Dave Bowman

RTD's This Weekend at NHC!

This weekend we kick off our new series, Religiously Transmitted Diseases. This is definitely one you want to invite your friends to, so get a dozen or so of them here this weekend!

Religiously Transmitted Diseases from New Horizon Church on Vimeo.

Christmas Eve Rewind

Merry Christmas everyone! It's about noon on Christmas day and we've already had Christmas breakfast, opened gifts and we're headed into another round of eating and gift-opening later today. So while there's a break in the day here's a few random thoughts on our Christmas Eve services...

• I don't have a total count yet, but from the numbers I know of in the first service and the looks of the response in the second, I would guess about 50 people crossed the line of faith. That's a Merry Christmas!!

• Jon, Felicia, Yvette, Tony, the band and of course our great tech teams knocked it out of the park. I am so thankful for what a great worship team we have.

• And the rest of our volunteer teams did a great job of covering all the bases. It's always hard to get enough volunteers on Christmas Eve but our teams did an awesome job of creating a great environment for our guests and regulars. THANKS EVERYONE FOR GOING THE EXTRA MILE AND MAKING IT A GREAT CHRISTMAS EVE EXPERIENCE FOR EVERYONE!!

• Met TONS of friends, guests, family members and neighbors who were new to New Horizon. If you invited someone WAY TO GO!! Now invite them AGAIN!!

• Really enjoyed the tag-team preaching with Jamie. It's always fun to do things that nobody expects.

• The message was a simple one- What Child Is This? He's the baby born to die for our sins. He's the Lamb of God who would be the ultimate sacrifice. He was the God-man who would take the physical punishment for you and I. He is the soon-coming King. And finally, he's the Savior who stands at the door of our heart and knocks, and if we'll just let him come in, he'll share the life of God with us. Bottom line - he's way more than a baby born in a manger!

• Then we gave everyone a Christmas surprise - Christmas cookies for everyone during the last song! That was fun.

• All in all, it was a great Christmas Eve. I know lots of churches don't do Christmas Eve services and there's a pretty good reason why. It's hard to pull off. But once again, we saw that when we honor God, he honors us.

• Don't forget, we will have regular services this Sunday at 9:30 and 11:00. Then January 3rd we crank up our new series, Religiously Transmitted Diseases. Gonna be a good one!

Get This Party Started

The celebration begins this afternoon at 4:24 at New Horizon Church! We've handed out hundreds of tickets and our staff and volunteers are working hard to make this a very special Christmas Eve event.

So, do you have to have a ticket to get in? NO! Tickets are just a way to control the crowd flow over two services, and a great way to invite our unchurched friends and family members. So, if you don't have a ticket COME ON ANYWAY!! And if you don't have a ticket to give to a friend INVITE THEM ANYWAY!!

God is going to do incredible things as our families and friends come together to hear the answers to the question, What Child Is This? And as usual at New Horizon, we'll experience some great music and creative elements, as well as a little surprise for everyone at the end of the service.

So celebrate with us tonight at 4:24 PM, or 6:24 PM. AND DON'T FORGET - GET HERE EARLY AND BE IN YOUR SEAT WHEN THE SERVICE STARTS. THE DOORS WILL BE CLOSED DURING THE OPENING ELEMENTS DUE TO LIGHTING, SO IF YOU'RE NOT IN YOUR SEAT YOU'LL MISS A GREAT OPENING SONG!!

Merry Christmas! Can't wait to see you there!

Christmas Eve at NHC

In case you missed it, here's the Christmas Eve promo video from last weekend. Enjoy!

New Horizon Church Christmas Eve 2009 Promo from New Horizon Church on Vimeo.

Weekend Rewind

Just a few thoughts on Monday before heading out to do some last minute Christmas shopping...

• Yesterday was a great wrap up to our Nightmare Before Christmas series. I really enjoyed what Jon and the band did with the worship set. "Salvation's Chorus" and "Came To My Rescue" aren't exactly what you'd call Christmas songs, but they were such a strong tie-in to the message of the day. Then you throw in "Angels We Have Heard On High" and it was a great worship set.

• We wrapped up with Joseph's side of the Christmas story. I think it's interesting that Joseph doesn't get much attention in the Christmas story, but in reality, he had to have just as much faith as anybody else in the story because his dreams turned into what seemed like nightmares.

• Joseph's story is just another example of how God steps into the middle of our lives and sometimes shakes things up so he can bring his dream to pass...a dream that is bigger, better and more incredible than any dream we have for ourselves.

• So what is God's Christmas dream? To give us the thing we need most - a SAVIOR, who is Christ the Lord!!

• People got saved in both services. I don't know about you, but I just can never get enough of that!!

• We announced yesterday that 163 kids will have a merry Christmas this year because of the Angel Tree project. Think about this: In the middle of a really bad recession we have been able to provide over 200 kids at C.C. Spaulding with new coats and shoes, and now we have provided personal Christmas gifts to another 163 kids. NHC, you guys are amazing!

• Really pumped about Christmas Eve services Thursday at 4:24 and 6:24. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET YOUR UNCHURCHED FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS HERE FOR ONE OF THE SERVICES!!! The music will be great and we'll be giving a very clear presentation of the gospel, so INVITE, INVITE, INVITE!!! Don't give up. God didn't give up on you, so don't you give up on them!!

• All right, I'm headed for the mall now. Pray for me!!

Christmas Week at NHC

This weekend we kick off Christmas week at New Horizon and it's going to be a good one! I believe this Christmas we are pulling together one of the clearest, most direct presentations of the Gospel that we've ever done at New Horizon Church.

Sooooo - DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET YOUR FRIENDS HERE THIS SUNDAY AND CHRISTMAS EVE!!!

