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September 8 Coffee Church Highlights

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September 10, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry
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This week was very full of highs and lows…

First off, welcome back to school to most of our Battle Ground and Vancouver students!  We are back to making lunches, finding a pair of socks that actually match, and keeping track of homework.  It’s fun and daunting all at the same time!

Last Wednesday we had a tragedy in our community with the death of Tanner Trosko, a senior from Ridgefield High.  Some of his extended family attends our church, which always makes that kind of a loss hit home in an even more profound way.  I was so proud of our church for stepping in to provide meals and help in whatever way we could in these initial days of this situation.  We will continue to serve and pray for the days and months to come.  There are no words to sum up the horror of losing a child, but our hope is in Christ to bring peace in the midst of the nightmare.

Sunday was the end of our Platform series at Battle Ground.  Your life is the platform that God is choosing to impact the world!  How are you using your daily stuff to bring the focus back to Jesus? We also kicked off Jackpot at Hazel Dell.  We will be focusing on some of the benefits of being a part of Church!  God has a beautiful picture in mind for being a part of a Jesus-centered community.  I know there are a lot of people with a lot of scars from negative Church situations.  That being said, we need to walk through the bad stuff that comes with humanity and find the health!  God has asked us to be humble, be submissive to one another, and love one another.  I am so grateful for our people at North Creek who embrace those traits week in and week out!

Our Kindergarteners transitioned from Tiny Town to KidCity this week.  Here’s a story from Facebook I love:

Dad: So did you have sooo much fun in kid city Sydney?

Sydney: Yes, but I cried part of the time…

Dad: Why? Sydney: Cuz I won’t get to see Scott [Tiny Town Volunteer] anymore.

Thank you to Scott and all the Tiny Town workers…you make a difference!  That is exactly how I want our kids to feel about Church…Love where you’ve been and love where you are going!

Jordan lead worship at Battle Ground and Emily lead at Hazel Dell.  Aren’t we blessed by amazing leaders?  Every week I am profoundly amazed by what they bring to that stage and to my heart.

I am sure looking forward to Friday for our Vision and Volunteers night.  If you are a volunteer at North Creek and somehow missed the information, email me right away at stacy@coffeechurch.com  because we want you there!  If you haven’t RSVP’ed, take a moment and email rsvp@coffeechurch.com.  It’s going to be an amazing night to eat great desserts, enjoy the company and be honored for serving!  A lot of us are even dressing up, so pull out some clean pants and come to the Battle Ground campus!

I hope you have a good week!  Be blessed!

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!

 

 

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!!

 

Process Matters

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August 16, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry
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One of my favorite television shows is MasterChef.  If you’re not familiar with this hour of genius, it’s a reality show about three Master Chefs who judge a bunch of home-cooks on their talent and then give the winner a job in a high-end restaurant.  I’m not a chef, I don’t like to cook, and I don’t understand half of what they are talking about, but nonetheless, I love the show.

One of the interesting things about the Chefs is that they walk around while these poor souls are cooking and they can tell what is going to be an excellent plate of food and what will be sub-par.  Often times they don’t even taste anything on their way by…they just watch the process and get that disappointed scowl on their faces.  They know that the process makes the product.

After 16 years working with people, I can see that those same principles applies to all of us as well.  There really aren’t many surprises for us anymore in ministry.  The fact remains that people who attack their lives with grit, a teachable spirit, and high standards for themselves tend to see God work in amazing ways in their lives.  On the contrary, when we see people who refuse to change, won’t do the hard things, and won’t push themselves, we brace ourselves for the inevitable.

The process you put into your life and growth determines your product.

This is both good and bad news for all of us depending on our goals for the future!  So, what can we all do?  We can set ourselves up for success: read our Bible, pray, get involved in a thriving church, obey the Scriptures even when it’s hard, surround ourselves with people who will give us advice, take that Godly advice, serve Jesus with abandon…and the list goes on!

One fact that might help you if you have a previous pattern of a pathetic process is that you can course-correct if you want to.  When the Master Chefs walk around, they drop advice as they go, but most home-cooks still go with their plan despite the advice.  Needless to say, their dishes often get a poor reception.  But then, every once in a while, a cook hears the Master Chef, changes plans on a dime and the results speak for themselves.

If you’ve been going along, unwilling to listen (and obey) Biblical advice, maybe it’s time to course-correct yourself.  If you hear the people in your life who have gone before you giving you warnings…take them.  Change.  Grow.  Be teachable.  Do the hard things.  Do it now.

What you’ll end up with is a life as beautiful as fine cuisine.  The aroma, presentation, taste, and finesse of your life will speak for itself.