Why Brandon is Excited about Easter

During the next two weeks leading up to our Easter Gathering, our pastors will be posting why they are personally excited about Easter Gathering. For more information, head over to the Easter Gathering page.

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In keeping with the great American tradition of taking meaningful holidays and turning them into commercialized landmarks or well meaning but less-than-intended niceties, many people (and even many Christians) are confused about Easter.

Eggs? Bunnies? Peeps? Chocolate figures?

One of the few times each year you drag yourself into a religious gathering or travel home to eat lunch with your family?

The weight of Easter is lost on so many of us just as it gets lost on me at times. Even in my role as a pastor I too often forget the earth-quaking implications that the resurrection of Jesus has on everyday life.

Though our church family strives to constantly center around the gospel of Jesus and by God's grace we speak this truth to each other and our city regularly, we can still grow numb to how good the news really is.

But Easter? Easter is the most clear reminder of the gospel we have each year.

We celebrate the (too good to be true but true) fact that the God-man Jesus straight up walked out of His grave where He buried our sin and our shame. He both took our punishment and provided our righteousness, then went on to defeat death and hell forever.

We were desperate and hopeless and separated from God by our rebellion and now because of Jesus we are none of those.

Easter is no trite holiday. It is the climax of the most epic story ever told--the fairy tale that is actually true.

We get to hear this over and over each Easter through the stories of those getting baptized. We get to hear about the lightning bolt of Jesus' good news that has wrecked individual lives in the best way imaginable.

"I was lost and now I am found."

"I was blind and now I see."

"I was an enemy and God has made me His friend!"

"I was a runaway orphan, but God adopted me into His forever family."

It is the gospel, over and over, spoken powerfully through the mouths of those rescued & redeemed by Jesus.

That is why we go nuts over Easter.

That is why I can't wait for it to get here.

That's why we clap and yell and scream until our voices crack.

Jesus is alive, and that changes everything.

[button label="Join us on Easter Sunday" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/events/easter-gathering/" shape="default"]

Why Bailey is Excited about Easter Gathering

During the next two weeks leading up to our Easter Gathering, our pastors will be posting why they are personally excited about Easter Gathering. For more information, head over to the Easter Gathering page.

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Typically, I am a man of too many words. I like to talk and because of this I will often answer a question with a paragraph that should be answered in a sentence. That being said, why am I excited about Easter?

One word: Jesus.

I know that sounds cliche. I can hear the cynicism now. “Oh, of course, pastor. You’re excited about Easter because of Jesus.” Cliche as my answer may sound, it’s true.

Easter is the day where all of my attention gets focused on Jesus’ empty tomb. He’s not there. He is risen. Jesus isn’t dead. Jesus is alive! And His resurrection is the best news my ears have ever heard!

For Christians, much of the emphasis of the gospel gets placed on Jesus’ sacrificial death for our sins. This is certainly the case for a good reason. We desperately need atonement to be made for all the ways we have turned from God. But, the resurrection, Jesus’ victorious life, is what makes it all possible. Without it, there is really no gospel at all!

In 1 Corinthians 15:14, Paul puts it like this, “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” His point is that Jesus’ resurrection is what seals the deal. The empty tomb is the proof that the debt of our sin has been paid. The resurrection is essential to the gospel message because its our assurance that our justification through Christ has been accomplished.

Throughout my life, I’ve often struggled with depression - a pervading sense that all hope is lost and my sins, my struggles, and my sufferings just cannot be conquered. But the message of Easter is that these things aren’t true! Because Jesus is alive, I have hope! I have hope that my sins, my struggles, and my sufferings aren’t insurmountable. They aren’t the final word on my life. If God is powerful enough to raise Jesus from the dead, then whatever I’m going through, however bleak it might seem, it isn’t beyond His ability to forgive, heal, and even use for His glory.

If the tomb is empty, life doesn’t look so bleak anymore. As matter fact, its full of promise and assurance that God is after my good and will take care of me no matter what!

So, why am I excited about Easter? Jesus. Because of Jesus.

