We are just days away from our annual park day at Klineline where we celebrate with people who have accepted Jesus. It’s always an interesting conversation with people who are contemplating baptism. So many people feel like they aren’t good enough or haven’t arrived at an acceptable level of Christianity…so sad! Baptism is never about being all cleaned up, but rather saying, “I CAN’T clean myself up, so I’m submitting my life to Jesus and trusting that He’ll help me!”

On Sunday, I will cheer loudly and probably shed a tear, but not because I’m watching perfect people proclaim Jesus. On the contrary, I’ll be cheering because a sinner, who looks a lot like me, is surrendering their will to a God that will mold, shape, and sharpen them for the rest of their lives. Baptism is the beginning of a life of work, not the proclamation of a job well done.

Congrats to the people who are going under on Sunday! There is still room for you as well! If you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and haven’t gotten baptized, sign up HERE.

It’s gonna be a GREAT day!

Happy Birthday to my daughter Delaney!!!!! It’s hard to fathom that seven years ago I got the pleasure of becoming her mom. She is quite the little lady and has a sweet heart. It is my privilege to know her!

It was a CRAZY weekend! Congrats to Bryan and Michelle Smith who are now married as of Saturday! We also attended two grad parties – Keagan and Matt – which is always a fun event to commemorate.

Our small group also finished out our session with a BBQ at the Lakin’s house. Great food, fun conversation, and kids running EVERYWHERE! It was nice to just relax and enjoy people from our church!

A guest said, “Man, it’s hard to hide in your church!” That was after she had been greeted A LOT. That is not a bad thing in my book.

Our teenagers left for camp at 7:00 am on Monday morning. Kris told me that she had a lot of first time campers, which is awesome! They will come home ridiculously excited and I can’t wait. Camp changes lives. We also asked for camp scholarships and in one offering were able to cover what we think we need for this year! Thank you!

We also talked about how exciting it has been to go after a new building and vision in Hazel Dell. We are continuing to raise money and look forward to the future. Matter of fact: we are at a leadership lid in our current facility. If we move, we will grow. It’s nerve-wracking!!!!!!

Next Sunday is our baptism day at the park! Check out www.coffeechurch.com for directions, but take note that we start at 10:00 am with scones and donuts. It is going to be a great morning! It’s also not too late to get baptized, so fill out the registration form online now.

We are partnering with Downtown Compassion for an outreach event on July 9. Click HERE to sign your family up to serve the underprivileged in Portland for a day! They need a ton of volunteers!!!

So many good things on the horizon. We are a blessed church and we love having you as a part of it!

We have a lot of people in our church in the dating, engaged, and newly married catergory. It’s a tumultuous season as people are deciding who they will commit to for the rest of your lives. Here’s some thoughts I will be sharing with my own daughters in the future about how to marry the right person:

1. Don’t date people who have recently been jailed. There is a reason they have been kept from society.

2. Drugs make you stupid. Don’t date a stupid person.

3. If a guy wants you to have sex before marriage, kick him. Or bring him home to your father, who will kick him.

4. People with a past are negotiable. Jesus forgives and changes hearts. That being said, the past is not a month ago. Your father will let you know when the past arrives.

5. If Godly people aren’t congratulating you on what a great guy you are dating, it’s because he’s not a great guy.

6. If you think it’s okay to date someone who is not a great guy, bring yourself home to your father. He will copiously tell you how very wrong you are. At this point, you need to believe him or blindly obey.

7. Good boys do not finish last. They make the best husbands, dads, and leaders in your home. See #1, 2, 3, and 5 if you want to date a bad boy.

8. Make sure he knows how to read. Test him by giving him a Bible. When he’s finished reading it, you might be able to marry him.

9. If he buys your engagement ring on a credit card, he needs to go through Financial Peace University before you accept his engagement. He is currently a finincial idiot, but there is still hope.

10. He needs to love Jesus before you date him. I know of a great church where amazing pastors will invest in his life. He will be scared at times, but if he survives, you might be able to marry him.

We got a surprise guest with us this week! Chelsey Jones, an 18 year old graduate that I’ve known since she was a toddler, drove down to spend a couple of days with us. My girls LOVE Chelsey! She’s naturally the life of the party and that goes for kids, too! Delaney has pretty much stalked her since the moment she arrived.

“Chelsey sit by me.”
“Chelsey do my nails.”
“Chelsey swim with me.”
“Mom, wake Chelsey up so she can play.”
“No, really, Mom, when is Chelsey going to get up?” Yes, it was 7:37 am at the time.

It’s been non-stop! I’m perfectly fine with Delaney emulating Chelsey because Chelsey has lived a life worth following. When I was watching my daughter try to dance like her, I thought, “Chelsey, continue to live well because that’s MY daughter who is watching you.” The stakes are high in my eyes. If my child is watching every move she makes, I want those choices to be Christ-like.

I wonder if that is how God is looking at all of us with the same lens. “My child, continue to live well because that’s MY son or daughter who is watching you.” And the stakes are often times measured in eternity in the eyes of God.

We need to live up to God’s best, not because of some twisted condemnation or “rules”, but because God has trusted us with the opportunity to be examples to others. You are “dancing” and someone is watching you whether you realize it or not. Dance as unto the Lord.

Chelsey, go change the world! And don’t forget that two little girls in Vancouver are watching you. And I’m glad they are.

Happy Father’s Day! In the most appropriate sense…I love the men of North Creek! They are such good men who bring their families to church, read the Word, work on their marriages, and give life the effort it needs. I am excited to raise my daughters in an environment where she sees LOTS of husbands and fathers who are doing a great job of modeling Christ. I will also be glad to let them marry a son of one of these great men because they will become what is modeled for them!

On another note…I was in a funk this morning…I blame the weather. Yet another cloudy weekend. Come on summer, you can arrive any time.

We are still in full force raising money to get into a new building with an expanded vision! Exciting future ahead of us! We have a generous church and with a solid picture of God’s heart for people.

I know I obsessively talk about our worship team, but man…TALENT AND HEART!!!

Favorite picture of the day – Grandma Dix (in her 90’s) eating a hot dog with the dads on the front patio.

I was talking to Roy about how hard it is to separate your job from your “life”, when you love your job. This is a good problem!

I would not sacrifice the culture of our church for anything. Pastors – focus more time molding and shaping what your church looks like than how many people attend it. If the culture is catchy, the attendance will catch up. Maybe I’ll write my first book about that…

No staff meeting on Father’s Day. Desperately miss our team when we don’t get to sit around a table together. Our team is made up of mostly volunteers. You know you are blessed when the people who work for free are the people you would pay if you had the budget. Sometimes volunteers are just the smucks who were willing to do it and not the top notch, quality leaders you need. We have top notch leaders and when our budget grows, we will not be taking applications.

We took Mark and my father-in-law bowling last night! It was really fun to watch my girls bowl. Kennedy did a victory dance every time a pin went down. Grandpa got the best score – probably because he bowls once a week and has for years! We all had a great time!

Have a great week!