Northstar Church, Satillo, MS, is kind of like the mother ship of church plants in the northeast Mississippi area. I don’t know if they were the first to plant a “more contemporary” church in this area, but they probably have drawn the most attention. Northstar was the church I visited yesterday. This visit was not my first time. I’ve been there quite a few times. I’m drawn to them and their model of a worship service. Of couse, there’s much more to Northstar Church than their Sunday morning worship service. But, for this post, I’ll give you a rundown on that part of the church, the worship service.

Northstar works hard to make contact with everyone, even before they get in the building. When you pull into the very ample parking lot, there are church volunteers there to assist you in parking.

The building you are about to enter is a large metal building. From the outside it may appear to you as a small industrial factory. But your view will change rather quickly once you get inside. And to get there, you’ll have to pass at least one person greeting you outside the door and at least one other inside the door. You enter into the intersection of two long wide comfortable halls. They are painted with colors that are ward and colorful. If you turn down the right hand hall, you walk into the large children’s section of the building. The hall takes another right after a short walk and you’re on what appears to be a street. This area is where the children’s rooms are, from the nursery all the way up to thepre-teens. Each room has a sign and the outside is painted to resemble some type of Main St building. It’s very nice. It’s also a secure place, where children are registered. Their parents are given cards that correspond to thier children. If there’s a need for the parent later, that card number is displayed on the video screen. Good working system.

If, at your initial entrance, you walked down the hall straight in front of you, you would pass two doors into the worship area, with a video display of the churches baptism rolling on a TV. And once you get to the end of the hall, there’s a coffee shop, with, of course, coffee, soft drinks, donuts, and other pasteries. You’ll usually find at least one staff member here!

Walking back, you turn into the door and enter the worship area. The worship area is much larger than it would appear from the outside. The stage is on the south wall, and is very large, with plenty of room for the worship band. There are black curtains around the stage and two large video screens are mounted in from of them, one on either side. Recently, the church bought very nice comfortable chairs and they fill the room. By my guess, the room will seat 400+.

As the service time nears, the video screens display a countdown to the start of the service. That’s when the worship band Three Days Journey takes the stage. This is probably one of the finest worships bands around. They are all great players, and with a plus, you can tell they do love the Lord. On this day, they opened with that ole timeless tune, Who Says You Can’t Go Home, by BonJovi. Charles Wesley may not have written it, but it did focus on the theme of the whole service, going home. The band played several songs before bowing out to Michael Bowyer (sp?) the speaker for the service. The regular speaker, Terry Ledbetter was on vacation. Michael is on staff at Northstart and very capable in his teaching. But before Michael started, there was a video montage playing, back by the song Home by Daughtry, another secular song used to emphasize again the point of the service, going home.

Michael’s message came from Luke 15, The Prodical Son. Michael emphazied the downhill spiral of the younger son, his coming to his senses, and returning to His Father. The Father threw a party to honor the son, who once was dead, was now alive again. That was the point for all, no matter how far you’ve gone, God is always waiting. You can always go home.