3021 E 71st StreetIndianapolis, IN 46220www.NorthsideIndy.org

March 2021

In this Issue:Easter Events ..............2Northside Kids ............3Prayer .........................4Renown Conference 5Members’ Meeting ...5Website .......................5Blood Drive .................5Northside Women .....6Calendar ....................7General Information .8

Good Friday & EasterPage 2

Renown ConferencePage 5

Northside KidsPage 3

Northside WomenPage 6

Look inside!Look inside! (continued on page 2)

Becoming a Welcoming Churchby Senior Pastor, Jeremy CoutureA few years ago, Thom Rainer wrote a book called Becoming a Welcoming Church. The book outlines various ways that churches can improve their approach towards guests. Here are five suggestions that are worth repeating.

1. Make it a priority.

There are all kinds of things to be concerned about in a church. It can be tempting to only care about the things that involve you or your family and it can be tempting to only care about the people who are here. In the Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15, the good shepherd leaves his nighty-nine sheep at home in search of one sheep that was lost sheep. This should remind us of the importance of the unreached and unchurched in our community.

2. Find a Place to Serve in our Welcome Ministry.

A Welcome Ministry is one of the most important ministries in a church. You can serve as a greeter, an usher, or you can serve at the information desk. You can also serve un-officially by welcoming guests, introducing them to other people, and encouraging them to fill out a connection card.

3. Change something every quarter.

Any type of ministry can grow stale over time, even a Welcome Ministry. In order to keep things appealing and inviting, we need to change things up over time. That can be the way we follow up with guests or the volunteers who help on any given Sunday. The point is that we need to keep things fresh.

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Northside is looking forward to the Easter season with great expectation and HOPE this year. We’re emerging from winter into the promise of spring. We’re excited about leaving a season of interim (though we had a won-derful Interim Pastor) and are finding a new stride with Senior Pastor, Dr. Jeremy Couture. As the COVID-19 num-bers decline and vaccines are administered, we pray God will deliver us from the dregs of the pandemic!

We hope you will celebrate with us. To accommodate a larger crowd, we are expanding to two ser-vices at 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM on April 4.

Good Friday Service: April 2 at 6 PMOn Good Friday, April 2, we will have a time of worship and remembrance as we thank the Lord, Jesus Christ, for giving His life for the sins of the world. Join us in the auditorium at 6:00 PM. Childcare is available for age 3 and under.

4. Give guests something to remember the church by.

Giving a small gift is a classy way of saying “thank you” to someone for hosting you in their home. Gifts cer-tainly don’t save anyone, but they can be a constant reminder of someone’s church experience. As we work to improve our guest follow-up and experience, we may want to start giving away a water bottle or a small book along with some material about the church.

5. Look in the mirror occasionally.

Over time, we tend to become blind to our deficien-cies. One way to overcome that is to have a couple of people in the church conduct a simple facility audit once a year. Another way is to ask guests to fill out a simple survey and to that take their feedback seriously.

Becoming a welcoming church is an ongoing journey – it doesn’t happen overnight. We have been blessed with a steady stream of guests recently. We must treat every single one of our guests as a gift from God on our journey to becoming a more welcoming church.

Becoming a Welcoming Church(continued from page 1)

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Northside Kids NewsEaster! We have Easter treat bags at the Welcome Center to hand out to families to invite them to our Easter ser-vices. These bags include info about our Easter services and a few treats for kids. These bags can be handed out in Covenant Foods, to your neighbors, friends, and coworkers who have young children.

We will have childcare during our Good Friday Service (April 2) for ages birth -3. We will have classes for chil-dren ages birth to 6th grade at both the 9 AM and the 11 AM services on Easter Sunday (April 4).

Save the date! Recharge Retreat May 15, 10 AM—1 PM in the Fireside Room All current childcare volunteers, those who wish to start volunteering, and those who wish to help with VBS are invited! Lunch provided. Please contact Dani Root at droot@northsideindy.org or call the church office to let us know you are coming!

Awana It’s hard to believe that we only have a few more Awa-na meetings left in the year! Our Awana Store will be on April 21 and our Grand Prix and Awards Ceremony will be held on April 28. The entire church is welcome to join us for the ceremony. More details to come.

Destination Dig - VBSComing July 19-23 from 9-noon. Please be in prayer about who you could invite and how you can serve. Theme verse: Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. We are excited to Seek Truth! Find Jesus! More information about this year’s VBS is coming soon!

A visit from our Awana missionaries. Left to right: Nan-cy Laurino, our missionaries, Rick & Mary Glover, and Linda Loveless

The Sparks class during game time at Awana.

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Fireside PrayerAnyone who would like to attend is invited to our time of prayer in the Fireside Room on Sunday mornings at 9:30. Our weekly Prayer Guide is updated and distrib-uted by email and in print. Pick up a copy and pray for

our congregation and ministry. Submit your prayer requests in the bulletin, on our website or email office@northsideindy.org

Don’t worry by Don Sherman, Prayer Team Member

“Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

Worry: To give way to anxi-ety or unease; allow one’s mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles. Worry can be a debilitating state of mind that puts us into a descend-ing spiral of despair. Left unchecked it can eventu-ally lead to physical illness. The Philippian believers had all kinds of things to worry about. They experi-enced the full gambit of persecution. Is it any won-der that the apostle, under direction of the Holy Spirit, cautioned the Philippians not to worry?

