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Showing posts with label NHC Events and News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NHC Events and News. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Green Room (Willow Arts)
Willow Arts, a ministry of the Willow Creek Association, is running an event for artists and creative type people who serve in the local church called The Green Room. This one-day event will take place on Friday, February 19, 2010.
We're very stoked that Nags Head Church will be one of the satellite host churches for this event. We are looking forward to gathering together artists other churches in northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia to learn together.
If you're a creative person in a local church and are interested in attending this event in Nags Head, pleaser leave me a comment or shoot me an email to inquire about a few super-cheap tickets I have in my possession. Visit The Green Room website to check out the schedule and other information.
Nate
Unspeakable Joy Setlist
We haven't done anything "special" for Christmas here at Nags Head Church for several years. Of course, we always gather together on Christmas Eve to worship, but it's been a long time since we've had a special gathering in December for Christmas music/worship [you'll never read the word "cantata" on my blog (except for right there)]. Because we've changed the format of some of our other Christmas "traditions" at NHC this year, we thought it would be a great time to try something new.
Here's our (maybe) finalized setlist for our Christmas Concert on Friday night. If you're reading this and planning on coming to Unspeakable Joy on Friday, you may want to stop yourself here just so you can enjoy the fun without knowing what to expect! (songs are italicized)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Welcome
Scripture – Isaiah 9:6,7
O Come Let Us Adore Him
My Soul Magnifies The Lord (a new one from Chris Tomlin)
Scripture – Luke 2:8-20
Gloria
Glory In The Highest (an NHC favorite from Chris Tomlin)
Scripture – Philippians 2:6-11
Silent Night
Hark The Herald Angels
O Holy Night
Christmas Time Is Here (the Vince Guaraldi classic)
Joy To The World
Closing
Scripture – Philippians 4:4-9
Rejoice (another NHC favorite from Chris Tomlin)
Here's our (maybe) finalized setlist for our Christmas Concert on Friday night. If you're reading this and planning on coming to Unspeakable Joy on Friday, you may want to stop yourself here just so you can enjoy the fun without knowing what to expect! (songs are italicized)
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
Welcome
Scripture – Isaiah 9:6,7
O Come Let Us Adore Him
My Soul Magnifies The Lord (a new one from Chris Tomlin)
Scripture – Luke 2:8-20
Gloria
Glory In The Highest (an NHC favorite from Chris Tomlin)
Scripture – Philippians 2:6-11
Silent Night
Hark The Herald Angels
O Holy Night
Christmas Time Is Here (the Vince Guaraldi classic)
Joy To The World
Closing
Scripture – Philippians 4:4-9
Rejoice (another NHC favorite from Chris Tomlin)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
(Bump) Halloween?
I doubt I'm about to say anything that you can't find thousands of other people saying on the internet this week...and, I doubt that you have much doubt about my views of Halloween if you've been reading my blog for more than a few days...and, I am certainly NOT posting this in an attempt to get a theological discussion going about Halloween...nor am I trying to persuade you to change any opinions about this or any other holiday...trust me, I know that if you believe that Halloween is the devil, there ain't nobody going to be changing your convictions anytime soon.
But, I’m sharing this with you because I have had a few people ask me why we celebrate Halloween.
First, let me share with you my history with Halloween. When I was very young, my parents would take my sisters and I out every year trick or treating (totting). I remember Halloween as lots of fun...my mom would even make our costumes (before the days of Wal-Mart). One year, I was Kermit the frog...another year, all three of us were the pink panther [those were some HOT (not sexy hot, but sweaty/stinky hot) costumes...].
The biggest thing I remember about those early years of totting (beyond the requisite candy-trading with my sisters at the end of the bountiful evening) was a very real fear of dying from eating a poisoned or razor blade embedded piece of candy...I don't know why my parents thought it was OK to warn me about such things... So, from early on, I was taught that Halloween was not all fun and games.
When I was about 7, my parents made the decision to stop allowing us to participate in traditional Halloween festivities...namely the evil and dangerous totting. I'm guessing that this decision had as much to do with the fact that my father was a pastor of some “convicted” people as it had to do with my parents’ own convictions, but regardless, pink panther was long gone.
In it's place, we began having the wonderful Baptist (although I hear it's not contained to one denomination) alternative called, "Harvest Party". If you've never been to a harvest party, think of it as the alternative prom...the one that all the lame people who didn't want to have any fun went to. I'm not saying our harvest parties weren't any fun...I have some good memories of all of the Bible characters I dressed up as and all of the sword drills I won for candy. But, Halloween for us was definitely not the same as Halloween for the rest of the known world.
