Dave Bowman

Redemption

Oh yeah, it's coming back better than ever! Watch the trailer here!

Props!!

Serious props go out today to Leah Rade, our Community Pastor, and Rob Holzknecht, our Care & Membership Director! Over the last 2 days they have processed names and information on almost 150 new volunteers from this past Sunday’s service.

And that’s not all that’s been going on over in the Community Ministries neck of the woods. In the last month-and-a-half Leah and Rob and their teams have:

• Hosted a successful Grouplink which launched 12 new groups and linked 70 new people to groups

• Trained and released 10 new Community Group coaches and 7 more Community Group hosts who are ready to start new groups

• Laid behind-the-scenes groundwork for crisis ministries and recovery ministries

• Kicked off a new round of DivorceCare (DivorceCare for kids is coming soon too!)

• Launched a new Volunteer Placement team

• Coached 10 families to take steps towards financial health after attending the last Finding Financial Freedom seminar

• Established an assimilation process to help guests take Next Steps towards encountering God and engaging in community

Wow! That’s a TON of ministry going on! The next time you see Leah or Rob in the lobby or the hallway, give them a big pat on the back. They deserve it!

Sunday Mind Dump

• Lots of new folks turning in Strategic Serving team info cards today! If you turned in a card today be sure to log onto the link you’ll receive and take the Strengths Survey.

• If you weren’t at NHC today, let me sum it up in a few words – WE NEED YOU TO JOIN A SERVING TEAM!! Really, if we’re going to reach 500 new people this fall we need all hands on deck. If you’re interested in helping out just go here and fill out a Strengths Survey. The info will be forwarded to our Community ministries team and they’ll hook you up with the right Strategic Serving team.

• We made some seating changes in the auditorium today that really helped create some new energy in the room. First, we split up the rows to create more aisle space. Why? Because people like to sit close to an aisle and they don’t like to sit in the middle of a long row. Second, we controlled the seating flow a little more today. Our Welcome team was directing people more, which led to a more even distribution of our seating. Overall, the room felt a whole lot better.

• 3 WEEKS TILL OUR NEW SERVICE SCHEDULE!!

• Have you considered shifting to Saturday night? We need some of you, especially in the second service, to make a missionary move to Saturday night.

• Speaking of Saturday night, we’re going to do a Grand Opening for the Saturday night service. Lots of fun and special things on the first Saturday night! So, invite your friends to SNL at NHC!

• The new nursery area in what used to be our office wing is up and officially running. The hallway got painted Uhambo green this week and there were lots of parents and kids in and out today. I love it!

• Duke is now 2-1! Whoo-hoo!! Granted it was Navy, but hey, we have to take whatever we can get. I might have to become a college football fan after all.

Sunday Preview

I just thought I'd give you a little preview of what you might see this Sunday at the beginning of the service. (NOT!!!) Remember, GET HERE 5 MINUTES EARLY AND FILL THE FRONT!

Today I Remember

Today I remember what happened 7 years ago. When I first heard the news I remember thinking, “It was probably some small plane that was off course.” I remember the disbelief that swept over me when I saw the Twin Towers in flames, and then a second plane coming out of nowhere.

I remember the feelings of helplessness when I heard that the Pentagon had been attacked and that there was another plane out there somewhere that just might be headed for the Capitol or the White House.

I remember how the sight of the Twin Towers tumbling down took my breath away. I remember wondering how many thousands of people just died right before my eyes.

I remember listening to President Bush reassure the nation and wondering what I would do if I were President. I remember thinking about my own leadership responsibilities as a pastor, and what I should do to help the people I was responsible for leading spiritually.

I remember lying in bed that night and not hearing any planes fly over heading into RDU. I remember how eerily quiet it seemed. I remember lying there wondering what might happen next. I remember thanking God that my family was safe.

Today I’ve chosen to take a few minutes out of my day to remember just how precious life and freedom is. I hope you’ll do the same.

3

3…it’s the number of services that NHC is moving to on the weekend of October 4,5. This past weekend gave us some insight into why we’re making this huge move. Our attendance last Sunday was the second highest of the year. Easter is the only day higher (so far!). We had more kids and students than we’ve ever had on a regular Sunday and at the end of each service dozens of people were making decisions to follow Jesus! I’m telling you, the lid is off at NHC and we’ve only seen the beginning!

So hang on and get ready to shift service times in just a few weeks. And would you consider making a missionary move to Saturday night? Free up some seats on Sunday for our guests!

This Sunday we’ll be in Part 2 of 5ive, and once again, you don’t want to miss the start of the service. If you’re not in your seat, you’ll miss out on a real surprise! 5 MINTUES EARLY AND FILL THE FRONT!

