Dave Bowman

Opening 1 Up...

This week as we dive into FAQ 2 we're opening up a big can of worms!! Is it OK for a Christian to drink? Can a Christian enjoy a glass of wine with dinner or a beer and a dog at the ballgame? Is it OK to get drunk, put a lampshade on your head and sing Free Bird at the top of your lungs? This Sunday we're going to answer all those questions, plus a few more.

And as usual we're doing it NHC-style, which means it will be fun, interesting and challenging. The band has a song planned that you never thought you'd hear in church and I might even give away a free beer. (OK, I'm just kidding on that one!)

See 'ya Sunday!

P.S. If you missed last Sunday we answered the question, Can I Lose My Salvation? You can watch it or listen to it here.

Me & 10 Women

I just spent the evening with 10 women. Don't worry, this is not the NHC version of a pastoral scandal or anything. I asked 10 women from NHC to join me this evening to give me their thoughts for our upcoming women's series. We talked about identity issues, the pressures our culture puts on women and how the past affects women as they move into dating, marriage, careers and parenting. 

All I can say right now is I'm really glad I'm a dude. The pressures that women face today are unbelievable. But the good news is God's word has so much to say to both women and the guys like me who love one.

So, look for it in August. We're calling it Beautiful, which is how God created every woman.

Back In Black

Well, actually, I didn’t wear black but it was good to be back this Sunday. The #1 question I got was, “Did you get some rest?” Answer – yes and no. Vacationing with a pre-teen is NOT restful! Arianna is more on-the-go than ever and that means Susan and I are on-the-go too. But on the other hand, it was good to get away from the weekly pressure of preaching and leading.

 This Sunday we kicked off a brand new series called, FAQ’s. Here’s the rundown:

 • Felt good to preach again but I have to admit I was a little nervous after being off for 3 weeks.

 • Great music combination from Jon and the band. We got new school and old school. New school: Your Name High. Great new Hillsong worship tune. Old school: It Is Well With My Soul. I love the new stuff, but I have a soft spot in my heart for some of the great old hymns too. (As long as we do them NHC-style!)

 • Sound was great too. Paul Boone, our resident sound and tech guru, is one of the best I’ve ever seen. He had his team in this past week tweaking our sound again and adding some new stuff that just made our sound clearer and more defined. Props to Paul!

• Yesterday we dealt with the question, “Can I Lose My Salvation?” Short answer? No! God’s grace is sufficient to save me and it’s sufficient to keep me saved too. Why is it we think that we’re good enough to stay saved when our salvation NEVER depends on what we do or don’t do? It’s all about Jesus! I’m not saved because I’m good enough and I don’t stay saved because I stay good enough. I’m saved because Jesus is good enough and I stay saved because Jesus continues to be good enough!

• Next week – Is It OK For A Christian To Drink? Wow! Should be fun!

• Heard great reports from our first Block Party. Attendance was the best ever and our volunteers took BP to a whole 'nutha level! Way to go guys! Can't wait for the next one.

 • Had lunch yesterday with some of our NHC police officers and fire fighters. For some reason, we have tapped into the local police departments, fire departments and Sheriff’s office, and I’m really stoked about that. These guys and gals lay their lives on the line everyday for us and it’s an honor to have so many of them in our church.

 • While I’m on the subject, keep praying for the Durham Police officer who was shot over the weekend. He’s making progress but isn’t out of the woods yet.

• Great to be back and I'm looking forward to the rest of our summer together! Love 'ya NHC!!

Enjoy...

Here's the latest youtube music video from NHC last weekend. Enjoy...

How The Mighty Fall

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I’m a huge Jim Collins fan. His two classic leadership books, Good To Great and Built To Last, should be required reading for any leader in any kind of organization. So when I heard that he had a new book out, I was on board to read it ASAP, which I was able to do during my summer break.

My opinion of Collins hasn’t changed a bit after reading How The Mighty Fall. This should be required reading for every leader. It’s a brilliant, compact view of the five stages of decline that an organization goes through as it fails:

Stage 1: Hubris born of success
Stage 2: Undisciplined pursuit of more
Stage 3: Denial of risk and peril
Stage 4: Grasping for salvation
Stage 5: Capitulation to irrelevance or death

Whenever I read Jim Collins I’m always struck with his dedication to staying true to your core values and principles. Again, that’s probably my biggest take away from this new book. It’s the abandonment of core values because of pride, lack of discipline or some last ditch, desperate attempt at salvation that most often leads to failure.

At the end of the book Collins says, “Be willing to change tactics, but never give up your core purpose. Be willing to kill failed business ideas, even to shutter big operations you’ve been in for a long time, but never give up on the idea of building a great company. Be willing to evolve into an entirely different portfolio of activities, even to the point of zero overlap with what you do today, but never give up on the principles that define your culture. Be willing to embrace the inevitability of creative destruction, but never give up on the discipline to create your own future. Be willing to embrace loss, to endure pain, to temporarily lose freedoms, but never give up faith in the ability to prevail. Be willing to form alliances with former adversaries, to accept necessary compromise, but never—ever—give up your core values.”

