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Our Highest Expectation

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September 6, 2013
Family, Inspiration
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The first week of school has officially come to a close.  It will be marked with many new highs and lows as it proved to be one to remember in the Newell home.

As always, on the first day of school we tell our kids one expectation we have from them.  We figure that in the midst of all of the new procedures, rules, and social mandates, we probably only have one shot at our kids hearing us.  So, here’s our first day speech.  It never changes, but their hearts do.

Sweet Child,

This year all we ask is that you love people.  That’s it.  The tests, the books, the homework…it’s all important, but not the most important.  At the end of the day everything else will fade and love will remain.  So, love people.

Love your teachers.  Try diligently to be a blessing to them.  They work hard and they have good intentions.  Sometimes they even have bad days, but please, please child, love them.

Love your friends.  Friends are the heartbeat of our lives.  They bring meaning to the mundane and they are valuable.  Treat them as the precious holders of your dreams and secrets.

Love that kid.  You know who I’m talking about.  They have very few friends and it’s probably because they are either rude or awkward.  Either way, you love them.  Even if others laugh at you for doing so, love them.

Love your family.  That’s your sister on the bus and she is important to you.  Even on the days you don’t think so, she is.  Make sure that when she trips off that bus, you run to help her.  Don’t laugh, love.

Love the lunch lady, the bus driver, the principal, and the people you pass in the hallway.  Love the lady who works in the office and the nurse who sends you back to class when you think you’re too sick to stay.  Love the librarian.  Love them all.

This world, especially at school, is full of judgment, hatred, teasing, and bullying.  That’s not who we are.  We are Christ-followers and we’ll get a lot wrong, but please don’t get love wrong.

Oh, and remember, our amazing child, WE LOVE YOU.  Deeply, profoundly, but not anywhere near how much Jesus loves you.

 

It is with that we send our kids away from our watchful eye for seven hours a day.  We trust them to manage the greatest treasure we have invested in them and that is the love of our Savior.

We’ll be thrilled if our kids’ education results in them curing cancer or walking on Mars.  We’ll be thrilled if they graduate with honors or are the valedictorian.  And we’ll be thrilled if they grow up to be ordinary people dripping with an extraordinary love.

 

September 1 Coffee Church Highlights

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September 3, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry
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School is starting and summer is closing out!  I hope that your kids have a great year and make a difference in their schools with the love of Jesus!

We expected a lot of people to be gone over the Labor Day weekend, but that wasn’t the case at all.  We continue to be growing and look forward to a strong fall!  Invite someone to enjoy our community at the Coffee Church!

Vision+Volunteers 720p copyWe are having a Vision and Volunteer night for all of our Volunteers coming in 10 days.  It’s going to be the hot place to be on September 13.  Want an invite?  Sign up to volunteer at www.coffeechurch.com because we want you on our list!  Some of us are even dressing up to prove that we own something other than jeans.  I love my jeans…

Our series, Platform, is nearing the end of it’s run.  It’s been a great look at the fact that our lives are the platform Jesus uses to bless people day in and day out.  Nothing is too little or too insignificant to be used by God in amazing ways.

Baby Savannah came to visit on Sunday!  She is our newest member and daughter of Matt and Andrea Garner.  She’s a beauty!

I was in the nursery for a service this weekend at Hazel Dell.  It is the best place to serve!  I watched the service while I rocked a baby in my comfy chair.  I love ministry that seems a lot like relaxing!  We need nursery workers at Battle Ground, so if you’re looking for a place to serve, that’s a pretty sweet deal!

The Deaf Church had a great youth event on Friday night in Portland!  Would you take some time and pray for those teenagers who have a heart to reach people for Jesus?

It was Chris Harold’s birthday yesterday!  Happy Birthday, Chris!  We love partnering with you at North Creek Church!

We are just a few weeks away from celebrating seven years as a church.  I seriously can’t believe it!  It seems like just yesterday we were loading up a van for the first time as a mobile church.  It has been the best adventure of our lives and we wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Have you liked us on Facebook, yet?  Click this LINK to like our page and stay updated!

