You’ve heard of a tailgate party, but what about a tailgate church service? In lieu of its three Sunday services, North Sound Church is hosting a special Tailgate Breakfast and Celebration Service at the Edmonds Conference Center, located at 404 Bell St., across from the church.
The church will be serving breakfast casserole, fruit, muffins, orange juice and coffee at 8 a.m. followed by a celebration service from 8:30-9:30am where the pastor will share a football- themed message and there will be special music from jazz artists. In addition, Marcus Shelton, the internationally acclaimed operatic tenor, will sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” The church is also offering free child care for youngsters age 3 and under.
Attendees are urged to wear Seahawk colors to show support for Seattle, and are assured they’ll be home in time for kickoff as Seattle takes on the Chicago Bears for the NFL divisional playoff game at 10 a.m. in Chicago.
For more information on the weekend events, contact North Sound Church at 425-776-9800 or info@northsoundchurch.com.
I think this church has its priorities wrong. God is to be honored, not the Seahawks. A choice had to be made here, and it looks like the pastor chose the Seahawks over God. A sad example to cancel all regular services and tell the attenders they will not miss kickoff! Avoid this weak-kneed church.
This sounds like an aawesome event. This could be the church for me!
Unbelievable!
WWJCF? (Who would Jesus cheer for?)
Seriously, though, if you have a church full of people who can’t put God above a local sports team, how in the world are they going to put God first when a real temptation comes along?
That sounds scary too me, If we got to go to church for the Seahawks
Why on earth would a church want to hold an outreach event for the community? I mean, prioritize feeding people and showing them that the church cares for them over having a typical Sunday service? Jesus never did anything radical…
I can’t seem to get my tongue out of my cheek…
I am thrilled to see people bravely stating that this is wrong. I don’t know any of you and I am sure that you could care less about what I have to say. All the same I will say this anyway, I enjoy the Seahawks and would love to watch a TEVO version of Sunday’s game. But this church has sadly made the game an idol and made it their priority. “God forbid we miss the football game. Better change the service time.” Church is not about being entertained. God calls us into His presence (that alone is a huge deal) and He tells us to worship Him and His goodness, together, in humility with thankfulness. Worship is a time to gain strength for the battle that we all go into everyday. It is no wonder Christians lack influence in today’s world and culture, when we are so easily led by the fools themselves into worshiping things like football instead of the God of the universe, who made us. It’s amazing to me that God puts up with us. he is beyond gracious.
I can’t wait for the day when God puts faithful men with backbones in the pulpits to put away all of this wishy washy Christianity. The Church needs men with chests, who say no to the body when the body wants to be fools. Like a good parent who disciplines their children, sometimes we need good correction from our elders and pastors, not their caving into our demands.
Please God, give us shepherds who fear and love You, men who take You, your Sabbeth, and Worship seriously, men who love your body, the bride, without fear of men.
Priorities?
With all that’s wrong with the world, you choose to criticize a group of people who get up extra early on Sunday so they can honor God AND enjoy a good football game.
While I certainly admire your self-sacrifice and dedication of the entire sabbath to honor God, I think we’ll all be better off if we find more ways to get people into church, rather than testing their resolve to keep attending services.
Thankfully, there are different churches to satisfy the different ways people view their faith. This is a false dilemma.
I am amazed that having some fun with the neighbors can feel so threatening to a person’s faith walk. There is ritual and there is worship and we must guard against works squeezing the life out of us so much that the neighbors don’t want to hang with us. Nice job Barry. Have fun with the neighbors (in the name of God).
I think it’s great that the church is reaching out to the neighbors by using the local event everyone is focused on. I can see how some may look at this Sunday service as an “unholy” event. However, the church is coming out of it’s building to reach out to the local community. It does not seem to be focused on finding a way to catch the game. Tell me what’s wrong with this? I know plenty of people who wouldn’t want to go to church during a football game.
Jesus preached the Kingdom of God (see NT 150 times) which is love, joy and peace in the Holy Spirit- he said ZERO about attending church services. Pastor Barry is a true follower of the Lord Jesus.
He is doing exactly what one unhappy Christian asked for above ” being a man among men”. If more pastors exercised this kind of leadership and care for the people Jesus misses most (hint – its not the insiders) then more so called outsiders might take a chance on us unusual Christians and check out one of the odd things we do on Sunday called a church service.
Christians who don’t get this haven’t read Romans 14 and don’t understand the gospel. My apologies to all the Non Christians who think correctly that we are one weird bunch. Please don’t blame Jesus for our strange value systems. He didn’t invent this – we made most of it up ourselves.
Go Barry
Go Northsound
Go Seahawks
I’m with Jim!!
Go Barry
Go Northsound
Go Seahawks
Settle down people. They are just moving the service up to an earlier time so that if people choose to watch the game they can. Isn’t it better to have an early service and still fellowship then to have people miss church altogether because they want to watch the game? Sounds like a well thought out solution.
Bravo Barb and Barry!
Kudos to Barry & Northsound Church for thinking outside the box and considering the needs of people, i.e., extending a creative model of care and grace and an opportunity to gather in community to proclaim the goodness of God!
