In the excellent book, The Treasure Principle, author Randy Alcorn teaches us that there is one great way to sum up the Bible’s teaching on Stewardship. He says it this way, “You can’t take it with you, but you can send it on ahead!” This is laying up treasure in Heaven. Jesus spoke more about giving than he did about heaven and hell combined! I heard one pastor say this, “The nerve that runs from a man’s spiritual life to his wallet is the most sensitive of all!”The outward fruit of many conversions in the Bible were demonstrations of giving. Think of Zacchaeus who restored what he had taken from people “four-fold”. When Jesus heard this he said, “Today salvation has come to this house . . . “ (Luke 19:8-9) It only makes sense that when a person is truly converted, their stewardship in all areas (including financial) will change.

The Joy of Giving is our November emphasis on Christian stewardship. Our people are studying passages on stewardship in Sunday School and I am preaching messages on Sunday Morning on this same wonderful topic. A church is not faithful to the teaching of the Bible if it never talks about these matters.

All of this will conclude with our annual Harvest Festival Banquet, scheduled for Sunday night, November 22 at 6pm. Mrs. Ann and Mr. Ben Davis will prepare a fabulous dinner for us to enjoy. Our special speaker will be Dr. Mac Brunson, from First Baptist Church of Jacksonville Florida. Dr. Brunson leads a mammoth congregation with the heart of a loving shepherd. I know you will not want to miss this special night. We will be signing up in Sunday School so make sure you get on the list. This will be a night you won’t want to miss.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome new and returning college students to Gainesville, Florida for the Fall Semester 2009! What a wonderful opportunity the Lord has given North Central Baptist Church to touch the lives of thousands of collegians throughout our storied 74 year history. Our lives are enriched by your presence in our church and community.

I want to give you Five reasons why you will love it at NCBC!

1. Our people love College Students. That’s right. From the front door to the Small Group Bible studies, our people will give you encouragement and love.  Our college ministry is led by the finest College minister that I know of anywhere, Zach Allen.  He and his sweet wife Shelly have been pouring into UF and Santa Fe students at a record pace.  Zach has assembled a team of leaders that you will love. These leaders are sold out to make this a place that is Biblically relevant for you.

2.  We won’t candy coat the gospel.  When you come here, you will hear the Word of God. In the sermons preached and Bible studies taught our message is simple–surrender to Jesus Christ and experience the magnificent Grace of God.

3.  You can get your hands dirty in ministry here.  I mean that, from mentoring a youth, to the lost man in Gainesville who needs the gospel, we will give you a way to make a difference.  Isn’t that what you want to do anyway? Sure you’ll take chemistry in Leigh Hall but why not also count for Christ through your local church?

4.  We love the nations here.  Our church loves missions.  We are taking college students to Brazil for them to share Jesus.  Many have left our ranks to go all over the world for Christ. We have an international ministry that is awesome.  You like missions?  You’ll like North Central.

5. This place is full of surprises. For years God has blessed our people in unique ways.  Some started pouring into youth here.  Others were called to missions here.  MANY majors are changed by our students. (I think that happens everwhere!) And get this–you may meet your wife here!  Oh yea, that happened to me when I was minding my own business as a college student at North Central.  This beautiful girl named Kelly caught my eye and the rest is history!  I am forever grateful for this place.

So check us out.  We are a New Testament Church that wants to be on mission with God in the world.  Come along with us.  I think you’ll love it!

The month of April brings some unique opportunities for us to worship and serve our Lord through the ministry of the church.

Easter Sunday is April 12 this year. This is one of my favorite Sundays of the year
because we have the attention of most of the world as we celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus! Now we all know that every day of our lives is a resurrection day. Truthfully, moment by moment, we experience the joy and blessing of the resurrected and living Christ who takes up residency in our lives by the Holy Spirit. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in us to give us the power to live a totally transformed life. It is our willingness to yield to Christ that is the determining factor as to the victory we experience day by day. Let me encourage you to bring someone with you on Easter Sunday. That may be the only Sunday in the year that they will come to church with you.

We will take a special offering in addition to our regular tithes for our Seminary Scholarship fund. Our prayer is for $30,000.00 to be raised from Easter through August, to bring the balance of our fund to the level it needs to be. The interest from the principle invested is used to grant scholarships to our NCBC students pursuing Masters degrees at one of our six SBC Seminaries. We have a church approved scholarship committee that receives and approves the applications for this scholarship. We do our best to help in every way we can. Kelly and I benefitted greatly from this scholarship when I was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. NCBC is sending 3 students off to seminary in the very near future. May their tribe increase!! Pray about giving a sacrificial gift.

The Ladies Ministry is sponsoring a Women’s Retreat to Jacksonville, Florida on the 24th and 25th of April. Our ladies will have the unique and wonderful opportunity to hear Anne Graham Lotz on Friday night and Saturday. As you may know, Mrs. Lotz is the daughter of Evangelist Billy Graham. She is being used of the Lord powerfully all over the country. We are blessed to have her at this special event. Cost for the weekend will be $36 per person for the hotel room plus money for meals. The ladies will meet at the church at 3:30pm on Friday & leave by 4pm. You can begin to sign up through your Sunday School class with a
$10 room deposit.

