Nathan Neighbors
Follower of Christ, Husband, Father, & Youth Pastor
In less than two weeks we’ll be having another great 5th Quarter at Morningside. This year we’ll be hosting the 5th Quarter in the newly renovated Youth Room with a special concert by recording artist and worship leader, Laura Story. There will be games and free food in the Welcome Center starting at 10pm and the concert will begin upstairs in the youth room at 11pm. We still need volunteers to chaperon and supply desserts for the event as well as help set up and clean up. If you’re a parent who wants to help, or just a church member who would like to lend a hand – please let me know. This will be a great outreach to the students in our area after high school football games.
It’s the end of a long and wonderful day in the middle of a busy week. It started at 6:00am after only getting about five hours of sleep because I slept in the guest room (a sick two year old was sleeping in my bed). By 6:45am I was out the door with 150 donuts and tons of bottled water to give out at Spartanburg High School’s “See You at the Pole.” I stood and watched dozens of students (including six of our mside students) singing, worshiping, and praying with their friends and teachers. It was a great site to see.
After See You at the Pole I helped get Anderson to school and then jumped into a busy day at the church preparing for Ignite and the upcoming weekend services. Wednesdays are usually really hectic because of Ignite and because I’m trying to get it all done before my day off on Thursdays. Lately I’ve been intentional about taking a few hours on Wednesday afternoon to get away from the church and spend quiet time praying and preparing the message for Ignite. It’s been good for me to get away from the things that cloud my head and the busy work so that I can focus on the message I’m trying to communicate that night at Ignite.
The day ended with our third Ignite service and a band rehearsal. What a day! It was a great one. It reminds me of the old song that says, “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” Lincoln Brewster has a new version of those lyrics called “Today is the Day”. It rocks – check it out sometime in stores or on iTunes.
Yesterday we had a great experience as a family. Ashley and I had the opportunity to take the boys to see the Gamecocks play Wofford at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia. I’ve been going with Ashley and her family to USC home games for about fifteen years now and we’ve taken each of the boys to a game or two when they were babies. Yesterday, however, was the first time we’ve take them both together. It was a great day. They boys loved the game and especially the fireworks after each touchdown that Carolina made. Unfortunately, they didn’t get to see fireworks too often (ha ha). Anderson was in awe of the crowd, the band, and the football team – while Ellis was covering his ears and scared to death of the noise. After they finished off the largest bag of cotton candy imaginable (that cost more than a gallon of gas) we took them down to the student section to see Cocky. Once again, Anderson had fun and Ellis screamed his head off as you can tell from the picture. All the way back to our seats Ellis said, “Cocky touched my jacket…and I didn’t like it.” It was a good night, and a fairly good win against the Terriers. After a long day the boys were asleep in their car seats before we got out of the parking lot. It’s days like this that make me love being a dad and having such wonderful little boys and an awesome wife. Go Gamecocks!
Nathan Neighbors 