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August 23 Coffee Church Highlights

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August 26, 2015
History, Inspiration, Ministry
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It was my 18th wedding anniversary this week, so Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband!  I say it all the time, but he’s the real deal!

This blog is FULL to the brim of announcements and celebrations, so brace yourself!

Our youth had a BIG week as they merged together on Thursday night with RAVING success!  There was 117 people packed into the Link Church’s building over by Costco and they rose the roof with all the electricity in that place.  It was so amazing to see it all come together in such a phenomenal way.  Below are some pictures for you to see it for yourself.  If you’d like to be a part of our youth, you can contact Kris Gray at kris@coffeechurch.com.

One way you can massively help our youth is to come on one Thursday night every 8 weeks and babysit our youth staff’s children during service.  Especially if you have a teenager that is being loved on every week, I encourage you to give back by watching some incredible kids.  We are looking for 5 people right now who will show up once every two months.  Email Rachael@coffeechurch.com to sign up and get background checked.

And our other big news is that we have sold the Hazel Dell building and are planning to move our churches to Prairie High School in the next 5 weeks!  We have a tentative launch date of September 27, which is our 9 year anniversary!  We are excited to celebrate with a fresh start and a new direction.

In preparation for our merge, Hazel Dell will shift to ONE SERVICE at 10:00 am for September 6, 13, and 20th.  That way we can have our volunteer schedule ready to go for the move on the 27th.

IMG_0249My 9 year old Kennedy got to teach KidCity over at Hazel Dell, while 9 year old Isaiah (Pastor Chris’ son) got to teach over at Battle Ground.  Kennedy and Isaiah were the first two infants in our nursery, so it was ironic that they both unveiled their preaching career on the same day! 😉  Kennedy told her dad that he could stop preaching because that was her job now!  We love raising up kids with focus and passion!

We are praying for all of our North Creek students as they gear up for Back to School.  We believe these kids can make a difference at a young age and impact this generation for Jesus.  Please be praying with us!

Do you know of any warehouse space that is available for us to store our entire church while we are mobile?  Let me know!  We need a reasonably priced space.

We also need some new volunteer roles as we go mobile.  If you are interested in any of the following, would you email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com?  We only need you to serve one Sunday a month, unless you’d like to do more!  We are excited to begin dreaming, training, and implementing!

  • Sound/media setup – LOTS of equipment to move in early Sunday morning
  • Preservice babysitter – Our worship team and set up team come with children!  We need a babysitter to watch the littlest of them while their parents setup and practice.
  • Greeters/Ushers – We need many more greeters who also help us usher as we will begin passing an offering plate in our new system
  • Parking/Security – We need people who will double as parking attendants and security personnel
  • Prayer Team – We are instituting a new prayer team that prays before service and is available to pray with people after service
  • Kid’s Workers – Check in, Nursery, Tiny Town, KidCity….we are expecting 100 kids to bless us with their presence on Sundays!  While we have a strong team in place, we now need more to accommodate all that awesomeness.

More info to come and ways to help as we get deeper into this transition.  We couldn’t be more excited as we run toward our future with great expectation!  Jesus is our center and our focus, so there is simply an amazing adventure ahead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 9 Coffee Church Highlights

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August 11, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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So much to say over the last couple of weeks!  I took an unexpected trip to Montana to help my mom with her aunt’s memorial service, so I’m way behind at this point!

Here we go:

Congrats to Jessica Yonko and Nate Johnson on their ENGAGEMENT!!!!!  Jessica is one of our church planting kids (not a kid anymore!) and Nate grew up in our youth ministry, so it is very fun to see them as adults, living for Jesus, and doing this all in a Godly way.

We had a great night of bowling two weeks ago and an amazing Latin Dinner last week.  This week we have a catered BBQ on Wednesday, which I can’t wait to attend!  It’s been fun getting to know some people this summer in a new way.  We have about 85 people signed up for the BBQ, which you have until noon today (basically right now) to RSVP at www.coffeechurch.com.  If you don’t sign up, you can still come….you just can’t eat, which will clearly be some form of torture….

We had a great meeting about our merge coming up with our Hazel Dell and Battle Ground campuses.  We had a lot of you there, but for those of you who missed it, here is the way-too-brief highlight reel:  We are selling both properties, temporarily going to Prairie High School while we look for one centralized facility to call home.  We recently got an offer on the Hazel Dell building that we are currently processing.  I won’t choose to put the details on social media, but feel free to email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com for the specifics.  If that deal goes through, we are looking at about a 60 day timeline before this would all steamroll into reality.

Our youth ministries have a great opportunity to merge first, which will be happening on August 20.  Our two youth groups will be combined and meeting at The Link Church at 7321 NE 110th St., Vancouver, WA 98662.  Our friend, Jim Gilliam, is the pastor there and a good friend of ours.  His church is ideally located just a few miles from each campus.  We appreciate the partnership we have with him and look forward to the future.  If you have a teenager, need more info, or have a question, please email Kris Gray at kris@coffeechurch.com.  We are letting parents walk through the building on August 18 if you’d like to familiarize yourself with the new plan.

