"EVERYTHING" DRAMA

The drama called "Everything" had a powerful impact on the church. You can watch the entire presentation here.

INTERVIEW WITH RAJINIE DIXIT

What are our kids learning in Sabbath school?
All of the classes, except for Baby and Me and Toddler, are using the Faithweaver Curriculum through Group Publishing. It presents an overview of the Bible every three years, and is coordinated so all age groups are hearing the same story each week. To help students understand the Old Testament as a whole, learners explore it chronologically during the summer and fall quarters. Winter and spring quarter FaithWeaver lessons focus on the New Testament. The Sabbath school curriculum also connects to Kids Own Worship, the curriculum that they are using in Kids Church.

Do babies need to go to sabbath School?
All of the research shows that the first three years of life is when the most learning takes place for our children. We are seeing our babies as young as 6 months praising the Lord through music and stories, and our toddlers as young as 18 months learning their memory verses (verbally and through sign language),. Start developing your child’s love for Jesus through daily family worship and weekly worship at sabbath school and church from infancy. Don’t wait until your child is school age to make sabbath school a habit. By then you’ve wasted a lot of valuable time.

What time does Sabbath School start and finish?
All of the upstairs Sabbath schools (Preschool through grade 5) begin at 9:30 am. Baby and Me and the Toddler class begin at 9:45. It is important to bring your child on time, so they don’t miss valuable components of each lesson. All Sabbath schools finish at 10:15. Please come upstairs to pick up your children at 10:15. If you’d like to avoid the crowds downstairs, you can register them for kids church or child care at the upstairs Ask Me desk. But please do not tell your young kids to come downstairs and look for you on their own. New Hope wants to be a safe place for kids. The only way that can happen is with vigilant adult supervision.

What can I do to help carry over the learning at home?
Research shows that the most powerful influence on children’s faith development is the conversations about faith that take place in the home. You can help get your child ready for sabbath school each week by reading our sabbath school blog http://blogsabbathschool.blogspot.com/. This blog has an adult lesson and family worship ideas that go with the story for the week. After sabbath school every week your child receives a take-home paper that includes also ideas for family discussion and activities. For even more ideas, you can check out HomeConnect at http://www.faithweaver.com/, for link on the internet that families can explore together to reinforce weekly Bible Points.

What is your biggest need for Sabbath School for the upcoming year?
MEN - Our boys needs male spiritual role models, even at the youngest ages. To know, love and identify with God as a “father figure” they need to develop relationships with godly men. Sabbath schools are not all singing and dancing, our sabbath schools use a variety of learning styles including science experiments, acting, maps and models, history lessons, etc. Of course, we are happy to have moms, dads, young adults, grandparents, and couples serve in our sabbath school ministry. It’s a once a month commitment and our new teaching year begins July 2008. You will receive training. You will make new friends. You will be inspired to love and nurture the children here at New Hope Church. Will you consider serving? Contact Rajinie Dixit, Sabbath School Director (rajiniedixit@yahoo.com)

THIS WEEK'S TEACHING

Join Pastor Newman as he teaches on discovering your gifts and talents. God has gifted each person with abilities to serve him and the world. Do you know what God has destined you with? Find out this week as we continue the series on balance. Don't forget to bring a friend.

SPRING CLEAN CHURCH CLEAN

New Hope members gathered on Sunday, May 18 for a special spring clean. Collier Rowe, director of maintenance led the endeavor to get the church up to speed. Volunteers worked on a wide range of projects from cleaning all of the trash cans, hanging bulletin boards, and repairing electrical. Click here to view the album.

MEMBER IN THE NEWS

New Hope member Rein Paulsen has been interviewed by the media concerning the international crisis in Burma and China. Paulsen is the senior director of humanitarian and emergency affairs at World Vision, Washington, DC, appeared on the Diane Rehm show on May 15.

Click here to listen to the interview

CONGRATULATIONS DR. DIXIT

New Hope Church congratulations Pastor Rajkumar Dixit who graduated on Monday, May 12 with his Doctor of Ministry from Wesley Theological Seminary. Dixit's doctoral studies was in Leadership and his dissertation topic focused on Religious Branding and Contextualizing the Gospel in a Post Secular World.

FAMILY FOOD FRIENDZY

May 17 at Marty and Katina Chappell's home. 1422 Peaceful Lane, Silver Spring. 301-388-0434.

From 4-8 pm. Bring a salad or dessert.

Come meet other families and enjoy an evening of good food and conversation.

NEW CLASS FOR PARENTS

If you're like most parents, you think you're doing an okay job - and you probably believe your're doing better than most. But if your goal is to raise kids with a life-impacting faith, "okay job" may not be enough. In this new class, Revolutionary Parenting (based on the book by George Barna), you will learn what it takes to raise a modern-day spiritual champion. Raising spiritual champions takes Revolutionary Parenting.

