LIFT Week

01/09/2026

Our next podcast episode is with the Pettijohn Springs Camp caretakers, Justin and Shayla Bishop! Listen in and we discuss a little about how church camp can change lives and how the Bishops are able to use it as their own unique form of ministry!

01/03/2026

Part 2 of our episode with Gage Goff is ready! Gage has some great thoughts on what a good youth ministry philosophy should look like. Give it a listen and please follow us and share this post!

12/19/2025

We are back with a new podcast episode! We hope you enjoy this conversation with Gage Goff from the Madill Church of Christ. Let us know if you have any questions and please continue to support us by liking and sharing these posts.

12/14/2025

“Watching and Learning”

This picture was sent to me by one of our ladies at Northside. This is my son and one of his best friends. They were playing quietly in their chairs and not really paying attention to what was going on, until they noticed everyone was starting to pray. The boys quickly stopped what they were doing, folded their hands, and listened to the prayer. It’s also very important to point out that no one told them to do this and none of their parents were with them at the time. This was purely an act of sincere observation. They were watching and learning.

As human beings we are so impressionable. It is a part of our nature to see the behavior of others and then want to repeat that behavior in some aspects. One article calls this the chameleon effect and states that picking up mannerisms from other people is inevitable.

I think we have a little more control than what that article gives us credit for, but it still raises a few questions. If we are so impressionable, then who is my family watching and learning from? Who am I watching and learning from? Are those the right people to be watching and learning from?

Makes you think of 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Bad company corrupts good morals”. So guard yourself! Protect those you love! Steer them and yourself towards those you should be watching and learning from.

Galatians 6:9-10 says, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people…”

These verses describe what we should want for ourselves and our families. We want them to watch and learn from those who will not lose heart in doing good. We want an environment that when it influences us, that influence causes us to produce good works.

Today, if these things have touched your heart or they opened your mind to the possibility that your family needs to make some changes, then we would love to help you with that. At the Northside church of Christ we have Bible class at 9:30am and Worship at 10:30am, we hope you will join us or that you will reach out to talk more about these things!

-Dane

12/08/2025

What a blessed night! Over 100 kids and 180 total people!

11/11/2025

Next month’s Sunday Night in the Light will be hosted by the Northside church of Christ in Bonham! Hope to see you there!

11/10/2025

Sunday Night in the Light was a huge success! Over 100 kids and 40 adults enjoyed games, fellowship, and a great lesson from Cory Landolt!

Thank you to the Central church of Christ in Denison for hosting us! Next months event will be Dec 7 at the Northside church of Christ in Bonham. More details to come soon!

11/09/2025

The Two Paths

There is a classic poem by Robert Frost about two paths that can be taken. It is taught in most schools and has been widely popular for over 100 years now. I remember reading it for the first time and thinking about how the man in the scenario chooses the road less traveled. This caused me to conclude that we should be willing to go against the grain and to not be afraid to do what others are not doing. Makes sense right?

However, I heard a lesson on parenting at a family conference that helped me see a more accurate and deeper meaning. When you go back and reread the poem, you see that there is no condemnation of either path. There is no critic of the path more traveled or indication that the path less traveled will be harder than the other. The only thing we really know is that the paths are different and that only one can be chosen. And this was the point the conference speaker was making, that in life we must make choices. Oftentimes, there is no turning back from those choices. Which means that we will have to live with the consequences, good and bad, of our choices for the rest of our life.

James 3:9-12 speaks to this concept. It says, “But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.”

The context here is that we need to control our tongue and that we can’t bless other sometimes with our words and then turn around and curse them. But how we speak is not the only place this applies. Our choices produce an outcome that we have to answer for. If it is a choice between two good things or even if it is about choosing the lesser of two evils, you have to own your choice because you can’t take it back and you can’t try again.

So, what do we do with that information? I think we have to remember to always make decisions that bless others and honor God, because those are the kind of choices we can live with and endure with a clear conscious. Contrast that with a selfish choice that will cause pain and hardship. Decide today the kind of choices you will make.

Today at the Northside church of Christ we will have Bible class at 9:30am and Worship at 10:30am followed by a potluck meal. I encourage everyone to choose the path today that leads to personal spiritual growth and to encouraging others. Because that is the path you won’t have to regret taking. Hope everyone has a blessed day!

-Dane

10/26/2025

“The Faith of a Child”

The other night my two year old son was having a bad night. He was not listening or following instructions very well and therefore had to endure some consequences. One of those consequences being that he needed to take something he was playing with back to where it belonged. It was a metal piece from my grill and he knew he wasn’t supposed to bring it inside. When he was sent outside to put it back, it was already very dark. Now my son does not like the dark, he struggles to sleep at night by himself sometimes because of his fear of the dark, so we already assumed this was not going to go very well. What we didn’t expect was his response to the situation.

While standing outside in the dark, by himself, we heard him yell, “God! Please make it NOT dark. I don’t want it dark please.” After several attempts and it still being dark, my son then said with anger, “God! I’m going to get you!” This led to a talk with him about how he did the right thing to pray to God, but that God doesn’t always answer us how we want, and we definitely are not going to blame God for our problems. A bit much for a 2 year old to comprehend, but the conversation went well. At the end he did accept that God wasn’t going to bring the sun back out just because we pray about it.

This was a sign of immature faith, the faith of a child. But strangely at the same time, it was a mature example of what a faith that trust in God actually looks like. When we pray, do we actually expect God to provide it? Or do we pray with the expectation that God won’t give it to us? I know that I personally struggle with this.

James 1:5-8 tells us what our expectation from prayer should be. “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

When was the last time you prayed for something so passionately that when God didn’t give you the answer you wanted that you became upset? God’s ways are greater than our ways and we should come to accept that reality. However, at the same time if I’m fully trusting in my Lord to provide then I should feel disappointment when I don’t get what I want. Because disappointment shows that I truly expected to receive it!

I’ll end with this thought, if God in His infinite power has the power to provide what you need, then you should be so passionate with your request that you deeply believe it will be given to you. Stop praying prayers with one foot in and one foot out. Pray with the expectation that you will receive and trust that God will give you what you need.

This morning if you have struggled to pray or have been discouraged by unanswered prayers, we would love the chance to talk to you about that.

At the Northside church of Christ, we will have Bible Classes for all ages at 9:30am and Worship at 10:30am. We hope you can join us!

-Dane

10/06/2025