Yesterday my daughter, Delaney, learned how to ride a bike without training wheels! We were so proud of her and so thankful that she learned without even scrapping her knees! Here’s some good life lessons from her success:

1. Your fear of failure can hold back your kids from succeeding. You’ve gotta let go at some point, even if that means watching them fall.
2. Learning how to start and stop is just as important as the middle of the journey. Ending well can mean the difference between pain and satisfaction.
3. Running alongside of someone who is learning is good for both of you.
4. Most of the time in life, confidence is far more important than skill. Skill is eventually mastered, but without confidence, you probably won’t even try.
5. Wear a helmet, long pants and good shoes. Calculate your risk and prepare for it.

It was so much fun watching my daughter accomplish something monumental. She was so proud of herself, but I’m pretty sure her parents were even more proud. I wonder what your Heavenly Father is waiting for you to try?

We had dinner with two of our friends last night, Jim and Sarah Gilliam, who are gearing up to launch a church in Vancouver in 2011. As we are now about 4 years into a church plant, it is just a flood of memories listening to them talk.

It’s fun to reminisce about our journey and breathe a little sigh of relief that we are in a slightly different season now. For the first three years of a startup church, it’s a gamble of survival. Is anyone going to come? If they do come, are they going to stay? Is anyone going to give in order to pay the bills? Will our doors and our dreams stay open for one more week?

Now, this far in, there’s a pretty good chance that we will survive for the long haul. I say that with my fingers crossed, since any organization dependent on people is always at the mercy of our humanity. However, at this point, I have a pretty strong hunch that North Creek Church is now a very permanent and solid place in our city.

Even though we are no longer in the “Is this even gonna work?” stage, I would not say that it’s any easier. That is probably the irony of starting a church. It’s so much work at the beginning and then, if all goes well, people come and everything gets so much more REAL. It’s flesh to all those dreams and now days are filled with faces to pray for, rejoice with, mourn with, and grow with. It’s intense to say the least!

So, we wish our friends the best! Enjoy the journey and may you be as blessed with wonderful people as we have been!

Here’s my highlights from church this weekend. Hope you enjoyed your weekend as much as I did!

It’s was my 34th birthday on Saturday! Lots of love from friends and family. I am grateful for the caliber of people in my life. I have so much to learn from everyone about how to be a better wife, mom, pastor, and friend! The best way to grow is to surround yourself with amazing people!

It was musical services at church this weekend. I think the entire 9:00 am service went to check out the Saturday night service. Overall our numbers are better than ever, but you wouldn’t have guessed that if you were in the 9:00 this morning. Don’t worry! Everyone will settle in just fine in a couple of weeks and it will all even out. We know where most people intend to attend, so just hang on for a bit! Change always stirs up the pot for a while.

We had several guests come today from our beach ball advertisements. Thanks to everybody who took the time to pass a few out. We look forward to adding some new faces to our church family!

One of our former teenagers from our youth pastoring days came this morning with his wife and two children…yep, that makes me feel old.

A guy walked into the church on Saturday night because he thought we were a restaurant. I told him we were a church, he looked around, and said, “No really, what is this place?” I said, “A church.” He said, “Come on, quit fooling. What kind of food do you serve?” Trust me, buddy, you’d rather have my Jesus than my cooking…

Gregory and Martha both taught the Great Adventurers for the first time this weekend. WAY TO GO! I love when people step out and lead. So glad to have you on the team!

The majority of youth were NOT in the house this morning due to the missions trip. Yucky. I don’t want a church without teenagers. They bring life, energy, and eccentricity to our services. Come back!!!!!

Worship was really good this weekend! Thanks to all of you who sing, play, and run sound/media for three services. It’s a big job, but you do it well!

OK, so here we go again. Another week ahead of us and so many great things in store for your life and for North Creek Church. Remember that you are LOVED by a God who is crazy about you just for being you. He wants to be WITH you, with no strings attached.

Invite someone to church next week!

So, I’m having one of those weeks. Wednesday night I made a homemade pizza and brownies for Chris and Gina, to help out with the new baby. Long story short, the brownies didn’t get cooked all the way, I was running late, and the kids were driving me nuts. Mark helped me wrap up the pizza in some foil and some towels to keep it hot and took it out to the car. He came back in to help with the way-too-gooey brownies and when he went back out to the car, there was Kennedy, standing on top of my towel-wrapped pizza.

How do you explain a pizza with a kid’s size 8 footprint in the middle?

It seems like life is just like that a lot, doesn’t it? You try your best and sometimes it’s just falls apart. It’s the feeling that is most difficult for me to deal with. I just want to do my best and have everybody happily eating pizza without a footprint in the middle and brownies that are perfectly baked on time.

However, it’s the imperfect things that create character, growth, and memories that deepen our relationships. In the long run, I will laugh 1000 times with Chris and Gina about their footprinted pizza. When Kennedy and Isaiah (their son) get married :), you better believe we’ll serve foot-shaped pizza at the wedding…OK, I’m a little ahead of myself, but really, sometimes our weaknesses become our favorite memories.

And just in case you need a meal…you might not want to ask your pastor’s wife.

When our teenagers left on Monday for their missions trip, Mark and I wrote them a letter that I thought I would share:

Youth Missions Team –

We are so excited that you get to go and have this amazing experience. Our prayer is that you take away from it all that you can!
Here’s some thoughts from your senior pastors as you go:

• Even though you’ve spent hours preparing, go into this trip thinking about what you have to learn rather than what you have to give. Our fancy technology and resources don’t make our church or community better than theirs. They have something to teach you as well. Find out what it is and hold onto it dearly. When you are teachable, that is when God will be able to really use your life.

• NEVER complain. Don’t even allow yourself to complain about how hot it is. Your words have the power to make or break your growth experience. If it’s hot, train yourself to find what is worthy to speak about. You’ve got one life…are you going to spend it focusing on all of the tough stuff? If so, it will be a long and difficult life for you. If you train yourself to see and say what is beneficial and life-building, you will find that making a difference will come much easier.

• Value each other. Love one another above all of the faults and fights. Don’t allow ANYTHING to come between you and another Christian. Galatians talks about how we should treat non-Christians well, but our brothers in Christ even BETTER! We’re family. That’s a privilege and such an honor.

• Honor your leaders. Make sure that this trip is a blessing for them. As you’ve been learning lately, leadership is extremely difficult. The Bible says that good leaders deserve double honor. That means Kris and Joe deserve about a billion times the honor!

• We love and believe in you so much! We’re in your corner, cheering you on, praying for God’s anointing in your life. We know what God says about you and we happen to agree with Him. We are calling out to God for your lives and believing that He’s going to show up in amazing ways.

Live with abandon and serve your guts out! We look forward to the stories-
Mark and Stacy