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

Jesus said, “Follow Me and I will make you to become fishers of men.” This is the mandate of every believer and the mandate of the church. Each member of our body of believers should individually ask themselves, “Am I fulfilling the Great Commission of our Lord?” “Am I praying and cultivating a witness for Jesus in some unsaved person’s life?” “Am I teaching or training others to grow in their relationship with Jesus?” Let me encourage you to be a strong witness for Christ as you are out and about in Gainesville. Look for opportunities to love people to Christ. Involve them in your Bible Study Class here at the church. This will get them under the sound of the gospel and encourage them in their spiritual life.

August is a month of new starts around the church. New Children and Youth ministries launch in August. A fresh new school year begins and this provides opportunities for us to reach folks that will visit us. We welcome the new college students from Santa Fe and the University of Florida.

You are receiving this Lifeline while we are in the midst of Vacation Bible School. On Sunday night the 7^th we will have the VBS Musical—Big Apple Adventure. The musical begins at 6pm and then we will have a family fellowship that will be a blast. Don’t miss this wonderful event.

Sunday night, August 14, Sandi Bridges will speak to our church family in the evening Service. Sandi served the Lord as an International Mission Board Journeyman to Peru. She has come back to Gainesville and now works with the Florida Baptist Children’s Home. She is going to share about Foster Care and about how we can be involved in the Florida Baptist effort to help precious ones in crisis.

Our Celebration Choir/Orchestra Kickoff is scheduled for August 17^th. God is using our music ministry. Many of you have musical talents that would be a blessing to this church family. Why don’t you come check out the Kickoff event to see what all is happening? I think you would love it!

College ministry lunches begin on August 21. All Santa Fe and UF students are invited to a complimentary luncheon in their honor on this special day. We will have a luncheon on the 28^th as well. There are many ways we welcome our college students back from the summer break. The college ministry has developed a list of activities and outreach efforts to reach as many college students as possible.

I am continually amazed at the faithfulness of our folks here to our expansion efforts. The Building Committee is hard at work. We are currently working with our county to obtain the appropriate permits necessary to build. We are also in contact with vendors/contractors to give us bids on the proposed 16 classroom educational building. This will be a great blessing to us when we have the space to be able to provide for our growing Sunday School and Wednesday night ministry.

Our people have been faithfully giving to the Above and Beyond Program. At the writing of this Lifeline we are approaching the $170,000.00 threshold. Can you believe that?! Let’s continue to bathe this Building effort in our prayers.

We have had a great summer! Blessings to you as we move into fall!

Pastor Calvin

Dear Church Family,

July may be one of the most exiting months in our year! I’m grateful to be able to share with you some of the opportunities that we have here at North Central to bring people who need Jesus. Remember, some of these opportunities are especially designed for us to bring people so that they will hear the gospel. Some folks that we invite are believers who need to re-connect with a local church for equipping and ministry.

July 3 will be our All American Night featuring a patriotic Mini-Musical, presented by the Celebration Choir and Orchestra along with our NCBC Media Ministry. They will challenge us to be a “nation, under God” by the beautiful music that will be presented. Following the service we will have Hot Dogs on the grill and apple pie. The pies will be judged by a special group of judges who will award the “blue ribbon” for the best pie. Bring someone with you.

All new members and those wanting to know about North Central Baptist Church—we are having NCBC 101 on July 31^st. Make plans to be here at 9:15 for a light breakfast in the fellowship hall. In this meeting led by Larry/Linda Taylor and Holt/Jeannette Browning, you’ll discover what we are all about. You’ll meet our staff and ministry heads. Find out what is expected of our members and how you can plug into the ministry here. I love this meeting because I get to spend quality time with our newest members and those interested in finding out more about our church. Oh yea…we will feed you lunch too. Call 352-373-3341 to sign up.

Look to August 1-5 for our Vacation Bible School—Big Apple Adventure. Karrie Anderson and the VBS team are recruiting leaders for this fabulous outreach. Let Karrie know that you can serve by calling us here in the office or by signing up on the VBS bulletin board in the preschool hallway.

Homemade Ice Cream night is scheduled for Sunday night, July 21 following our evening service. Bring your favorite homemade ice cream.

