Kirk Bowman's blog

We have had an absolute blast with our Christmas at The Movies series. We decided to put our effort into all the Sundays of the Christmas season rather than go for one big event.

Our creative team did an amazing job. Costumed characters handing out bulletins, stage set up, movie clips. It was all fun. We showed the movie each night with free popcorn. Great family time.

We have received a huge positive response from our church on this series.

We had tons of new guests and 26 people prayed to respond to Jesus.

We covered:
• Elf- Everybody wants to belong
• The Grinch – Hurt people hurt people
• It’s a Wonderful Life – The power of one life
• A Christmas Story – What you want is not always what’s best for you

Here’s a few pics:

This week, we are wrapping up our Christmas For Kids program for 2008. It’s been amazing, once again.

Each year, we learn a little more and we are able to pull it off a little better.

First, huge kudos to Kathy Hawkins. She led the charge this year and did an astounding job of coordinating all the different aspects of CFK. Hundreds of volunteers flocked to her engaging leadership. Kathy Hawkins rocks!!


It was so cool to have so many new people, as well as many of our “old” faithfuls, totally engaged in this effort. Shopping, wrapping, delivering and connecting with people. Such a great team.

Our church is so hugely generous. I know we are supposed to be in a recession but our church family hit it out of the park once again this year. We sponsored 369 kids at $75 a kid. When it’s all said and done, at least $30,000 invested into blessing kids and families this year.

What really makes CFK so special is the many wonderful stories of individuals touched by CFK. Both those who gave and those who received. It's not just about a huge number. It's about each person and their story.

We are trusting God to use this labor of love to draw people to Him.

Way to go Rock Church!!

This past Friday was a milestone day for our family. My baby daughter, Elizabeth, turned 18 years old.

So hard to believe how fast the time has flown by.

Elizabeth is an amazing person. She is so smart, tons of fun and very “together”. She wakes up singing and is always pretty darn happy. She has a great fashion sense and is completely organized – always has been. No question to me, she will go far in life.

It’s been such a joy to be her dad. Suzette and I are so proud of her.

Happy birthday, Elizabeth!

This Sunday we are asking our church to make a 6 month pledge to our C2 (C2 – The Next Chapter) capital campaign. The original campaign was for 3 years. We are now entering our last 6 months of that 3 years.

Many of our guys made huge commitments to C2 that have not materialized for them. These are people who really had a plan and worked hard. But it’s a different economy now.

So we decided to give everyone a “year of jubilee” and have them reconsider what kind of pledge they could make for the last 6 months.

We wanted to take any guilt off of them for not keeping a pledge. We also want them to think clearly and pray about what they could do for the next 6 months.

The pastoral side of me doesn’t want to put undue pressure on anyone if they are struggling. The apostolic side of me knows we have to keep advancing the kingdom and reaching people for Christ.

No matter what is going on in the world around us – it’s still vital that God’s people stay full of faith and maintain a willingness to advance the cause.

Looking forward to Sunday

For the past few years, our church has generously given Christmas presents to kids who would not otherwise have any presents. We work with several local schools and helping agencies in locating kids in need. We also make sure everyone in our church family is looked after.

I’m so thrilled to say our church family has sponsored 378 kids so far this year for Christmas For Kids. At $75 per child - that is totally amazing!

We are wrapping up (pun intended) our efforts this weekend. 90 plus volunteers will descend on our church this Saturday for a Big Serve day to shop, wrap, call and deliver presents. If you’d like to get involved, with either giving or serving, please contact our church office this week.

So cool to be part of this amazing effort.

What an amazing day we had in church yesterday.

We kicked off our “Christmas at the Movies” series and it went over incredibly well. We looked at “Elf” and talked about “Everybody wants to belong”.

So many great creative elements. Guys dressed up like Elf and elves and papa elf - handing out bulletins, and candy, talking to kids. Amazing creative video. Then we showed the movie at 6 pm and hundreds of people came out – with their kids – and we had such a fun evening. Popcorn and all.

Usually the Sunday right after Thanksgiving is like ghost town in church but we were packed!

Tons of new people! They keep pouring in.

Hats off to our whole team for doing such an amazing job at making Sunday morning the best 100 minutes of the week.