If we look at the verse carefully, we note that they were not to worry about anything. Checking other transla-tions revealed all translated anything as anything. It appears that we are Not to Worry. Calling worry a sin might be a bit over the top but it certainly appears that we are not supposed to do it.

True to God’s Word, we are told how to avoid this un-pleasant activity: “…through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” God wants to hear from us! We are to go to Him in prayer with our petitions. Not only are we to take our petitions to God, but we are to do it with thanksgiving.

Giving thanks indicates that we are subject to a know-ing, loving and just God. It further indicates that we can trust our God based on His character revealed in the Bible and on His past action on our behalf.

When the Christ follower does these things we will feel the peace that only God can provide. Even better is the assurance that our hearts and minds will

be guarded. Focusing on God and taking our needs to Him will keep us out of the descending spiral of doom. It is similar to Peter needing to focus on Christ rather than the wind and waves when he wanted to walk on water. (See Matthew 14:28-33.)

The next time a circumstance confronts you that would cause worry try this: Take it to God. Expect His peace and direction. Then do what you need to do and let God do the rest.

Pick up a copy of our 40-day prayer guide and join us as we pray for the lost during the days leading up to Easter Sunday.

Week of PrayerPick up a prayer guide or go to anniearmstrong.com to download a copy. We are praying for North American missionar-ies March 7-14. Your gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering help fur-ther the gospel in North America. Consider giving a special offering during this season.

Twenty percent of all gifts to the BJ Higgins Missions Fund go to Annie Arm-strong/NAMB.

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Members’ Meeting MealPrior to the Members’ Meeting on March 21, we will have a meal in the gym. Food will be provided by the church. There is no need to bring anything. Food will be served at 5:00 PM and the meeting will be at 6:00 PM in the Fireside Room. Childcare for age 3 and under will be provided during the meeting.

Blood Drive: March 28, 9 AM–1 PMWe’re having a Blood Drive on March 28. Those who are able to donate receive wellness info, blood type and COVID-19 antibody results. Sign up at the Info Desk or look for the sign-up link on our website.

Check out our new website at

northsideindy.org!

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Transformed is Coming to Northside April 10The State Convention of Baptists is planning a 1-day event for women on April 10 in Northside’s auditorium.

Transformed 2021 will look a little different than in years past. It will be a “hybrid” event. This allows everyone to at-tend in some capacity. There will be a Saturday-only live event with live speakers held in a worship setting. Those attending the in-person event will have access to the virtual breakout sessions as well. Those attending virtually will have access to all the virtual breakout sessions. These sessions will be available on the same Saturday as the live event. Your registration confirmation will give you the instructions on how to access the virtual breakout ses-sions. Cost is $40 for in-person, $30 for virtual. Register at scbi.org by March 27.

The February Creative Crafting project was postponed due to weather. We will meet in Kids Cove at 6 PM on March 18 for the Handmade Paper project. Sign up on Facebook or contact Barbara Cross.

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DST begins

N RTHSIDEB A P T I S T C H U R C H

Contact InformationChurch Office: 317-255-6692Fax: 317-257-9168Website: NorthsideIndy.orgEditor: bcross@NorthsideIndy.org

Sunday MorningPrayer Time - 9:30 AMWorship - 10:30 AM

Our Staff

Jeremy Couturejcouture@northsideindy.orgSenior Pastor

John Reederjreeder@northsideindy.orgAssociate Pastor of Worship

Nathan Brocknbrock@northsideindy.orgAssociate Pastor

Danielle Rootdroot@northsideindy.orgChildren’s Ministry Director

Micah Langmaackmicah@northsideindy.orgFacilities Manager

Jan Jeteroffice@northsideindy.orgOffice Assistant

Barbara Crossbcross@northsideindy.orgDir. of Communication/Office Admin

Bev Olonohaccounting@northsideindy.orgController

Dickerson/Brock: Sunday evenings 317-529-7981 or 863-307-9492Fishers: Thursday evenings 317-509-6746Women: Sunday 317-902-7689Ravenswood: 2nd & 4th Fridays 317-617-0290 Senior Couples

Sermons and DevotionalsJoin us in person or online each Sunday morning at 10:30 AM as we worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Pastor Jeremy will conclude the series “Life in God’s Kingdom” in mid-March and will do Easter season messages on March 28 and April 4.

Go to Facebook.com/NorthsideIn-dy to tune in online for our Sunday morning sermons and weekday devotionals. Our sermon archive is available at northsideindy.org or on our sermon site at northsideindy.ser-mon.net. Sermon videos are also on our Northside app.

Pastors Jeremy and Nate lead the weekday devotionals on our Face-book page at 2:00 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Groups Now Meeting Remotely

Beacons Class–Contact Mike Bow-man

James 1:22–Contact Phil Ackerman

Living Stones–Contact Jim Myers

ONLINE

Small Groups Restart April 11Sunday morning classes will begin again on April 11 at 9:00 AM and the worship service will return to the 10:30 AM time the same day. This is the Sunday after Easter. If you do not know which group or class to at-tend, please stop by the Welcome Desk or look at the list of classes on our website at northsideindy.org.