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AgeOfKings_XL-835x425I am so looking forward to July at North Creek!  This Sunday we kick off a sermon series called Age of Kings.  Because I am one of the preachers this month, I’ve been diving into various stories of kings throughout the Bible, and have been fascinated by their lives!  It is amazing how you can read through a story in the Bible after reading it a dozen times and see something you have never seen before.  I can’t wait to see our preachers pull out life lessons from these characters and apply it to our lives.

Most of the kings we are focusing on are from the Old Testament.  The nation of Israel cried out for a human leader like other nations had, despite the fact that they had the opportunity to identify with God Himself as their leader.  God heard their prayers and gave both Israel and Judah a succession of about 20 Kings each.  Long story short, these mere men left a trail of interesting decisions behind them that had centuries of ramifications for the nation.  Some kings served the Lord, and we see that their stories are ultimately successful.  Some kings turned from the Lord, and their stories are tragic tales of misguided hearts.

When I read the tale of the Kings, one thing holds true…Obedience to the principles of God should remain of supreme importance in our lives if we intend to be successful.  It is a foundational principle that we all fall short on at times, but nonetheless, we should keep the goal in our sites and our hearts steeped in the Word of God.

Brace yourself for a wonderful journey through the Bible this summer!  I am positive of one thing: God has something to say to us!

WP_20130414_042What a fun day!!!!  We took part of our staff meeting to celebrate our Hazel Dell Children’s Pastor, Kim.  She began her first day of full time work with North Creek this week.  She was completely surprised as all of our staff kids threw her a carnival complete with games and candy.  It was such a nice break from the “normal” routine of life to watch our kids party and our team laughing!  Sometimes no business is the best kind of business!

We had a great sermon in all three churches on being truly Alive in Christ, which has been a phenomenal series from start to finish.  I think we forget the awesome freedom we have in Jesus to be free of our sins…not once, but for a lifetime!

We dedicated baby Kingston, with parents Marc and Amy, at Hazel Dell.  We can’t wait to see him grow up in his wonderful home, surrounded by people who will instill Christ’s love in his heart.

We had several new volunteers at Battle Ground this weekend as well!  We are appreciative as Battle Ground grew quickly and we have lots of babies and kids to take care of each weekend.  Such great problems to have!

WP_20130414_038We are investigating the Hazel Dell building with the potential of a longer term investment for the future.  Did you know that there is enough power in the building to run a Safeway with all of their freezers, fridges, and lights?  Good news in case we ever need a freezer section…  We’ll keep you updated on this process and let you know what we think.  That current building sits on 2 acres with over 16,000 sq ft. of building space in total.  With renovations and a great deal of paint, it would make a world of difference!

Really looking forward to our upcoming sermon series called Us.  It’s on relationships, but don’t let that stop you single people!  The best time to learn about how to have a good marriage is before you are actually in one.

We are doing baptisms at Hazel Dell on Sunday, so if you’re ready to get baptized, fill out the form HERE.  We love to celebrate life change at North Creek!

Make sure you take some time to Be Present in our community this week!  Find someone to bless and bring value to in your world!  Be blessed!!!!

 

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and the Coffee Church can’t wait! We have a tradition of honoring our dads by grilling hot dogs and serving root beer for breakfast. There’s nothing like a bunch of guys eating processed meat in front of a church on a Sunday morning! Good times!

We’re also celebrating with the Battle Ground campus as a dad and his family will be baptized together tomorrow. Such an amazing way to be an example to your family and we are excited to celebrate with them all!

Join us in the morning – Hazel Dell at 9:30 or 11:00 am / Battle Ground at 10:00 am and the Deaf Service at 11:30 am!

 I love listening to my husband, Mark, talk right before we go to bed.  He is relaxed and tends to reflect on the people in his life that he appreciates.  He tells a funny story from the day about the kids or laughs at the latest crazy adventure that we are on.  Lately he has been consumed with the thoughts of how to reach as many people with the love of Christ that he can.  It is with that heart that we wrote this week’s email for our church email group (you can sign up to receive our emails at www.coffeechurch.com).  I included it below for those of you who might not get our regular emails:

 

September brings fond memories of two years ago when we were preparing for the launch of the first service for North Creek Church.  Thirty-nine people (including kids) had worked and prayed for months just for September 24 to come.  And when it arrived, I couldn’t sleep, eat, or think about anything else…except people.  How many would come?  What did they look like?  What was their story?  How would Jesus impact their futures and how would North Creek play a part in that?

 

I can remember watching out the windows of Salmon Creek Elementary just praying that somebody would show up that first morning.  And when they did I was both amazed and thankful to God for entrusting our church with their lives.  Some of the faces that I saw that day became some of the closest friends I have now.  And the stories that have been told from those lives still keep me up at night.  I am humbled by the impact that we’ve been given by God.  And that is why I am more convinced of the direction that God has put on my heart for the fall.

 

My commitment is to do whatever it takes to keep us from being comfortable in the blessings that God has given us.  We have amazing people, we are able to pay the bills, our systems and strategies seem to be working…and it’s not enough.  Today my heart beats refreshed in the purpose that started this church in the beginning…people.

 

We are committed to the mission of God!  With all of our heart and soul!  And I look forward to stretching North Creek Church again to the edges of faith in order to reach more with the love of Jesus.  I can’t wait to share with you about what is on my heart.

Have you read the story of Jonah lately?  Mark preached on Jonah yesterday, so I was reading a little bit about him again to refresh my memory.  The story of Jonah is way too familiar, but most people don’t read the whole story.  The end is the most interesting part…

Long story short, God tells Jonah to preach to people he doesn’t like, Jonah says no, runs, ends up inside a fish, gets puked up, go to the people he doesn’t like, end of story…or not.  Here is what Jonah has to say after God used him to impact a HUGE city:

Jonah 4

Jonah’s Anger at the Lord ‘s Compassion

 1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, “O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

 4 But the LORD replied, “Have you any right to be angry?”

 5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?”
      “I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.”

 10 But the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

AND THAT’S THE END OF THE BOOK!

After all of the complaining, God helping him to understand the importance of obedience, seeing God change thousands of lives…he’s still complaining!  He closes his chapter in history with a pity party! 

I am ashamed to say that I have seen that all too often among Christians in the last 20 years.  We’ll find the one thing about a church that we don’t like and point that out.  We’ll analyze a sermon and pick it apart as if we could do better.  We’ll take the time to tell people what is wrong with the system rather than what is right.

Jonah is a challenge to me.  If my chapter closed today, what would I be saying?  Would I be working toward bettering the system or would I be pointing out everything wrong with it?  I have a very critical eye for excellence, but Jonah really challenges me to keep my hands working and my mouth shut!