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February 22 Coffee Church Highlights

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February 25, 2015
Ministry
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I’m a little slow getting our weekly highlights out!  Need some extra coffee this week!!! 😉

I LOVE what God is doing in the hearts and lives of the people at North Creek.  We get to hear so many of you sharing with us how God is challenging you to step out in faith.  It is fun to see how God is using your obedience in some really touching ways!  Any time you want to send a testimony to us, please do!  We love to hear from you.  Email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com

We got another North Creek baby last week!  Beautiful Kensley was born to Marc and Amy and big brother Kingston.  They are all doing well and we look forward to another baby in the nursery!  I get asked all of the time how many babies North Creek has…we average 12 a year, which is CRAZY for our size of church.  We have several more due this month, so the announcements will just keep coming!

I am asking that you would commit to pray for our leadership team.  Ministry is hard work.  While full of a mountain of blessings, there are deep sorrows and frustrations along the way.  Diving into people’s lives comes with a heavy emotional load.  And some people in this world respond badly to others while they are hurt.  I watch our staff team give and give and give for little in return and they need your prayers desperately.  I appreciate your love for each of them!  Let them know it regularly!

Mark attended the funeral of a dearly loved pastor (and friend) on Friday.  We will miss Jim Swanson and are eternally appreciative for all of the wisdom he poured into our lives while we were on staff with him.  What a gift he was to so many of us!

We were at a gymnastics meet again last weekend.  My daughter has a double wrist injury and couldn’t compete on bars and vault, so that’s always a hard thing to walk through with a kid who just wants to do their thing.  She got 1st place on beam and 4th on floor, so it was a good meet for what she could do!  She’s got another meet on Friday, so we are hoping she’ll be strong enough to do what she needs to do.  Everyday is getting better!

We also stopped by the American Girl Doll store for my other daughter, Delaney.  Oh. My. Word.  I have nothing left to say after wandering around the store for two hours looking at every conceivable item in miniature.  I am glad she enjoyed herself!

I spent yesterday getting all of our Easter supplies ordered…we’ve got everything from candy filled eggs to communion cups coming our way and I can’t wait!!!!  We are meeting as ONE CHURCH at Prairie High School for one big service at 10:00 am.  It’s April 5, so start talking to your friends now.  Gonna be amazing!!!!!

Growth Groups are doing very well this semester as we are navigating the rest of the book of Mark.  I have to tell you that I love getting to know the people who come through our group.  It always surprises me how much I end up appreciating their personalities and perspectives.

Well, my hope for you this week is that you love unconditionally, forgive freely, and give generously.  Life is just too short to do anything but that!

Be blessed!

 

 

February 15 Coffee Church Highlights

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February 17, 2015
History, Inspiration
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I hope this blog finds you in the middle of this gorgeous sunshine!  In the Pacific Northwest we always get this one glorious burst of spring WAY too early.  It deceives us into digging out our flip flops and mowing the lawn, but beware because the rain will come back with a vengeance!  Enjoy it while you can!

Sunday was really, really good.  I am thoroughly enjoying our series on Treasure.  It’s about money, but it’s also about our hearts.  We’ve got to surrender what we are to Jesus if we want to enjoy this thing called Christianity.  Our own disobedience robs us from the adventure of faith!

I also watched a very humbling moment as a single mom came up to talk to me about tithing.  God had impressed on her heart over the last several months to tithe, but the number on the check seemed overwhelming.  I looked at the check and felt her angst.  That money could repair the car, feed the children, and give her “comfort”.  But then she said, “God has brought me back from some really hard times.  He’ll take care of me now.”   She put her check in the offering with a smile.  And you know what?  There is NO doubt in my mind that God will honor her obedience with a deep blessing.  He is faithful.

Our small groups are all rocking and rolling again.  We are studying the book of Mark, so if you aren’t in a small book, let me encourage you to pick up your Bible and jump in with us anyway.  We’re right around the corner from a teaching series on the book of Mark called Encounters, so it will tie together nicely for your spiritual walk.

Remember we have a Financial Seminar for you THIS Saturday.  You can sign up online and get all the info you need at www.coffeechurch.com.  It’s all at the bottom of the main page!

We have a few volunteer needs right now, if you’re interested.  We need Sunday morning help in Tiny Town and Nursery at both campuses, as well as media computer at Battle Ground.  We also need childcare workers for our youth staff kids on Thursday nights.  AND we need some outside maintenance help at Hazel Dell during the week.  If you can do any of that, can you email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com.  We’d appreciate your help in making our ministries run smoothly!

Our budget is $32,000 a month to run our two hearing churches and our deaf church.  That also enables us to support a dozen missionaries and Be Present giving to our community.  We know how important your giving is, so if you’d ever like a financial breakdown of how we function, we’d love to share that with you.  We do a lot with our resources and want you to feel great about supporting our church!

EASTER is going to ROCK!!!  We are taking both of our campuses to Prairie High School for ONE big service!  More info is coming quickly, but it’s going to be amazing and so much fun.  Invite your friends and family now.  We have plenty of seating in the auditorium!