I hope you enjoy your week – especially those of you mothers who will put your babies on a bus and enjoy a few minutes of quiet!

 

 

What Are You Afraid Of?

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August 29, 2013
Inspiration
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A few nights ago I had a dream that a crustacean was sitting next to me in bed.  You know the kind…some odd underwater creature with those antennae that wave around in search of a victim.  This one had prickles like a porcupine, but a very thin body.  He was freaky looking, and in my dream, he was TERRIFYING.

All I can remember was desperately needing to get away from this little urchin as quickly as possible.  Still asleep I began screaming at the top of my lungs while literally diving across the bed with my full body and onto the unsuspecting chest of my husband.  From his dead sleep, my weight and ear-piercing cries for help were unwelcome at best.  I kept staring at the imaginary crustacean and yelling for rescue.  Why wasn’t Mark beating that thing to death???

Finally Mark’s voice broke through my brain to let me know that I was dreaming and did not indeed need to claw my way out of the bed.  I woke up just enough to calm down and see my cat staring back at me in place of my false reality.

Stop laughing at me.  You’ve been there, too.  And dare I say that some of us are afraid of things that aren’t real, but we’re not even sleeping?

Maybe you are afraid of doing the ministry idea that God put in your heart because you are afraid of failure?  Maybe you won’t go to the doctor because your afraid of bad news?  Maybe you won’t ask that girl out because you are afraid of rejection?  Now, granted, sometimes what isn’t real might become real down the road, but for now, it’s just….well…fear.  And a very unproductive fear at that.

We so often go through life making decisions based on realities that we believe might be true, but really aren’t.  And even if the end of the story has some hard realities, knowing sooner usually leads us to the right path, the right decision, and the right truth.  Failure is usually used by God in mighty ways, health issues are cured more often when faced early, rejection by one usually allows us to find the other…and so on.

Truth is our friend, whether that truth turns out to be a creepy crustacean or a friendly cat.

So, what is causing you to be fearful in your life and how much reality is really in those fears?  What you’ll probably find is the voice of Jesus waking you up to truth and leading you back to peace and comfort.

Good night and sweet dreams! 😉

 

August 25 Coffee Church Highlights

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August 28, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry, Team
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Ministry is so much fun!  I love Jesus, I love serving in His Church, I love watching life-change…

We have grown a lot this summer and in some really interesting ways!  As usual we’ve gotten some great families, but even more exciting for me is an influx of elderly people at our 11:00 am Hazel Dell service.  Church plants are not usually known for multi-generational strength, so to see this area flourish is exciting!  I love the wisdom, prayerfulness, and warmth that the elderly add to a church.  I want my kids having a lot of older people telling them how to live life and honor Jesus!  If you are over 70, the Coffee Church is for you, too!

Matt and Andrea Garner had baby Savannah yesterday!  She was supposed to be born next Sunday, but we were sure glad to meet her early!  They are doing well and looking forward to introducing you to their new daughter soon.  You can help with meals HERE.

Our youth ministry is NOT meeting on campus this Thursday.  They have their Back-to-School BBQ and Bridgetown Homeless Outreach.  If you need more info, email Kris at kris@coffeechurch.com.  Also email her if you’d like to impact a generation by volunteering at youth!

Mark your calendars for our Vision and Volunteers night on September 13.  It is going to be a night to HONOR all of the people who make North Creek Church happen every day!  If you are not yet volunteering, you can sign up right now and still be invited to the fun!  It’s a great segway into our volunteer team and an awesome opportunity to meet people as well.  You can sign up HERE.

Thank you to those of you who gave extra this month to help our summer budget.  It’s always tight over the summer months and we appreciate your tithes to help us do quality ministry every day of the week!  We are still short overall for the summer, but have made budget in August and can now do some catch up for the fall.  You can give online at www.coffeechurch.com if you’d like to help us this month!

