Family Christmas Concert!

Well, the weather threatened to doom our Family Christmas Concert on Sunday night, but about 100 folks braved the elements and joined us for an awesome celebration! I think everybody there had a great time, and I was really happy with the way everything turned out!

The program included four tunes by our Christmas Choir, an ad hoc Children's Choir performance, and the youth group playing It Came Upon a Midnight Clear with spoons and waterglasses. Dustin Blumenstein, Anne Muehleck and I all sang some solos; Cassie Carver and Anne sang a duet, with Haley Keller and McKenna Rogness adding sign language; Kim George played a beautiful rendition of O Holy Night on the clarinet; and 8-year-old Molly Janssen brought the house down with her Do You Hear What I Hear solo...It was all just great!

The evening was capped off with some Christmas cookies and presentation of some wonderful gift cards to those of us on the New Hope staff. All in all it was great night, and I'm sorry for those who planned to come but couldn't travel in the snow.

Steve Myers recorded the evening, and some of the tracks turned out really nice! I'll post them soon on our web site's Sermons, Etc. page. And Repko sent me dozens of pictures--here are some of my favorites:

Christmas Concert Sunday Night!

Well, the weather outside is frightful, but our Family Christmas Concert will be delightful!

Okay, that's definitely a lame announcement...but I'm telling you, the program this Sunday evening is going to be fabulous! This casual, fun concert will be about an hour long and will feature many of our talented singers and instrumentalists. On the list:
- Four great songs by our Christmas Choir
- A Waterglass Choir made up of our youth group
- Instrumental music
- An Ad Hoc Children's Choir
- Traditional and contemporary solos
- And more!

The concert starts at 6:00 p.m., and we'll have cookies afterwards. Don't let a little snow on your lawn keep you from this wonderful evening of celebration--you'll be really glad you came!

Our New Sign!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything because I’m waist deep in Christmas planning, but I just had to share this!

I’ve been itching to put up a new sign on our building for months, and came up with some designs last summer. When I saw that the Holiday Craft Fair was going to be in the building across the parking lot, I was anxious to get the project going again. Enter Leela Zeeb and Repko Bruinsma, who took the proverbial ball and ran with it! Their skills and initiative really made it happen, and I appreciate them a ton.

I think it turned out great!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Last year (as we elegantly dined at Izzy's) our family started a new Thanksgiving tradition where we each take turns saying what we're thankful for and write them down. This year we're up in Redmond, Washington to get together with my mom's side of the family, and this morning at breakfast we made our list. The only thing we could find to write on was the back of a receipt, but it was fun filling it up with things we're grateful for, big (family) and small (salamanders)!

Wherever you are today, I hope you are thankful--God has been good. Happy Thanksgiving!

How to Handle Negative Feelings

As a Christian, is it okay to be afraid? angry? guilty? Everybody has negative feelings, but what is the biblical way to express or handle them?

Through a friend of a friend I came across this excellent article by Ken Williams on How to Handle Negative Feelings. I think there's a lot of wisdom and balance here, and if you have a few minutes I think you'll find it beneficial!

New Recordings

There are some new recordings uploaded to our Sermons, Etc. page on the web site. Dewey’s message about being the Salt of the Earth is a powerful statement about what kind of church we want New Hope to be. You’ll also find two new songs: He Is Lord and Your Name Is Holy. Enjoy!

Retreat Pics, Part 2

Here are a few more pictures from Saturday's One Day Retreat...