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March 15 Coffee Church Highlights

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March 17, 2015
History, Inspiration, Ministry
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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I’m Irish, but if you know how feisty I am, you probably already figured that out! 😉

Church was fun on Sunday.  We had great attendance, great worship, and great preaching…all wrapped up in the joy of being with people we deeply love!  What more could one ask for?

We also got to welcome our latest addition to our North Creek family.  Congrats to Roy and Alissa on the birth of their new little girl!  She surprised us by coming a bit early, but all is well!  If you want to help with meals, click HERE.

We have a few more babies coming over the next several weeks, so the excitement is still to come.  We love our growing families and are grateful to these young moms and dads!

We had our Annual Business Meeting on Sunday night to let everyone know how 2014 played out.  It was an interesting year as we felt like our ministries thrived and our finances struggled.  We are using the next 21 days to pray and prepare for how God will use that adversity to provide opportunity.  We could not be more excited for the future of North Creek Church and the one thing you can do to help us is to consistently give so that we can better plan for our budget as a body.

We are doing a slight service time adjustment at Hazel Dell…drum roll please…our 11:00 am service is moving to 10:45 am as of THIS Sunday.  If that is your service, please plan on getting there early next week to help our service begin strong!

We have Volunteer Training days coming up.  It’s for ALL of our volunteers to come and get a clear picture of how and why we do things.  Hazel Dell’s is on Saturday, March 21 at 10:00 am.  Battle Ground is on Saturday, March 28 at 10:00 am.  Plan to be there if you are one of our AMAZING volunteers.

We are gearing up for Easter at Prairie High School.  It’s all hands on deck as we prepare, invite people, and pray for our community.  Jesus changes everything.  He’s so worth serving and so worth telling people about!

Sometimes you need to WAIT on God.  We tend to want answers, direction, a perfect plan, and the whole picture, but what I’ve found to be more realistic are long, drawn out days of prayer and more prayer.  The answers we seek are very often on the other side of convenience.  So, if you are facing the desire to solve something in your life on your schedule, I hope you will consider shelving that desire and waiting for the answer that God has for you.  It’s worth the wait.

Well, another week has passed and God is still allowing us to do what we love.  We are blessed!

Enjoy your week and come to church on Sunday!  I like seeing you!

March 8 Coffee Church Highlights

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March 10, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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SO many things happening this week:

Three years ago this week we began the process of merging with Maple Grove Church to create North Creek’s second campus in Battle Ground.  It has been such a learning experience as we were thrown into turning around a struggling church, adding a deaf church, creating a new leadership infrastructure, starting a youth ministry, starting a worship team, etc.  What a wild ride!  And along the way we have been blessed with many stories of changed lives!

One year ago this week we started our Battle Ground Youth Ministry!  Mat and Janel Marbrey are two of the best blessings that have come out of the last three years!  And we are so very grateful for the influx of teenagers that now roam our hallways.  There’s nothing better than a church full of teenagers!!!!

Our Hazel Dell Youth Pastor took a small team of people to a youth leader’s conference last week.  It happened to be the same conference where God called us to plant a church…good news is that Kris didn’t get asked to do that again! 😉  I guess that’s good news…maybe more Coffee Churches would be AWESOME!

We also had an incredible Simply Worship on Friday night.  God really did some deep work in the hearts and lives of people from our church.  God is CHANGING people in our midst!  I could not be more excited for how I see Him molding people’s hearts and circumstances.  If you are stuck, frustrated, addicted, and struggling…don’t give up!  He’s got a plan!

Our Annual Business Meeting is next week to go over the state of the church (Sunday, March 15, 5pm).  We had a challenging year financially in 2014, so we have to solve that for 2015.  On the flip side, we had a plethora of truly incredible ministry going on, so there’s a juxtaposition of emotions.  One thing I know:  God is good, He will guide us, and I trust Him. We have a bright future and I can’t wait to see it unfold!

Who are you inviting to Easter?  I’m inviting everyone who breathes.

