Dave Bowman

Gimme A Stick!

So this morning I was reading in my daily quiet time and I came to this verse in Judges 3...

After Ehud came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved Israel. Judges 3:31

Shamgar was one of the Judges who led Israel during the time frame between Joshua and the appointment of the first king, Saul. The stories of the judges are pretty similar: the people of Israel stray from God, the pagan nations around them start kicking their butts, and finally a leader steps up to the plate and says, "Enough is enough!"

Shamgar was one of those leaders who stepped up and said, "I'm going to do something about this situation." And I love how he does it - with a stick! He kills 600 Philistines with a stick! I love that!

One of the signs in scripture of the anointing of God is someone gets a lot done with very little. Moses had a walking stick and used it to part the sea. David had a slingshot and used it to knock off the UFC Champion. And Shamgar wipes out 600 guys with a stick.

My prayer this morning was, "God, give me that kind of fire in my gut." Then I wrote these 3 things...

• You + God is always a majority - You may not have anyone else willing to step up with you, but if God is on your side who else do you need?

• Don't settle for anything less than God's best - Don't settle for the status quo!

• God has put everything I need in my hand - Don't focus on what you don't have. If God has put in my heart to do something for his glory he has already put in my hands everything I need to get started.

So what is God calling you to do? What has he placed in your hand? What do you need to do to get started?

Quote Of The Day

“There’s a temptation to do church for those who are already going to heaven. You know what I’m talking about. If we’re not careful, we’ll begin to make decisions about programming and teaching to keep those who are already here at the expense of those who need to hear. That’s not God’s design. He wants us to communicate that people matter to him. He wants us to talk that way and act that way and worship that way. It’s counter to how we’ve always done church, though. It’s also not easy.”
                                             -Andy Stanley in a post from Tony Morgan-

BIG Changes on the Horizon

This coming Sunday I'll be letting you in on a really BIG change that is taking place at NHC. It's only one of several big changes we're facing over the next few months, but this one has to happen first. I'm really pumped and can't wait to let you in on it!

And just let me say before you hear about it - this is a really positive change that I think you're going to really like. It's going to make our church so much more effective at our mission and it's going to set us up for the next level that God wants to take us to.

Now, having said that, I know there will be some that no matter how positive the change they'll still be uncomfortable simply because it's change. Someone once said that the only one who really likes a change is a baby. (Wonder if the person who said that ever changed a diaper?) It is true, however, that most people just don't like change.

But here's the deal: change is inevitable. It WILL happen. Like they said in Star Trek, "Resistance is futile." It's part of life, especially for our church. We have made the decision to do whatever it takes to reach more and more people for Jesus Christ. That means we will have to constantly change. So don't get comfortable!

She Rocks

New toy at the Bowman household! Classic rock, via Guitar Hero, can now be heard blasting from my TV room. Of course I got the game for Arianna (don't guys always buy video games for THE KIDS?). Being an old rock guitar player myself, I thought I'd be able to kick butt on this one, but so far, Arianna is rockin' the Guitar Hero scores at our house.

Sunday Reflections

• Coolest thing we did today - honoring the vets and those currently serving. Because so many have served our country and given their lives or have been willing to make that sacrifice, we had the privilege and freedom to worship like we did today. It warmed my heart to hear the applause and response in our church today.

• We had over 50 people sign up for the Habitat for Humanity building project today. Off to a great start!

• I didn't push for commitments to Christ today but we still had 5 people commit to Christ! Cool!

• Tough day for me today. Didn't feel too well today. That doesn't happen very often, thankfully, but it really bugs me when I feel like I can't give my best.

• What I preached today and what I'm going to share next Sunday is stuff that is coming right out of where God has me personally right now. God is really stretching me right now...pushing me to dream and think bigger than ever...challenging me to pray bigger than ever.

• Prayer + Big dreams = Vision The bigger your prayers, the bigger your dreams, the bigger your vision.

• So what are you praying big for? Watch for the door of opportunity and step through it!

• Happy Memorial Day!

Honoring Their Service

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately, Memorial Day has lost much of its emphasis in recent years. We tend to view it as a weekend for beach trips, cook-outs and sales at the mall. But Memorial Day is about giving honor to those who have served our country in the armed services, many of which have given their lives for our freedoms.

This Sunday I'm proud to say we are going to take a few moments out of our service to honor those who have served or are currently serving our nation. We're going to give honor where honor is due.

So help us get the word out about this special Memorial Day tribute!

Laugh At Ourselves

I've been watching this blog for a while now before I recommended it and I'm ready to pass on the laughs that I've been getting from it. Stuff Christians Like is a riot if you grew up in church like I did. It pokes good natured fun at some of the silly things we do in the Christian sub-culture. #247 today made me laugh out loud! Check it out and let me know what your favorites are.

And The Winner Is...

David Cook! I'm not a huge American Idol fan or anything, but Arianna is so I've watched some of it this year. The finalists were the usual mix of semi-talented wanna-be's with a couple of "real deals" mixed in. I thought from the beginning that David Cook was the real deal.

I know some of you were probably Archuleta fans and at the beginning I thought he was pretty good. He does have a really good voice, but over the period of the competition he didn't show much imagination or push the envelope very much.

Cook came off as a pro. He has a great voice, great presence and you never knew what to expect out of him. He was a real winner!

Now here's my only suggestion for next season - stop using the fake audience down front!! Everyone standing on their feet, waving their hands in the air adoringly just looks plain STUPID!!

Pray

Just heard this morning about the loss of Steven Curtis Chapman's 5-year old daughter in a tragic accident. The loss of a child is such a deeply profound wound in a parent's life. There is no other loss that compares to it. Would you join me today in saying a prayer for this family?

Memorial Day Kick Off

One thing about church scheduling is you never kick off something new on a holiday weekend. It's a no-brainer. Everyone bails out for the weekend, so save the really "good stuff" for the non-holiday weekends. (Oops, I may have just shared too much there!)

This weekend we're breaking that rule and here's why. We're usually pretty well planned out several months in advance for what sermon topics we're going to cover. But sometimes something comes up and you just have to shift the plan a little bit and do something you didn't have in the original plan. That's what this weekend and our How To Survive A Down Market series is about.

Lately I've had a lot of conversations revolving around the tough times we're going through right now. Whether you want to call it a recession, down turn, slow down or whatever, it's affecting us all. Some more than others.  The more I thought about those conversations the more it seemed that God was saying, "Talk about this NOW!" So we shifted the plan. 

The good news is we serve a God who is God of the down turns as well as the up turns. So this Sunday we're kicking off a new series (on a holiday weekend) that will give us faith, encouragement, hope and will remind us that no matter what the market looks like - he's still on the thone!

So who do you know that needs to be here this weekend to hear this?