I am really looking forward to this Saturday and Sunday at North Creek! It is our summer recap morning where we take time to celebrate what God has done in and through our people this summer. I gotta tell you – as I wade through the stories I get goose bumps. I think of all the experiences, the lives touched, the seeds planted, the babies born, and the people who stepped out in faith…I am humbled to be in this story that God is writing!

When we set out on this journey I wanted a church where people passionately loved Jesus and lived their lives in the community and in the world to glorify HIM. That all came to fruition this summer. We had everything from a young woman of God singing at the fair all the way to a group of people making screens for orphans in Mexico.

Just life lived with a purpose. A purpose that is awesome, powerful, and full of saving grace. It’s going to be an amazing weekend as we celebrate the fact that God is still at work in our world. He’s just as real as ever and it’s His priority to use our lives to change His people!

If you have a quick highlight from the summer, I would love to know about it…could be just as simple as “I found this church and….” There is nothing too small to celebrate! You can email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com or comment on my blog. Thanks for sharing!

I am really going to miss the Stranger Than Fiction series! It ended today and we’ll have to say goodbye to a rockin’ opening video! Loved the theme, loved the speakers, and most importantly I love the Bible stories from the Old Testament. They prove to me that God was at work in mighty ways from the beginning and He will continue His work for the rest of eternity. Awesome.

Pastor Kim closed out our series sharing about Abraham and Sarah. She referred to her own story, which is a powerful one. For the last two years she has gone on a journey with her husband’s diagnosis of MS. Needless to say, she is a remarkable woman with an unwavering love for Jesus. I am honored to call her my friend and partner in ministry.

I am in one of those seasons where God is doing a deep work in my heart. I just want to be empty of all of me and full of all of Him. I want to be anointed with His power and His authority to impact a broken and dying world. I want less of me in this life and more of His glory. I have a feeling that God will answer that prayer with a resounding YES…

On another note, Saturday night was our highest attendance ever at that service. Kind of crazy. I didn’t even think Saturday night service would work for our church, but I’m glad I was wrong! Bring on the people and changed lives!

We have the greatest Kid’s teachers ever on the planet. Thank you so much to all of you who teach, love, invest, and believe in our children. I say it alot, but you are my greatest heroes!

We had several new volunteers today! I love our volunteers at North Creek!

Small Groups start again next month! We’ll have a new one for recent high school grads…18-23ish. Not all of our groups are based from age-range, but that is definitely a people group that is unique in it’s needs. Many other great ones being unveiled this fall. I honestly don’t know which one I would choose if I weren’t leading one. That’s a good problem to have…

Drew (7 years old) misquoted his memory verse to say, “and bless those who impersonate me” rather than “persecute me”. I love kids.

Jim and Sarah Gilliam came to visit today. They are starting a church in Vancouver in 2011, so it’s fun to relive the adventure through them!

Speaking of kids, we are hoping to finish the new toddler room this week…or maybe next week! It’s looking awesome and smelling clean and ready for kids!

Well, I hope you fall deeper in love with Jesus this week. I plan to.

Yesterday Mark and I went to hear Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel at a conference. These are two of my favorite pastors to gleen from and listen to, so to have them both at a conference was so great!

We learned a lot that I’ll share over time, but the main thing that is so valuable is to keep changing. Our church is NEVER done. We’ve never arrived, we’ve never got everything the way we want it, and no strategy of ministry that we have now will be relevant in 15 years. The mission of God is not about settling in and getting comfortable with what we like…it’s about doing WHATEVER it takes to reach a community that needs Jesus.

As with most good conferences, a leader worth his/her salt leaves both very encouraged and very discouraged at the same time. That’s because there are some things where you say, “I think we are doing OK in that area” and then there’s the rest of it…

The reality is that we’ve got a long way to go as leaders. Both speakers planted their churches about 15 years ago and experience has been their greatest teacher. We are just about four years in to this and I already feel like I’ve learned a life’s worth of lessons. I honestly can’t wait to see who we are 10 years from now.

It was a wonderful day with Andy and Craig! They are such different leaders in every way possible, and yet the common thread is that they are very good at what they do. So grateful that they would fly across the country to make us better leaders!

I am not afraid of failure. It’s not that big of a deal for me. However, what I am most of afraid of is something similar, but yet very far away at the same time.

I am afraid of mediocrity. I don’t want to live my whole life, get to the end, and say, “Well, that was OK.” I don’t want to wonder, wish, or pine over what “might have been”. I want to lay it all out on the table, step off the cliff, throw caution to the wind, and do what isn’t always the “safest” idea.

Risk is far less of a challenge for me than doing nothing. Nothing terrifies me…and I hope it terrifies you, too! I think that we are so afraid of doing the wrong thing that we do nothing, which in all irony is the wrong thing most of the time!

My two cents for today is to get moving, get the ball rolling, and stop over-thinking what you have sensed God wants to do in your life. I think the Bible clearly illustrates that God can deal with our failures. What He can’t work with is our paralyzed life handcuffed by a false understanding of His expectations.

It’s a good day to live your dream!

This weekend at church was one of the highlights of my life!

When we decided to launch a church we really hoped to see people accept Jesus, get baptized, be changed on the inside, hear the call of God in their lives, and step out in faith. This weekend we got to watch Lee Malone, whose entire family has experienced all of that at North Creek, preach his first sermon! And not only that…he did a GREAT job! It was such a cool moment for us to be a part of in his life!

Saturday night I accidentally made 60 cups of soapy coffee…that’s just awesome! Sorry about that to those of you who had a very “clean” cup of coffee!

Got to hold baby Zoey at church…LOVE all of these babies around! The more the merrier in the nursery!

The kitchen-to-kids-room renovation is going along just wonderfully. This week will be a fun one as the changes get more noticeable. It’s so clean in there today that I would actually eat off of the floor! Thank you to Janzten, Olivia, and Keagan who have put ALOT into that kitchen. They have literally left their names on the place…but you’ll never see them!

My in-laws are amazing! They take the girls during the busiest times, which allows me to do ministry and my daughters still have some stability. I wouldn’t have it any other way! Grandma and Grandpa’s house is like a second home.

Once again, a weekend full of guests! Thank you all for coming to our church. We are honored to be a part of your weekend!

Sunday at 9:00 am was back to “normal” in attendance. I think we have survived the crazy fluctuation after having added a third service about 6 weeks ago. If you are still willing to switch from 10:30 am to 9:00 am, that would be awesome!

It’s going to be a great week as we wrap up some of the projects at the church, it’s Mark and I’s anniversary, and we have a conference on Thursday with Andy Stanley as the speaker! It’s just a little bit of EVERYTHING that I love all at the same time.