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Monthly Archives: October 2010

I’ve been reading a bunch of articles lately about who is qualified to start a church. It’s been fun to read about it from this side of the fence. I’m not sure we thought through what we were doing 4 years ago as much as we should have…our journey was much more of a divine “accident” as much as a “calling”. We didn’t quite know the destination of our lives, so we decided to take a step. Our “calling” wasn’t holistically to church planting, but rather we heard, “Now step here” until we arrived.

Looking back, I see now that God’s favor was on us for this journey and He very much lead us to where we are at. I see now that the gift mix within our marriage is a good one for what we are currently being asked to do. I also see how grateful I am that God didn’t dump the whole picture out at one time. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much because of my preconceived ideas about what church planting was.

And, my assessment of church planting now is this…I love it. I wouldn’t change our calling for the world. I enjoy the birthing process of this dream. I love the “out on a limb” feeling that we live with day in and day out. I’ve become an addict to risk and a gambler on God’s faithfulness. I think this is the greatest thing that we could have EVER been asked to do.

And I think very few people should do it.

Isn’t that ironic? My reasoning is because I’m not sure that there is anything more difficult that a pastor could ever take on. It shakes your foundations. It challenges your marriage. It exposes every weakness inside of you to the people that you desperately need to support you to be successful. It is truly brutal on all counts in ways that I’m not sure I could explain.

It is a life like none other…very similar to being strapped into a roller coaster that is thrilling, but every once in a while, you think, “GET ME OUT OF THIS THING!” But you can’t get out. It’s going too fast to get the strap unbuckled and even if you could, where are you going to go? And I can’t imagine being my husband and carrying the full weight of that on a daily basis! At least I get to hide behind him during the weak moments!

Basically, it’s the difference between people who like to swim and people who like to swim with sharks. Ministry is for people who like to swim. Church planting is for people who like to swim knowing that they might get eaten at any given moment.

So, you wanna start a church? Jump on in, the water’s fine…unless the sharks are hungry.

This weekend was a great one…it was our highest attendance ever of a “normal” weekend. Normal around here means, it’s not Easter, Christmas, and we’re not throwing a party for ourselves…

We are blessed with awesome volunteers who don’t just fill a role, but they LEAD people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ by their servant’s hearts, their attitudes, and their love for God.

Mark preached on stress being the alternative to a life of trusting in God. Quite the convicting concept, if you think about it. In America we specialize in stress, but it’s just simply not the way that God intended us to function on a daily basis.

Our Little Adventurer’s memory verse of the week is “I praise you because you made me wonderful!” It’s the simplified version of Psalm 139, and there is nothing cuter than watching a toddler do the motions to it!

There is nothing more fun in ministry than showing a person how to read the Bible. Pete got to teach someone in Starting Point yesterday and he was so excited! It’s giving someone the key to a life of adventure and godliness. If you aren’t reading your Bible, give it a try.

We spent $2000 renovating the kitchen to make more room for toddlers. Yesterday, when I walked into the 10:30 am class, I was convinced that it was money well spent. Plenty of kids, plenty of room, plenty of leaders, and plenty of crayons! What more do you need??? Consider giving a little extra this month to help cover the cost of those renovations. It comes out of our facility fund, which also helps pay the rent, and we are big fans of paying the rent.

Also, we rearranged the Great Adventurer’s room as well to make it so that guests can walk into the back of the room rather than in front of everybody. It’s hard to walk into a room where everybody is looking at you! The new orientation and upgraded sound booth were great this weekend!

We are currently searching for some key leadership people to fill some roles: more worship leaders, a volunteer coordinator, and an administrator to keep our creative types in line. These all currently pay in coffee, but eventually would work into stipends or salaries. If you love Jesus, are a high caliber leader, have some free time, and enjoy taking risks (’cause that’s how we roll), let’s start a conversation! Email Mark at mark@coffeechurch.com.

It’s fun following Jesus. Wonder where He’ll take us this week…

I wrote a few days ago about Edee. I mentioned her daughter, Kristi, who was one of my best friends all growing up. Kristi loved music since we were kids and I can remember singing into the tape recorder with her often. While I went one direction to Seattle, she went the other to Nashville to pursue music.

Now she has one of her songs, Cole’s Lullaby, on Itunes. If you download it, all of the proceeds go to adoptions. Enjoy! And, Kristi…I’m so proud of you!

Here’s the story behind the song:

“My best childhood friend had her first baby this year and he was three and a half months early. She lives in Portland and I live in Nashville. I didn’t feel like there was anything I could do to help or to ease her pain, I felt useless being so far away. I thought about that little boy (Cole) so helpless in the NICU and my friend not being able to hold her little boy or to comfort him. So I wrote “Cole’s Lullaby” for the family, I thought every child should have their own lullaby. I felt like the most important thing a child could know is that they are loved and always have a safe place to call home, no matter where they are. I was sitting at a restaurant finishing the lyrics to the song and my dear friend Ashli York met me to tell me about her recent mission trip to Ethiopia with Ordinary Hero. She told me her sister wanted to adopt one of the orphans from Ethiopia but that it was an expensive process to bring a child over to the United States. I instantly knew I was to record and donate the proceeds of the lullaby to this adoption, and adoptions in the future. I know I was meant to write that song for Cole (who just got to come home this month and is doing well), and now I hope that song raises lots of money so that other children can find a safe place to call home.”