It's On Like Donkey Kong

As of this week I'm back in the saddle and getting ready to kick off our new FAQ's series this coming weekend. This is going to be a great summer series because YOU helped create it! Over the last few weeks we've asked you what questions you would like for us to try to answer from the Bible during the month of July. Then we put those questions together with the most frequently asked questions we get around here and we've come up with 4 really big issues to deal with. (Just for the record, we don't know what happened to John and Sherry and we won't be answering that question!)

And it's July 4th weekend so we're jumping in with a "firecracker" question that has been asked in a lot of different ways - Can I Lose My Salvation? Frankly, this is one that I have personally had to figure out on my own over the years and I'm really excited about downloading this one.

So, if you know anyone who is far from God right now, or walked away from God and think they can't come back, or someone who doesn't know Jesus at all - GET THEM HERE THIS WEEKEND!  Check out the video trailer...

Another One Bites The Dust

To begin with, this is not a political statement of any kind. If you can’t read the rest of this blog post without letting your political leanings get in the way, you might as well hit the delete button right now.

So, having made the disclaimer, another one bites the dust. Another politician has admitted having an affair. There’s a part of me that almost feels like this is par for the course. It seems like nobody is immune to this whether they are Democrats, Republicans or Independents. It happens with all political stripes.

But it’s not just politicians. Spiritual leaders seem to do it too. We all know the high profile stories of megachurch pastors and TV evangelists who end up in the wrong bed. Recently a promising young pastor who was leading a dynamic church in Georgia went completely off the tracks, had an affair with his assistant and ended up losing his ministry and possibly his marriage and family.

Why?

Good question. And there are some answers:

• They think they won’t get caught

• They think they’re smarter than everyone else

• They feel entitled

• They’re thrill seekers who need an adrenaline rush

• Their own marriage has broken down

Those are all valid reasons, but last night I was listening to a psychiatrist on TV who was trying to explain why these things happen. He gave the biggest reason of all. He said, “This is part of the human condition.” And then he said something that caught my attention: “Every week I see all kinds of people in my office who have done the same thing. It’s not just the politicians. Anyone can do this.”

Including me…or you…no matter who you are – politician…pastor…doctor…truck driver…salesperson…husband…wife…

Bottom line, we all have a sinful nature and we’re all capable of anything given the right set of circumstances. 

“…sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Genesis 4:7

FAQ's

Questions, questions, questions. Everybody has them. So where do you go for answers? How about the Bible!

That's where we're turning in July with our new series, FAQ's. Starting the first weekend of July we'll be attempting to answer 4 of the most frequently asked questions we get here at New Horizon. The good news is the answers won't be someone's opinion, they'll come straight from the Bible.

So, plan to be with us in July. And in the meantime, do you have a question? Ask it here. And don't worry, it's completely anonymous!

I'm Back...

So where have I been? I've been on a self-imposed blog/Twitter sabbatical. Frankly, I've been feeling a little bored with the whole blogosphere/Twitter thing. It had all begun to sound like a lot of blah...blah...blah to me. (As I'm re-engaging, I'm finding a lot of it still sounds that way!)

So here's my new blog philosophy: I'm not going to post anything unless I have something to say. I've always seen my blog as a way to communicate first and foremost with those who love and attend NHC. So, I'll continue to post about what's happening in and around our church. I'll continue the Weekend Rewinds but they probably won't show up until Monday.  I'll also continue to give you updates on what's coming up. I'll also occasionally post some things about my family and personal life, along with some updates on books, movies and music that I find interesting. But here's the deal - I refuse to read anymore boring blog posts and I'm going to do my best not to bore you with meaningless junk either.

Weekend Rewind

• It's Monday and I'm sitting on my deck relaxing after hitting some balls at the driving range and thinking back to yesterday at NHC. If you missed it, you missed another exciting baptism celebration. 77 people went deep yesterday for Jesus!

• Whole families got baptized together yesterday. Married couples got baptized together. Kids got baptized as well as students. It was so cool to hear the kids and students and small groups cheering on their own as they got dunked. Reminds me of what the church is - one big community of believers!

• Preached about as simply as I know how yesterday about baptism. Baptism is one of those subjects that the church has done a very good job of making into a confused mess. I'm convinced that the message of Jesus is a pretty simple message and that most people just want to know what to do and if we'll talk about it with simplicity many will step up and do what Jesus asked  us to do.

• Heard lots of life change stories yesterday too. That's always an awesome thing. Sometimes as a pastor I'm the last one to hear the stories. It's good to know that what we're doing is having an impact on lives.

• I love that NHC is a church where people's lives are being changed! I love that we're a church where "perfect people aren't allowed." I love the fact that everybody's welcome and that we're a community of people just trying to follow Jesus. This weekend 77 more people took another step in following him. Today I'm celebrating it