After having the flu last week and then being hit with a viscious head cold this week, I thought I would post some scriptures that I believe for my own body. I know there are a lot of people who aren’t feeling great right now and I encourage you to pray these scriptures over yourself. We serve a God that heals!

(Deu 7:15 NIV) The LORD will keep you free from every disease.

(Psa 41:3 NIV) The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.

(Psa 107:19-20 NIV) Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. {20} He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

(Psa 118:17 NIV) I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.

(Isa 53:4-5 NIV) Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. {5} But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

(Mat 15:30-31 NIV) Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. {31} The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.

(Mark 1:40-42 NIV) A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” {41} Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” {42} Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.

(Mark 16:17-18 NIV) And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; {18} they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

(Acts 3:16 NIV) By faith in the name of Jesus, this man whom you see and know was made strong. It is Jesus’ name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to him, as you can all see.

(Rom 8:11 NIV) And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

(James 5:14-16 NIV) Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. {15} And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. {16} Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

(1 Pet 2:24 NIV) He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.

A funny thing happened to me today…I was looking for some coffee-themed graphics and I ran across a blog written about our church. First of all, if someone half way across the country is talking about us, that’s a cool thing…especially when he lumps you in with LifeChurch, which is one my favorite churches! The not-so-cool thing is that they were slamming us for being irreverent to God as a church that is casual and filled with coffee.

It brings up a couple of thoughts…mostly the fact that people will criticize and judge a church in the name of proving how “holy” their way of doing things is…that, in my book, is the ultimate irreverence. Taking one paragraph from our website to prove your blog point isn’t an accurate picture. We LOVE Jesus and have laid down our lives for Him. And we don’t cut corners in challenging everyone in our church to do the same – and that’s what He’s asked of us. That’s reverance in my book. Come in jeans, drink your coffee, have a great time in God’s house…AND walk out the door different than you came in. LOVE God and your neighbor with wreckless abandon. I frankly don’t have time to worry about the dress code because I am too focused on SOULS!

So, my blogger friend, take your stained glass or our corregated metal…it’s no difference. In fact, a man, made of flesh just like me, determined that stained glass and hymns were “holy”. It’s not mandated in the Bible that a church looks the way yours does. It matters what your heart looks like. Jesus didn’t die on a cross for a music style. He died on a cross to set us free. That is the only message that will change the world. Don’t mistake our lack of reverance for your traditions as a lack of reverance for our God.

So, I’ll see you at the Coffee Church. Good news…Jesus attends here, too.

Here’s the article

Busy weekend!

Congrats to Bill and Alexandria Seavey on their marriage! They got married on Friday and it was an honor to be a part of their lives and this marriage devoted to Jesus.

We had lots of people home sick. I got more calls for volunteers needing to cancel on this one weekend than we usually get in a few months. We pray that you get well quickly! We missed you and look forward to seeing you next weekend.

Chris Harold preached a great message to close out our Game Plan series. I really enjoyed this series and it came at such an ironic season for us as we are looking at the next step of faith for this church and our lives. It’s going to be a bright future and we look forward to it.

A young man came bounding over to me this morning and said, “Guess what!?!?! On Monday, I accepted Jesus!” He was SO excited and so am I! Way to go!

I interrupt kid’s classes for a hobby. I like messing with the kids and ticking off teachers who are trying to get them to concentrate…. Mostly, I just want the kids to know that I’m in their lives. I got the privilege of the 9:30 am Great Adventurer’s class quoting their memory verse just for me. It was a long one and they nailed it! Great job to Ben who lead the whole class!

We had four new people at staff meeting today as we are expanding our team in preparation for the future. SHARP people who are called to ministry and using their lives to glorify God. I can’t wait to work with them and watch their gifts grow our church and my life! Fresh blood is a healthy thing!

Did you know it will take about $50,000 to start another campus for the first year? Only about $5,000 of that is upfront costs and the rest is month to month expenses above and beyond expected tithing income. That’s not a lot of money to have lives changed…

Living a life on the edge of faith and constantly stepping out is crazy fun! You really do get conditioned to do things that don’t make sense on paper, but make complete sense in your spirit. And God always shows up!

