February 14

Happy Valentine’s Day! Here’s my thoughts from the Coffee Church yesterday:

I got to preach yesterday on loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength. This was a weighty sermon for me and I struggled with it a lot. I just wanted to do a good job for God. First service was a difficult one for me and second service went great. The irony of this is that it’s usually opposite for me. My prayer is that whether I feel like I did a good job or not, that God would do what He needs to do in people’s hearts.

On that note, here’s an encouraging email of the day:

The sermon that Stacy gave today was one of the most influential sermons for people who are just beginning their walk with God, if you did not walk away feeling totally uplifted and closer to God than ever there is something wrong with you. I am totally grateful for your help in my new journey with God and look forward to what is to come. Happy Valentines Day to you and your family..

Also, we had a youth group from Bremerton come down yesterday to help pass out advertisements and pick up some trash on our property. They worked from 1-4:30 pm and accomplished a lot. They were a great group and I appreciate their investment into our church.

When Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday and you’re a pastor, you’ve gotta reschedule a date with your special someone. By the time we got home we were too tired to go out for dinner! We’ll have to try again later this week!

A family in our church brought our kid’s pastor a big Valentine gift. That’s awesome.

Kris Gray and I both work at a homeless shelter part time. Our co-worker and his wife came to visit our church yesterday. It was awesome to see them in the “bar”.

Some of you asked what book I referenced yesterday – Primal by Mark Batterson. It’s a great one!

My mom came to visit all last week. It was great having my mom around!

Delaney made a Valentine for everyone in our church. Not the store-bought kind, but homemade ones. She forced my mom and I to cut out hearts and then she wrote her name on the inside. She folded it and sealed it with a sticker. She worked for hours and used every sticker that she had. She’s got the market on being a sweetheart.

Starting Point (our class for people who want to know more about God) is still going strong. They come out of their room on Sundays and there is so much energy. They are all excited about what they have learned and you can literally FEEL them growing. I LOVE it when Starting Point is in session. It brings new life to our church.

I really love our worship team. We have never wanted a worship team full of pride and focused on musical ability. What we have always wanted is a group of people who humbly used amazing talents to praise God. Guess what we have?

We could not raise our kids well without my in-laws. They love our girls and fill in the gaps where we fall short. Being pastors and parents is a tricky balance, and thanks to them, we are able to do both at the same time.

Another Sunday down…what are you going to do to change the world this week?