Detailed information is contained in the Facilities Use Policies and Guidelines (requires site password), but the short answer is that it is primarily for ministry activities of Southside Bible Church.

Wedding and Funeral use is for those who attend Southside or where ministers of the church are acting as officiants.  The facility is not considered a public chapel, for general use, at this time.  The church Elder board can make exceptions for specific situations.

It is not open to community clubs, business or personal use, or other non-ministry activities. We do not have the resources to extend the use to other groups at this time.

Yes! We use highly experienced payment processors who are both PCI (Payment Card Industry) Level -1 compliant (the highest level). All transactions are handled on our vendor's secure payment pages via secure web servers. No credit card or banking data is handled or stored on our website.

We use Vanco Services as our primary provider for donations. They have been working in the payment processing realm for over 20 years. They work with over 10,000 non-profits and many other organizations.

Our second provider is Paypal. They are internationally known for work with over 100 million individuals, vendors, and businesses. We use Paypal as our primary vendor for registration, web store payment, and for international donations.

We offer several options for giving to Southside Bible Church.

First, you can use our website online giving to set up one time or recurring donations.

These can be from credit or debit cards or from your checking or savings account at your bank. Unless otherwise noted these are good for US credit cards and banks only. We have other provisions for international donations.

Second, you can fill out an authorization form and send it to us and we can set up one time or recurring payments as above.

Third, you can mail checks (US banks) to our donation address (see To Donate by Mail, above or on the Online Giving page).

Yes, you will receive a confirmation email for your one time donations. If you have signed up for recurring donations (user profile is required for recurring donations) you will see these appear in your banking statement or credit card statement.

At the end of the year you will receive a giving statement from Southside with the donations listed.

If you would like to track your giving record during the calendar year, you need to create an online profile with Vanco, who processes all of our donations. This cannot be done through the Southside website.

For the donor it costs nothing.

For Southside we pay what would be paid by a vendor to process credit/debit cards or electronic checks.

We will often provide an option for you to help offset these processing fees as part of your donation process if you pay via credit or debit card. The fees are tax deductible for you, but they help us put all of your donation to work for ministry instead of having to use part of it for these administrative fees.

The lowest cost method of payment is electronic check/savings transfers. We pay a small flat fee regardless of the donation amount instead of a percentage of the donation amount for credit/debit cards.

If you have established an online giving profile with Vanco you can change or stop your donations from the Vanco donation page after you sign into your profile.

If you signed up via a paper authorization form you can notify the church, and we can change or stop the donation process for you.

Send your request to giving@southsidebible.org.

Both the baby nursery and the toddler nursery are open and available during the worship hour. We do ask that parents pick up their children promptly following the service to relieve the workers and allow them to fellowship.

Both nurseries are available for use during special events held at the church (e.g. weddings, funerals, Bible study, etc.). The nursery coordinator must be contacted first to explain guidelines and procedures and to answer any questions.

We have a strict sick policy in order to ensure a healthy environment for your children. We do not allow children that are sick into the nursery.

Being sick includes, but is not limited to, a fever, cough, diarrhea, or runny nose (clear or green). We will alert the parents if a child is OK during check-in, but develops symptoms during their stay.

If your child has a runny nose or cough due to allergies and you know your child is not sick, they may remain in the nursery.

At Southside we have a Child Abuse Prevention Policy in place. This is primarily for legal purposes, since we are careful to screen our volunteers during the application process. As a result, the policy requires that there are always two adults in the room, and an adult is never alone with a child, even during bathroom visits.

Only women are allowed to change diapers and accompany children to the bathroom. Men are allowed to work only in the toddler nursery, and only if they are serving with their wives.

We put a lot of effort into ensuring a clean, safe environment for your children. We have a strict sick policy (see previous question) to keep sickness away from the children. We routinely clean and disinfect the toys. Bedding sheets are changed between babies. The diaper changing station is kept clean and gloves are used when changing diapers or cleaning up accidents. Workers routinely use antibacterial hand gel and washing hands. Also, the rooms are cleaned weekly (including door handles!)

Toddlers are required to wash hands or use hand gel before snack time. Sippy cups are labeled with your child’s name to discourage “sharing”. We do serve snacks, so please inform us of any dietary restrictions your child has.

However, even with all of our efforts, kids still get sick. Whenever kids interact with each other, whether inside or outside the nursery, the risk of contracting a virus is higher than adults.

The nursery is closed to children after all of the parents have picked up their children and the workers have left.

The nursery remains open to moms nursing and changing diapers, etc.

The children in the baby nursery enjoy playtime with the other children and playing or reading books with the adults. In the toddler room, there is a short, Christ-centered teaching time where the children learn about biblical events; learning lessons about God and about themselves.

Workers in both nurseries continually encourage the children with biblical principles when instructing the children and their interactions with each other.

The baby nursery accepts children from birth to 2 years old.
The toddler nursery is for children 2-4 years old.