Church has been simply incredible during our Testify series.  We’ve had people from our congregation sharing about how God is impacting their lives in so many different ways.  Join us!

God is good!  So many things up in the air, but He is still on the throne and has a plan for our lives.  We invite you to go on this adventure of faith with us and see all that Jesus does in the hearts and lives of people in our community!

Be blessed!

July 26 Coffee Church Highlights

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July 28, 2015
Family, Inspiration, Ministry
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There’s not enough room on the internet to write about all that happened on Sunday morning, so the next 1000 words will have to do!  It was our Annual Baptisms and Brunch for North Creek Church.

On a funny note, the Pacific Northwest has had the warmest summer in recent memory, but we managed to schedule our outdoor service on one of the two rainy days all summer…thankfully the sun came out for the only two hours we needed it to and we were able to have an absolutely beautiful morning!  We had a plan for bringing it inside, but we simply couldn’t have fit everyone, so we were happy to pull off our original plan!  The worship team actually practiced under tents as it rained on them, while Rachael and I dried off every chair just before service!  With a little extra coffee and a lot of gracious people, it was a wonderful morning!

Also, our team is the best!  Walking around a cold, wet field at 7:00 am on a Sunday morning and seeing ahead to three hours later with a full swimming pool for baptizing, hundreds of chairs, tables of food, tanks of coffee, games for toddlers, and a stage full of anointed musicians…you realize that the greatest gift of ministry are the people who are neck deep in it with you!

We had the honor of hosting our Northwest District Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Don Ross and his wife Brenda, this weekend as well.  It was a privilege to have him be a part of such a fun morning, but he also stayed to tell his story of transition and change to our staff.  Good words of advice as we go forward to all that God has for us!

I also realized that North Creek may get a reputation for crying and hugging after Sunday…my goodness!  We baptized 14 people and each story was as powerful as the last.  It was TOUGH to watch without getting a little misty…or sobbing uncontrollably….whichever.  I want to highlight my favorite part of each changed life:

Carlo:  Carlo is one of our young adults and an amazing man of God!  He’s such an articulate person and reminded us that God is proud of us when we do our best to honor Him. Isn’t that the truth?  We feel so unworthy sometimes, but Jesus LOVES us deeply.

Mathew:  Mathew is new to his faith and used his time in the tank to repent to his parents because Jesus has showed him that his actions aren’t honoring to them.  He was excited to give his life to Christ to allow Him to change those habits.

Trey:  Trey is a teenager who feels a call of God on his life.  He feels like Jesus changed his desires.  My favorite line of his testimony is “I say today that my old sinful self is dead, and my new life in Christ is alive!”  Isn’t that powerful?!?!

Andrew:  Another teenager living for Jesus!  Andrew shared about feeling empty before meeting Jesus and how Jesus is setting him free from depression.  Andrew has a kind, gentle heart and Jesus has a great plan for him!

Sean and Amanda Riley:  Husband and wife shared about their journey of growing in Jesus together and went underwater simultaneously.  What the crowd couldn’t see is when they came up, they immediately turned, embraced, and cried together.  All I could think was that the generations behind them will be different because of that moment.

Aaron:  Aaron is one of North Creek kids, and what a story!  His parents adopted him from China, so right before his baptism he wanted a letter to his birth mom read aloud.  Aaron opened with, “Dear China Mom…” He went on to tell her that he hopes she meets Jesus someday.  Isn’t that an absolutely moving picture of adoption?  God is so good!

Drew: Drew’s parents, Joe and Kris, are our forever friends.  Kris is our Hazel Dell youth pastor and they helped plant North Creek when Drew was just a toddler.  Drew is a tender person with a deep love for Jesus in his life.  He didn’t make it through his own testimony as he crumbled and wept over Jesus’ forgiveness for him.  When we planted North Creek, we did it for our kids to watch and live out a journey of faith.  He only knows this amazing story of ministry, but I know God will write another amazing journey of ministry in his future.

Ashley: What caught me up in Ashley’s testimony was the time she took to paint the picture of gratitude towards her parents.  She honored them well through tears and words.  She also honored Jesus as well as she spoke of her own inconsistency in following Him, but He remarkable consistency in loving her.

McKenzie:  Jesus has given me a mandate to pray for this one, so we took a moment out of her baptism to call out to Jesus for her future.  She is anointed by God in a way I don’t think she understands yet.  McKenzie shared about how God connects with her in worship!

Kennedy:  My daughter.  Oh, my daughter.  Sometimes her love for Jesus and the wisdom she has absolutely stops me from breathing.  I’ll write another blog this week in tribute to that moment.  It was a great one!

