk about the reputation of the church. The Apostle Paul wrote about the reputation of a church in our passage today and we intend on studying it. I’m so glad that you will study it with us. Look under our media tab and find the message: A Church with a Spreading Reputation” from 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10.

God Bless you,

Pastor Calvin