Well, I hope you LOVE your church, because I do.  I love the people that I get to meet, I love the hearts to grow in my Growth group, I love the struggles that we have the honor of walking alongside, I love the celebrations, and I love the dreams.  I love that we get to serve a God together in unity and make each other more like Him.  I love singing worship songs, and I love watching our kids grow up together.  I love His Word and I love how it changes the core of who we are.  I love when my youth pastor calls weeping over a broken teenager because it means she LOVES them.  I love when I see laughter in the foyer, and I love the coffee flowing into so many cups every Sunday.  I love that my kids are a part of something greater than themselves and I love when our team fights for what they believe in.  I love when we all forgive each other and I love when we mess up.  I love your stories and I love those of you who serve faithfully.  I love that my heart’s desire is to be at this church a really long time and I love the fact that so many of you feel the same way.  I love the idea that I will grow old with you and tell stories about “Once upon a time at North Creek”… and I really love that God lets me do this with my life.  WE ARE SO BLESSED to be a part of this crazy, broken thing called “Church”.  Isn’t it a beautiful mess?

Be blessed this week.  I know I am!

 

 

February 15 Coffee Church Highlights

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February 17, 2015
History, Inspiration
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I hope this blog finds you in the middle of this gorgeous sunshine!  In the Pacific Northwest we always get this one glorious burst of spring WAY too early.  It deceives us into digging out our flip flops and mowing the lawn, but beware because the rain will come back with a vengeance!  Enjoy it while you can!

Sunday was really, really good.  I am thoroughly enjoying our series on Treasure.  It’s about money, but it’s also about our hearts.  We’ve got to surrender what we are to Jesus if we want to enjoy this thing called Christianity.  Our own disobedience robs us from the adventure of faith!

I also watched a very humbling moment as a single mom came up to talk to me about tithing.  God had impressed on her heart over the last several months to tithe, but the number on the check seemed overwhelming.  I looked at the check and felt her angst.  That money could repair the car, feed the children, and give her “comfort”.  But then she said, “God has brought me back from some really hard times.  He’ll take care of me now.”   She put her check in the offering with a smile.  And you know what?  There is NO doubt in my mind that God will honor her obedience with a deep blessing.  He is faithful.

Our small groups are all rocking and rolling again.  We are studying the book of Mark, so if you aren’t in a small book, let me encourage you to pick up your Bible and jump in with us anyway.  We’re right around the corner from a teaching series on the book of Mark called Encounters, so it will tie together nicely for your spiritual walk.

Remember we have a Financial Seminar for you THIS Saturday.  You can sign up online and get all the info you need at www.coffeechurch.com.  It’s all at the bottom of the main page!

We have a few volunteer needs right now, if you’re interested.  We need Sunday morning help in Tiny Town and Nursery at both campuses, as well as media computer at Battle Ground.  We also need childcare workers for our youth staff kids on Thursday nights.  AND we need some outside maintenance help at Hazel Dell during the week.  If you can do any of that, can you email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com.  We’d appreciate your help in making our ministries run smoothly!

Our budget is $32,000 a month to run our two hearing churches and our deaf church.  That also enables us to support a dozen missionaries and Be Present giving to our community.  We know how important your giving is, so if you’d ever like a financial breakdown of how we function, we’d love to share that with you.  We do a lot with our resources and want you to feel great about supporting our church!

EASTER is going to ROCK!!!  We are taking both of our campuses to Prairie High School for ONE big service!  More info is coming quickly, but it’s going to be amazing and so much fun.  Invite your friends and family now.  We have plenty of seating in the auditorium!

Well, the world needs you.  Desperately.  There’s too much hate and there’s too much evil.  The GOOD news is that all of the power that Jesus contains has been given to YOU.  Be bold, be strong, and do not fear.

 

February 8 Coffee Church Highlights

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February 11, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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Such beautiful people in our church!  Every Sunday I am humbled and amazed at the people around me!

It was a great weekend at North Creek as all of our campuses are in our current series, Treasure.  It’s a lot about how our money and possessions are tied to our hearts.  Here is our desire for you:  that you will monthly give money to Jesus and watch your heart begin to change.  People who give actually have less debt…why?  Because when you are obedient, God begins to change your heart and priorities and you make better decisions.  Do one thing for me….think about how many people could be impacted by the gospel if you gave just 10% away every month.  It’s WORLD changing!  Let’s set aside ourselves and be generous!