On April 29th in the evening worship service we will experience a presentation from our Celebration Choir and Orchestra entitled, 3:16-The Numbers of Hope. Our musicians, under the leadership of Michael Anderson work very hard to prepare Christ exalting music that equips and encourages us to worship the Lord. Pray for them as they prepare. Also, plan to bring someone to hear these great songs that will lift up Jesus. This is one more great opportunity for us and for those we can bring.

Our College Students are headed out on their Spring Retreat, to Keaton Beach, over near Perry. Let’s commit to pray that they will come back on fire for Jesus. We have a good number of very faithful college students in our Church. These retreats can be life changing events. I encourage every one of our students to go—get signed up!!

These messages in Acts on Sunday morning have really challenged me to think about North Central and how we should focus on the spiritual and numerical growth of our church. The Lord has truly been faithful!

I Love You in the Lord,
Calvin J. Carr

I am very thankful for the 41 people
who are involved in our Strategy for
Souls Evangelism Equipping Ministry.
Just into our second week we have
already seen one precious soul come
into the Kingdom! As we sow the seed
of the gospel & water it with love &
care, I believe that many will be converted
by the Lord. Let me ask our
church family to pray for those going
out each week. Remember this is not simply a group of
people learning how to share their faith. We each desire
to obey scripture in fulfillment of 2 Timothy 2:2 by discipling
witnesses who will disciple others. Spiritual reproduction is
the goal! The “hot house” of spiritual growth is evangelism.
All of the men of North Central & our guests are invited to
the Men’s Fish Fry scheduled for Friday night, March 20 at
6:30pm. What is better than fried fish, hush puppies, & all
the fixing’s? The fish will be great, but the fellowship, centered
on Jesus, will be even better. The fellowship that
men experience centered on the gospel of Jesus is very
special & challenging. I want to encourage all of our men
to buy a ticket for an unchurched man that you can
bring. This will be a great event to introduce him to North
Central. Tickets are just $4 & are available in Sunday
School.
Ladies, you have a retreat coming up April 24th & 25th. I
am really excited about this special time for you that is
centered around the Anne Graham Lotz Conference in
Jacksonville, Florida. Anne Graham Lotz is the daughter of
Evangelist Billy Graham & has been used of the Lord in a
phenomenal way with women all over this country.
Women are packing auditoriums to hear her encouraging
message of total commitment to Christ. You don’t want
to miss this.
We are showing a movie on Sunday night, March 29th
from 5-7pm in the main auditorium. Fireproof is the name
of the film that was produced by the Sherwood Baptist
Church in Albany, Ga. This is one of the most powerful
Christian Films that I have ever seen. We are doing this to
give you an opportunity to invite unchurched people to
hear the gospel. I promise you, the gospel is powerfully
presented in this film. I will share following the film as well.
The film’s plot centers on the marriage relationship. Believers
will be encouraged & challenged to do whatever is
necessary to strengthen their marriages. Our church will
be offering a seven week Bible study follow up course
that will begin in April for all those interested. I believe this
will be a wonderful night for all marriages & those
unchurched individuals that are invited.
I look forward to our children’s music recital scheduled for
Sunday night, March 15th. This is always a highlight for the
kids.
It is a joy to be your pastor. The Lord continues to bless us
in unusual & special ways. Oh yes, one more thing. I want
you to pray about giving sacrificially to our Seminary
Scholarship Fund. As you know we just gave our church
approval to 3 future seminary students who are coming
right out of our church! There will be more to come, I
pray! I want us to raise $30,000.00 to help us bring this fund
up to where it needs to be. We will take a special offering
on Easter Sunday. Pray about what you are to give to
help send the next generation to push back the walls of
darkness!

I hope this issue of the February Lifeline
finds you & your family doing well.
Acts-The Expansion of the Gospel, our
series in the book of Acts is going well.
We are learning principles for growing
new believers & growing our church
family. It is remarkable to watch the
early church form & grow in the book
of Acts.
Our new early morning Sunday school has been fabulous.
One Sunday, almost half of the group that came to the
early morning Sunday school had lunch at Sonnys. They
got in early & they got out early, making for a longer Sunday
nap! We’re thankful for all of the leadership that has
been enlisted for this early morning Sunday school &
we’re also thankful for those that are involved in sharing in
our 10:55 am Sunday school as well.
Strategy for Souls, Sharing the Good News of Jesus, begins
on Monday night, February the 16th. This is an evangelism
training program that will be geared to fulfill two mandates
from scripture. The first is an evangelistic mandate &
the second is a discipleship mandate. I’m asking for our
soul winners, those that know & understand how to share
Christ, to line up two trainees that they can teach & train
in evangelism. We will have a brief class from 6:15 – 6:45
pm on Monday nights, & then we will go out & share the
Gospel, making at least two visits, attempting to share
Jesus with those that need Christ. Strategy for Souls will
enable us to share with the over 200 prospects that we’ve
had in the last 12 months. These are folks that have visited
one of our services.
We will have our first Men’s Breakfast of 2009 on Saturday,
February the 7th. We will begin at 8:30 & end by 10:00 am.
Men, this is our opportunity to get a good hearty breakfast
on Saturday morning, & a good time of fellowship,
one with another. I encourage you to be a part of this
special time. I look forward to it.
Our Upward Soccer Registration is just around the corner.
The registration deadline will be fast approaching. Please
contact our office at 373-3341 to find out details about
how you can sign your children up for Upward Soccer
that will take place here at North Central. We look forward
to a great season.
The month of January has flown by–already 1/12th of 2009
is over! It’s exciting to see God mobilize our church in
reaching people for Christ. I look forward to the days
ahead