[button label="Join us on Easter Sunday" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/events/easter-gathering/" shape="default"]

Why Jon is Excited about Easter Gathering

During the next two weeks leading up to our Easter Gathering, our pastors will be posting why they are personally excited about Easter Gathering. For more information, head over to the Easter Gathering page.

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In less than two weeks we will all gather together as a city-wide church family for two Easter Gatherings. We get together two times a year as a whole church and host our city. Our seventy some odd LifeGroups will gather together as a huge extended family to worship Jesus together, and celebrate the work He is doing in our city.

My favorite part will be the baptism stories.  Sixty percent of the time the stories are my favorite every time.  I love hearing a bunch of real people talking about their real lives and how Jesus has reshaped reality in their world.  I love the variety of backgrounds and circumstances.  I love the different ways that people explain how Jesus drew them to Himself.  I love hearing about how people got invited into community by their roommate or their coworker or their family member.  I love how many of the people getting baptized will describe how God used normal people who were living on mission and building relationship with them to bring them in to God’s family.

Baptism stories are a reminder that God loves our city more than we do.  That God is pursuing people and rescuing people.  That God is the lead missionary.  It doesn’t get better than that.  As a whole church family we will scream our heads off in celebration after each Baptism story because Jesus is good.  Because Jesus is alive and saving people.  Because Jesus is actively rescuing and forgiving people. Because Jesus is leading His church and we get to be a part of working, laboring and celebrating what He is doing along with Him!

[button label="Join us on Easter Sunday" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/events/easter-gathering/" shape="default"]

Leader Meeting | A Photo Essay

Two Thursdays ago, we had a ton of fun at the Leader Meeting. At Leader Meetings, we get to coach, train, encourage, and love on our LifeGroup leaders, who are on the front lines of ministry in our church family. Those who got there early enjoyed D's Wings, boiled peanuts, Blenheim Gingerale, and IBC Root beer. While everyone was feasting, there was a photo booth and fun games like Cornhole and Jenga.

The meeting started off with a big surprise, The Harlem Shake, and if you haven't seen it yet, you can look at it here.

Harlem Shake Video

Here are a few photos from the event.

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Babcock Center | Dance Party

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Recently, some members our church family went to the Babcock Center to help them throw a "Dancing with the Stars" themed dance. The Babcock Center is an organization that loves, serves, and houses people with lifelong disabilities. They went all out with fancy decorations, tasty food and snacks, DJ's, and photo booths. Everyone was dressed up in fancy clothes, getting pictures taken, and dancing the night away. We love working with the Babcock Center and they love working with us too. It was so cool to see some of our LifeGroups serving together here in our city and being on mission. Here are some photos.

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Outlier* E-Book

[button label="Get the e-book here" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Outlier_Ebook_Final_Version_Transparent.pdf" shape="default"]

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On March 10 we begin our new series Outlier*. During the series we will be investigating Jesus' life together as a church. Because no other person has had as wide an influence of Jesus on history, no other person is as worthy of study as Jesus. Our LifeGroups will be synced up with the sermons throughout the series.

As a way to assist in the study, we've published an e-book as a companion to the series. The e-book follows along with the series week-by-week, but also provides exhaustive extra resources and material to help you and your LifeGroup dig deeper into the life of Jesus.

A couple things worth knowing about the e-book:

• Easy-access links. Whenever you see a word underlined in red, the text acts as a link, taking you online to sources, online bibles, and additional information. Just clicking on the link in the PDF will take you to the browser on your mobile device or computer to find out more about what you're reading.
• Interactive discussion questions. While you can print off the e-book to fill in your answers to the discussion questions, most computers will allow you to type your answers directly into the PDF. (Note: interactive questions may not work on some mobile devices.)
• Charts and graphs. We've included some tongue-in-cheek charts at the end of each chapter to help show all the ways in which Jesus was the greatest Outlier* who ever lived.
• Just add community. The e-book was written and published with our LifeGroups in mind. If you're not in a LifeGroup, you'll miss a lot of what the series and e-book has to offer. If you'd like to sign up for a LifeGroup, do that here.