Studies show that an unchurched person is more likely to come to church for a Christmas service than any other service during the year (including Easter). But here's the catch - SOMEONE HAS TO INVITE THEM!!!

We're pulling out all the stops. We're going all out so you can bring unchurched friends and family members to hear the Gospel in a way that will be clear and compelling.

Here's the deal - Christmas Eve is a ticketed event. Tickets are FREE. Did I mention that tickets are FREE? In other words, they don't cost anything. So far we've given out over 2000 tickets, but we have MORE! So pick up enough tickets for you, your family and the unchurched people you want to invite.

Service times are...

Sunday - 9:30 & 11:00

Christmas Eve - 4:24 & 6:24

Will we turn someone away if they don't have a ticket? Absolutely not!! We're doing tickets for 2 reasons:

1) Ticketing helps us make sure we have adequate seating and childcare so everyone can have a great experience.

2) Tickets are a GREAT WAY TO INVITE your friends and family to Christmas Eve services.

AND...don't forget...GET HERE A FEW MINUTES EARLY...DROP OFF THE KIDS AND GET IN YOUR SEAT. Due to lighting needs the doors will be closed when the first song starts and won't open until it's completed. If you get here late you'll miss a really great opening moment!

Staying On Budget For Christmas

USA Today has an article in their Money section today about staying on budget this Christmas. Seeing as how most of us are looking for ways to cut back and avoid overspending this Christmas, it's worth a read. But for those of you who won't take the time, here's a quick synopsis:

1.    Have a plan

Retailers always have a plan - a plan to get you to spend more than you should! So the first thing you need to do is plan your spending before you get into the retail environment. Plan ahead of time what you can afford to spend without going into debt and then STICK TO YOUR PLAN!

2.    Don't fall for questionable "deals"

The so called "deals" that many stores offer at this time of the year are nothing more than come-ons. When you get into the store and see the camera or DVD player or TV that was advertised at that super low price you can tell pretty quickly that it's not such a good deal. So what do you do? You buy the model that wasn't advertised at a higher price, busting your budget. Be sure to run price comparisons online before you get into the store.

3.    Don't miss any discounts

This is one I haven't used much personally, but the writer of the article says that many times there are additional coupons and discounts available online.

4.    Buy practical gifts

Whenever the economy is tight gifts tend to trend in the practical direction. The author suggests things like clothes, tools, books and my favorite - FOOD!

5.    Use cash or debit cards

This is probably the biggest budget protector in the list. DON'T USE CREDIT CARDS!!! Even if you plan to pay them off January 1st. Why? Studies show that we tend to spend more when we use cards - about 20% more on average. Use cash or debit cards and you avoid the Christmas spending hangover in January!

So what's your budget protecting strategy for the Christmas gift-buying season?

Weekend Rewind

Some random thoughts on a great weekend at NHC...

• Great launch to our new Christmas series, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Every year I struggle with the same thing - I have to preach about Christmas AGAIN! Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas and especially the Christmas story. It's just that it's a real challenge to find something different to say every year. 

• Having said that, I really enjoyed preaching about God's plan for our lives yesterday. It's such an awesome thought to me that God has a tailor-made plan and purpose for each and everyone of us. What a GREAT GOD!!

• AND....we saw over 20 people cross the line of faith yesterday! AWESOME!!

• Here's the really big news - This weekend was our first Unstoppable offering. So far we are over $135,000 and counting for our first offering!! YEAH GOD!!! And Yeah NHC!! Thank you for being obedient. Thank you for stepping up big. Thank you for sacrificing to make this happen!!

• Because of this great offering we were able to write out the check Sunday afternoon to complete the purchase of a NEW WINTER COAT AND NEW PAIR OF SHOES FOR EVERY CHILD AT C.C. SPAULDING ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!! (For more info and pictures of the coats and shoes being purchased and delivered check out Leah's blog here.)

• NHC, I love you guys! I can't wait to see how God is going to honor and bless this act of generosity for some very needy families and children in our community.

• On another note, this past week we hosted the Cameron Park Elementary School Christmas program, which we've been honored to do for the last few years. Today I talked with someone who came for the program who couldn't say enough good things about our volunteers who served the parents and children of Cameron Park. I've said it before and I'll say it again, NHC VOLUNTEERS ARE THE BEST! Way to go everyone!

• I know I say this all the time, but let me say it again: I'm so honored to be your pastor. God has done some great things in and through our church. Lives are being changed every single week. But I believe the best is yet to come. Christmas at NHC is always a great season and I believe we could see hundreds of people come to Christ over the next few weeks.

So, do WHATEVER you have to do to get your friends and family to NHC the next several weeks. Grab a handful of tickets and invite everyone you know to Christmas Eve services and lets pray and believe God together for some great things to happen!!

Love you guys!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

So here's a really big question I have for you. It's a question that I want you to think about between now and this coming Sunday. It's a question that we all have to figure out how to answer sooner or later.

What do you do when God messes up your plans?

This coming weekend we officially kick off the Christmas season at New Horizon. Christmas is a great time of the year. It's a season that is filled with things like music, lights, parties, gifts, family gatherings, counseling appointments (just kidding on that last one).

AND...all of those things mean lots and lots of planning...sometimes elaborate plans...plans that don't always turn out the way we thought they would.

This week at New Horizon we begin our new Christmas series, A Nightmare Before Christmas, and we're starting with the idea that sometimes God breaks into our well-laid plans and just messes them up. What do you do then? Good question. Sunday we'll explore the answers and hopefully we'll unpack some things that will help restore some of the wonder and awe to Christmas that God planned in that first Christmas 2000 years ago.

So, invite your friends and get here this weekend!