Justin:  Justin’s testimony was the shortest we got and I loved it!  He gave Jesus the credit for changing Him and ended with “I am a simple man.”  It might have been short, but isn’t that the most profound?  It has very little to do with all of our stuff we have done or haven’t done.  Jesus is a life-changer and our job is to follow Him without complicating the story! 🙂

Maria:  Sweet, joyful Maria!  Maria has been searching for Jesus for a long time and recently North Creek Church was a catalyst for bringing a lifetime of information into a life changing relationship.  She flew out of that water with her arms high in victory and a smile as wide as His love.  It was a precious moment!

Sydney:  Sweet Sydney!  She is our worship leader’s daughter as well as our kid coordinator’s daughter!  She has a kind and generous spirit.  The hug she gave mom at the end of her baptism was a touching tribute to a long heritage of ministry families.

 

One of the greatest gifts God has ever given me is the privilege of being a part of this church….

Be blessed!

 

You can find all of the photos at: https://www.facebook.com/CoffeeChurch

 

July 19 Coffee Church Highlights

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July 22, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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Before I dive into the weekend, let me remind you that we have a Sling and Stone concert tonight at the Hazel Dell Campus.  You can get directions at www.coffeechurch.com.  It’s at 7 pm!  We aren’t providing childcare tonight, but kids are welcome.

So many great things to catch you up on!

First off, our kids got back from camp and had an amazing time with each other and with Jesus.  We are so grateful to our leaders for taking a week of their lives to invest in our children. I could not be more excited about what my kids experience and take with them after a week of camp.  And a HUGE thank you for all of you who gave scholarships and work opportunities to help us get over 61 people to camp from the hearing church this year.  What a blessing!

Our Deaf Church is at camp this week, so please be praying for them as well!  After this camp, we are all done with camps for the summer.  What a year!

It was birthday on Friday!  I’m 39 and loving life!  I look forward to the next year with great expectancy.

We are incrementally in the process of merging our two campuses into one.  This is a big undertaking as we strategize selling property, an alternate location in the middle for our youth ministries and staff shifts to rethink roles that are no longer needed and new roles to accommodate a church of over 300 people.  Honestly, I’m having a blast watching God work in all of this…not always easy, but His hand is heavy on our lives right now and I know it.  There is a new peace, a new determination, and a new resolve in our hearts.

Feel free to ask us ANY question you need to.  We will be having all-church meetings as we go, but in the meantime, we don’t mind the questions.

Our youth ministries will begin the merge process in late August.  Rather than acclimating our new 6th graders into two separate youth ministries, we are working on a better case scenario of them starting together to alleviate one more transition.  All of our youth went to camp together and did activities together this summer, so they are well-acquainted at this juncture.  We’ll keep you posted on the details as we have them.

Sunday was something special.  At Battle Ground, Mark closed up our I am New series, which was such a clear look at who we are in Christ.  To truly understand who Jesus has created us to be, we MUST be Bible readers.

I’ve challenged you to read Romans a couple of weeks ago.  My next challenge for you is to read Acts.  Good luck!  It’s a fun one!

Over at Hazel Dell we kicked off Testify with guest speaker Roberto Brizuela.  What a gift that man is to our church!  He is a mighty prayer warrior who is intimately connected to the Holy Spirit.  He shared stories of the faithfulness of God in his own life, and I cannot really describe the heavy presence of Jesus in that room.  It was literally like a blanket on my heart.

God is taking North Creek on a journey.  My prayer is that with humble hearts, you will come with us.

 

2 Chronicles 7:14New International Version (NIV)

14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

June 21 Coffee Church Highlights

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June 24, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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Happy Belated Father’s Day to all of the incredible men that call North Creek home!  We are grateful for your example to our kids!

All of our men got Dad’s root beer on Sunday as a gift, which just made me jealous as I love root beer!  Especially poured over ice cream…

Our teenagers are currently at camp and having an amazing time.  We took 45 people all the way to Silver Lake, which is right by Spokane to join about 600 other teenagers for a week.  That’s just a whole lotta fun packed into one camp.  Would you continue to pray that God uses this week in profound ways?

Our younger kids leave for camp on July 13, so we are also praying for them as well.  My life was changed at summer camp, so it’s near and dear to my heart.

Did you know we have a Women’s Prayer meeting at our Hazel Dell campus every Thursday at 10:00 am?  You are welcome to join us as we pray for our church and community.

We are still in the process of navigating bringing our two campuses together permanently.  We have so appreciated your thoughts and conversations over the last several months as we’ve talked to those of you who invest deeply in our church.  We are grateful for your wisdom!

Are you ready to get baptized???  We have our BIG Baptisms and Brunch service in one month and would love to have you as a part.  Here is the direct link to get signed up to be baptized: CLICK HERE

We are looking forward to several Wednesday night activities starting in mid-July.  We have the sole purpose of helping our church meet each other, spend time together, and enjoy some good food.  Below is our flyer of activities and the campus that they are located at.  Plan to attend as many as you can!  It will be great way to connect for you and your kids!

I hope you have a wonderful week!  We can’t wait for our teenagers to come home with testimonies of all that Jesus has done in their hearts and lives.

Summer