WHAT A DAY! We started with church and then we had our demolition day where we tore through our main auditorium and took EVERYTHING out in preparation for new floors. Bar, dance floor, beer taps (they were hidden behind art all these years!), some lights, all the decorations, and MUCH more has LEFT the building!

One of our newest babies came to visit for the first time yesterday! Welcome to the world, Landon! And congrats to Shayna on that beautiful baby boy!

I was in the Great Adventurer’s yesterday! HILARIOUS group of 4th and 5th graders in my small group. I LOVE the way they think at this age and how they are figuring out the way the world works. Volunteer once a month to work in our elementary class. It’s awesome!

We NEED small group leaders! To accomodate our growth, we need five couples who will lead general groups. If you would like more information, please email Amy Day at amy@coffeechurch.com right away. We want to get our lineup finalized within the next 10 days! It’s a great way to get to know people and serve our church.

I will do a detailed post tomorrow about our building demolition and construction. I’m pretty excited about it!

Mark preached about conflict resolution yesterday. I really feel like this is an artform that we all need to get really good at! It’s a necessary part of life and most people do it so poorly that it’s shocking.

Have you ever thought about the fact that the person that you are so offended by probably doesn’t think about you very often? That may hurt your feelings, but it’s true. We spend so much time investing energy into offense and the other party is probably living their lives just fine and dandy. Stop letting them live in your head without paying rent. Just sayin.

Last week our 6th graders transitioned out of the Great Adventurer’s into the youth group, next week our Kindergarteners transfer out of the Little Adventurer’s into the Great Adventure, and our graduating seniors are now out of the youth group and onto our college age small group. That’s a lot of nervous energy around! Please pray for all of these transitions and assure them all that the next step is going to be awesome!

The number one question I was asked yesterday, “What color are we painting the auditorium?” My answer is officially: something that you probably won’t like. I say that jokingly because it seemed like every color I suggested someone in whatever group I was talking to announced that was a bad idea. Here’s the reality: Our target audience for esthetics is teenagers. If they like it, we win. If we want young people to love our church, we need to create an environment they love to come to. I will attend ANY (Godly) church that my kids love. Paint it hot pink for all I care. I didn’t prefer cobalt blue and corrugated metal, but our youth thought it was cool. Not going to sacrifice drawing in a generation that is easily lost for anything…especially paint. So, brace yourself and prepare to LOVE it, because you will!!!!

Blessings to you all!

My husband, Mark, has always wanted to take a helicopter ride, but has never had the opportunity. For his 40th birthday, back in December, our church blessed him with a dream helicopter ride! He’s been really excited to do it, but it seemed that we were in a competition with the Washington rain and had to wait for dry skies. Well, we made a date of it for our 14th anniversary on Wednesday. Mark enjoyed every minute and was like a giddy little boy as he snapped pictures of mansions, the Capitol building and the surrounding scenery.

Thank you to everybody who helped him reach a goal in his life! It was so fun to watch him experience something that he has always wanted to do! We are blessed!

One of my favorite bloggers is Pastor Steven Furtick. I highly recommend adding him to your reading list! Here’s a taste!

Upon Further Review by Steven Furtick
Wednesday August 24th, 2011

As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow…When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
Luke 7:12-15

This widow’s son. Lazarus. The son of the Shunammite.

All of them looked dead. Were dead.
But then in one instant, everything changed.

Life was reintroduced.
Hope was rekindled.
Vitality was restored.

It reminds of how sometimes in football, the officials will come out after a play or a call has left a team dead in the water. Everything appears hopeless. The game or the opportunity looks over. But then after they have looked at the tape, the officials will say, “upon further review,” and overturn the play or the call. And in one instant, everything changes.

Every dead area of your life is available for further review from God’s life-giving power.

Maybe a relationship in your life just fell apart.
Maybe you lost your job last year.
Maybe you’ve made some terrible mistakes that have cost you a lot of time and opportunity.

It looks like a dead situation.
But it’s not over as long as Jesus is on the scene.