This sounds like a really good version of an ice cream social that would normally be held AFTER church. Sounds like fun! And I still get to watch the game (un TEVOed).
Excellent idea, Barry!
Two of my favorite quotes from church leaders:
Rob Bell of Mars Hill: “If people who want nothing to do with God, and are hostile to church, and are considered kind of on the margins – if they love being around you; and very wound up religious people who think that they’re right and everybody else is wrong, find you deeply disturbing and offensive, then you’re being like Jesus.”
Bill Hybels of Willow Creek: “Don’t tell me there’s only one way in each situation to be an ambassador for the love of Christ. That’s ludicrous! But the minute you get off the safety of the one way approach, you’re into the messiness. It’s, ‘Where do you want to live?’ You can live on this little, comfortable island where your life doesn’t make any evangelistic difference. You can live there. I would choose the messiness, the chaos, and the getting it wrong a few times, rather than miss out on this grand adventure of messiness that God redeems.”
In reference to a pastor who leads a church with the slogan, “No perfect people allowed,” Hybels then said, “And I’d rather be standing in his shoes come the last day than in the shoes of folks who never got their uniform dirty, never got bruised, and never got it wrong. And so, deal with that.”
And so, deal with that, anyone who criticizes this event.
Since we have reached the quotes stage in this matter,I would like to quote our big toe, Sgt. Hulka; “Lighten up, Francis.”
Harold Ramis would be proud to know that his words were used so adroitly to settle this discussion in such a definitive manner.
Well said Mr. Fleck, well said
God didn’t say he is not a fan of football. I know my god will enjoy NFL playoff games as much as I do. We will find out which teams God favors soon enough, won’t we?
Hey morons! The Seahawks are a REAL team playing a REAL game. This “god” you keep talking about? Not so much. Some people really need to get their priorities straight.
With all of the suffering and problems around the world, I’m sure God has the Seahawks top of mind today. Forget those affected by disease and natural disasters, let’s pray selfishly for a game that means nothing and affects none of us.
Pray Everyday – Hallelujah!
This is not raising the Seahawks to be idols. Not at all. It’s making Sunday fun, and embracing the community. John Maxwell, leadership guru, likes to say, “Nobody cares what you know, until they know that you care.” The congregation of this church is shouting, “Hey, Edmonds! We care about you, and want to invite you to know that!” Can this be done in a way that is respectful to the Gospel message? OF COURSE!!! Can it be done in such a way that it’s not “bait and switch”? At least they advertise that there will be a “football inspired sermon”, so people know they are going to hear something churchy. I don’t see what’s wrong with this? This will have more impact on the entire community than holding up a lame looking John 3:16 banner at the game, or standing on the street corner yelling at the game attendees that they are going to Hell. That’s a GREAT way to endear yourself to people. **BRAD ROLLS HIS EYES**
GO NORTHSOUND CHURCH!!!!
I just read the Gospel about the Pharisees critizing Jesus for picking a few grains of wheat on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-27). The selection ends with “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” Who are the Pharisees here? I think a church that has an event that even gets mentioned on the radio and encourages people to come check them out is a wonderful idea! Who knows what seeds might be planted here? God is always looking for ways to reach us. Great idea Northsound Church!
Any decision that any pastor makes that is anything other than “business as usual” will unavoidably be met with criticism and enthusiasm. People are entitled to believe that this event is a bad idea. And, I am entitled to believe that these people are absolutely 100% wrong.
If this event happens to get ONE individual into church that would not normally hear the word of God , then this could be considered nothing more than a resounding success.
Beware of legalism and fundamentalism. Modern pharisees are all around us.
What a hoot! My brother told me I had to check out what you all have been up to since I went away. To be honest, I was surprised this many people even read the site, let alone my post.
Most of you are all problably off watching the Hawks do their thing. And you may never come back to this post, but I will go ahead and give a response to many of your comments anyway, in case you do.
First off, I will say it again, I am no one special, nor do I have any special authroity other than the fact that I am a Christian sister, striving to be faithful to God and His Word as He alots me wisdom to do so.
I know it can be hard to hear this kind of disagreement from a stranger you don’t know, especially if you approve the issue being spoken of, or you love those who made the decisions. It is not my intention to just through the rock into the crowd, but it is to challenge those in the crowd to think through the issue.
I have affection for that quote above “People won’t care what you know, till they know that you care.” My husband was trained in a seminary many years back, and the main Pastor who taught them would use that phrase with the men in the ministerial training program. And though those words are wise, they are not the complete picture.
If you are Gods child, than I am your sister. We should not have to be intimate friends to be able to love and honor those we also believe are wrong on a certain issue. It does not mean that I believe that person to be wicked necessarily. It is not contradicting to love and administer verbal spankings at the same time. On the contrary, these elements require one another.
You may not like what I said, but what if I am right and you wrong? What if I am not a pharisee? What if my accusation is true and faithful, what if the Christian Church has lost her vigor to love and obey her God, and that is why the church is making such unhealthy decisions these day? What if we care more about our own comforts and wants than we do all of those wonderful things you mentioned, such as feeding the poor and helping the hurting.