FYI:  I will not be blogging about Miley Cyrus.  What I will say is that we have a great youth group that teaches sexual morality, abstinence, and honoring God with our bodies.  My daughters will be going there faithfully and hearing something far different than what the media has to say.  There is another voice and it is our job as parents to flood the Word of God into our children’s hearts and minds.  Don’t watch the VMA’s.  Read your Bible.  Get your kids to church.  Stop letting the world win our children.  Jesus changes everything.

We had a guest at our staff table and she Facebooked the best comment: “Ever sat in a room of people who are so creative it invokes a “fight or flight” reaction? I did today and it was terrifying and electrifying at the same time. Can’t wait for our church staff meeting next week.”  I keep telling our team not to be so overwhelming, but I don’t think they can hear me over all of the talking and laughing…. 😉  Love them all!

For those of you who have gone back to school, use your love for Jesus to change someone’s day.  For those of you who haven’t gone back yet, enjoy your last few days of summer!

Be blessed!

 

 

 

August 18 Coffee Church Highlights

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August 21, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry
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I’m late this week with my highlights, but I have a great reason…I’m in GORGEOUS Montana having a family vacation.  For those of you who don’t know it, I am a born-and-raised Montana girl.  Yesterday we went to Glacier National Park, which is about 30 minutes from where I grew up.  Mark snapped this shot from the top of Going to the Sun Road.  Not bad, huh?

glacier1

Back to my Sunday highlights!  It was a REALLY amazing Sunday!

I ended up visiting the Battle Ground campus.  I haven’t been there in a little while, and it was so incredible to see the change and growth in that campus.  There is a lot of momentum and excitement for community there.  I walked down the hall and multiple people asked me how they can sign up to volunteer.  There were new people and families everywhere. It was an out-of-body experience!

Meanwhile, I got texts from Mark throughout the morning updating me on Hazel Dell.  The 11:00 am was packed, lots of new guests, worship was awesome… Equal momentum coming from Hazel Dell!

Then I got the update from the Deaf Church…high attendance, new family connected, quality ministry for the morning…All three campuses firing on all cylinders and seeing God work in people’s lives!  It has been a process over the last year and a half since we merged with another church in Battle Ground, but we are seeing the fruit of persistence paying off.  Can’t wait for the fall!

I forgot to give a shot out to Kari and Terrance last week!  They come early to help babysit and set up a couple of times a month and it’s such a blessing!  Terrance has taken the title of Chair Jedi-Master, as my husband is pretty particular about the chair set up.  Terrance is a star!  I love our volunteers.

Both of our kid’s pastors, Vanessa and Kim, were giddy about their ministry on Sunday, too.  We are raising up some GREAT kids who love Jesus and His House!

The youth arrived home on Sunday night after their Rural Community Missions Trip.  They were exhausted from giving it there all, but God did incredible things in and through them as they served their guts out.  Tired teenagers who poured their lives out for others are blessed teenagers!  Way to go!!!

Speaking of teenagers, we are on our way towards an incredible team of youth leaders for the Battle Ground campus.  I know we have not made any announcement formally yet, but we are in the process of conversations, watching God’s story unfold, and planning.  We’ll be rolling out that plan…in God’s perfect timing…soon!  I’m pretty excited!

Financially it’s been a tight summer…that’s pretty typical, but we don’t want to go into fall trying to catch up.  If you are able to help us, we could use an extra $10,000 to start us off of the right foot for September.  You can give online HERE.  We appreciate your financial support of our ministry and do our best to use those funds to minister to as many people as possible!

If you’d like to get baptized, we’ll fill the hot tub any Sunday.  You can sign up online at www.coffeechurch.com.  We LOVE to celebrate with those of you who are experiencing Jesus’ life change in your heart!

Here’s some dates to put on your calendar.  More info will be coming!

September 13 – Vision and Volunteers Night…it’s a night to honor our new and previous volunteers.  We want you there!

September 15 – Small Group Signup Opens

September 17 – Simply Worship Hazel Dell

September 24 – Simply Worship Battle Ground

September 29 – Small Groups begin this week!

So many things going on and so many blessings from Jesus!  Take that blessing and spread it around!  See you when we get back from relaxing all week!!