All the Clark County schools are officially back to school, so summer is now over! Summer is always an amazing season for our church as we have camps, missions trips, and our big baptisms at the park morning. In honor of a summer now past, I thought I would share some of our celebration videos over the next few days to remember all that God has done! Make sure you catch the last half of this video!
Miracle. That’s how we sum up this weekend. God did a flat-out, unexpected, tear-producing, awe-inspiring miracle. Here’s the story:
Vanessa is our children’s pastor at Battle Ground and her husband, Josiah, is on our teaching team. (He preached at Hazel Dell a few weeks ago about the bike trip with his brother). On Saturday night, Vanessa’s dad called us to say that Josiah’s brother had passed away in a drowing accident while in Canada. It was an especially devasting call because these two brothers both became fathers this summer. We tried to grasp the reality of life for Nathan’s new son. We were devasted for the whole family and began to call our team. Just as we finished up the last of the phone calls, Vanessa called to let us know that Nathan was not officially pronounced dead yet. Apparently in these type of situations, they let a certain amount of time pass before they declare death. Nathan was on a ventilator, unconcious, and doctors had no hope that he would make it. She basically called to say that there was room for one thing: a miracle. So Christians across the globe began praying throughout the night. At 6:30 am we got the text that Nathan was showing some response and they were planning to take the ventilator out later that morning to see how things went. Our two churches prayed together at 10:00 am, 10:30 am, and 11:30 am. At 1:00 pm I got the text that said, “He’s awake, he remembers his family, and is expected to make a full recovery.” From death to life in the space of hours.
Here’s a photo of Nathan with his family. Nathan – we praise God for you!
It has been a summer full of difficult situations for our staff. The phone calls have often been devasting and sometimes the outcome has not been what we desired within our earthly perspective. However, there is one thing we know: when God, in His sovereignty, chooses to heal, we give Him praise and when He doesn’t, we give Him praise. Sometimes He glorifies Himself with life and sometimes He glorifies Himself in death. Our lives can be used as a mighty tool for His glory if we will surrender it all to Him.
Not a bad highlight for the week, huh? On another completely different, but celebratory note, it was Chris Harold’s 31st birthday yesterday! Our team went over to his house for dinner and fun last night to surprise him. I often look across the room at our team and thank God for them. They are each a blessing!
All of our services were clicking away at full speed yesterday! This might be the first Sunday since the merge that it started to “feel” like North Creek at both campuses. When we merged, Battle Ground was clearly a fresh start, but also unexpectedly, Hazel Dell became a fresh start when 35 people jumped over to Battle Ground. For a few months in there it felt like a redefining season that we were leading through. Lately we feel like there is momentum to our vision on all fronts. Hello Clark County, here we go! I can’t really explain it, but as a pastor, you know when the spirit of your church is in alignment with the direction you have in your heart from God.
I’m totally past my word limit for the day, but to sum up Sunday: God is good. It’s easy to say on the other side of a miracle, but we believed it just the same when we cried with Vanessa and Josiah when there was no earthly hope. This week my challenge to you is to proclaim that goodness no matter what the circumstance! Be blessed!
Five months ago we embarked on our current multisite church strategy with campuses in Battle Ground and Hazel Dell via a merge situation with Maple Grove Church. It has been an incredible journey of literally re-learning how to function, lead, and thrive in a new scenario. After being a single campus for five years, we are very much enjoying the challenge of trying new ways of doing ministry. That being said, it is no small task to be a church plant-merge-turnaround-multisite organization. The skill set needed to manage this is astounding! Without the staff and volunteer force we have behind us, we would be struggling.
The Leadership Network did research on multisite and came up with the following benefits, many of which encouraged us to stay the course and get this organization on steady ground:
– Multisite churches reach more people than single site churches.
– Multisite tends to spread healthy churches to more diverse communities.
– Multisite churches have more volunteers in service as a percentage than single site.
– Multisite churches baptize more people than single site.
– Multisite churches tend to activate more people into ministry than single site.
We have definitely found that the list above reflects the benefits of where we are at. At first, we faced the challenge of finding enough volunteers to have two high-functioning churches. We needed two complete worship teams, two Kid’s teams, two Host Teams, etc…it was spreading our leaders and volunteers thin on all fronts. Now we are beefing up the volunteer base and finding joy in watching a fleet of people engaged in ministry on Sundays and throughout the week.
We are also redefining how and why we do church at our merged location. Obviously we do and don’t do things for different reasons than they were previously done. It’s not about being right or wrong, but it is about getting everyone on the same page. Culture is defined by all the things an organization gets behind, as well as what they choose not to get behind. If we want the North Creek culture in both campuses, we need the whole team focused on the same goal. On a basketball team, there are many plays, but once the coach calls which play is to be used, all the members of the team must execute the same play in order to make the basket. If one person on the team decides to go with a different play, the whole team loses…even if the other play would have accomplished making a basket as well. In this case, we needed a lot of people to adapt to change extremely quickly, drop their “play” and go with what the new coach was asking. And it was a lot to ask! I feel like just now we are beginning to hear the phrase “our church” more regularly than “your church”. People are beginning to take the ownership in a new vision one step at a time and are starting to work toward the same play. I have no doubt that we will “make the basket” as a church in due time!