Because if you are honest, how does focusing our worship service on football help the hurting or feed the hunger? How does it proclaim the gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection, that brought us back into a right relationship with our mighty God, or serve those in need. Did anyone stop to question if God would be honored or dishonored by this decision? Do we even do that anymore? Or are we so callused to Gods Word that we assume that any idea that get’s votes is a good one? Some might say, “Oh, it’s really not that big of a deal.” But that right there is one of our problems, we don’t think worshiping God rightly is really that big of a deal. Worst, we think just about anything will pass as right in the worship service these days, “So long as our hear it in the right place.” What a bunch of hooy.
Not to make God out to sound up-tight, but don’t forget, this it the God who killed a man for even touching the Ark of the Covenant, even though this man was trying to keep the Ark from falling, remember. God is serious about obeying Him. When He says don’t touch, He means don’t touch! A similar thing happened with king Saul. God told him to wait for Samual, the priest, to offer a sacrifice before the battle. Saul did not wait, and God took his Spririt, favor and kingship away from him, for his disobedience.
We can’t forget that when we ignore what God requires, we loose, no matter how “good” we think our intentions where. “What good is it to a man if he gains the world but looses his own soul.”
So basically my point is that the Church has failed in so many ways. Our nation is sick because of the Churches failure, and I believe pastors are at the root of this problem. That is my point.
The issues I brought up are symptoms of our root problems, and why so many churches today are more concerned with making their neighborhoods LIKE them, and not concerned with teaching and leading their people and their neighborhoods to love, fear and obey the one and only, triune, God. We fit into God’s world, not him into ours. He’s not our co-pilot, nor is He even our pilot, He owns the world in which the airplanes fly.
Those people who are pretty well put together all on their own, who just need a nice place to worship, don’t need the church. The church is for the people who are sick, those God has kindly removed the scales from their eyes and shown them that they need a doctor. Remember the tax collector Gidion, he was drawn to Christ who spoke the truth. He was not drawn to the food Christ offered.
Christ did not come for the healthy, he came for the sick. That is not to say that the sick do not get healthy, they do. But that is only after the healing process is begun in them. This is the process of sanctification.
Maybe if we in the church stop trying so hard, and with any means, to convince people in the world that they want God, “and by the way we will have some burgers if you come to our church,” they might actually have the time they need to minister to the people they have in the church already, the ones who really are hurting and who are asking for help. People came to Christ because he healed the lame and spoke the truth with authroity. So there you go, I guess when our pastor and elders get really good at healing the sick and speaking with authrourity, God will grow up our churches.
Our leaders need to remember that they are dealing with sick people. We are sick because we do not know how to care for ourselves and we don’t know what we need. It is the job of the pastors and elders to tell us why we are sick and teach us how to get better. So we can become wise ourselves, and teach our families to be wise. God has instilled authority in these men to do just this. But when some of them lead in this seeker sensitive way, they teach us that these non believers want what is good so the chruch should provide it. That is a lie. If we already knew what was good and had the ability in and of ourselves to do those things, we would have no need of God.
In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul tells us that when the unbeliever or an uniformed person comes in to where Gods people are gathered for worship, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all. And thus the secrets of his heart are revealed: and so, falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is truly among you.
I hate to say it, but that’s not exactly the picture I get from many local churches worship services. We may leave with a warm fuzzy feeling, but how many of us are convicted of our sins, brought to repentance and changed?
Kiss the Son lest He be angry, and ye parish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are they who put their trust in Him. Psalm 2:12 In other words, submit to Christ.
And for the gentlemen above who does not believe we are actually required to go to church:
Heb. 10: Is speaking about how to worship together.
And the writers says “…and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water (this is referring to our cleansing through baptism). Let us hold fast the confessions of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together , as is the manner of some, but exhorting on another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” I could go on, but I am quite sure I have said enough.
We are forbidden to forsake the assembly of the saints (Which is the church, the bride.) It is actually considered a high handed sin to not meet together with the saints to worship God, regularly on His Sabbath, which He has set apart for our benefit. We are expected by God to participate robustly in the worship of his bride to the bride groom. And the fact that half of Christians today actually believe that they are not required by God to be worshiping with their brothers and sisters is proof of weak leaders in the church who do authoritativly teach otherwise.
So clearly I agree to some extend that we all have our own opinions, here I am after all giving mine, but our opinions are only valuable if those opinions are shaped by God’s word.
So, to quote John Bronson, if one person is stirred and convicted about the state of the Church today, by what I have said here, than I will consider my time spent here a resounding success.
Praise be to God, and may He be glorified!!
Blessings to you all and Happy Sabbath. And yes, even, go Hawks
Well oh my goodness, I am just so embarrased. Look at how long that post is. I clearly need to work at articulating my thoughts into more concise sentances.
Sorry about that.
I am in total agreement with Art Speight of Taking it to the Streets. This is a crying shame and a slap on the face of God . This is the Laodicean Church the Apostate Church is here. Jesus said ;Joh 8:47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. And in
1Jn 4:5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. The true believers in Christ Jesus are being shut out more and more in these these last days. Paul