Sunday FlashBlitz

In the spirit of being an NHC staff blogger, I have decided to do my own version of the Sunday Flashback/Sunday Blitz. Appropriately, it will be named Sunday FlashBlitz. Pretty original if I do say so myself.

This will be my write-up for this past Sunday, May 24, 2009.

• During the 9:00 am gathering, I worked with the 4-6 year olds in the Lil' K program. I was supposed to work with the 7-12 year olds in the Kidmo program, but I got moved due to the number of 4-6 year olds that showed up. I was told that 5 preschoolers actually got turned away because we ran out of room. (Just today, the church got permits approved to build a larger preschool area, so hopefully that will get done quickly.)

• Lil' K started with play time, and then moved into video time. The video was basically Christian Blues Clues. There was a guy that acted exactly like Steve, and a little K (i guess it was more like a "Lil' K") that hopped around and made funny noises. They searched for the secret item of the day, and sang a song about it while trying to figure out how it applied to today's lesson. I was honestly kind of annoyed by how directly it ripped off Blues Clues, but I guess it was okay since the kids enjoyed it.

• The lesson was about Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. The kids were learning that since Jesus served people, we should serve people too. I'm not sure how well they understood the feet washing part, but I tried to make sure they understood the importance of serving. I asked them how they were going to serve somebody when they got home, and they said they would share their goldfish crackers with their siblings. I'm cool with that.

• For the 11:00am gathering, I was in the main auditorium. I sat with some NHC college kids that I found.

• The Milepost13 Band was joined by the NHC Worship Choir for the first few songs. One of the songs they sang, My Deliverer, was a new one for me. I think it is already becoming one of my favorites. The words are very true, and it was presented extremely well by the band. They also sang Today is the Day, and Revelation Song.

• The teaching time was entitled Parting the Waters of the Impossible. It was part #14 of Rick's series through the Life of Moses. He went through the familiar story of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. Here are some things that I took away from it:

• We all have something that God can use. Yes, I already knew this, but I like the way Rick put it. What did Moses have that God used? A stick. Thats it. In Exodus 14:16, God says to Moses "Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground."(ESV) If God can use Moses' stick to part the Red Sea, then I think we have to admit that we must also have possessions that God can use.

• We have to be willing to let God use those things. Here is a thought for you. What if Moses' response to the above verse had been different? What if his response had been, "Yep thats pretty funny God. There's no way I'm dumb enough to fall for that one." If that had been the case, the Red Sea would not have been parted, and the Israelites would have been killed. Instead, he trusted God, and allowed God to use Him.

• The gathering ended with Bethany Dillon's song "Exodus" (a perfect song for the message) and "You are Good".

So that was my Sunday morning. That evening was my first NHC youth group, followed by a Memorial Day cookout on Monday evening. On Tuesday, I helped Andy with Children's ministry stuff. Today, I rode around with Rick in a U-Haul and helped him move stuff, followed by more Children's ministry back at the church. (Andy and I are putting together a cool new check-in station for Kid's Church that involves a touch screen and a barcode scanner. It's super awesome. Except for the fact that it is PC based. Thats lamo. But the rest is good.)

Matt