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Monthly Archives: January 2015

January 25 Coffee Church Highlights

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January 27, 2015
Ministry
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Well Sunday was fun!  North Creek got the privilege of welcoming another baby to our midst…we seem to celebrate A LOT of babies…  Josiah and Vanessa (BG Kid’s pastor) had their second boy, Daylon Nicholas!  We couldn’t be more excited to celebrate with them!

Mike and Alecia over at Hazel Dell also announced their next pregnancy.  Their daughter was wearing a shirt letting us all know, but I missed it!  Not my fault that her little smile distracted me! 🙂  Congrats to them!!!

It was nice for Mark and I to be back at church after our vacation to Arizona.  We had a phenomenal time and really enjoyed getting to know a new state!  In just a few days we visited the Grand Canyon, went hiking at Cathedral Rock in Sedona, spent a couple days at the pools in Phoenix, went to Kennedy’s gymnastics meet, and drove through Tucson to the Kartchner Caverns.  Truly a wonderful experience!

Growth Groups opened for registration on Sunday.  You can sign up at www.coffeechurch.com.  We’ll be studying the second half of the book of Mark.  It’s going to be a very moving experience as the book of Mark will walk us through the crucifixion and resurrection right up to the week of Easter.  Jump in and be a part of this journey with us!

Mat Marbrey (BG youth pastor) preached over the last couple of weeks at our campuses.  Isn’t he cool?  Such a solid guy with a good head on his shoulders!  He talked about owning your story of redemption and using it for the glory of God.  If you missed it, you can catch it online!

When you make a change, keep the change.  So often in ministry we see people fight to overcome a struggle in their life and then the next week they turn back to their old ways.  Keep the change!  Make one change at a time and keep at it until it’s your habit and lifestyle.  One change made permanent is better than a life lived without principle.

We need some more volunteers at our Sunday services!  We need one person in every area at both campuses.  If you’ve been attending and just haven’t jumped in yet, would you go to www.coffeechurch.com and sign up for something that makes you excited?  We only use volunteers once a month, so it’s a great way to make a difference without a big commitment.

Would you also consider giving to North Creek this year?  Giving releases your heart.  If you want to love the Church and ministry, give!  It’s a crazy, backwards idea, but where your treasure is, there your heart is.

It’s all going to be incredible in the end.  If it’s not incredible, it’s not the end!  Go read Revelation and don’t quit, yet.  You got this!  Go change the world!

 

 

 

 

January 4 Coffee Church Highlights

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January 7, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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My week has gotten sidelined due to one of my girls having an ear infection, but I definitely wanted to get the first highlight of the year out!

I am SO excited for 2015 at North Creek!  It is an honor and a privilege to be a part of a local church and we have the BEST people in our midst.  I love our church!

Would you do ONE thing this year that I know will make a big difference in your world?  Attend church on Sundays and show up early.  (Yes, that’s two things crammed together really well!).  Church is supposed to be about meeting people, getting to know each other and then taking those relationships outside of the four walls of the building to do life together.  The first step is simply putting yourself in an environment to have that happen.  If you are there regularly, show up a little early and stay a little after, you’ll be surprised what will happen in a year.

On Sunday we kicked off our preaching schedule with great messages at all three churches: Battle Ground, Hazel Dell, and the Deaf Church.  The lineup of series this year is going to be amazing and life changing!

Also on Sunday, our family also kicked off the gymnastics competition schedule with Kennedy’s first meet.  I was completely exhausted by the time I got home that night and then the Great Earache of 2015 set in.  It was ugly!  Would you take a moment and pray for our family’s health?  We are headed to a meet in Arizona next week and we’d sure like to be healthy.

The kids classes all celebrated the new year with Pajamas and Cereal day at church.  It was so COOL!  All the kids were pumped to show up to church in jammies and then have a crazy cereal bar.  I enjoyed the moment with all of the moms and dads who didn’t have to get anybody dressed that morning.  It was a nice gift after all the holiday stuff!  I think we may just make that an annual event!

Just wanted to say hi to Wendell who gave me the nicest compliment about my blog this week.  I really appreciate the kind words and so appreciate knowing that you are cheering us on in ministry!  We love you! 😉

If you want to change your life this year, may I suggest reading your Bible every day?  Just pick a book, read a chapter every morning (or night), and watch the cumulative effect shape your thinking and actions.  You can do it!

Growth Groups are coming back in a few weeks, so get ready!  We will be finishing up the second half of the book of Mark and I am looking forward to it.  We will be reading about the crucifixion of Jesus leading up to Easter, which I anticipate being very powerful for all of us!

I hope that you find yourself encouraged as you head into this New Year.  Jesus can do miracles for you this year!

Be blessed!

Fourteen Years in Clark County

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January 2, 2015
Family, History, Inspiration, Ministry, Team
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Yesterday marked the 14th year of Mark and I being pastors in Vancouver, WA.  We came from the Seattle area after serving as youth pastors at two previous churches.  When we loaded up the moving van, I honestly thought it was a very temporary move for our little family.  Now, fourteen years later, both of my children were born here, we’ve grown roots, and beautiful Clark County is our home.

Along with it being the start of a new year, our “anniversary” brought many reflections to my heart about our tenure here:

1.  I love the Church.  Capital C.  The Bride of Christ is Jesus’ first love and I am so thankful for the variety of churches that our community offers to believers.  They all look slightly unique, but every week they gather to honor our Savior Jesus.  We are blessed to pastor alongside some amazing men and women who valiantly give their lives, do their best everyday, and fight the fight!  Thank you to all of you pastors who love our city.

2.  We’ve seen the best in ministry.  We’ve seen lives transformed, families rescued, addictions broken, healing happen, and hope set free in people’s hearts.  Every prayer, every baptism, and every life is valuable to my heart.  I am humbled and honored to be a part of it all.  Pastoring is a difficult and trying job, but the rewards are rich.  The Bible is clear that many will fall away, which is difficult to process, but those who hold tight to Biblical principles are a treasure.

3.  We’ve seen the worst in ministry.  Our first church experience in our city was racked with lawsuits, division, and horror.  I’ve never seen anything like it and I pray to God I never see anything like it again.  I realized that we, as Christians, have the ability to do far more damage to the Church of Jesus than any non-believer out there.  Guard your words, dear believer.  The Church is Jesus’ deepest treasure and we must treat it accordingly.  As a pastor, this would be the reason behind many sleepless nights as I pray for a unified church that gets behind the mission and vision.  If that happens…well, read the Bible.  We become an unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

4.  We have lifelong friends here.  The greatest jewel in our ministry experience has been the friends we have gained along the way.  We have been blessed, from day one, to be surrounded by people that we LOVE to work alongside.  We have pastored together, held each other’s brand new babies, scolded each other’s kids, and now are cheering on our teens.  We have started a church together, failed together, succeeded together, and worked out a thousand struggles along the way.  We’ve eaten too much pizza in youth ministry and drank countless cups of coffee in church planting.  It has been a joy!

So, we continue on in pastoring and in doing our best to reach this county with love.  We continue on in building His Church and in dreaming for a bright future.  We continue on in looking for new friends to add to our hearts and lives.  The best is yet to come!

Happy New Year!