Sunday flashback

I'm curious as to why it takes us ten minutes into a worship gathering for people to come in and get a seat? Are they just unable to get there on time, or what? Just wondering. The second gathering probably increased 20% after we began.

The best news yesterday was that two attenders indicated they were trusting Jesus as Savior. One of them was a first timeer who wrote on his card, "I'm new and need a church. You guys are very kind and I'll be back soon." The other was someone who has been attending regularly now for a couple of months. She commented, "I am not sure how to do this right...I have so much to be thankful to God and I want to make sure he knows how much I believe in Him and love Him." I think He knows!

Our band gave us a mixture of Christmas songs, including "Christmas Time is Here" (think Charlie Brown), and some non-seasonal worship songs that all worked great together. We don't think Nate will be able to be with us on Sundays much longer (read his blog for more info there), and he'll be greatly missed. But I'ma also very confident the band will do an excellent job w/o him for a while in leading us. Can't wait for them to get to work on a CD!

With all the Christmas decorations up the place looks great! And Sunday the kids decorated a tree just outside my office door. I'm looking for the plug to energize the lights.

Our first gathering had zero babies in the nursery! A first. I didn't hear a report on the second gathering, but suspect they had their hands/arms full.

I'm really appreciative of the dedication and work our other pastors do. Yesterday was an example of their commitment to shepherd the flock. No one other than a few knew what they were up to, but it sure is a blessing to me to know they're watching over us like they do. Thanks guys.

Sunday evening we hosted "Defy Conformity", with Keith Deltano. It was a pro-abstinence rally for the youth and parents in our community. Our band provided the music and rocked the house. We know of 6 churches who participated. Our local crisis pregnancy center sponsored the rally and it was well done. I hope will make a huge difference. A good group of parents also attended and heard some eye opening things. We're blessed now to be able to host events like this, and look forward to more of the same kinds of things in the future.

Only 3 Sundays left in '07! What a year it's been for NHC. Kinda like traveling on a jet. There's been some turbulence, but we're getting there quickly!