Wednesday nights at North Central this summer has been awesome! Many thanks to Laura Hunter and our wonderful student intern Lauren Idsardi who have put together the best summer program we’ve ever had. The kids are having a blast learning the truth of God’s Word and participating in all of the games as well. The Youth are having great meetings as well. Wednesday nights is the night for youth and kids at North Central.

Justin Thomas continues to do an excellent job with our Upward sports program. Right now in July our soccer participants are involved in evaluations on the 11^th, 14^th, and 19^th. Our coaches will meet on the 12^th.

Join us on July 17^th in the evening service for the beautiful observance of the Lord’s Supper.

Our Malaysia Mission Trip will leave on July 14^th and return on the 27^th. Pray for Robert Privette and the entire team as they work with IMB personnel in reaching many for Jesus.

The Winshape C3 Children’s camp for Gainesville is scheduled for July 18-22 and is sponsored by North Central and other participating churches. Chick-fil-a is the corporate sponsor for this wonderful day camp. Elementary age children participate in a day camp setting that is character based and provides an excellent program of recreation as well. Info can be obtained by calling us here at 352-373-3341. This is one of the finest Children’s camps that is offered anywhere. I encourage our parents of elementary children to enroll their children. Your kids will love it.

Thank you for your prayers for Brother Fred Hart and our Building Committee. I promise you we are busy at work. We recently had 4 meetings in a three week period. Our site engineer is busy preparing a plan to put the building on our property in the most strategic place. We will continue to share with the church family as progress is made. I’m amazed at our Above and Beyond program. You folks are so faithful. It is by His grace that we have come this far.

It is truly a joy to be the Pastor of such a precious fellowship of believers.

Sincerely,

Pastor Calvin

July may be one of the most exiting

months in our year! I’m grateful to

be able to share with you some of

the opportunities that we have here

at North Central to bring people

who need Jesus. Remember, some

of these opportunities are especially

designed for us to bring people

so that they will hear the gospel.

Some folks that we invite are believers who need to reconnect

with a local church for equipping and ministry.

July 3rd will be our All American Night featuring Celebrate

Freedom, a mini musical presented by the Celebration Choir

and Orchestra along with our NCBC Media Ministry. They

will challenge us to be a “nation, under God” by the beautiful

music that will be presented. Following the service we will

have Hot Dogs on the grill and apple pie. The pies will be

judged by a special group of judges who will award the “blue

ribbon” for the best pie. Bring someone with you.

All new members and those wanting to know about North

Central Baptist Church—we are having NCBC 101 on July

31st. Make plans to be here at 9:15 for a light breakfast in

the fellowship hall. In this meeting led by Larry/Linda Taylor

and Holt/Jeannette Browning, you’ll discover what we are all

about. You’ll meet our staff and ministry heads. Find out

what is expected of our members and how you can plug into

the ministry here. I love this meeting because I get to spend

quality time with our newest members and those interested

in finding out more about our church. Oh yeah, we will feed

you lunch too. Call 352-373-3341 to sign up.

Look to August 1-5 for our Vacation Bible School—Big Apple

Adventure. Karrie Anderson and the VBS team are recruiting

leaders for this fabulous outreach. Let Karrie know that you

can serve by calling us here in the office or by signing up on

the VBS bulletin board in the preschool hallway.

Homemade Ice Cream night is scheduled for Sunday night,

July 21 following our evening service. Bring your favorite

homemade ice cream.

Wednesday nights at North Central this summer have been

awesome! Many thanks to Laura Hunter and our wonderful

student intern Lauren Idsardi who have put together the best

summer program we’ve ever had. The kids are having a blast

learning the truth of God’s Word and participating in all of

the games as well. The Youth are having great meetings as

well. Wednesday night is the night for youth and kids at

North Central.

Justin Thomas continues to do an excellent job with our

Upward sports program. Right now in July our soccer participants

are involved in evaluations on the 11th, 14th, and

19th. Our coaches will meet on the 12th.

Join us on July 17th in the evening service for the beautiful

observance of the Lord’s Supper.

Our Malaysia Mission Trip will leave on July 14th and return

on the 27th. Pray for Robert Privette and the entire team as

they work with IMB personnel in reaching many for Jesus.