[button label="Ready? Download the e-book here" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Outlier_Ebook_Final_Version_Transparent.pdf" shape="default"]

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Text Us Any Question About Jesus

On March 10, we'll take a break from Galatians to study the life of Jesus for 4 weeks leading up to Easter Sunday, in a series called Outlier. Here's the question we're seeking to answer: how did a middle-eastern homeless man undeniably alter human history? The life of Jesus was fairly simple; he never married, never had kids, never wrote a book, and never traveled more than a few hundred miles from his hometown. Yet somehow, he has influenced, impacted and changed the course of history forever. Jesus is an outlier; a simple man with seemingly disproportional influence. Regardless of what you personally believe about him, his impact on the world is unmatched by any other figure in history.

We'll take the series to study four different aspects of Jesus life:

• He came.
• He lived.
• He died.
• He rose.

Our desire in this series is to be as helpful as possible. We won't just talk about Jesus theologically, but also historically. Who do people say Jesus is? Who did Jesus say he is? Who do you say he is?

Which leads us to ask you: what questions do you have about Jesus? What have you been dying to know about Jesus but never wanted to ask? Do you have questions about his virgin birth? Do you have questions about his life and ministry? Do you have questions about his relationship with his disciples or how he interacted with women he was friends with? Do you want to know what he looked like? Do you have questions about the reliability of scripture that mentions him?

We assure you, no question is off-limits, and we'll take time to answer as many as we can during the series.

Here's how to text in your questions:

Text OUTLIER followed by your question, to the number 411-247.

Celebrate, Pray, & Move to Main

Well, that didn’t take long. Last June we met for the first time in our new Devine Street Campus.  We were able to fit 300 seats in the building, an improvement to the 215 seats in the auditorium at the our former location, the State Museum. In seven short months, we are already out of space at Devine Street.

On January 27 we had 850 total people in attendance at our Devine Street Campus alone, with only 900 total seats. The 11:15 Gathering was especially full and our Host Team had to pull out extra chairs to try and accommodate everyone.

In light of this, we’d like to ask you to do a few things:

1. Celebrate. We love what Jesus is doing in our church family so I am grateful that more people want to get involved. God has been really good to us as a church and we want to continue to celebrate together.
2. Pray. It looks like our stay in our current Devine Street facilities won’t be for as long as we had anticipated. We are already looking for other spaces to host our Gatherings. But as you know, finding locations to accommodate our Gatherings at an affordable price has always been a challenge for us. Will you pray about this for our church, as God reminds you?
3. Consider attending Main Street. We'd like to invite those of you who have been at Devine Street to consider hopping over to our Main Street campus. We know the 5:00pm Gathering time won’t work for some people, but if you can make it work it would be very helpful. You would be opening up a seat at Devine Street for someone new and Main Street has some seats available right now. Additionally, Main Street has the capacity to expand to two Gatherings if necessary, whereas Devine Street is at capacity Devine Street with hosting 3 Gatherings already. Two gatherings at Main Street would give us 800 seats there to go along with 900 seats at Devine. Strategically, switching to Main Street would be a small move with missional implications, since it would be opening up seats at more ideal times for new people. Would you and your family consider shifting over to Main Street?

Most importantly, we speak for all of our pastors when we say that we love you guys and it is an honor to be church family with you. Thanks for all you do to lift up Jesus in Columbia.

Transitions Super Bowl Party | A Photo Essay

What do pizza, a life-sized game of Jenga, cheese balls, a dance party, animal crackers, football, and ping-pong all have in common? That's easy. Our Transitions Super Bowl Party. For the Super Bowl, we encouraged our church family to choose one of three options: 1.) To HOST a Super Bowl Party  2.) To GO to a Super Bowl Party 3.) To help Midtown THROW a Super Bowl Party at Transitions for people transitioning out of homelessness.

We wanted to give you a glimpse of how our Super Bowl Party went at Transitions. We were so encouraged to see so many volunteers come out and help us throw a party that will not easily be forgotten by the Transitions community.

We would like to truly thank all of the people that had a part in making this event special. It is awesome to see our church family eagerly serving because they have been loved by Jesus. Want to tell us about your Super Bowl party or post some photos? Head over to our Facebook page.

