I’m a big fan of renovation! I love watching things go from being trashy to classy, dumpy to delightful, and from rotten to secure. It’s probably why I’m a ministry-junkie, too. Change is my fuel.

Recently we had our friend, John Day, bring his construction company over and do an extreme makeover on our porch. It caved from a poorly built foundation (that’s a whole other blog all by itself!), so he kindly lent his services to our problem and his team created a masterpiece! I LOVE being on my porch now. I told Mark that we need to haul our bed out there so I never have to leave! Pretty sure I wasn’t joking.

John Day’s company, Rain City, was absolutely awesome to have in my back yard. They were trustworthy, kind, courteous, and did a great job from start to finish. If you have a home renovation project of your own, they do just about everything. You can give John a call at 360-576-8033 for information or a quote. Tell him your from the Coffee Church. Get the change you need in your life!

BEFORE (We had already pulled out the porch.)

DURING (The main deck is down…now for my pergola, railing, and benches!!!)

AFTER (Come on over for a BBQ! We’re ready!)

THANK YOU, JOHN!!! We LOVE your family and we’ll have you over for a BBQ soon so you can enjoy it for yourself!!!

Loved this blog by Tony Morgan. It is so true! As pastors, we feel so bad about firing people, but we also have to remember that every penny we pour into salaries is a hard earned tithe and we need to use our resources to the best of our abilities! It’s our job to do what we need to do to get the right people on the bus in the right seat!

Stop Paying People to be Nice
May 18, 2011 by Tony Morgan

A couple of years ago we were riding down the road in our family minivan. In the front of the van, Emily and I had been discussing the “church consulting” part of my ministry. Among other things we must have talked through some the recent staffing conversations with one of the churches I had engaged.

From the back of the van, one of the younger Morgans piped up. “Why is it that churches let people stay on staff when they don’t do a good job?”

It’s always interesting how children view life. Out of their innocence, they’re not afraid to ask the politically incorrect questions. The fact is, though, because we are a people of grace, we tend to enable poor performers in the church.

Part of the reason we do that is because we’re afraid to engage conflict. However, coaching and redirection typically require conflict to generate honest, healthy conversation that ultimately leads to better outcomes.

After the coaching and redirection takes place, though, we can’t continue to let people stay on staff who aren’t getting the job done. It’s a poor stewardship of both people and financial resources. We can’t just continue paying people to be nice. We have to use our resources wisely to accomplish God’s purposes.

And, we can’t just pay people to perform tasks. We have to use our resources to find people who will equip God’s people to do the work of God.

Being part of a church and leading ministry at a church are two distinctly different roles–they come with two distinctly different standards established in God’s Word. We need to apply the right standards to the right groups of people.

Stop paying people to be nice.

I love our church. Simply love it. Love the people, love how healthy our team is, love that our focus has been and will always be telling people about Jesus, love our massive and incredible volunteer staff, love coffee, love new faces and our growing family….

On that note, I taught the preschool class at 9:30 am. We had a dozen bouncing toddlers who were perfectly behaved. Isaiah and Jace volunteered to be my co-leaders. I let them lead worship, pass out crayons, coloring pages, and crackers. They worked with the younger toddler boys to keep them focused. I was UBER impressed by those two young men!

We had lots of new faces in both services! I think it was our largest 9:30 service ever and then the 11:00 service was a “pull out the extra chairs” service. We should probably get a bigger building…fabulous plan, huh?!?

One of our guests was told to come by a friend who visited a few weeks ago. His friend said, “Count how many people say hello to you before you get your coffee.” Needless to say, it was a lot. We value relationships and people at our church – not just with words, but to the core of who we are. We don’t tell people to be nice. They just are because our culture dictates it. Pastors – you want to change your community? Start with your church culture.

Still bringing in money for 19 Cents of Faith. One step at a time! This is not an overnight process, but one that requires time, energy, prayer, and sacrifice.

I love watching our young people worship. They are living reminders to sing with abandon!

We gave up our salary this month for our building campaign. Several people asked us yesterday what it’s like. Well, if you are a faith junkie like we are, it’s awesome! If you like security, it would probably give you heart problems. We got an anonymous $200 in the mailbox yesterday, we’ve gotten gift cards, meals offered, and people giving us other things that keep the wheels turning. Bottom line: when all is said and done, my God owns it all. He’s got it covered. We can’t outgive Him, so what’s one month’s salary?