On another note, Mark started American Sign Language class on Monday.  As you probably know, we have the GREATEST Deaf Church on the planet at North Creek.  It is full of the most generous, kind-hearted, and amazing people, and we can’t wait to be able to better communicate without an interpreter.  We’ve wanted to learn sign language for three years now, so when the timing worked out, we made it happen for one of us!  Watch out to our deaf congregation because I am sure Mark will say a few things very wrong in the upcoming months!  Our campus lead over at Battle Ground, Rachael, is well on her way to learning sign language as well.  Maybe you will be inspired to learn a new language along with them!

We have some exciting news for Easter!  Our hearing campuses will be joining together at Prairie High School for ONE BIG service together.  It’s going to be AMAZING as we double our worship team, triple our service size, and have an incredible time celebrating our risen Savior!  We will be announcing a thousand ways to help in the next couple of weeks, but here is the first one:  It will cost about $1600 for the rental, the advertisements, and supplies we need (like communion for 500 people!), so if you’d like to help, mark your check Easter. You can give online at www.coffeechurch.com as well.

On a brief soapbox, but one thing I have to say:  I would love it if no one from North Creek Church went to see the movie Fifty Shades of Grey this week (or ever).  We believe better than that about sex, about God’s plan for our sexuality, about women, and about what a real man is.  We just do.  Pornography doesn’t get to own our hearts, sexual violence is not a part of our story, and our money has a million better uses for the kingdom of God than purchasing a ticket to watch sin.

We also have a Financial Seminar coming up to help you with financial planning, debt reduction, and investing.  It’s happening on Saturday, February 21, 2015 at Hazel Dell Campus from 9:00am – 12:00pm.  The cost is FREE with childcare provided (registration is required).  It’s lead by Rick Donovan, Financial Advisor for Edward Jones and member of North Creek Church.  If you feel like you are drowning, take advantage of this opportunity!  Rick has a heart to help you get your finances right and relieve the stress on your family! To sign up and secure your spot please register at www.coffeechurch.com.

OK, that’s a lot for one day!  I hope your week is full of surprises!  Be blessed!

February 1 Coffee Church Highlights

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February 3, 2015
Inspiration, Ministry
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I hope you enjoyed our National holiday known as the Super Bowl! 😉

We had great services across the board! Then we finished the day with full houses all over the Vancouver and Battle Ground area of people from North Creek suffering the Seahawk loss together…gosh, that was a rough one!

We are kicking off our next series, Treasure, this month.  I love when the church talks about money!  It’s an area that brings up a lot of emotions, but it’s also an area that we, as Americans, are in bondage over.  We worry about money, we spend money we don’t have on things to make us feel better, we fail to appropriately save money, and we struggle to give money.  No wonder the Bible has 800+ verses that relate to our passion for money and possessions.  There is freedom in obedience and I wish the whole world could know that freedom.  The “blessing” of being born in America is clouded with credit cards, materialism, and greed.  What if the blessing of how much we have was to unify together to change the world?

Growth Groups kick off next week again.  You still have time to sign up, but get there sooner than later as the spots are getting limited!  You can find the registration at www.coffeechurch.com.  We will be doing a Bible study on the second half of the book of Mark, which will be a moving moment leading up to Easter.  Join us!

Did you know North Creek is just 8.5 years old?  We have come a long ways and I’m excited to watch God continue to bring to fruition our hopes and dreams for our church!  We are glad to have you as a part.

Our youth ministry from Hazel Dell showed up to clean up a park yesterday.  Nothing more amazing than a bunch of teenagers walking about our community with trash bags just to do their part!  They also get to go to Generation Unleashed Conference this weekend.  Take a moment and pray that God would deeply impact their hearts.

Our family went to the OSU gymnastics meets at the Gill Coliseum last Friday.  We had a great time watching the college girls do some amazing gymnastics.  Seems almost impossible to do what they do!

Are you praying for your pastors?  We’d love to be on your prayer list as we lead this body.  We cannot do it alone!

We are praying for you!  We often go through our list and lift you up to God.  We are praying that God would help you be obedient, generous, and full of faith.  He wants you to live a crazy adventure of faith in Him.  I hope you do nothing less!

Be blessed!