Easter is coming in just a few days! I am extremely excited about this particular year and my prayer is that this weekend will be a catalyst for the future of our church. I am believing that our church has the best days yet to come as we strive to impact our community, see lives transformed, and be all that God designed us to be!

Easter is by far my favorite Christian tradition. It’s the one event that sets our God apart. He’s not dead! He’s risen, He’s alive, and He’s a part of our daily lives. I am hoping that our building is crammed with wall-to-wall people to celebrate together about an incredible Savior who deserves all of our praise!

Our services are at 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM on Sunday. We’ll have plenty of hot coffee and a beautiful morning planned! See you there!

My highlights are going to be limited, since I wasn’t at North Creek yesterday! Our family took the day off for Spring Break and headed to Renton to go to our former church. It’s the church that Mark grew up in, had his first youth pastorate at, and where we were married. It’s also the church that Troy and Jana Jones now pastor, who are dear friends of ours. Our deep ties to Renton will always be a part of our lives.

Yesterday they celebrated a new main auditorium addition to their already expansive building. We were supposed to be in Montana this week, but our plans were adjusted, so we headed up to celebrate with old friends. It was a nice morning and afternoon to support our very excited, but exhausted, friends!

I always hate to be away from North Creek, but I know it’s good for us. We actually stopped by the building at 7:30 am to make sure everything was perfect…I can let go, but not entirely…

Yesterday we moved the complimentary coffee pots to help with the traffic flow by the Kid’s area. I heard it was pretty funny watching everyone go to where the pots used to be and look in horror as their precious coffee wasn’t there. I guess I should have warned people…

Kris Gray spoke yesterday on the Little Red Paper Clip. I heard through the grapevine that she did an extraordinary job. No surprise there…she’s remarkable! It’s fun to be gone and not worry about anything! We are surrounded by competent leaders who love this church.

I am excited for Easter! It’s my favorite holiday and this one is extra exciting for me since our building is shiny and ready for guests. Feels good to have some projects knocked out…many to go, but we’re miles ahead of where we were!

I’ve heard twice this week that North Creek is “one of the best kept secrets in Vancouver”. Nice compliment, but I’m not into secrets…shout it from the roof tops! We’re a great church seeing people’s lives changed by the hand of God! Come on in!

Mark and I are taking the week off as much as possible. We need the mental break and know that the next season of ministry will require more than we’ve ever done before. It’s a new season of leadership and we look forward to what lies ahead…

If you have a good highlight from yesterday, add it to my comments link below. I’d love to hear, since I missed the fun!

See you on Sunday!

Thank you to Rachael Yonko for taking some great pictures of our building renovation. And a BIG thank you to everybody who helped to make our church a real showpiece in our community. It went from a night club with a bad reputation to a corner that is redeemed and well loved. It’s truly transformed!

Sign

Walkway/Portico

South Side

Front Face

This is from a wonderful person from North Creek. Thought I would share this amazing story with you:

I’ve really enjoyed this last series, Scars. It’s been one of the most moving and thought provoking subjects I’ve experienced in a church. It’s been interesting not only seeing how it’s affecting my life, but also those in my small group and my friends. To know that the struggles we face in this area are almost universal, to be able to share them and lean on one another makes the journey a smoother, if not an easier one.

When we started this a few weeks back, I didn’t realize the path it would take me down. Not being one who likes conflict, I’ve always been one to try to resolve rifts and seek to make amends, and to show forgiveness to others because I myself have been shown the same mercies at times in my life. But soon it became apparent to me that the one thing that I haven’t been able to do, perhaps because the pain is too great, is forgive myself. I have struggled with myself for as long as I can remember. There’s no defining childhood moment as to why. My house, growing up, wasn’t exactly overflowing with love, but it wasn’t bad either. There was just always something missing. The more I tried to fill that space, the more I didn’t like the person I was becoming. It still hurts to look back and see the things I filled my life with, starting in middle school; alcohol, drugs, suicide attempts, lying, more drugs, sexual impurity and immorality, abortion. I wasn’t worth anything to myself, and I couldn’t see that I was worth anything to anyone else. The relationships I chose in my life reinforced these beliefs, and when I tried to chase a relationship with God, I just couldn’t believe that I was worthy of His love and certainly not His forgiveness! Not after all the things I had done. But thankfully He is not a god that turns away from you when you turn from Him. No matter how far I thought I was from His love, He was only one step away when I was ready to turn to him, broken and bruised.

Life is different now (thank goodness!!). There’s no longer something missing; there never really was. God has always been here, I just finally took my blinders off! Love fills my life now, and with the help of North Creek, I can feel a joy in my heart now. Not just moments of passing happiness, but real, lasting joy that can only come when walking with Jesus. The joy that comes with having a relationship with Him, knowing that he is a glorious, amazing, LOVING God! He has forgiven me and wiped the slate clean, and I think it’s time that I do, too. I know this doesn’t mean forgetting my past or pretending it didn’t happen, or that I won’t still struggle from time to time with my self worth, but with prayer and time, perhaps I can use my experiences to help the needs of others and to glorify His name!

Thank you for everything.

What a weekend! On Saturday we “finished” the building. It’s not quite done, but only a couple of minor projects are left. It looks awesome!

Heritage Church in Hazel Dell rented a boom truck for us so that it would make it easier to paint the roof tiles. What an awesome image of partnership!

Mike McColm from Ten Talents Missions came and worked to get it all done. He doesn’t go to our church and he didn’t have any self-benefiting reason to give three days of his life to us, but he loves Jesus and believes in our mission. He doesn’t know this yet, but our board voted yesterday to support his missions organization. It’s so easy to support someone with such an amazing servant’s heart. We can’t wait to tell him! 🙂

Chris Harold preached a great message yesterday on using our scars to tell the story of how great God is…awesome ending to a pivotal series in our church.

My daughter, Kennedy, looked at Delaney this weekend and said, “Laney, you’re not God.” Don’t we all need that reminder sometimes…

Great latte made for me by Demetri and Lora yesterday morning. Great way to start my day! I’m moving the complimentary coffee pots next week to see if we can ease some of the congestion on the north side of the bar. It will be funny to watch people’s faces when they go to get their coffee and it’s not there…must bring a camera…

So many stories came out of this sermon series about changed lives. We love to hear how God is working in your life. Email mark@coffeechurch.com with your story.

Talked to someone about leading a small group yesterday. Excited for people’s futures in the church. We have quality people who love Jesus and just want to be on His team.

Mark and I drove around looking for future campuses last night after dinner…so fun to dream. I think God is aligning people for our new campus. I’m nervous, but very excited. Do we think we can actually launch on 10.10.10? I don’t know. What I do know is that you’ve gotta give it all you have and let God fill in the parts that need miracles. He’s good at that job.

Alissa and team did a phenomenal job at worship yesterday. Marcus has really built up a team around him and he’s not afraid to let other people be really good. That’s a secure leader and one that God will honor. Way to go to all of you!

Tonight we have a missions meeting for our Mexico trip in June. Can’t wait to play with beautiful Mexican orphans!

Easter is two weeks away. If you are on Facebook, we have an event listed on the North Creek page. I invited all of my 700+ friends. I encourage you to do the same. You just never know who needs a great church and will walk in the door on April 4.

We’ve got a lot of different things going on right now and it’s a bit of a balancing act to keep all the trains moving forward at the same time. Pray for us!