Lessons from NorthwayChurch.tv, Pt.1

This past weekend my wife (Dawn) and I got the privilege of visiting Northway Church (www.northwaychurch.tv) in Albay, NY (actually two locations, Clifton Park and Colonie). WOW! Jesus is really in this place. Jesus is all over this church and its pastors. I was so blown away by their heart for Jesus and His mission. No doubt their program and facilities were amazingly impressive, but it was their hearts that really grabbed me. They were so focused on lifting up Jesus no matter what the cost!

The Lead Pastor, Buddy Cremeans (www.buddycremeans.com) recently spoke at our WARRIOR CONFERENCE in May. Buddy’s willingness to invest in my wife and I was just humbling. We travelled to Northway with our friends from Next Level Church in Dover, NH (www.nlc.tv) and their lead pastor, Josh Gagnon (www.joshuagagnon.com). I am still trying to process all that I learned from this trip, but let me start to unload a bit here:

HONOR
The number one thing I picked up from the culture of Northway Church was HONOR. WOW! They have created such an amazing culture of honor in their faith community. Let me try and break that down for you.

First, my wife and I were honored as their guests. Seriously, when we first arrived on the scene at Northway Church their staff gave us a guided tour and introduced us to their people like we were CELEBRITY SUPERSTARS. And it wasn’t that they had nothing else going on (it was packed with people, plus they had a special guest preacher in town Mac Richard from Austin, TX (www.macrichard.com). Every chance their staff could get they honored us by lifting us up as daring church planters in New England (which anyone who is willing to plant a church in New England is crazy for Jesus to begin with:)