Sunday, January 23rd

I love New Community Church. It was an awesome day on campus as a faith community and it's only going to get sweeter as we move forward as a Church. I feel like today's conversation was intense. I believe that most of us know in our core that we need COMMUNITY with other believers, but we struggle with making time for it to happen in our rhythm of life. If you are willing to take this step, we are here to help you connect with other believers beginning in February. Here are the highlights from the day!

1. Part three of Killer APPS: Christ-centered friendships help Guard our Heart. We learned last week that a guarded heart aligns us with God. As we intentionally connect with other believers for fellowship, study and prayer...God shows up and grows us in our faith. Here are th passages we studied. Acts 2:42-47 and Colossians 3:12-17. We learned that having a sincere heart means having authentic relationships (when people know the real us) in our lives. We also learned that when Christ is the center of these relationships, we begin teaching and encouraging one another....which leads to a guarded heart.
2. More coats and blankets came in today for our winter initiative. YOU guys blow me away with your generosity and willingness to bring your coats and blankets to give to the under resourced. This initiative ends next Sunday, so keep bringing it.
3. Over 70 kids and adults in our preschool ministry and over 50 in our Elementary Ministry...it was an AWESOME Day in NC Kids. If you are not volunteering anywhere, or if you have kids in this ministry and are not serving....we need you to VOLUNTEER ASAP to partner with what God is doing...remember...teamwork makes the dreamwork!
4. As Dawn said, our pre-school volunteers were rock stars today and our student volunteers stepped up their game as well as God continues to grow this ministry.
5. I am always blown away by all the new faces and it is awesome to meet new people each week before and after the service.
6. We announced today that we will be launching "starter groups" in February. We are inviting everyone that is not in a community group to test drive a group for 8 weeks. Every group will meet for 8 weeks at a host home and the idea is that if you have never been in a group, this is a great way to "try before you buy" when it comes to group life. IF you want in, email stephen@newcommunityonline.com.

All in all, it was a great day at NC. God is really blessing our church beyond belief and I can't wait until our Pot-Luck next Sunday to share our next steps as a Church. It is going to be a cool night together as we eat and share together.

Grace and Peace my friends.