I think I have my favorite story of Christmas 2010. As I have mentioned, we use our Benevolence offering to give groceries and gift cards to families in need. On Thursday night, we loaded up the kids, filled a grocery bag from the canned food bin at the church, grabbed a gift card for $50 to Walmart, and knocked on the door of a single mom from our church. She has had a difficult year, but she is doing a great job getting back on her feet. Our church has played a key role in that!

Little did we know but earlier that day, feeling so blessed by generosity this year, she decided to give what little she had to someone else for Christmas. She and her oldest daughter loaded up a grocery bag of canned food and gave it to a desitute family. Her young daughter said to her, “Mom, we need this food! What are we going to do?” The mom said, “It’s OK, God will take care of us.”

And just hours later, North Creek’s generosity (and God’s divine providence) proved to that little girl that He never fails and moms are always right. I hope that you gain one thing from this story….GIVE, GIVE, GIVE. I want to be the type of person that would give away my last bag of canned food believing that God would never fail me. What an awesome reminder of what our hearts should be like!

What an extreme weekend! Our Saturday and Sunday 9:00 am attendance was way low. I couldn’t figure it out until 10:30 rolled around and EVERYBODY came…we pulled out every chair in the auditorium and went to the back room for folding chairs. OK, it’s Christmas break, I get it, but can you go back to your own service in January? 🙂

We also had 20 dozen Krispy Kremes donated for our services this weekend. There’s nothing like 20 donut boxes to make a happy church.

Worship was great with a touch of Christmas! Can’t wait to sing some more Christmas carols at our Christmas Eve services.

Loved Mark’s message this weekend! It was about interruptions in our lives and how to walk through what God has for us!

The Little Adventurer’s made ornaments in class today. They were adorable, but let’s just all collectively agree that glitter is evil. It’s now all over the church, in my car, in my house….I love you, Rachael Yonko…

God is still working miracles. Every single day He blesses and protects His children!

We are moving our Sunday morning service times beginning Jan. 2 to Sundays at 9:30 and 11:00 am. Everybody seemed to be happy about it at both services. If 11:00 am is too late, we would love to bulk up our 9:30 service and open up seats for guests at the 11:00 am.

Tiffany Wisecarver will be singing on Christmas Eve and then Corey Sublett will begin his ministry with us January 1. Ironically Jan. 1, 2001 (ten years ago to the day), Mark and I began our ministry in Vancouver, WA. It’s been a blessed and busy ten years.

My husband turns 40 on Dec. 29!!!!

We need about $2500 more this year to end 2010 in the black with our savings account in tact. We had a great year for missions and benevolence as well. We got to send all of our missionaries an extra $100 for the holidays, as well as bless a bunch of people with gift cards and canned food. AWESOME! If you would like tax deductible giving credit for this year, you can either give at our Christmas Eve services, online, or snail mail postmarked before Dec. 31.

See you on Friday for our Christmas Eve Services at 6:30 or 8:00 pm. Remember that we cancelled the Saturday and Sunday services on Dec. 25/26. Spend some time with your family and don’t forget to read the Christmas story with them from the Bible!

Great little article from Mark Batterson:

Longevity

I’ve got to make a few observations about longevity. I always have been and always will be a believer in sustained effort aka longevity. I had a Father-in-Law that planted and pastored one church for more than thirty years so I saw the impact of cumulative effort. I pray for the privilege of pastoring one church for life. I honestly believe that the key to a fruitful ministry isn’t dreaming big as much as it is thinking long. It’s not a sprint. It’s a marathon. And that takes tremendous endurance.

I know there are those who root against Favre because they root against the teams he’s played for. And I know his indecisiveness regarding retirement has been a media frenzy for a few years. And it’s been a tough season for Favre. But none of those things changes the fact that only a handful of players in NFL history have been good enough to start for 297 consecutive games. And no one in the history of the game has matched his toughness or love for the game. And those are two things that Favre will be remembered for. In fact, he epitomizes them.

I’m impressed with plotters–people who are visionary strategists. But I think I’m more impressed with plodders–people who put one foot in front of another and keep plodding ahead despite circumstances and challenges. To put it in ministry terms, I’m inspired by pastors of churches that have experienced exponential church growth, but not nearly as much as those pastors who faithfully pastor churches in the shadows of the kingdom from cradle to coffin.

I think most of us in ministry want to grow faster quicker, but there is a reason why Scripture uses agricultural metaphors for kingdom growth. Maybe our goal shouldn’t just be growing bigger faster. Maybe it should also be growing deeper longer.

A couple of days ago I was helping Delaney get ready for school. I asked her, “Do you want your brown shoes or your black ones?” She said, “Whatever you want to pick is fine…but it better be my brown ones.” She didn’t really want me to be in control. She wanted the brown shoes and she was just trying to sound low maintenance….she’s not. I actually thought the black shoes would be much better with her outfit, but I grabbed the brown ones and tossed them her way. It wasn’t worth fighting with her when she had already made up her mind.

I wonder if that is how we approach God. “Whatever you want for my life is fine…but it better be safe, secure, and comfortable.” The problem is that when we put stipulations on the second part of the sentence, it negates the first part of the sentence.

Somehow we need to stop talking at the “Whatever you want is fine…” part when we approach God. Usually what God wants for our lives is anything but safe, secure, or comfortable. It’s dangerous, stretching, and intimidating, but it makes us better people. It makes life worth living and it keeps us from being inward focused.

If God wants the “black shoes” for your life, put them on and run with them. Trust me…He knows what goes best with how He made you!

Beginning January 1, 2011, we have a new worship pastor at North Creek Church! Corey Sublett will be joining our team from Renton, Washington. Corey is a talented musician with a heart after God. He is humble, gracious, and has a passion for training up musicians. We feel blessed and spoiled to add his talent and character into our wonderful church!

Not only do we get Corey’s music, but more importantly, we get his incredible family! His wife, Julie, loves missions trips, outreach, and event planning. She’s a sharp woman with an eye for detail (and she was one of my college friends)! Corey and Julie have two kids. Mia (sounds like mee-uh) is 3 years old and she literally never stops smiling. James is 7 months old and will have plenty of friends in our nursery!

Corey and Julie will be commuting for the first bit of their tenure with us and then making the move as they establish themselves. Corey teaches music lessons as well, so if you are in need of that (which Kennedy is!!!), feel free to email him at corey@coffeechurch.com. As he gets established with us, you will find out that he’s a great teacher!

Feel free to bombard Corey and Julie (julie@coffeechurch.com) with love and welcome! They are also both on Facebook, so hunt them down and give them a taste of the love that pours out of our incredible church!

Corey and Julie – we pray a blessing on this new adventure in your life! We know that God has great things in store for your ministry and we are here to help make your dreams come true. Giving your life away for people comes at a great cost, but we can guarantee that the reward of changed lives will be a constant reminder of God’s awesomeness. We can’t wait to have you as a part of our family!