North Point Church, Springfield, MO

Jenny, Taylor, Tucker and I had the privilege of going to North Point Church yesterday! We decided on Saturday night that we would go because it was a different denomination than ours, we have heard good things, but really the deciding factor was the noon service! Everyone got up earlier than expected, so we decided to go to the 10:30 service. I have passed by the church on the highway going to the airport, but had not actually driven to the location. I thought you could go to the Chestnut Expressway/Airport exit, turn right immediately, to get to the outer road. . . I was wrong. There weren’t any signs that we saw, but we continued as you would go to Willard. We decided to turn right on Farm Road 123, at Evergreen Church (backup church if we were too late, couldn’t get in, etc.) and followed that road and just see where it might lead. It ends up winding around and ending right in front of North Point!

Their parking lot greeters were GREAT! Smiling and welcoming us with a big “Good Morning” and wave. We went in and got Tucker checked in after having a lady from the Hospitality Desk walk us to the nursery check-in. We left Tucker with them, took our security number, and headed to the sanctuary.

Visiting churches with children is pretty much a beating, we decided. (If it isn’t a beating, it sure isn’t as easy if it was just adults!) Taylor, our 5 year old Kindergarten student, rethought his initial “deal” with mommy the night before to be her “undercover agent” for the children’s ministry! Just too much sensory overload with a pretty busy lobby, didn’t know anyone, kind of shy kid anyway. . . so we got to take him into the service with us. He actually did really good . . . he loves worship and therefore loved the band.

When we got into the sanctuary, there was an usher asking how many in our party. He then sent us down to the next aisle down, where another usher pointed us toward the front, where a final usher was at the row ushering us to our seats. I was quite impressed indeed. Well oiled machine. I know that stuff like that doesn’t just happen. . . especially on a Sunday that weather and power outages could have kept many people, and workers away.

The worship was very good. The transitions were excellent from element to element. You could tell it was something they probably worked on a lot. At the first transition, the pastor showed his humor in saying, “welcome to North Point Church, powered by the Spirit of God, and a big honkin’ generator out back!” Sweet line in the midst of a very difficult time of power outages all around that north side of Springfield. Then he tells us that if you are a first time guest, you can go by the Hospitality Center and get a Viewmaster with pictures of the church and the people. No way!! Yeah, it is cool, and a conversational piece sitting in my office!! What a cool idea!
Then the parents’ worst fear. . . NURSERY # 74712 flashed as big as possible on the screen. Tucker Liam was not happy to be at North Point, it seemed! So I set Taylor down, put my head down as to not make eye contact with anyone, and headed back to rescue Tucker from his fit. Again, the usher was really cool as I asked if it was alright to bring Tucker into the service. . . “oh, you bet.” I missed the offering as I was out getting Tucker, but Jenny said “they just skipped us.” Don’t know if that was on purpose because we looked like guests, but interesting. Taylor was all freaked out that we weren’t ready for the offering. . . getting into mommy’s purse to give to the offering. Funny, even the 5 year old knows what is going down when we break out the plate (or buckets in this case)!

Pastor Tommy’s message was absolutely great! God couldn’t have brought a better message topic to tie into Regeneration and what God has been teaching me lately! They are in the middle of a series called “The Winning Hand”– series based on cards. Really cool. . . definitely not a Baptist series, ha! The message was “Learning to Read the Cards,” based on Nehemiah 1-4. His transparency came through as he read excerpts from his journal as they were getting ready to plant the church 3 years ago. His passion, humor, and care for his people was really refreshing to see! It was nice to hear, “great, Tommy. 6 points from Nehemiah. . . great story . . . but what about for me. . . tomorrow . . . in my life.” APPLICATION of Scripture!! One of our core values. And then to top it all off. . . they handed out a jack of hearts playing card with the series art on the back to each person leaving the sanctuary! A memory devise to carry around, put up in front of you, etc. . . . awesome!

On the subject of graphic arts, of which I am a self-proclaimed graphic arts nerd. . . really nice pieces. The graphics used with the worship were subtle, but nice. They had banners in the sanctuary that were five playing cards to go along with each sermon. The “bulletin” was a normal size piece of paper–full color. . . very nice. The informational piece for guests was really well done as well.

Overall, I think it was a great visit for us. It was a good exercise in what it feels like to be a guest. If I weren’t so sure of my calling at Finley Crossings, and lived a bit closer, I would definitely put them on the top of my list of relevant churches that I would love to be a part of. You can’t argue with their unbelievable growth as well as their outreach into the community. Thank you North Point Church for a great visit!