The Winshape C3 Children’s camp for Gainesville is scheduled

for July 18-22 and is sponsored by North Central and

other participating churches. Chick-fil-a is the corporate

sponsor for this wonderful day camp. Elementary age children

participate in a day camp setting that is character based

and provides an excellent program of recreation as well. Info

can be obtained by calling us here at 352-373-3341. This is

one of the finest Children’s camp that is offered anywhere. I

encourage our parents of elementary children to enroll their

children. Your kids will love it.

Thank you for your prayers for Brother Fred Hart and our

Building Committee. I promise you we are busy at work. We

recently had 4 meetings in a three week period. Our site engineer

is busy preparing a plan to put the building on our

property in the most strategic place. We will continue to

share with the church family as progress is made. I’m amazed

at our Above and Beyond program. You folks are so faithful.

It is by His grace that we have come this far.

It is truly a joy to be the Pastor of such a precious fellowship

of believers.

Sincerely,

Pastor Calvin

It is a wonderful blessing to write you and share with you the great victories of the last few months. Our Above & Beyond Capital Stewardship Campaign is a fabulous success. Our people committed $733,194.12 to be given above and beyond their regular tithes and offerings over the next three years. Our first gifts to the program have amounted to $80,765.28! What an incredible start! If you would like to be involved, you still can! Mail your commitment to the church or put it in the offering plate.

We look forward also to the coming months of summer and the opportunities to reach out to those we know and love with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Wednesday night program for preschoolers, children, and youth is going to be fabulous this summer!

Summer in the Big Apple is the theme of our summer program. It begins on June the 1^st and goes all the way to VBS, which begins on Monday, August 1st. Every Wednesday night our preschoolers and children will be involved in this incredible program.  Our young people under the direction of our Youth Director, Colin Casper, will be having incredible events each Wednesday night that will encourage them spiritually and give them opportunities to build great friendships around the Word of God.  All of these programs will be in addition to our regular Wednesday night ministry with our Internationals.  Family supper will take place at 5:00 pm as usual, and our Prayer Meeting will continue to meet at 4:00 pm throughout the summer as well.  These special programs begin at 6:00 pm.

Sunday nights we have been studying the book of First John. Our title is “Real Christianity – Anything Less is Like Cotton Candy.” The book of First John is a powerful challenge to us in our individual Christian life.  We have planned some special Sunday nights that you’ll want to take note of.  They are as follows:

• May 29^th – Beach Baptism at Frank Butler Park at Crescent Beach, Florida.  This was a fabulous event last year as 75 people from our church family made the trek over to Crescent Beach to observe 7 of our people being baptized.
• June 19^th – Father’s Day Picnic,  we will have special events for our families to take part in.  This will be an opportunity for each family to bring a picnic, enough to feed their family plus a few more.  We will lay it all out on the table and share together.  We will have special events such as:  Horse Shoes, Kickball for the kids, Three-legged races, Closest to the Pin Contest, and much, much more.
• July 3^rd – All American Night, following the evening service.  This fellowship will involve an Apple Pie Contest.  We will have a special prize for the winning Apple Pie for this night.
• July 10^th – Our annual PraiseSing and Spaghetti Supper begins at 6:00 pm.  Come here and our youth will feed you a fabulous spaghetti dinner (suggested donations $5).  Come and listen to the awesome musical talent that God has blessed our church with as we lift His praises. The proceeds will enable us to raise funds to reach out to our surrounding community and to the world.
• July 24^th – Home-made Ice Cream Night following the evening service.
• August 7^th – Family Night, following VBS.  This will be a fabulous evening together as we have a carnival/fellowship with all of our VBS families together with our church family.

We have two classes of NCBC-101 scheduled for all new church members and those who are interested in knowing more about North Central. They will be held on Sunday, May 15^th and Sunday, May 29^th beginning at 9:30 am in the Fellowship Hall. Please contact the church office to make reservations at (352)373-3341.  A wonderful lunch caps off this great event.

I am so thankful for all that the Lord has done in the life of our fellowship. I want to encourage you to step up your efforts in witnessing to those around you.  As we sow the seed of the gospel we will see a harvest of souls.  I’m asking God to give me opportunities daily to share the glorious gospel of Christ.  North Central is blessed with the best people in the world.  I’m so thankful that I have the unique privilege of being your Pastor. Thank you for praying for me and my family.

Sincerely,

Calvin J. Carr

Pastor