Well, the world needs you.  Desperately.  There’s too much hate and there’s too much evil.  The GOOD news is that all of the power that Jesus contains has been given to YOU.  Be bold, be strong, and do not fear.

 

February 8 Coffee Church Highlights

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February 11, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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Such beautiful people in our church!  Every Sunday I am humbled and amazed at the people around me!

It was a great weekend at North Creek as all of our campuses are in our current series, Treasure.  It’s a lot about how our money and possessions are tied to our hearts.  Here is our desire for you:  that you will monthly give money to Jesus and watch your heart begin to change.  People who give actually have less debt…why?  Because when you are obedient, God begins to change your heart and priorities and you make better decisions.  Do one thing for me….think about how many people could be impacted by the gospel if you gave just 10% away every month.  It’s WORLD changing!  Let’s set aside ourselves and be generous!

On another note, Mark started American Sign Language class on Monday.  As you probably know, we have the GREATEST Deaf Church on the planet at North Creek.  It is full of the most generous, kind-hearted, and amazing people, and we can’t wait to be able to better communicate without an interpreter.  We’ve wanted to learn sign language for three years now, so when the timing worked out, we made it happen for one of us!  Watch out to our deaf congregation because I am sure Mark will say a few things very wrong in the upcoming months!  Our campus lead over at Battle Ground, Rachael, is well on her way to learning sign language as well.  Maybe you will be inspired to learn a new language along with them!

We have some exciting news for Easter!  Our hearing campuses will be joining together at Prairie High School for ONE BIG service together.  It’s going to be AMAZING as we double our worship team, triple our service size, and have an incredible time celebrating our risen Savior!  We will be announcing a thousand ways to help in the next couple of weeks, but here is the first one:  It will cost about $1600 for the rental, the advertisements, and supplies we need (like communion for 500 people!), so if you’d like to help, mark your check Easter. You can give online at www.coffeechurch.com as well.

On a brief soapbox, but one thing I have to say:  I would love it if no one from North Creek Church went to see the movie Fifty Shades of Grey this week (or ever).  We believe better than that about sex, about God’s plan for our sexuality, about women, and about what a real man is.  We just do.  Pornography doesn’t get to own our hearts, sexual violence is not a part of our story, and our money has a million better uses for the kingdom of God than purchasing a ticket to watch sin.

We also have a Financial Seminar coming up to help you with financial planning, debt reduction, and investing.  It’s happening on Saturday, February 21, 2015 at Hazel Dell Campus from 9:00am – 12:00pm.  The cost is FREE with childcare provided (registration is required).  It’s lead by Rick Donovan, Financial Advisor for Edward Jones and member of North Creek Church.  If you feel like you are drowning, take advantage of this opportunity!  Rick has a heart to help you get your finances right and relieve the stress on your family! To sign up and secure your spot please register at www.coffeechurch.com.

OK, that’s a lot for one day!  I hope your week is full of surprises!  Be blessed!

February 1 Coffee Church Highlights

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February 3, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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I hope you enjoyed our National holiday known as the Super Bowl! 😉

We had great services across the board! Then we finished the day with full houses all over the Vancouver and Battle Ground area of people from North Creek suffering the Seahawk loss together…gosh, that was a rough one!

We are kicking off our next series, Treasure, this month.  I love when the church talks about money!  It’s an area that brings up a lot of emotions, but it’s also an area that we, as Americans, are in bondage over.  We worry about money, we spend money we don’t have on things to make us feel better, we fail to appropriately save money, and we struggle to give money.  No wonder the Bible has 800+ verses that relate to our passion for money and possessions.  There is freedom in obedience and I wish the whole world could know that freedom.  The “blessing” of being born in America is clouded with credit cards, materialism, and greed.  What if the blessing of how much we have was to unify together to change the world?

Growth Groups kick off next week again.  You still have time to sign up, but get there sooner than later as the spots are getting limited!  You can find the registration at www.coffeechurch.com.  We will be doing a Bible study on the second half of the book of Mark, which will be a moving moment leading up to Easter.  Join us!

Did you know North Creek is just 8.5 years old?  We have come a long ways and I’m excited to watch God continue to bring to fruition our hopes and dreams for our church!  We are glad to have you as a part.

Our youth ministry from Hazel Dell showed up to clean up a park yesterday.  Nothing more amazing than a bunch of teenagers walking about our community with trash bags just to do their part!  They also get to go to Generation Unleashed Conference this weekend.  Take a moment and pray that God would deeply impact their hearts.

Our family went to the OSU gymnastics meets at the Gill Coliseum last Friday.  We had a great time watching the college girls do some amazing gymnastics.  Seems almost impossible to do what they do!

Are you praying for your pastors?  We’d love to be on your prayer list as we lead this body.  We cannot do it alone!

We are praying for you!  We often go through our list and lift you up to God.  We are praying that God would help you be obedient, generous, and full of faith.  He wants you to live a crazy adventure of faith in Him.  I hope you do nothing less!

Be blessed!