Please notify the nursery workers on duty about your child’s specific needs. Also make a note on the sign-in sheet for them to reference. We do serve snacks in both nurseries, so check with the workers if you have concerns about allergies, etc.

If there are health needs that the workers feel they cannot handle safely, they will notify the parents.

Regarding sickness, we have a strict sick policy in order to ensure a healthy environment (refer to previous two questions).

We use a three-part child I.D. system. When you check in your child, you will receive an animal tag for your child with his/her name, as well as matching tags for their belongings and a wristband for the parent/ guardian. You must have your animal wristband when picking up your child, or else you will have to show picture I.D. to identify yourself. Only parents/ guardians can pick up the children. They will not be released to siblings or friends.

We attempt to maintain order and structure with a quiet and controlled atmosphere. However, occasionally a child displays behavioral problems that affect the other children, such as hitting or biting. We address these issues by gently correcting the child using biblical instruction and removing them from the situation. Nursery workers will keep special attention to those children. If the problem persists, parents may be notified in order to ensure the safety of the other children.

At Southside we have a Child Abuse Prevention Policy in place. This is primarily for legal purposes, since we are careful to screen our volunteers during the application process. As a result, the policy requires that there are always two adults in the room, and an adult is never alone with a child, even during bathroom visits. Only women are allowed to change diapers and accompany children to the bathroom. Men are allowed to work only in the toddler nursery, and only if they are serving with their wives.

Adjoining the baby nursery is a separate room for sleeping babies and nursing moms. Any nursing mom, regardless of whether their child uses the nursery services, may use this room.

This room can only be accessed through the baby nursery in order to ensure the safety of sleeping babies. The room does have a door to the hallway for fire safety purposes, but this door remains locked from the inside during church hours.

Please do not hesitate to talk to the nursery coordinator or an elder about any questions or problems that arise. We are here to serve you and allow you to worship God and study His Word unhindered.

Volunteers must have attended Southside Bible Church for at least 6 months. We welcome youth volunteers as well, as long as they are at least 12 years of age.

In order to work with children at Southside, a volunteer application must be submitted. As part of the application, adult workers must sign a consent form for a background check for legal purposes, as well as provide references. Contact the nursery coordinator or an elder to receive an application.

Volunteers are needed for both Sunday School and the worship service. Sunday School workers serve approximately once every month and the rotation for worship service workers is every 5-6 weeks.

Men are welcome to serve in the toddler nursery (not with the babies) if they are serving with their wife. Youth boys, although great with the kids, are not allowed to volunteer in order to ensure the privacy of the children and nursing moms. Children or friends of volunteers are not allowed to serve in the nursery with the scheduled workers without prior authorization.

That's OK! You can switch dates with anyone on the schedule, as long as it's an adult for an adult, or youth for a youth.

The easiest way to do this is through the online sign up form that you can access on the website. From the homepage, go to Serve/ The Body/ Volunteer Schedules/ Nursery Workers. Anyone can view the schedule from here, but you must have a SignUp Genius account in order to swap dates online. (Your account can be accessed from the sign up form). In order to request a swap, login, then go to your scheduled date and hit the "swap" button. Follow the prompts to find a new date that works for you. SignUp Genius will then email the person that is scheduled for that date to request a switch.

You may also contact other workers by phone to request a switch. Please notify the nursery coordinator if a switch is made by phone so she can change the online schedule.  A paper copy of the schedule is kept in each nursery, as well as on the bulletin board outside the baby nursery.

If you are a volunteer who is expecting a baby, we will remove you from the schedule for 1 month prior to your due date as well as 3 months of "maternity leave" afterwards, or longer if requested.

During our Bible study time we have classes for all ages, as well as a safe and cheerful nursery.

During the worship service we have nursery for children up to age 4. We encourage parents to have their older children with them during the worship service so the children may learn by watching.

We know that young children can be challenging to sit through the worship time so we have several areas, described below, which make it easier to train them.

Some Other Options -- Connected to our main worship area we have a “training room” (aka, cry room) with a glass window, which allows parents to watch, hear, and participate in the worship service while still having a little more freedom to easily attend their children.

We also have an overflow area which has audio and video feeds which also enable parents to participate in worship and to more easily attend to children. It is not a play area, but an extension of our worship area.

Our music combines the best aspects of more traditional hymns and newer works of our time. It is both joyful and reverent. We pay particular attention to the words of the songs. We use a variety of instruments to help in worship.

Each week the mixture of song type and style, along with instrumentation varies. It can range from all hymns one week to all contemporary the next. Typically, it is a mixture of both.

Though many equate music to worship in our culture, music is just one of the means by which we worship our God.

We desire the music to be profitable and edifying to our congregation, but most importantly glorifying to God.

We believe that God is much more concerned with your heart than your outward appearance. That being said, we want you to be comfortable. Most of our people wear business casual. However, we have people in their “Sunday best” and people wearing jeans and tee shirts.

We want you to feel comfortable to come as you are. Our desire is to draw attention to God, not ourselves.