Here is a video and some photos to recap the event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nac5wja7iVk

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Kidtown Open House | A Photo Essay

At our church, we're passionate about shepherding children well. Kidtown, our children's ministry, does far more than just providing childcare during our Gatherings. At Kidtown, your kids learn about Jesus and his plan for their lives in all kinds of kid-friendly ways. Last night, we had our first Kidtown Open House. It was encouraging to see all the smiling kids and families in our church gather together to share a meal and hear our vision for Kidtown for the upcoming year. We decorated our Devine Street Campus specifically for the occasion full of Kidtown colors, balloons, bean bags, couches, and tables. Parents had a chance to meet all our Kidtown volunteers, check out the Kidtown facilities, and ask any questions for the upcoming year.

Below are some photos from the event.

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Our Super Bowl Plans

As you may or may not have heard, we will not be hosting any evening Gatherings on Sunday, February 3 because of the Super Bowl. We do this in order to remind ourselves that church is more than a service you attend, and to give everyone an opportunity to live on mission during the big game. So this Sunday, attend either our 9:00am or 11:15am Gathering at Devine Street, and then choose one of the following:

1. HOST a Super Bowl party. The bible is clear that Christians should be the most hospitable people on earth in light of the fact that Jesus welcomed all of us into his family (Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9; Romans 15:7). The Super Bowl is one of the easiest times of year to be hospitable, since so many people watch it already. Buy some good food and drinks, get some friends to come and do the same, turn on the TV, and invite people to your house for the game.
2. GO to a Super Bowl party. Jesus was big on going to parties. He was in attendance in so many parties that he was known as the man who "came eating and drinking" with people. Imitate Jesus and go to a Superbowl party (preferably one you were actually invited to).
3. THROW a Super Bowl party with us. For the past two years, we've helped our friends at Transitions throw a Super Bowl party for people in Columbia transitioning out of homelessness. If you have a servant heart, love meeting new people, and love partying, help us throw the party. We'll need people to help set-up, play games, get loud, and get to know the people there. Find out more and sign up to help here.

Whatever you do, don't attend our 5:00pm Gathering at Main Street or our 7:00pm Gathering at Devine Street, because you'll be alone.

Leader Meeting | A Photo Essay

This past Thursday, we had a ton of fun at the Leader Meeting. At Leader Meetings, we get to coach, train, encourage, and love on our LifeGroup leaders, who are on the front lines of ministry in our church family. Those who got there early enjoyed a Bluegrass concert complete with Cracker Jacks, MoonPies, and glass-bottled sodas.

Here are a few photos from the event.

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Playing Hooky from the Gathering: 3 Reasons Casual Isn't Cool

Meet Lazy Lawrence. Lawrence is like some Midtown folks in that he attends the Gathering, at best, once or twice a month. Lazy Lawrence is fine with his attendance record. “Besides,” he thinks, “church isn’t all about Sundays anyway. So why does it matter if I come every Sunday or not?” Unfortunately, Lawrence is unaware of a few problems with his mentality. We thought we’d take a moment to point them out:

1. Using good theology to encourage lazy methodology is bad theology. Lawrence is right in thinking that church is more than what happens on Sunday, but wrong in thinking that gives him license to be lazy and avoid something that scripture tells us is important.
2. Shortchanging and confusing your family. Lazy Lawrence is sending extremely mixed signals to his kids. While he prays before meals and tells his kids that Jesus came to save them from their sins, his lackluster desire to even show up to the Gathering makes them wonder how important this Jesus guy is. “Besides,” they think, “if Jesus isn’t important enough to get out of bed for on Sundays, is he really that important at all?”
3. Sunday apathy usually isn’t alone. If Lawrence isn’t at least excited enough  about Jesus to show up and worship with church family, chances are he’s actually not that excited about Jesus period. Usually people who can’t give an hour and a half a week on Sundays have an even harder time leveraging their entire lives for the gospel.

