Northside Baptist's pastor says 'taking people to God' is his job
CENTERVILLE -- "I guess I have a simple philosophy," Don Moncrief, pastor at Northside Baptist Church, said. "I want to lead people to God then let them worship him. Keeping it that simple usually works best."
Moncrief, who's in his second year as pastor at the church, said the philosophy comes from a biblical example and his own experience.
"When God called Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, he told Moses to take them to a certain spot to worship him," Moncrief said. "God promised he'd take care of them. I think my job is taking people to God whether it's in a conversation, sermon, wedding, funeral or whatever. That simplifies every action, every conversation."
Moncrief said he values appropriate counsel and Christian discipleship, but said he's seen from experience that offering his opinions rather than first pointing people to Jesus brings less than the best outcome.
His said his own experience helped him see what God can do once someone comes to him.
"What I love best about my life is I can't take credit for anything," he said. "God opened all the doors and enabled me to do what I've done. Growing up I got into drugs and had as black a heart as anyone could have. My mom got sick and my dad started taking us to church. I began hearing God's word but didn't do anything with it."
Moncrief grew up in Centerville and Warner Robins and graduated from Northside High School in 1977. He said a bad LSD trip brought terror into his life with ongoing nightly flashbacks that grew worse and worse.
"Finally -- and I know this sounds crazy, but it's what happened and I don't care how it sounds -- finally one night things were so bad the only thing I could do was cry out to God. When I did, I had a sense of God in the room holding back demons that were trying to torment me. That's the only way I can describe it. I turned my life over to the Lord."
He said the flashbacks didn't end immediately, but he would always cry out to God and sense his presence and protection. Eventually, the flashbacks stopped.
After high school, Moncrief said he started going to a church with his girlfriend, his wife-to-be. It was Northside Baptist. Northside had started in 1951 with 54 charter members in a house on Georgia Avenue. It relocated to Elmwood Street in 1958, then to Carl Vinson Parkway in 2001.
Moncrief said he had a job stocking groceries when his wife became pregnant. He decided to join the Air Force, and it led to a 20-year career. He said he'd like to say everything was perfect, but admits he backslid and wasn't walking closely to God. He said that changed after retiring in 2000 and returning to Warner Robins where he worked in various print and broadcast media, including stints at The Daily Sun as sports editor, The Houston Home Journal in sports and as managing editor and with other outlets.
"I read a column by Alline Kent in The Sun News in the mid-2000s, I guess, where she sort of gave her testimony," Moncrief said. "I thought, 'Yeah, I should write one like that,' but I did it in pride. It was the first time in a long time I'd honestly looked at my life. It really broke me remembering all God had done. I rededicated my life and asked him to use me any way he would."
Moncrief was soon contacted about being a deacon at Northside and got involved in children's ministry. He said he still has a great love for kids and the stories, plays, puppets and activities he helped develop.
"We created a lot of fun characters and our own superheroes, like the Incredible Sulk, Capt. Ameri-Kay, Sliderman, The Mighty Sore (Thor) and others," he said. "You've never seen anything quite like having a gruff, Jesus-loving, 60-year-old man dress up and play a lady character named Superm'am. But he got a real kick out of how kids respond and loved doing it."
Moncrief said the desire to reach out to others, inside or outside the church, is indicative of Northside. He said though members often berate themselves over the small role they can play in outreach and the Great Commission, the congregation's history indicates they've done more than many, including helping plant three other churches.
"We've got absolutely phenomenal people here," Moncrief said. "We're senior heavy, but we reach out and do things to serve children, young people, young families, everyone. It's our heart to keep serving our neighborhood. We have young adult game nights, we offer coffee and Wi-Fi and conversation, or just a quiet spot to sit, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings for about an hour at 8, we have a clothes ministry and keep a strong children's program, including Awana and our own Kingdom Explorer program on Sunday afternoons where kids go out hunting ink-stamps we've hidden in the community, kind of like geocaching. We have family movie nights and look for other opportunities to share God's love. You might say we're rebuilding as a church but we're always trying to build God's kingdom, always pointing people to Christ. The church isn't about any one person or a pastor, I'm just an example of what God can do."
In addition to pastoring, Moncrief also heads the American Federation of Government Employee Local 987's newspaper, The Union Advocate.
Contact Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.
Northside Baptist Church
Address: 1013 Carl Vinson Parkway, Centerville, Ga.
Leadership: Don Moncrief
Worship: Sunday school 9:45 a.m., worship 11 a.m., Wednesday Bible 6:30 p.m.
Phone: (478) 923-9892
Website: www.northsidebcga.org
This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Northside Baptist's pastor says 'taking people to God' is his job ."