Our small groups kick off this week. We have a lot of people signed up and some great groups going on! Thanks to Amy for taking the reigns of this ministry and being such a valuable part of our team!

It’s going to be a great week!

I wish I could easily sum up the last couple of months. All I can say is that Mark and I are GROWING daily. As a teenager, I remember physically growing daily. My joints hurt, my legs ached, I needed more food to sustain myself than ever before…I was literally stretching my body out day by day. This season feels the same way. I feel like God is pushing us to rethink, redefine, and “redream” everything. He is broadening us on how we think about church, organization, and money. He is pushing us to step out of our comfort zone and tell people about His mission and what He’s done in our lives.

I have learned more in the last couple of months than I have learned in the last five years. I feel tired constantly by the weight of information and expectation. It is as if the hand of God is at our backs PUSHING us to where HE wants us to go. Don’t get me wrong…I like this part of the journey. I like being pushed, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy.

I have always believed that we are our own limitation. If we will allow God to push us through our boundaries, the sky is the limit. He has all of the money, all of the favor, and all of the ability to move mountains. And He wants to do it. So why doesn’t He? Because He wants us to stand in faith for the money, the favor, and the ability. Why don’t we? Faith is a scary place to live.

Simply put…faith feels like sticking your neck into a noose and praying the chair doesn’t fall out from under you. It’s uncomfortable. But when all is said and done in our lives, I don’t want to have played it safe.

I long for the moment when the phone rings and someone on the other end wants to give us $1 million dollars…maybe 2, 5 or 10 million, but what I am more convinced of than ever is that the money isn’t God’s agenda on this journey. It’s the growth in our lives and the growth in yours. I know that phone call will come, but what I think God is waiting for is more people to stand on the chair of faith and to feel the GROWTH in their own life.

Ask yourself: How can I be a part of something greater than myself and what would make me uncomfortable? The answer to those questions will mess with you more than I think you will want it to.

I haven’t shared another blog with you in a while, but this is a good one…and challenging! Brace yourself!

By Eric Parks, Monvee Founder.

I recently read, “Making dreams happen doesn’t take money, it takes sweat.” There is something about that statement that rings true, and yet it for many is the single biggest reason why they will never achieve what they have set out to. One of the secrets to greatness is really no secret at all. The secret…hard work.

Unfortunately much of our perception of greatness hinges on the flawed idea of talent. But the truth is that natural gifting plays little to no role in someone achieving greatness. Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, calls it the “10,000 hour rule”. He suggests that the key to success in any field has nothing to do with talent. It’s simply practice….10,000 hours of it – or 20 hours a week for 10 years. Greatness is not gifted to anyone, it truly is built on the bedrock of an exceptional work ethic.

And it is important to note that hard work as it applies to achieving greatness has to be sustained. It’s not enough to work hard at your job for a “season”. Work ethic is working hard over a long period of time. Just look at people who have achieved greatness in the fields of music, literature. By and large, elite performers need 20 or 30 years of experience before hitting their zenith. Justin Beiber being the obvious exception…

You can be talented, smart, charming and gifted but if you are not willing to apply all of that to consistent and focused work…and I mean really dedicating yourself to the idea of hard work, it won’t matter. Hard work can overcome ignorance, lack of knowledge, lack of talent, and lack of skill. But no combination of knowledge, talent, or skill can overcome a deficiency in the area of work ethic.

So why does this matter…because if you are reading this post, you are probably someone who has given himself or herself to advancing God’s kingdom here on earth. You are God’s plan for redemption… you achieving “optimal influence through your leadership”, becoming what God had in mind when he thought of you, and advancing what he has put before you is critical. Why push, struggle and sweat when life itself can be hard enough? Because you achieving greatness is what God has called you to. And, as you read this post, let me remind you of the day God called you, and to say to you, with as much urgency as I can muster, you are not done yet!!

You may be tired, exhausted, frustrated, discouraged, ready to quit, disenfranchised, disheartened, spent, but, I urge you: keep going! Keep fighting, keep sweating. Keep working. The task before us is to critical for us to do anything less.