I can not believe that it is already December! This is my favorite month of the year as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Please make sure you are involved in worship on the Sundays leading up to Christmas. You can find printed in our Lifeline all of the different fellowships that will be taking place in the month of December. These are special times of encouragement and fellowship; why not bring someone with you who needs to know the love of the Lord Jesus that we share together here at North Central.

Our Lottie Moon Christmas offering goal is $16,000. Every penny goes directly to the International Mission Board. They rely heavily upon this offering. Our church is dedicated to world missions. I encourage every North Central member to give a generous gift toward our Lottie Moon Christmas offering.

I want to encourage you to get your tickets early for one of the two performances of our dinner theater. Brother Michael and all of our musicians have been working hard to make this a wonderful Christ exalting evening. Your Christmas will be made by this special dinner theater. I want to encourage you to buy at least two extra tickets for someone who needs to know the love of Jesus Christ. You will make their Christmas, particularly if they meet Jesus for the first time.

David Champagne, a phenomenal trumpeter and my friend from Jacksonville, will be here on Sunday morning the 21^st. This is our last Sunday worship service before Christmas day. I promise you that you will not be disappointed when you hear David’s wonderful testimony and his phenomenal ability with the trumpet. This will be a special morning as we worship our Lord together.

Christmas Eve with the Lord’s Supper has become one of the favorite traditions here at North Central. Last year was my first Christmas Eve service as your Pastor. To share a worship experience with other believers and family on such a special day is unique and extremely meaningful. This service is exactly one hour in length. Your Christmas will be marked by your worship experience on Christmas Eve. This will be a great service to bring family and friends to as well.

The entire focus of our church centers around the Lord Jesus Christ. This baby in the manger truly is the greatest person of all history. He is our sovereign God who left Heaven’s glory to reconcile lost men to God. Oh what a Savior! Halleluiah!

Sincerely,

Calvin J. Carr

What a tremendous blessing it was to
have Bob Tebow speak on Homecoming
Sunday this past weekend. I believe
that we set a new record for a Sunday
Morning worship service at 456! More
than the number, the Lord Jesus was
lifted up, souls were saved, & God’s
people were encouraged. I appreciate
the work of our entire church family in
inviting many to be with us.
You folks are simply the most loving people in the world.
Almost weekly someone tells me how you have welcomed
them to our services. Let us never take this for
granted. Many folks come to church searching for encouragement.
If they don’t get it here, where will they get
it? I’m thankful that the message of the gospel is a message
of hope to those who turn from sin to the Lord Jesus.
God will set us on the right track if we will just turn to Him.
I’m thrilled to announce that Rick Lawrence will be our
speaker for the Harvest Festival Banquet on Sunday night,
November 23 at 6 pm. All North Central families are invited
to dinner together as we reflect upon God’s abundant
blessings on this precious fellowship of believers. If
you are new to our fellowship, you won’t want to miss this
event. Brother Rick Lawrence will speak to us all that night
under the theme: One Passion—One Purpose. We have
one passion-to know Christ, & one purpose-to make Him
known. Bro. Lawrence was interim Pastor here at NCBC
for the 6 months prior to my coming last October. He is a
man of God & endeared his life & ministry to our people.
I’m indebted to his leadership & the preparation given to
the church during those days. What a thrill to have him
back!
The Banquet will be the culmination of a 3 week Stewardship
emphasis in the church. We are encouraging all
of our people to embrace Biblical principles of giving. This
begins with tithing. The Bible says, “The tithe is the Lord’s.”
The truth is that a believer can live more comfortably on
90% than he ever could on 100%. We will take the next
several Sundays & talk about Stewardship—Bible Style!
Let me encourage you to continue to keep praying for
friends, neighbors, & family who need the Lord. Pray for
them at least 2 times a day. Pray for 4 opportunities to
invest in their lives this fall to build a bridge for the gospel.
Consider inviting them to a service or perhaps to a Sunday
School fellowship. Our wonderful Christmas Dinner
Theater would be another great event to consider. Tickets
will go on sale soon.
It truly a joy to be your Pastor. Thank you for your prayers
that sustain me & my family each & every day.