Fast forward to present day. Harvest Parties are long gone at our church. I haven't done a sword drill in years. In a few days, my dad is going to be grilling hundreds of hotdogs for a few thousand unchurched guests (about 500 families) who come through NHC's TRUNKorTREAT. My mom is going to be trying to up her costume from last year (see pics below). I have been plotting my own costume since last spring. About 80% of our church is going to be volunteering to pass out candy, man our giant inflatable games, serve food and drinks, etc.
My Dad:
My Mom:
At some point, my parents finally saw the light...and, I got past my deadly fears as well.
All that to say, here's what we believe about Halloween:
> There is nothing evil about October 31 in and of itself. Nor is their necessarily anything evil about dressing up, buying candy, passing out candy, receiving candy, eating candy, hanging out with friends, carving a pumpkin, etc.
> There are people in the past and in the present who choose to use October 31 as a day for evil. Vandalism, substance abuse, sexual "fun" (have you seen some of the costumes these days?), imitation of blood and violence have all, among certain groups, become closely associated with Halloween.
> There are also people who choose to use October 31 for neutral reasons…hanging out with friends, eating candy, staying home to watch the World Series, etc.
> There are some people who choose to isolate and insulate themselves from everything related to Halloween, fearing the possible evils and harm that could come their way if they were to participate in the day.
> And, there are people who choose to use October 31 for God-centered purposes.
We choose to use Halloween as an opportunity to reach out to our community and show them, not that there is an alternative to Halloween, but that there is an alternative to life. While we do stay away from using witches and ghosts and axe murderers in our Halloween celebration, we don't put Halloween or those who celebrate it differently than us down in any way. Instead, we invite people to come and celebrate October 31 with us (even if they dress up as a witch), hoping that they'll see and hear about our alternative way of life.
I realize that a lot of people disagree with how we view Halloween, and that's OK with us...most of those people are not who we are trying to reach. In fact the cool thing about ToT is that, because so many other churches/Christians disagree with our view about October 31, we almost exclusively attract unchurched people in our community with this event. I also understand that Halloween is celebrated very differently in other cultures (even in the states), which makes what we do a little easier. We see very little of the violence and vandalism that many other cities and towns deal with on October 31...we see less neighborhood totting as well. TRUNKorTREAT is actually not just another stop for our community on October 31, it has become the place to be...this year we're expecting upwards of 2500 people.
Nate
But, I’m sharing this with you because I have had a few people ask me why we celebrate Halloween.
First, let me share with you my history with Halloween. When I was very young, my parents would take my sisters and I out every year trick or treating (totting). I remember Halloween as lots of fun...my mom would even make our costumes (before the days of Wal-Mart). One year, I was Kermit the frog...another year, all three of us were the pink panther [those were some HOT (not sexy hot, but sweaty/stinky hot) costumes...].
The biggest thing I remember about those early years of totting (beyond the requisite candy-trading with my sisters at the end of the bountiful evening) was a very real fear of dying from eating a poisoned or razor blade embedded piece of candy...I don't know why my parents thought it was OK to warn me about such things... So, from early on, I was taught that Halloween was not all fun and games.
When I was about 7, my parents made the decision to stop allowing us to participate in traditional Halloween festivities...namely the evil and dangerous totting. I'm guessing that this decision had as much to do with the fact that my father was a pastor of some “convicted” people as it had to do with my parents’ own convictions, but regardless, pink panther was long gone.
In it's place, we began having the wonderful Baptist (although I hear it's not contained to one denomination) alternative called, "Harvest Party". If you've never been to a harvest party, think of it as the alternative prom...the one that all the lame people who didn't want to have any fun went to. I'm not saying our harvest parties weren't any fun...I have some good memories of all of the Bible characters I dressed up as and all of the sword drills I won for candy. But, Halloween for us was definitely not the same as Halloween for the rest of the known world.
Fast forward to present day. Harvest Parties are long gone at our church. I haven't done a sword drill in years. In a few days, my dad is going to be grilling hundreds of hotdogs for a few thousand unchurched guests (about 500 families) who come through NHC's TRUNKorTREAT. My mom is going to be trying to up her costume from last year (see pics below). I have been plotting my own costume since last spring. About 80% of our church is going to be volunteering to pass out candy, man our giant inflatable games, serve food and drinks, etc.
My Dad:
My Mom:
At some point, my parents finally saw the light...and, I got past my deadly fears as well.
All that to say, here's what we believe about Halloween:
> There is nothing evil about October 31 in and of itself. Nor is their necessarily anything evil about dressing up, buying candy, passing out candy, receiving candy, eating candy, hanging out with friends, carving a pumpkin, etc.
