• What can I say? It felt great to be back today! I LOVE OUR CHURCH!! I love the worship and music at NHC...I love just hanging around our people...I love the way new people react...I love it that people get saved at NHC...I love it that prodigals come back because NHC is so much different from anything they've ever experienced in a church...I love the people I work shoulder to shoulder with...I love our volunteers and leaders...(OK, I guess you get the picture, huh?)
• Felt like I preached my guts out today. I've had this message ready for about 2 weeks now and it's just been simmering inside me for that long. So it was ready to come out today. Hope I didn't blow you away! If you missed being with us today check out the podcast here.
• BIG VISION - 5000 people...5 locations...500 leaders...500 new people this fall!! (If you don't know what I'm talking about listen to the podcast!)
• If you're praying about becoming one of the 500, be sure to pick up a Personal Strengths Survey. It's a self-guided survey that will help you to determine where God has gifted you and prepared to you to serve best. They're available at Guest Central and they'll also be available on-line later this week. Check the NHC E-News for a link this week.
• Man, Gary and the band were rockin' today! I love Everybody Praise The Lord. That is one fine, foot-stompin' praise song! Then, they did my favorite Steve Fee song, Burn For You. Great stuff!
• We did a little preview of the new website development today. We had some video glitches, but both services got to see the welcome video that will be posted on the new site. It's still in development but should be up and on the web in a few more weeks. Keep watching www.newhorizonchurch.tv.
• Speaking of video glitches, we're experiencing some real "issues" with some of our video production equipment. Our Tech Team is doing a great job of working with what they have, but we need some serious upgrades and replacements in the video room. Pray that God will meet this need for us!
• Next Sunday will be another rockin' day as we record our first live worship CD at NHC! The band will be doing a couple of extra songs for the CD, but I'll still be preaching and we'll do communion at the end of the service. Don't miss it!
• Started watching the HBO series, John Adams, on DVD this weekend. Awesome!! Highly recommended viewing for July 4th week.
• My girls have been gone for almost a week now, but it seems like a year! Lexi and I are lonesome! She sits and looks at me and whines. I'm not whining yet, but I will be in another week!
Another viewing recommendation for the week of July 4--especially if you don't have time for a whole miniseries--is 1776, a musical comedy about the founding of our nation. Despite being a comedy, its undertone is serious, and I get goosebumps every time I watch it. It started as a Broadway show in the early 1970s, leading up to the Bicentennial, and then was made into a movie. (Get the letterbox version if you can, as it was shot in widescreen.)
The writers went back to the newspapers, letters, and diaries of the time, and (despite having the characters burst into song at the slightest provocation) the dialogue is almost exactly true to what really happened. The comedy comes in because we so revere the Founders (and rightly so) that we forget that they were human beings, who argued with each other and missed their wives and knew that if their dream died so would they. (Early on, John Adams is having a conversation with God and sings, "If You don't want to see us hanging from some far-off British hill, then God--Sir--get Thee to it, for Congress never will!")
It's a long movie, parts of it unutterably sad and parts infuriating, but it never fails to move me to tears and gratitude.
Posted by: Loretta | June 30, 2008 at 06:45 AM
Dave - when you spoke of the blessing of not enough. It spoke to me so clearly and loudly, it was almost shouting at me. I am in the midst of making some changes in my life, and your service was a great confirmation for me to continue with these changes, no matter how hard they seem to be now, if I keep pressing on, I will see the fruits of my labors.
I will be praying for the next 50 days (and them some I'm sure) regarding the 500 leaders. I know God has something for me to do, I don't know if it is to be a leader, or if it is to be a prayer warrior and encourager for the leaders to be. Either way, I will stay in prayer for you and NHC as it continues to reach what is most precious to Jesus - the people!!
Posted by: Beth Nichols | June 30, 2008 at 05:40 AM
Dear Paster Dave,
My name is Tiffany Ekstrom. I am visiting my dad, David Ekstrom, from Connecticut. I have been to a few of your services before, but today's service I noticed something different. What I saw was a glow from you. It was like an ora that surronded you. Everytime you spoke you glowed stronger. Your passion for what you do made it glow to the fullest. And I don't mean to get personal, but when you talked about you daughter, and her passing your glow was off the charts. I can't evern describe the chills that I got. One other thing I wanted to say was when the church has multiple locations, your glow and passion will still be seen from a screen. I know this becasue that is how I found your glow, from watching the screen.
Tiffany:)
P.S.
Don't ever stop doing what you do, because you are pretty darn good at it.
Posted by: Tiffany | June 29, 2008 at 04:35 PM