Dave Bowman

You Can Be Free

Finanically, that is! And we can tell you how to get started in that direction. On Monday Leah will be hosting another Finding Financial Freedom live webinar, so if you missed FFF last week, you can still get in on all the info. And the great thing about the webinar is you can sit at home in your shorts, take the class and nobody will ever see you! So, sign up here!

Strippin' It Down One More Time

This weeked we're strippin' it down one more time and talking about another bare essential for our spiritual journey. I know I say it all the time, but YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS WEEKEND AT NHC!  Our worship team has some rockin' music lined up...Uhambo, Club 56 and Spiked will be in full motion...and we're going to unpack one of the most famous stories of the Bible. We'll be talking about how God can use all of us to do something extrordinary. See ya' Saturday at 6:30, or Sunday at 9:30 or 11:30!

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!

Weekend Rewind

• This was one of those weekends that we are kind of famous for at NHC - you didn't know what to expect...

• First, our worship team nailed it with some great worship time, capped off by an awesome version of an old hymn - Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Jon, Yvette and Felicia - YOU GUYS ROCKED!

• Then the band knocked it out of the park with Money by Pink Floyd. Yes, I said Pink Floyd...in church! I absolutely love the fact that we are able to take all kinds of music and use it redemptively for the cause of Christ! Way to go guys!!

• Had lots of fun preaching a very hard message today. Not that I enjoy preaching hard messages, but as hard as it was, there was just a good vibe in the room all weekend.

• And God was at work today! Almost 100 people took the 10/90 pledge!! Can't wait to hear some of the stories that come out of this.

• One more week to go in Stripped and it's going to be a good one too. Don't miss next weekend!

• I was really proud of our Care ministries this weekend. I came in for the Saturday night service and noticed two of our Care staff talking with a woman in the conference room. I was later told that she had spent Friday night sleeping in the woods behind the church. Our staff arranged a safe place for her to stay and got her something to eat. Love it when we have that kind of ministry going on that nobody sees.

• I met with Marty Childers this week to finalize the purchase of a motorcycle for the Bolivian pastor we are partnering with through the Christmas Offering. Can't wait to send that check!

• On another note, I was told I stuck my foot in my mouth Saturday night. (If you came to church Sunday you missed it!) I used a phrase that I've heard and used all my life. It's a phrase that refers to something that happens when you shoot a shotgun, but evidently it's used to describe something else these days. Sorry! I didn't know!

• Spent some time today catching up on DVR programs. There are some great new shows on the cable channels that are blowing away the network drivel. My current faves are: Leverage, The Beast, and Burn Notice. And the of course there's 24 and House. Great stuff!

• Tomorrow - Duke will be #1!

Gettin' Stripped Again

Stressed Out About $?

One of the things that we teach here at NHC on a regular basis is God’s perspective on money. There are several reasons, but the biggest one is because so many people who walk through our doors are just out of control in this vital area of their lives, and when this area is out of control it leads to a stress that affects almost everything in your world.

So for years I’ve taught some basic principles of finance that boil it down to two simple ideas…

1. Put God first

God doesn’t want our money, he wants our hearts. However, God knows something about money that we don’t seem to understand – my heart and my wallet have a dynamic connection. It’s like there’s a nerve running from my heart to my back pocket!

Jesus said it this way: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21

If he doesn’t have my treasure, he doesn’t have my heart. That means it’s impossible for me to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus without surrendering control of my money to him.

So, how do I do that? It starts with the tithe. Tithing isn’t just some idea that some preacher came up with to get more money, it’s the Biblical principle of the firstfruits offering. It’s putting God first in my finances.

2. Get out of debt

That stats on this one are overwhelming. The average American household today is carrying $9000 of credit card debt, not to mention car payments that average $500 a month, student loans that have been around so long they feel like a family pet and mortgages for too much house.

We’re quick to point a finger at Wall Street fat cats and call them greedy, but we do the same thing when we spend $1.22 for every $1.00 we make – all for lifestyle stuff.

Proverbs 22:7 puts it bluntly - …the borrower is the slave of the lender.

When you’re in debt for your stuff you don’t own your stuff, your stuff owns you! And if there ever was a time to get out of debt, it’s NOW!

We want to help. Monday at 6:30 Leah Rade, NHC’s Community Pastor, will be teaching another session of Finding Financial Freedom and if you’ve never been through a session of FFF, YOU NEED TO BE THERE!  (Sign up here.) Childcare and materials are provided FREE OF CHARGE.

In FFF we teach you how to get out of debt, how to find money you didn’t know you had, how to put together a personal budget so you can put your money to work in a positive way, and most of all – HOW TO GET OUT OF THE MONEY STRESS THAT IS KILLING YOU!

So, do whatever it takes to get here Monday night. And if you can’t get here Monday night we’ll be on the web with a live Webcast of the seminar. (Sign up here.) You can sit at home in your gym trunks and dirty t-shirt, learn some solid principles on personal finance and no one will even see you! So now what’s your excuse?

Want A Good Laugh?

Most of us have at least one or two cheesy family photos hanging around the house somewhere. You know the kind - the Olan Mills,  Sears or J.C. Penney studio shots. (J.C Penney photo studio? Seriously?) So, if you want to laugh your guts out, check this out!

P.S. I can't vouch for everything that might appear on this website, but this is seriously funny stuff!

Praying For Our New Prez

I’ve been following some other blogs where there is a running dialogue about how we as Christians should pray for the “success” of our new President. First of all, the Bible does not call us to pray for the success of our leaders. Here’s what the Bible does say about the subject:

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone - for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.  1 Timothy 2:1,2

We are to pray that our leaders will lead us in such a way that we are able to live peaceful, quiet, holy and godly lives. The Bible does not call us to pray for our leaders to succeed. Frankly, if some of our leaders were to succeed at what they want to accomplish it would not lead to peaceful, quiet, godly or holy lives for us.

But the first part of the verse is definitely a call to those of us who are Christ-followers - PRAY FOR YOUR LEADERS! So here’s how I’m praying for our new President:

I will pray:

• That our President has and acts with wisdom and integrity

• That our President will be and stay humbled by the responsibility he has

• That our President will not be seduced by the trappings of power

• That our President will protect the rights of all humans, born and unborn

• That our President will select the right people for key leadership positions

• That our President will always remember that he is the President of all Americans

• That our President will protect the safety of our nation and integrity of our Constitution

• That our President will keep us politically free

• That our President will produce policies that lead to enhanced economic opportunity and entrepreneurial growth

• That our President will be a man of virtue

• That our President’s family will be protected emotionally, relationally, spiritually and physically while they live in the “fishbowl” of the White House

• Most of all, that our President will grow in his personal relationship with God

There’s probably more, but that’s a pretty long prayer list to get started on.

Snow Dayz

Spent some time outside today playing in the snow. We had the obligatory snow ball fight and did some sliding. What did you do today?

Got Yours Yet?

Snow is coming tonight. Time to stock up on the southern snow necessities...