> There are people in the past and in the present who choose to use October 31 as a day for evil. Vandalism, substance abuse, sexual "fun" (have you seen some of the costumes these days?), imitation of blood and violence have all, among certain groups, become closely associated with Halloween.
> There are also people who choose to use October 31 for neutral reasons…hanging out with friends, eating candy, staying home to watch the World Series, etc.
> There are some people who choose to isolate and insulate themselves from everything related to Halloween, fearing the possible evils and harm that could come their way if they were to participate in the day.
> And, there are people who choose to use October 31 for God-centered purposes.
We choose to use Halloween as an opportunity to reach out to our community and show them, not that there is an alternative to Halloween, but that there is an alternative to life. While we do stay away from using witches and ghosts and axe murderers in our Halloween celebration, we don't put Halloween or those who celebrate it differently than us down in any way. Instead, we invite people to come and celebrate October 31 with us (even if they dress up as a witch), hoping that they'll see and hear about our alternative way of life.
I realize that a lot of people disagree with how we view Halloween, and that's OK with us...most of those people are not who we are trying to reach. In fact the cool thing about ToT is that, because so many other churches/Christians disagree with our view about October 31, we almost exclusively attract unchurched people in our community with this event. I also understand that Halloween is celebrated very differently in other cultures (even in the states), which makes what we do a little easier. We see very little of the violence and vandalism that many other cities and towns deal with on October 31...we see less neighborhood totting as well. TRUNKorTREAT is actually not just another stop for our community on October 31, it has become the place to be...this year we're expecting upwards of 2500 people.
Nate
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Connection Group Commercial (01)
We've produced five Connection Group Commercials to show at NHC over the month of August to help promote our upcoming trimester...here's the first...
Nate
Nate
Connection Groups
As I mentioned, we've got a new ad campaign promoting our Connection Groups. Here are the two in-house posters we've created...I'll post our first commercial in a little while.
Nate
Nate
Sunday Blitz
> The crowds continue to surprise us...this Sunday was our biggest yet, with well over 600 people in attendance. I'd like to guess that this coming Sunday will be the last huge one before school starts and the tourist numbers start to drop, but trying to predict things this year has already proven worthless.
> We've started a new, four-week series called "Holier Than Thou?". Our pastor and one of our missionaries are doing a tag-team teaching approach each Sunday...the message on God's holiness was very good this week, and we're looking forward to the remaining three weeks.
> We introduced a new song, "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road as our theme song for this new series. Beautiful song, with some very honest, introspective lyrics...we'll be using it again, maybe every week...it's that good, so give it a listen.
> There are just some Sundays where the music seems to click on a higher level with the hearts of people...this was one of those Sundays. Maybe it was the fact that we did one more song than we normally do, but everyone seemed prepared to worship from the start.
> This was Amber Elwood's last Sunday at NHC...she'd the local artist who has been helping us illustrate our Moses series...which reminds me...I need to post some more of her paintings for you to see. Thanks for using your gifts, Amber!
> The heartbeat of NHC is our connection groups, and we're taking the month of August off to give our groups a groups a break and give people the opportunity to change groups or try them out for the first time. We've got a new ad campaign for our groups...our Sunday morning crowd is enjoying it, and I think you will too...more to come shortly...
> A big announcement was made this past week...I and the rest of our full-time staff will be going bi-vocational for a season. I'll be working about 20 hours for the church and 20 hours elsewhere, and will be job hunting over the next few weeks. I'd appreciate your prayer!
Rock on!
Nate
> We've started a new, four-week series called "Holier Than Thou?". Our pastor and one of our missionaries are doing a tag-team teaching approach each Sunday...the message on God's holiness was very good this week, and we're looking forward to the remaining three weeks.
> We introduced a new song, "What Do I Know of Holy" by Addison Road as our theme song for this new series. Beautiful song, with some very honest, introspective lyrics...we'll be using it again, maybe every week...it's that good, so give it a listen.
> There are just some Sundays where the music seems to click on a higher level with the hearts of people...this was one of those Sundays. Maybe it was the fact that we did one more song than we normally do, but everyone seemed prepared to worship from the start.
> This was Amber Elwood's last Sunday at NHC...she'd the local artist who has been helping us illustrate our Moses series...which reminds me...I need to post some more of her paintings for you to see. Thanks for using your gifts, Amber!
> The heartbeat of NHC is our connection groups, and we're taking the month of August off to give our groups a groups a break and give people the opportunity to change groups or try them out for the first time. We've got a new ad campaign for our groups...our Sunday morning crowd is enjoying it, and I think you will too...more to come shortly...
