Sunday FlashBlitz - Happy Father's Day

Happy Father' Day! This morning was awesome at NHC. Here's why:

• I got to wake extra early and get picked up by Chris Jolly at 6:40am! Ok, so this wasn't awesome. We had a fun ride though, and we stopped by Nathan's house to pick him up too.

• Today was my first Sunday playing in the band! Until now, I had helped with Kid's church for every Sunday that I had been at NHC. Nathan knew that I had many opportunities to lead worship at Liberty, so he wanted me to be able to get experience from areas that I am normally not involved with. This week, however, he needed me to fill in on bass, and I was more than happy to do so.

• Rick gave a great message today that was aimed toward fathers. This is an area that I obviously do not have any experience in, but I am always up for learning as much as I can about it so that I will be more prepared when that time comes. Fortunately for me, I have a pretty great dad, so I have a good head start.

• Today was the first Sunday for our new checkin system! I have been working out the kinks for a while now, so it was great to finally see it in action. It worked better than I had hoped for. There was only one minor problem that I know of, and it has already been fixed. I'm ready for next week to see how round 2 goes.

Here are a few of my pictures from the morning.

Checkin Kiosk, ready for action.

Bonnie checking in her children while Andy encourages her.

Our wonderful Guest Kiosk workers.

Backstage waiting to get our groove on.

Leading worship.

Nathan looking excited.

Chad H. and Bonnie

Me playing bass

Soundboard

(Thanks to Rich Coleman and Nick Nelson for taking the pictures of the band)

Matt

Sunday FlashBlitz

Tomorrow is Sunday, and I still haven't posted about this past Sunday, so it is probably about time that I do that. Here is my write up for Sunday, May 31.

• At Nags Head Church we are modifying the way that we sign children into the Nursery and Kids Church. The whole process is being moved from a paper system to a computer program that will keep track of everything for us. My big job last week was to set up a new kiosk with a touchscreen, scanner, and label printer, get everything working together smoothly, and design name tags that are printed off each time a parent signs their child in. We partially implemented the system on Sunday, and the full thing will be up and running by next Sunday at the latest.

• I participated in the 9:00 worship gathering this week. The band started off by leading the songs Made to Worship, Your Grace is Enough, and Lincoln Brewster's new song God You Reign. The first time I ever heard God You Reign was when I first visited NHC back in March while on a weekend vacation. The beauty and truth of this song powerfully moved me, and I was glad to hear Nathan and the band present it again.

• Rick brought a message from Exodus 15:22-27 entitled "How to Pass the Tests Along the Journey." Here are a few of my notes/thoughts:

• The Christian journey is tempered with testing. To grow and mature in faith, you must be tested. I know this is true, and yet so often I complain to God when I know He is testing me. There are way too many times when things get hard, and I just want God to get me out. The thing is, I am supposed to be growing as a Christian, and that can't happen unless I thrive through the tests that God throws my way.

• One of my favorite things Rick said: "You can't be a grumbler and complainer and move ahead." Enough said.

• The normal Christian life is one that is growing and maturing and thriving. How many times have we referred to the "normal" Christians as the ones who are content with where they are in their spiritual journey, while the "exceptional" Christians are the ones who are really stepping out and trying to grow. This is completely backwards. Being a "normal" Christian means constantly growing and becoming more like Christ. Anything less is stagnant Christianity.

• God can turn the bitter in life into sweet. Tests are hard. Tests are not fun. However, when we trust Christ and obey Him, we can excel through the most challenging times. When that happens, we grow and mature, and Christ is glorified in our lives.

• The band closed with the songs You Do All Things Well and You Never Let Go.

• During the 11:00 hour, I helped with Kidmo, but first I got recruited to help collect the offering in the main gathering. I got to learn how they do this at NHC, which was different than most churches I have been in. They only use 4 guys to collect from 3 sections as opposed to using 6 guys to do the same job, which I am more used to. Way to be efficient NHC.

• Kidmo was fun, but I can't remember at all what the kids learned. I guess I should have taken notes.

• I found out afterwards that the 9:00am Lil' K, which I helped with last week, was packed once again this week and they could have used more help. I think that I will help there again this Sunday, especially since there are so many boys in that class and they could use a guy helping out.

• After church there was a new member's lunch that I went to, even though I'm not becoming a member (ok you got me. I went for the food.)

That was my Sunday morning. Tomorrow is Sunday again, and hopefully this time it won't take me so long to post my FlashBlitz. Tomorrow evening is Youth Group which will be meeting on the beach for the rest of the summer. I'm cool with that.

Matt

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