23 Years Ago

Twenty-three years ago this month Susan, Heather and I came with a small church planting team from our church in Hampton, Virginia to Durham to start what is now NHC. We were young, excited and we had no idea what we were really getting into. But now, here we are beginning another year of ministry in what has become our hometown.

Here are some things I remember…

• I remember how excited I was and how scared I was at the same time when my pastor, Dan Livingston, said to me, “Dave, you need to go start this church NOW.” I had been planning to wait for a few years, but Dan was hearing God better than I was.

• I remember how honored I felt by two young men who joined our little church planting experiment. Mike Nugent and Jerry Cantalupo were two of our student ministry leaders in Hampton who committed several years of their lives to helping us get this church up and running.

• I remember loading up our little sound system that just fit into the trunk of our Toyota Camry on that first Sunday. Our church literally fit in the trunk of a car!

• I remember setting up the conference room of the University Inn every Sunday morning. There were many Sundays that meant cleaning up half-empty glasses of beer from a party the night before.

• I remember meeting a young lady that first Sunday that offered to buy a tape duplicator for the church because she thought the sermon was so good she wanted to listen to it in her car. (That was probably one of the worst sermons I ever preached!) Her name was Lynn Miller. She later married Ace Robbins and many of you know them through their years of ministry and leadership at NHC.

• I remember 34 other people showing up that first Sunday (35 total). Half of them came down from Hampton! Not exactly the grand kick-off we were hoping for, but it was a start.

Now, 23 years later, here we are heading into another year of ministry. God has done some incredible things in and through NHC and I’m so incredibly thankful for the privilege of being part of this church.

However, after 23 years I feel in many ways like we’re just getting started. There’s so much more to do…so many people to reach…so many exciting new things going on in ministry. NHC, this is no time to rest on our laurels. It’s time to dig in, gear up, cowboy up, however you want to say it. It’s time to trust God for more than we’ve ever seen before.

Let’s ask God to make our 23rd year our best year ever!

Comments

[Donna]

Oh and I remember so very well how heart broken we all were to see you go. I remember saying to you, "you can't go, Dave" and I remember you said, "oh but I have to" I remember how young I was in my faith (ok, how young I WAS) and thought that this was a terrible thing that was happening to our awesome youth group. I look back on those days and I see the vision you have had and continue to have. The ppl in your church are so blessed to have such a leader with such passion. You have, and continue to be an inspiration and I can't wait to visit sometime soon. May God continue to bless you and Susan!

[J]

23 years...you're like the Dick Clark of Ministry