> A big announcement was made this past week...I and the rest of our full-time staff will be going bi-vocational for a season. I'll be working about 20 hours for the church and 20 hours elsewhere, and will be job hunting over the next few weeks. I'd appreciate your prayer!
Rock on!
Nate
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Hukilau Newspaper Article
Check out This Article (click the link and then scroll down to the "Hukilau Surf Camp" link) about our Surf Camps!
Nate
Nate
Friday, July 3, 2009
4th of July
Here's a little OBX secret...the absolute best place to watch fireworks is on top of Jockey's Ridge...not only do you not have to fight the traffic and the crowds that invade the beaches that night, you can easily see not one, not two, but three different fireworks displays from the biggest sand dunes on the East Coast! Here's another secret...the best place to park and walk up the dunes is at Nags Head Church.
Along with free parking, there will also be free Boar’s Head hotdogs (seriously some of the best dogs ever), free Seafreeze Slushies (nothing better than something ice cold in the middle of summer) and some awesome free activities for kids (can you say two moon bounces?). Did I mention that everything is free?!?
If you're wondering where I'll be tomorrow evening, you can find me in the parking lot of Nags Head Church.
Hope to see you there!
Nate
Parking is limited, so don't be late!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Sunday Blitz
> Matt the Intern played bass with us for the first time yesterday...he blogs about it a bit Here. I especially enjoyed his friendly argument with our sound tech about his guitar "fretting out"...
> Great message yesterday to fathers about instructing and modeling holiness to our children. Especially enjoyed the passage from the first part of Proverbs 4.
> Speaking of which, it was my second father's day, and a great one spent worshipping with friends and hanging out with family. You can read a few of my father's day thoughts Here.
> Tourism is down this summer, and it's being reflected at church...normally, this Sunday should have been our first huge Sunday of the year, with well over 200 in each worship gathering, but not so. That's OK with us, because we're still getting a lot of local guests, which is our target anyway.
> The band has had rough starts each of the past two Sundays during the 9am gathering...going to work on a few things this week to help us "fix" that, because it's frustrating for us all, even if nobody else notices.
> The band did a sweet, men-only cover of DCTalk's "What if I Stumble" yesterday...a great and timely reminder to us fathers and husbands (and future fathers and husbands) that our bad decisions affect those around us.
> We have a new check-in system for all of our kids...some kind of scanner thing that spits out a name tag and records who is there each Sunday...should help us better serve and reach families.
> Word is that our first Kayak Camp of the summer went well on Saturday, and our first Hukilau Surf Camp of the summer this coming Saturday is filling up fast!
Nate
> Great message yesterday to fathers about instructing and modeling holiness to our children. Especially enjoyed the passage from the first part of Proverbs 4.
> Speaking of which, it was my second father's day, and a great one spent worshipping with friends and hanging out with family. You can read a few of my father's day thoughts Here.
> Tourism is down this summer, and it's being reflected at church...normally, this Sunday should have been our first huge Sunday of the year, with well over 200 in each worship gathering, but not so. That's OK with us, because we're still getting a lot of local guests, which is our target anyway.
> The band has had rough starts each of the past two Sundays during the 9am gathering...going to work on a few things this week to help us "fix" that, because it's frustrating for us all, even if nobody else notices.
> The band did a sweet, men-only cover of DCTalk's "What if I Stumble" yesterday...a great and timely reminder to us fathers and husbands (and future fathers and husbands) that our bad decisions affect those around us.
> We have a new check-in system for all of our kids...some kind of scanner thing that spits out a name tag and records who is there each Sunday...should help us better serve and reach families.
> Word is that our first Kayak Camp of the summer went well on Saturday, and our first Hukilau Surf Camp of the summer this coming Saturday is filling up fast!
Nate
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Sunday Blitz
I haven't done a Sunday Blitz in a long time...time to get back into it, I think...
> Today was Family Day at Nags Head Church, as we celebrated family with our favorite moms.
> We opened our worship gatherings today with about 13 minutes of KidMo, giving our adults a taste of what our elementary age kids do every week...Matt and Alex did a great job leading the kids, and it was sweet to see many of the adults joining in on the high energy songs and activities.
> Our youth and children's pastor, Andy preached today...a sermon about parenting that fit perfectly with my small group's discussion from this past week.
> We always do a parent/child dedication (ask me why we don't call it a "baby dedication") on Mother's Day, and today was definitely our biggest dedication ever, with over a dozen families committing to model Christ to their kids.
> We hosted a college student this weekend...Matt may come intern for Andy and I over the summer...pray that we can find him a good host family to live with if we do make the decision to bring him on with us.
> Hukilau Surf Camps are open for registration! Kahuna Steve is actually traveling down to Florida in a few weeks to run a camp for my BIL's youth group.