Our staff has also had to stretch in unfamiliar ways in order to manage multisite. It is a very interesting conundrum to find yourself in charge of people you rarely see. How do you lead leaders that must then lead the people? (Sounds Biblical, doesn’t it?) Ironically this model is right out of the pages of the Bible, but not modeled wholistically in the church world. We are asking lots of questions and dealing with our own limits in order to impact this community.
There’s so much more to talk about as we are learning! I am most thankful for a church that has stood with us through the learning curve. I know that God has great plans for us…both individiually and as a church body! Blessings!
Such a fun weekend! I love our churches and the communities we are seeing develop!
At Hazel Dell we had Summer Recap Sunday. Lots of tears, laughs, and fun memories for people. Jesus is in the business of changing lives and I am continually amazed at how much He can get done in one church.
At Battle Ground we kicked off our “House of Mirrors” series with Chris Harold. It is a series about our role, mission, and agenda as a church. Sometimes we get very confused on what is mandated in the Bible as a church. It’s not about crosses on the walls and programs down the halls. It’s about each of us living for Jesus 100% of the time and having lives that reflect that 24/7.
One of our worship team members at Hazel Dell might have set off the alarm on Sunday morning at 7:00 am. The police might have showed up and questioned him on stage about what he was doing in our church. I can’t confirm or deny this information because I wouldn’t want to incriminate Marcus Young.
Congrats to Heather and Tim on their upcoming nuptuals!!!!! Super excited for you two! Heather was baptized this summer, went to the Dominican Republic on the missions trip and now she’s getting married. Talk about a busy summer with Jesus!
Congrats to Rob and Sandy who are now the proud parents to two beautiful girls! God grows our families in profound ways and we are excited with the Carpenter family! More kids at the Coffee Church is always an awesome thing!
We took an offering over the last couple of weeks for our missionaries. We are super excited that a couple thousand dollars have come in! Thank you for your support of people that we love and believe in who are working far away from home in order to bring the world the message of Jesus. It’s money WELL spent!
We had a board meeting Sunday night. We love our board! They care about our church, our pastors, and our future. Thanks to that great team of North Creek protectors and encouragers!
You should take a moment and LIKE our church on Facebook. It’s another way to stay connected to people and know what’ going on. Just click HERE to go to our page.
Also, thank you for all of the school supplies! We got lots of actual supplies as well as about $300 in cash to buy additional supplies. We are also helping a single mother with her supplies as well. If you are a single parent and need help with supplies, would you email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com? We can help out in that area!
Here are some more opportunities this week to help North County Schools this week:
Aug. 22 from 10:00 am – 4:00 pm – Hanging clothes donations in preparation for the Event Day where they distribute clothes and school supplies. Help anytime for any amount of time! Battle Ground High School *Previously I put the wrong address, so take note!!!
Aug. 23 – Evening help moving and setting up for Event Day. Contact Ken & Peggy (contact info below) to help.
Aug. 24 from 1:30 – 7:00 pm – Event Day at Battle Ground High School – They need workers for 3 hour shifts. Must have a background check, so please email/call Ken & Peggy Kirkman asap to get signed up. 360-687-9866 or kenpegkirkman@gmail.com
Have a great week and we’ll see you soon! Be blessed!
It is nearing the end of the long list of amazing adventures that the Coffee Church has been blessed with this summer! The kids arrived home from camp on Friday night after a week of few showers, lots of games, and growing in their relationship with Jesus. Thank you to Sarah Sherland and Mark Newell for going as cabin staff. Your investment into their lives is eternal! I accepted Jesus at Kid’s Camp in 1986, so I have a special place in my heart for this event.
AND….Will and Sarah Sherland announced their pregnancy right before Sarah left for camp. Mark married Will and Sarah years ago, as the first North Creek wedding, so this baby is special for us on many levels. Tears are flowing….
My oldest daughter went to camp for the first time. She is “cleaning challenged”, so she fit right in with the all of the other girls who took home the prize of dirtiest cabin. I’m not proud.
Mark and I were at Battle Ground on Sunday. There were FOUR babies under the age of one month! FYI: We are creating a brand new nursing mom’s room just for the fleet of babies over there. Coming SOON!
Matt spoke at Hazel Dell and he called me loud. I told him that I just have very confident vocal cords. We love Matt and Andrea and are SO glad to have them on our team and in our lives!
Jim spoke at Battle Ground and he called Mark and I “middle aged”. I think I’d rather be called loud. Jim is the Deaf Church Pastor and so we had to tie his hands behind his back so that he was forced to preach with his voice this week!
If you are one of those people who has been gone a lot this summer, don’t think we’ve forgotten about you! We can’t wait to have you back after your summer winds down.
We are painting some of the Kid’s Rooms at Battle Ground tomorrow. You can join us from 10:00-5:00 pm and help out! It’s one of the easier jobs that we have, but also one of the most important. Kids are a priority!
God has done some of the coolest things EVER this summer at the Coffee Church. Each campus will have a service about all the amazing things that happened via baptism, camps, missions trip, and Sundays. I can’t wait!
I love our church! I love pastoring here, love our team, love our successes, and even love our struggles. Find a church that you can love everything about and then pour your life into making even better. Don’t sit around being grumpy about petty details, but jump in with both feet and LOVE the people, the process, and the pastors. It’s liberating to get behind a vision and go one direction.
On that note, I’m cleaning out some closets this week and letting go of junk. That’s liberating, too! Hope you are blessed beyond measure.