The class meets every Saturday, 9:30 - 10:15 am in room 208. Books can be purchased in class or at the Potomac Adventist Book Center. Get the 25% off coupon at the Ask-Me-Desk. Contact Timothy Atolagbe at tiliday@comcast.net for more information.

FAMILY NEWS

Family News

Juanita and Frank Iscoa welcome a new baby girl. Big brother Nicolas is very excited about having a little sister.

Jill and Tony Peralta welcome a new baby boy. Big Sister Abigael and big brother Ethan love their new baby brother.

If you have any news (praises and prayers) to share with other New Hope families, please let us know by sending an email to newhopefamilyministy@comcast.net

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know?

* Over 100 kids came to see Blue Sky Puppet Theater, The Barker of Seville, on March 29.

* God showed up at the Family Vision Workshop, April 26, 27. Forty people attended and families are being transformed.

* Pastor Ann did the Week of Prayer at Olney Prepatory School on April 28-May 2.

(By the way, Pastor Ann also conducts chapels and teaches Bible at Beltsville and Atholton schools).

* Study the same themes your kids are learning every Sabbath. Go to blogsabbathschool.blogspot.com/

* Coupons are available for New Hope parents for 2 fabulous books, Revolutionary Parenting and The Power of A Praying Parent. Go to the Ask-Me-Desk or www.lookingforachurch.org

THIS WEEK'S TEACHING

Pastor Rajkumar Dixit will be continuing teaching on money. We all need it to survive, but what does the bible say about it. Did you know Jesus teaches about this topic more than any other subject in the New Testament? Find out what Christians should know about money and generous living.

INTERVIEW WITH PASTOR DIXIT

How long have you been at New Hope? Last weekend I celebrated my fifth year serving at New Hope. Time has gone by so quickly.

How has the church changed in that time? It has been interesting to look back and remember what the church was like just five years ago. I believe the biggest change has been the change in focus outside of the church walls. New Hope as grown from being inward focused to community driven.

What are the biggest things you are working on? I am working with leaders in Howard County on developing a strategy for New Hope to become highly involved with the communities needs. Also I hope we can continue to have more of our members becoming spiritual mentors. They would give baptismal classes to new Christians.

How has your spiritual journey changed since you have been at New Hope? People don’t usually ask about a pastor’s own spiritual life. I can say the biggest contributor to my spiritual growth has been the small group I am involved with. The bible reading, discussion, prayer and accountability has made a huge difference.

Since it is Mother’s Day weekend, can you tell us something about your mom? My mom actually attends New Hope. If it wasn’t for my praying mother, I don’t think I would be a Pastor, or a Christian today. I would every parent not to give up on the power of prayer. It (prayer and God) can bring the right people in your child’s life.

MAKING ADVENTISM RELEVANT

In 2003 when Dr. J. David Newman became the Senior Pastor of New Hope he presented a series called, "Making Adventism Relevant. After six years, this sermon series continues to be to be the most requested. Click here to download or read a sermon.

Click here to read Pastor Newman's vision for New Hope.

THIS WEEK AT NEW HOPE

Join us this week as we celebrate Mothers. Pastor Newman will give a special message for families and especially mom. The children from Kid's Church will present a couple of special songs for the moms. Don't forget to bring a friend!

INTERVIEW WITH TIMOTHY ATOLAGBE

How long have you been attending New Hope?
This weekend (April 26) makes it exactly 20 years since I have been part of the body of Christ previously called Laurel Adventist Church, now known as New Hope.

As the leader of the lay pastors, what is ministry goal?
To assist our pastors in the nurturing and discipling our church family members and regular attenders. This includes teaching or leading various classes or ministry subgroups, baptismal preparation, counseling, prayer, and all other aspects of our church family life.


What do the lay pastors do at New Hope?
Lay pastors serve our congregation visibly during services and behind the scene during the week. During our services, there are lay pastors assigned to pray with the worship teams, pastors and the various ministry groups, welcome worship participants, serve the congregation during communion celebrations, and baby dedications. During the past four years, our lay pastors ministered to our church family members in subgroups called parishes.

Birthdays, anniversaries, births, sicknesses and all other life events in the life each parish member are ministry opportunities for the lay pastor.


Are you looking for more lay pastors?
YES! a congregation our size needs at least 25 lay pastors to effectively serve our church family. Work related travel, relocation out of the area are some of the reasons why we have lost some of our highly committed lay pastors.

What are you looking for in a lay pastor?
A desire to serve God's people, a personal commitment to a journey of growing in Christ, and a willingness to order personal schedules in order to be available to serve others.

How has New Hope changed since you became a member of the church?
Wow! Looking at our church family today makes me render praise to God for the faithful "longtimers" at New Hope. When I became a member when there were less than 12 actively attending young adults, the children's' division all met in two or three small classrooms, and I knew more than 85 percent of the membership by name. It was easy to tell who was absent, and the median membership age was in the upper 50s.

What is your vision for the church?
That our church family members and attenders will radiate warmly with the radical love and passionate commitment to Jesus Christ like new testament church at Pentecost.