What an awesome weekend! And it's still summer!! Here are some highlights that stick out in my mind on Monday...
•
In ways like I've never seen, God is moving! Seriously...I've grown up
in church most of my life, but I've never seen anything like what we're
seeing right now. I announced yesterday that since the last Sunday in
June through last weekend we have seen 213 PEOPLE PRAY TO RECEIVE CHRIST IN OUR SERVICES! DURING THE SUMMER!!!
• One of the scriptures I taught from yesterday was Acts 2:42-47.The last verse in that passage says, And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
We may not be seeing people saved "daily" but we're seeing people saved
every weekend. What an awesome thing to see! God's presence in our
services is real. He is moving. He's changing lives. I feel so humbled
and privileged to see it!!
• Taught on the subject of "togetherness" yesterday. God has called us "together" to have a greater impact than we could ever have on our own. If you're not connected you're a BB! (If you weren't here you won't understand that. Check out the video. It'll be up on the website in a couple of days.)
• Results? 137 new people signed up for Grouplink...15 new host
homes...almost 50 new members from Membership Class Sunday night.
• Worship was off the chain this weekend. The second service was so into I Stand we went back and did it again!
• So proud of our volunteers and teams this weekend. Cathy emailed me this morning to tell me that our NHC Kid's ministry team now has so many GUYS volunteering that the guys outnumber the women 2 to 1! DO YOU REALIZE HOW UNUSUAL THAT IS?? I've been around churches all my life and kid's ministry is always considered to be a "women's" ministry. But not at NHC!! I'm so excited about this because our kids need to see MEN...men who love Jesus...men who love them...men who set an example. So many of our kids come from broken homes and they don't have a godly man influencing their life. But at least for an hour a week while they're at NHC Kids they're getting some godly male influence. WAY TO GO NHC KID'S TEAM!!
• One final thing - This is exciting stuff but I believe God wants
to do MORE. NHC, don't settle for what's happening, as good as it is.
Don't get satisfied. PRAY...INVITE...SERVE...GET
CONNECTED...GIVE...LET'S SHOW GOD WE'RE SERIOUS ABOUT WANTING HIM TO
MOVE IN AND THROUGH OUR CHURCH!! THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!
Such a fantastic message on Sunday and so very relevant to my own life in many ways. For one thing I have experienced the life altering joys of being involved in community groups for many years now and couldn't imagine my life without that fellowship. My husband and I are a part of Josh and Stacie's community group (the couple from the video) and have certainly been blessed by their friendship as well as all the group members. Our group leaders, Larry and Judy, planned a picnic a few months back just for us to enjoy each others company before breaking for summer. I posted some pictures on my photography blog from the gorgeous day along with a brief writing about my husband and I's journey to finding community when we moved here to Durham. I thought it might be something interesting to share for anyone thinking about joining a community group:
http://carolineprietzphotography.blogspot.com/2009/06/sunday-summer-picnic-with-friends.html
Posted by: Caroline Prietz | August 24, 2009 at 07:41 PM