But in all seriousness, the gospel sets us free from all kinds of things. Not the least of them is apathy and laziness. Because Jesus endured the cross for us, we can put our big boy and big girl pants on, take off the old self, put to death apathy and laziness, attend Gatherings, and get excited about Jesus, all out of gratitude for what he’s done for us.

Study Galatians With Your LifeGroup

As always, the best way to get the most out of any sermon series is to study it and discuss it with your LifeGroup. So throughout the series, we'll post Discussion Guides to help you and your LifeGroup talk through the series. Ready to learn about Galatians with your LifeGroup?

[button label="Download Weeks 1-4 here" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Gal_Discussion_1s.pdf" shape="default"]

[button label="Download Weeks 5-8 here" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/GAL_5-8_2.pdf" shape="default"]

[button label="Download Weeks 9-10 here" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Galatians_DiscussionGuide_9_10.pdf" shape="default"]

[button label="Download Weeks 11-12 here" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Galatians-Discussion-Guide-11-12.pdf" shape="default"]

[button label="Download Weeks 13-14 here" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Galatians-Discussion-Guide-13-14.pdf" shape="default"]

[button label="Download Weeks 15-16 here" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Weeks15-16.pdf" shape="default"]

Columbia Christmas Greatness

The Christmas season is here! In case you are looking for great Christmas-themed activities to do, and since we are a church that loves our city, we thought we would highlight 5 great Christmas things to do around Columbia.

1. Lights at the Zoo.  Every Christmas for the past 25 years, Riverbanks Zoo sets up Christmas lights all over the premises.  More information here: http://www.riverbanks.org/events/lights-before-christmas.shtml
2. Saluda River Lights. If walking through the zoo sounds too cold, the Saluda Shoals Park is another great place to go see  some Christmas lights from the comfort of your own car. They have over a million Christmas lights with over 400 animated themes within a 2-mile drive.  More information here: http://www.icrc.net/events/holiday-lights.aspx
3. Ice Skating. Nothing says "Tis the season" like skating on a giant block of ice. Columbia now has its first outdoor ice skating rink on Main Steet that is 50' x 63'.  More information on dates and times of operation can be found here: http://www.columbiacvb.com/includes/events/index.cfm?action=displayDetail&eventid=11367
4. Devine Night Out. More than 40 stores on Devine Street in Columbia will welcome guests from 5 to 8 p.m. on December 13^th for an evening of shopping, socializing and festive cheer. The celebrations continue from 8 to 10 p.m. with a fabulous FREE After Party at Burger Tavern 77 featuring live entertainment and an assortment of complimentary food and beverages. More information can be found here: http://devinestreetcolumbiasc.com/news_and_events/news/39/
5. |giv| Allen-Benedict. No Christmas is complete without Midtown's |giv| campaign. This year we are rallying towards a local, here-in-Columbia project. We are going to give our prayers, financial support, and even ourselves to be behind a launch of  a new campus right in the Allen-Benedict Area. More information can be found here: http://midtowncolumbia.com/allen-benedict-campus/

Why We Take a Break at Christmas

As long as we've been a church, we haven't hosted Gatherings on the weeks around Christmas and New Years. Since this is different than what many churches do, we thought it might be helpful to explain why.

1. Church is more than what happens on Sundays.

The bible is clear that church is a group of people, not a service on Sunday. While meeting together is important, it is not the main way church is practiced. So when we don't have Gatherings for two weeks, it doesn't mean we're not "having church." It simply means that during those two weeks, our church will not all be meeting together in a building.

2. Rest and family time is important for our staff.

Not having Gatherings for two weeks helps enable our church staff and pastors to take time off to rest and be with family. This helps our staff and pastors be good leaders to their family, in addition to good leaders of our church. In addition, the bible tells us that resting is a good way of reminding ourselves that it is ultimately God who holds things together, not us. For our staff, resting is important so that we remember that God is ultimately the one who leads his Church.

3. Christmas is a great time for mission.

Christmas is arguably the time of year that boasts the most parties and get-togethers. Take the time you would have spent at a Gathering and/or serving with Midtown, and attend/throw a party instead. Show the love and hospitality of Jesus by enjoying time, company, and food with your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors.