How To Pray

So far I have 113 that have joined the 5ive prayer team. I’m asking my team members to pray one hour every week for the next 4 weeks as we run up to our October outreach that begins October 4,5. If you haven’t heard or just haven’t signed up yet to join us in prayer, you can still do it here. I’d love to have you!

But if you just want to know how to pray, here are some suggestions:

• Pray for the new Saturday night service. There are so many things that need to be done in the next few weeks to get ready to launch our third service, especially when it comes to the details – parking…Uhambo, Club 56 and Spiked…musicians and singers…host teams…and the list goes on.

• Pray for our staff. They’re all putting in a lot of hours and will put in a lot more over the next few weeks. They’re working very hard to recruit new leaders to their teams and to gear up for the additional service and the people we will be adding.

• Pray for our volunteers. Our teams have some awesome folks who make things happen week after week by giving some of their most precious commodity – their time.

• Pray for financial needs to be met. God always seems to have a way to meet our needs when we’re taking risks for the kingdom and he has done that, but the main way ministry needs get met around here is just the weekly tithes of faithful NHC’ers.

• Pray for spiritual protection. To put it bluntly – the spiritual warfare is cranking up.

• Finally, pray for 500 people to have an encounter with God. That’s why we’re doing all this!

Trying To Be Mac-like Again

A recent leaked memo from Microsoft revealed their immediate business plan - try to be more like Mac. If this new Microsoft commercial is a revelation of what that looks like, I only have one word - LAME!

Sunday Rewind

It’s late and I’m tired, but here are a few thoughts before I get to bed…

• Glad today is over! Don’t get me wrong, it was a great day. But I’ve been sick since Wednesday and I still wasn’t 100% this morning. Got some kind of virus that I just can’t seem to shake off. But God showed up today in spite of me (he always does!).

• Today we’re kicked off the 5ive series. I said today that I’m going to ask you to pray, serve and invite like you’ve never done before. Get ready! If you missed today, check out the podcost or the video here.

• If you signed up to pray with me for the next 4 weeks – THANKS! I’m really excited about praying for 50 hours again, and I can’t wait to see what God does as we respond together to pray for a total of 500 hours for the 500 we’re trying to reach this fall! If you missed out on what I’m talking about, I’m asking for 125 people to join me by praying one hour per week (about 10 minutes a day) until the first weekend of October – 1 hour per week…4 weeks…125 people…that equals out to 500 total hours. If you’d like to join me but didn’t get signed up today, you can do an e-sign up here.

• We’re only 4 weeks out from the launch of our new service schedule – Saturday, 6:30 and Sunday at 9:30 & 11:30. If you come to the second service, would you please consider shifting to Saturday night on October 4th?

• Love the changes that are coming in our Uhambo Kids area and Club 56 and Spiked! Cathy and Adam and their teams are rockin’ and it’s just going to get better and better for our kids!

• Ready for fall TV season to kick in. I’ve really enjoyed some new summer series on the cable channels, particularly, Burn Notice and In Plain Sight. Great shows. But I’m ready for some new House, CSI Miami and Friday Night Lights.

• And even though the Blue Devils didn’t pull off 2 in a row, I’m still diggin’ this new coach! In the post-game interview he took responsibility for the loss saying it was his fault that they didn’t win a game they should have. Great leaders always point to the team when they win and at themselves when they lose.

• One last thought - who's your 5?

It's Urgent!

A few weeks ago I came in from the backyard after taking Lexi out for her “business.” I was headed up the stairs when I suddenly felt a sharp pain under the waistband of my gym trunks. It felt like someone was sticking me with a pin! At first I sort of ignored it, but it just got worse. Finally I pulled up my t-shirt only to discover a yellow jacket hitting on me! And if you’ve ever been stung by a yellow jacket, you know they just keep hitting you and hitting you until you get rid of them, one way or another. Bottom line – it was time to act with URGENCY!!

Sometimes God does the same thing. He “urges” you in a very uncomfortable way and just keeps hitting on you and hitting on you until you do something. It’s almost like he forces you into such an uncomfortable position that you have to do something. It’s almost like he causes us to act with URGENCY!

Here’s the deal – if heaven and hell are real places (and I believe they are) and if people really do go to one or the other for eternity (and I believe they do), then we have to act with urgency. When it comes to reaching those who are lost, the Bible indicates we should act with urgency…as if eternity depends on it.

This Sunday we kick off a new, 4-week series that I feel a holy urgency about. We’re going to focus on how to respond to God’s call on us to reach those who are beyond the walls of NHC, and I believe it’s one of the most important series we will do this year. Trust me when I say, you don’t want to miss out on being a part of what God is going to do in the next few months!

And you don’t want to miss the beginning of the service so GET HERE 5 MINUTES EARLY, AND FILL THE FRONT!