Mark and Joe skipped out on our church for part of service to go and visit The Link Church. Our friends started it four weeks ago, so it was fun for them to go and celebrate with them! We are praying for God’s blessing on that new church as well!

OK, I’m ready for a good night’s sleep after a full weekend! I hope you have a great week and Happy Valentine’s Day to you!

I’m sharing an article below because it is one of our core values in our lives. Mark and I have witnessed way too many good leaders come to their ruin because they harbored offenses in their heart and it literally destroyed their ability to lead well. If you know anything about us, then you know we forgive and move on extremely quickly. That habit has brought nothing but peace time and time again. Really, truly, it’s the only way to live. Enjoy the article!

The Number One Way Leaders Get Derailed
Michael Hyatt

Recently, I wrote about how leaders must learn to handle criticism and overlook offenses. I think this is the number one way that leaders can get derailed and rendered ineffective.

A few days ago, I ran into a story in reading the Desert Fathers, that illustrated the point beautifully:

A brother came to see Abba Macarius the Egyptian and said to him, “Abba, give me a word, that I may be saved.’ So the old man said, ‘Go to the cemetery and insult the dead.’ The brother went there, hurled insults and stones at them; then he returned and told the old man about it. The latter said to him, ‘Didn’t they say anything to you?’ He replied, ‘No.’

“The old man said, ‘Go back tomorrow and praise them.’ So the brother went away and praised them, calling them Apostles, saints and blessed people. He returned to the old man and said to him, ‘I have complimented them.’ And the old man said to him, ‘Did they not answer you?’ the brother said, ‘No.’

“The old man said to him, ‘You know how you insulted them and they did not reply, and how you praised them and they did not speak; so you, too, if you wish to be saved must do the same and become a dead man. Like the dead, take no account of either the scorn of others or their praises, and you can be saved.’”

Note: In the language of the fathers, the phrase “be saved” should be understood as “be sanctified.” They had a much more expansive view of salvation than we moderns. It included conversion, sanctification, and glorification.

So next time you are offended, take these four action steps:

1. Acknowledge to yourself that you were offended. There’s no sense pretending. It hurts to be offended. You can’t transcend what you don’t acknowledge.

2. Remind yourself that being offended is a choice. You don’t have to be offended. One of the things that makes you uniquely human is you have a choice how you can respond to what happens to you.

3. Remember that you are dead to these things. If you are a Christian, St. Paul says, “you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God” (see Colossians 3:3). You don’t have to obsess about these things and let them consume your thinking.

4. Forgive the other person and let it go. This is literally what the Greek word apoluo. It means: “to set free, to release, to pardon a prisoner or release a debtor.” As someone once said, “holding a grudge is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”

Effective leaders have learned to overlook offenses. They are mindful of Solomon’s admonition: “The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression.” (Proverbs 19:11)

Sorry about the blog drought…finally feeling back to normal after all four of us went down with the flu. At least the grocery bill will be smaller after not eating!

So, Mark and I have been on an interesting journey in the last couple of weeks. It seems as though every time we turn around, God is bringing quality leaders our direction under His moving and guidance. We have literally been getting emails and phone calls from pastors who want to pick up their lives, move to Vancouver and jump into our church. Now, that is really weird. You have to stop and ask yourself, “Why?”

Don’t get me wrong. I think North Creek is one of the greatest churches on the planet. Our people are hands-down the most authentic, kind, gorgeous, fun-having, coffee-loving, baby-producing, generous, and amazing people I know. It doesn’t surprise me at all that anyone would want to come and hang out…but the timing is strange. Literally in three days, we had three mind blowing conversations with children’s pastors, worship leaders, campus pastors…read the writing on the wall…

It might be coincidence, but I don’t think so. I think it’s the divine hand of God crafting, molding, and building His church in the way that He wants it to look like. I think that each of these people has a purpose, destiny, and calling that needs to be fulfilled. I think that, for whatever reason, North Creek needs them and they need us.

Here’s to seeing where this all leads…