> May is the last "normal" month for us...June through August bring the big increase in attendance as the tourists flood our beaches...it's an exciting time to belong to NHC!
Nate
> Today was Family Day at Nags Head Church, as we celebrated family with our favorite moms.
> We opened our worship gatherings today with about 13 minutes of KidMo, giving our adults a taste of what our elementary age kids do every week...Matt and Alex did a great job leading the kids, and it was sweet to see many of the adults joining in on the high energy songs and activities.
> Our youth and children's pastor, Andy preached today...a sermon about parenting that fit perfectly with my small group's discussion from this past week.
> We always do a parent/child dedication (ask me why we don't call it a "baby dedication") on Mother's Day, and today was definitely our biggest dedication ever, with over a dozen families committing to model Christ to their kids.
> We hosted a college student this weekend...Matt may come intern for Andy and I over the summer...pray that we can find him a good host family to live with if we do make the decision to bring him on with us.
> Hukilau Surf Camps are open for registration! Kahuna Steve is actually traveling down to Florida in a few weeks to run a camp for my BIL's youth group.
> May is the last "normal" month for us...June through August bring the big increase in attendance as the tourists flood our beaches...it's an exciting time to belong to NHC!
Nate
Monday, April 13, 2009
How Was Your Easter?
Our Easter gatherings were awesome! We added a 7am gathering to try and avoid having to use our overflow during the 9 and 11am gatherings...it worked! around 100 people came out to worship with us at 7, and, oddly enough, of all three gatherings that morning, they had more energy and seemed more engaged than the 9 or 11 gathering.
The Worship Choir joined us at 9am and 11am, singing "Today Is The Day" "Praise The King" and "Overcome". It's so great to have them on stage, adding their voices and energy to our musical worship!
Around 600 people total in attendance, which is our biggest single day crowd ever at NHC. Add in the 100 people from Good Friday, and it was a huge weekend. I don't know exact numbers yet, but I do know that a few began their relationship with Christ for the first time! Here's hoping some of our guests will be back next week!
Our "volunteers", especially those who were willing and able to give extra time and energy this week/weekend deserve all of the human credit...we have the best people in the world at NHC!
How was your Easter Weekend?
Nate
The Worship Choir joined us at 9am and 11am, singing "Today Is The Day" "Praise The King" and "Overcome". It's so great to have them on stage, adding their voices and energy to our musical worship!
Around 600 people total in attendance, which is our biggest single day crowd ever at NHC. Add in the 100 people from Good Friday, and it was a huge weekend. I don't know exact numbers yet, but I do know that a few began their relationship with Christ for the first time! Here's hoping some of our guests will be back next week!
Our "volunteers", especially those who were willing and able to give extra time and energy this week/weekend deserve all of the human credit...we have the best people in the world at NHC!
How was your Easter Weekend?
Nate
Thursday, February 19, 2009
The CALL Stage
This past weekend, Nags Head Church hosted The CALL Student Conference, an annual youth event that focuses on the 5 Purposes (fellowship, worship, discipleship, ministry and mission) of the New Testament Church. This year's purpose was "Mission".
Our theme verse:
And Amber Elwood created the stage artwork (if you want to know how, ask me):
Nate
Our theme verse:
Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white for harvest.
And Amber Elwood created the stage artwork (if you want to know how, ask me):
Nate
Monday, January 26, 2009
Moses Art 01
As I mentioned in This Post, I'm working with local artist, Amber Elwood to create a series of paintings that will help illustrate big events in Moses' life as we work through our current Sunday Morning Sermon Series, "The Journey: Start to Finish - Tracking the Life of Moses". Below is the first piece depicting Moses' humble beginnings (read Exodus 1-2:10).
These paintings will be added to our stage as the story progresses (the piece above was added yesterday). I'm stoked to see how the rest of it turns out!
Nate
These paintings will be added to our stage as the story progresses (the piece above was added yesterday). I'm stoked to see how the rest of it turns out!
Nate
Monday, December 22, 2008
Christmas Eve Worship Gathering
We're using the 5 videos found Here, with a song in between each video (including three with our worship choir) and communion to finish the evening.
What are you doing for Christmas Eve?
Nate
What are you doing for Christmas Eve?
Nate
Sunday, November 30, 2008
The Good Stuff
Our past few Sundays have been some of our best ever...there is nothing like hearing from people in the church (people other than the pastors) about how their lives are being changed by God's Word. Not that our pastors' sermons aren't always good, but I wouldn't mind hearing from Joe Churchmember more often.
Nate
Nate
Thursday, November 13, 2008
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