We will have no Gatherings at either campus on December 23 and December 30. Gatherings will resume on January 6, with the exception of the Devine Street 7:00pm Gathering, which will resume on January 13. For details about our holiday Gathering schedule, visit our calendar or Gathering page.

Baptism Gathering | Fall 2012 | A Photo Essay

This past Sunday we hosted our Baptism Gathering at the Fairgrounds. We had hundreds of people from our church family come and celebrate what Jesus has done in the lives of 19 people. Here are a few photos from the event.  

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3 Reasons to Apply for the Midtown Residency Program

1. Get equipped for vocational ministry and/or church planting.

This is the perfect opportunity if you want to get hands on ministry experience.  The Midtown Residency is designed to give you a firsthand look at what vocational ministry looks like. Not only will you get to work with pastors on a daily basis but also be given responsibilities of oversight that you wouldn't be able to experience as a volunteer.

If God has called you to church planting, we want to design your job description to best equip you.  Giving you exposure to teaching, groups strategy, and pastoral care issues are a few tools to have you equipped with while you are preparing to launch a church plant.

2. Get real life experience to help with job interviews.

One of the most common complaints we hear from recent graduates is this:

 “Employers are only hiring people with experience.  How do I get experience if no one will hire me?

Even if you don’t want to be in vocational ministry, the Residency Program is still very applicable.  The Residency is not a camp; it is actual work experience with high expectations.  We are very selective in our interview and application process and we expect a lot from our residents.  The benefit for this is once the Residency is over, you have actual real world work experience that you can draw from while you are interviewing for future job endeavors.

We will also be a good source to give resounding recommendations, and are willing to help with our network of relationships to help with job searches when possible.

3. Grow spiritually.

The Residency is just as focused on giving you ministry experience as it is developing you as a person.

In addition to your job description, you will also be a part of a once a week Life & Leadership Residency Class. The curriculum is taught by our pastors and is designed to develop you in your life and character in addition to giving you doctrinal foundation and leadership development instructions.

We want residents to be better prepared to be leaders in their LifeGroups, communities, and households.  The training that you will receive will impact your ability to lead people that God has entrusted you with for the rest of your life.

If you are interested in this program at all, we hope that you’ll fill out an application.  From there, we do a couple interviews where we help you figure out if this is a good fit, taking into account your life circumstances. By just filling out an application, you are not committing to anything and can continue to decide if this is what Jesus wants you to do.

The deadline to fill them out is December 1^st.

[button label="Ready to apply? Click here" link="http://www.midtownres.com" shape="default"]

Sermon Recap | The Most Important Day of Your Marriage

For those of you who missed the sermon on Sunday, or couldn't get enough of the sermon on Sunday, here's a recap of the sermon, "The Most Important Day of Your Marriage." This sermon is the final part of our series, A Marriage You'd Actually Want. Tweetables

"Everyone thinks about the first day of marriage, but nobody thinks about the last day." http://ow.ly/f6wyK

"Every marriage ends. The question is 'how will it end?' What will be the legacy of your marriage?"http://ow.ly/f6wI7

"Marriage is temporary. It is a symbol of something that will exist fully in heaven." http://ow.ly/f6xol

"Marriage is a shadow. It points to something better and more real than itself." http://ow.ly/f6wSx

"The marriage of Christ to his Church is ultimately the marriage that we'd all actually want."http://ow.ly/f6xZb

"Don't waste your marriage. Don't spend it all thinking that it's all about you and your spouse. It's not." http://ow.ly/f6y91

Listen to the Sermon

Want to listen to the sermon? Check the links below:

[button label="Download Devine Street Audio" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/sermons/11112012_Devine_Adam.mp3" shape="default"]

[button label="Download Main Street Audio" link="http://midtowncolumbia.com/wp-content/uploads/sermons/11112012_Main_Luda.mp3" shape="default"]

Leader Meeting | A Photo Essay

This past Thursday, we had a ton of fun at the Leader Meeting for our LifeGroup Leaders. For those who got there early, they got to enjoy a homemade dessert party. The night was filled with stories, laughs, challenges, encouragement, and prayer. Here are a few photos from the event.

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