Someone asked me today how our original campus is dealing with the merge, so I thought I would take a moment to brag on them! Since the moment that the people from our Hazel Dell campus heard about our merge, they have been nothing but excited! They have jumped at the idea of helping, serving, going, and giving in any way that they can. Our teenagers are opening wide the gates of welcoming and can’t wait for new friends to join them. We get daily emails talking about how thrilled our people are for empty seats that God will fill. Every word spoken, every resource given, and every email sent brings tears to my eyes of gratitude.

This show of unflinching support speaks loudly to me that the people who call North Creek home simply get it. They are willing to send half of our staff away to another campus, they are willing to work, they are willing to share their pastors, and they are willing to give their money for something that will give to others what Jesus has given to them. We could not be more impressed with the character, courage, and faith that is flowing out of our church in the last month.

So, thank you, Hazel Dell Campus, for loving our community more than your comfort. Thank you for trusting our vision. Thank you for allowing Mark and I to do what God has asked us to do. We so deeply love being your pastors and our prayer is that you will see this community changed by your willingness to be used by God.

Every pastor determines their church’s culture, whether they mean to or not. We do this by what we say “yes” to and what we say “no” to. There is just no other way around it! For the last five years, we have defined what we wanted our church to feel like and then we have evaluated everything that comes our way by it’s long term reprocusions to our culture. Here’s some examples of how North Creek has defined our culture:

1. You can belong before you believe. If you want to attend our church, be in a small group, and be on the greeting team, but you just aren’t sure about Jesus yet, that’s fine. We want you to come, learn about Him, meet people who are also learning about Him, and make a decision to serve Him (or not) when you know that you want to. We decided a long time ago to be teachers without a timeline. It’s not our job to win your heart…trust me, Jesus doesn’t need our help on that one! It’s our job to teach you His Word and give you all of the background of our beliefs as Christians.

2. We speak life and celebrate wins. We look people in the eye and tell them how much we like them. Sarcasm is a deflector for emotion and intimacy. We go with the emotion and let people know they are welcome, loved, and valuable as much as we can. We send out emails all of the time with “Stories of Changed Lives”, so that people hear about good things happening. Our staff meeting starts with what went well that week in people’s lives because that’s WHY we get up in the morning and do ministry.

3. We fight “culture killers”. If there is a person in the church with a gossip problem, we go there. If someone wants to put up a flier that doesn’t align with our values, we go there. If someone undermines one of our team members, we go there. Sometimes it’s obvious why it’s so important and sometimes it seems silly, but it’s not! What you allow and don’t allow defines your church.

4. We do everything on a Sunday morning through the lens of a new guest. How will they feel? Who will they meet first? Do they feel like their kids are safe? What impression does our signs, bulletins, building give them? Did they hear the message of Jesus in a way that they understand and is impactful to their lives? Did they walk away feeling valued?

That’s four of the key ones, but there’s a long list of other ways we create our culture. I hope that you see a method to our madness in the midst of it all. We have painstakingly thought about our vision and what it will take to protect it and see it out to completion! Sometimes it may seem like we are doing things that seem very opposite of the church you might have grown up in, but I guarantee you that there is a reason and purpose behind everything! More to come…

What a week! Several families in our church are facing some daunting circumstances and last week proved to be emotionally draining for many people. We are praying for God’s peace and strength across the board this week.

Simply Worship was on Friday! My favorite part of having a life devoted to Jesus is that He meets you wherever you are. If things are going well, worship becomes uplifting and fun. If there are struggles in your life, worship becomes deep and healing. For me, Friday was a much needed time to just cry and let God carry the burdens of His people. Thank you to our worship team for creating an environment where God can do what God does best!

We had our first work day at Battle Ground on Saturday. We didn’t have any major construction projects, so it was a fairly easy jumpstart. We cut down some bushes so that people driving by can see the building better. If you have a truck or tractor and a chain, we need 10 stumps pulled out. Let me know at stacy@coffeechurch.com. We also began to strip the interior for painting in a couple of weeks. It looks a little bare right now! Our biggest project is our advertising campaign, so we started assembling that. More info to come on how you can help!

Sunday we invited both campuses to Hazel Dell. The 9:30 service was PACKED tight, but we all fit in! I passed by Tim and said, “Put down your scone and start setting up more chairs.” Might be my favorite comment of the morning! It was awesome to meet new people and give the Battle Ground people a look at how we do things. Most noted comment: “It’s a little dark in here.” Yes, we know! Bright lights make guests feel like they are REALLY in the spotlight when they visit. If you are a guest in our church, you can easily feel like nobody is staring at you, which is a nice way to feel when you are new. We do put the Bible verses on the screen so that people can not only hear the Bible, but see it as well. We also encourage people to read along with us on their phones.

Wayne and Jenny (pastored the Battle Ground church) left yesterday for a couple of weeks. Wayne is going to Haiti for a missions trip and Jenny is spending time in California with friends. We wish them a relaxing and incredible time!

Mark preached an AMAZING message yesterday on Nehemiah 2. We KNOW that we KNOW that we KNOW that if our two campuses will unite, set aside weariness, fear, and comfort, and charge ahead on the mission of God, our community WILL be changed. That is a conviction that is not waivering in our spirits.

On that note, be blessed this week! When God is for us, who can be against us?

Nice title, huh? I thought about leaving the rest of the blog blank since I really don’t have the answer to this, but here we go anyway!

From the time Mark first spoke in Battle Ground until our launch, it will be 35 days. In that time we will renovate the building, do an advertising campaign, and acclimate 80 people into our vision and systems. Twenty-five people will be leaving the Hazel Dell campus and transitioning churches. We will double our worship team, kid’s volunteers, and host members. We need new signs, new offering envelopes, etc. The last time we did this we barely made it in 90 days. So, what’s our plan for success?

We’re praying. We’re praying that God provides the blessings for us like He did for Nehemiah. We’re praying for unity, we’re praying for open hearts, we’re praying for miracles. We’re praying that every financial need is met. We’re praying that deep friendships would bloom in the midst of work parties. We’re praying that God’s abundant strength would run through our leadership team like never before. We’re praying for wisdom. We’re praying that come launch day we would actually be refreshed and ready to do ministry like never before. In the midst of the work, we’re praying.

And the cherry on top of our sundae? We’re actually believing that God is so excited to answer those prayers!

See you on April 8.

Join us Friday, March 9 for Simply Worship at our Hazel Dell campus from 7:00-8:00 pm! It’s simply an hour to worship, pray, take communion, and be with Jesus. Childcare is provide. Kids can choose to join us for worship or watch a movie in their jammies in the KidCity room.

We look forward to seeing you there!