Upon further review, He can restore your relationships.
Upon further review, He can supply all your needs.
Upon further review, He can forgive you and make you whole.

Most of us give up on God too easily.
Don’t lose hope.

With God, nothing in your life is ever beyond its resuscitation point.

What a great weekend!

Worship was exceptional! It was a great lineup of songs and it flowed so beautifully. I have loved what Matt and Andrea have brought to our team and am so grateful for the plethora of talented people that we have at North Creek. As Tiffany would say, “Mood: blessed!”

I love Jesus so much. If you want to love Jesus, pick up your Bible and find out something about Him. He’s intriguing!

My sister-in-law and niece were here visiting from North Dakota for the weekend. It was fun having them at the Coffee Church as well as see plenty of Mark’s family members over the last few days.

The youth ministry returned from their mission’s trip and they say they have MANY exciting stories to tell. On Labor Day weekend we will be sharing summer highlights, so don’t miss that!

We also announced that we are removing the bar to make room for more seats for the fall. No fear: we will always make room for coffee, so you’ll be just fine! We will also be putting in a new floor, painting the walls, and having a massive cleanup of the parking lot to get ready for our church’s FIFTH year anniversary! Unbelievable!

On the backburner: including our current church facility, the building behind us, and our basement, our current property has nearly the same square footage as the other building we’ve been looking at. We are currently weighing out the pros and cons to our situation to see if we can facilitate our vision in our current location with a MAJOR overhaul. The price of our current place is half of the price of the other option…huh. Would you pray with us for wisdom? And keep giving to 19 Cents of Faith! We need a chunk of change for the “change” we want to see in Hazel Dell!

On a strange note: our offerings are WAY down for August. We’ve made our budget of $14000 a month for a very long time (over a year) and to date we have about $4500 given so far this month (for the general budget). It is one of the most unusual situations we’ve seen. If you have the means, we would love some help!

On a stranger note: our attendance average for the month of August will probably be our highest average ever.

Mark preached on forgiveness yesterday. Yeah, that hit some nerves. Lots of tears around, but hopefully those are “Holy Spirit Tears” and symbolize that God is working.

Mark also mentioned hoarding items briefly as an illustration. Yeah, that hit A LOT of nerves. People get really nervous when you mess with their need for stuff…

I hope your week is full of forgiveness and freedom! Many blessings!

In April we set out to raise enough money to refurbish a building in Hazel Dell that incorporated both our regular church functions as well as several functioning businesses including a coffee shop with an area geared for parents with kids. Here’s my thoughts so far:

Sticking your neck out is a great thing to do. Sometimes you have to live life with a little uncertainty. It’s good for you and your prayer life.

The kids at our church are the driving force behind this dream. I think we are raising up a generation that speaks with open hearts and open hands. They keep handing me bags of coins that they are collecting. Their faith has been humbling for me. Gotta say…stingy hearts make me gag.

Speaking of giving, we gave up a month’s salary, which I thought would be devastatingly difficult. We haven’t even noticed it. There was a reality check for me! I thought that stretching any farther than we had been would break us, but it didn’t even create a panic.

Through this process God has opened up new doors that we didn’t see as possibilities. I think we are close to solving some key problems with our growth without sacrificing any of the vision. Sometimes faith is about the journey, not the destination. That is definitely what we are discovering.

I think we are blessed pastors! Our team, board, and church allows us to lead through the uncertainty without going hysterical when all the ducks aren’t in a row. I think this is the greatest gift.

We have met GREAT people on this journey and many of them are now a part of our church. Didn’t see that one coming when we set out to raise money!

I have a feeling that this fall will involve change. Change involves work. Work involves people. You are the people!

We need about another $200,000 for the first step, which will solve most of our immediate problems. Not too bad of a number, is it? Totally doable! Of course, any number is OK with God. He owns it all!

Thank you for your continued giving and personal support! We are currently in the middle of specific conversations that may launch us to the next level. We look forward to updating you very soon, but in the meantime, pray!