Sunday Flashback

Today we introduced 40 Days of Prayer with a message from Exodus about Moses' three - count 'em - back to back to back 40 day periods with God. Starting Sept. 1 we're focusing as a church on prayer through Oct. 10. This is in preparation for 40 Days of Purpose to follow.

I asked everyone to consider these first two ways to get involved:

1. Commit to a specific 15 minutes daily to spend some QT with God. We're looking for 96 people to fill the 24 hours. And we'll do it for 40 days. Non-stop prayer from NHC. If you didn't sign up for your slot today please do so over the next few weeks. The schedule is filling up fast!

2. Host a 40 Days of Prayer small group in your home. We'll be studying prayer and learning about it together.

More ways to be actively involved are coming in the next couple of weeks.

The MP 13 Band showed remarkable adaptability this morning at the 11:00 Gathering. Rachel got two songs reversed in their order and started singing the wrong song! The band never missed a beat (or a chord since it was in the same key as the correct song) and no one knew. The worship today was excellent. The last song, "From the Inside Out" really connected with the message.

One guest family came up to came up and said, "God's doing something special here." That's always encouraging. Sometimes it's hard to see just what is really happening because we're so close to it all the time.

I was told that 14 people sat up in the balcony overlooking our lobby during the first gathering. They arrived late (hello!) and with young children in tow. Our pre-school room was again packed to capacity. So they were given the choice of either coming back at 11; sitting with the little ones in the gathering (tough on parents and everyone else around) or sitting up on the balcony (we have sofas and cushy chairs up there) and listening to the service. There's no video and you can't see into the service. They chose the latter! We gotta get the kids wing upstairs finished!

I'm going to also encourage our church that if they have a choice, to consider coming at 11 instead of 9. It's always less crowded at 11, and this is the second time in recent weeks we've actually turned people away for lack of space in our pre-school worship.

Our amazing volunteer staff continues to serve faithfully to make Sundays the experience they always are at NHC. We couldn't do what we do without them. A big thanks to the 6 or 8 guys who came out yesterday afternoon to set up for worship after Operation Backpack. Most of them are new guys to our church and are excited to find a way to give back.

BTW, Operation Backpack provided free school supplies yesterday to 38 local families. Thanks to all who gave and the 40 NHC volunteers who came yesterday to pull it all together. A BIG thanks to Barbara Kay for all her organizational skills in keeping everything sorted and inventoried. Next year's version will be even bigger and better.

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon. Looks like prime nap weather to me!