Back to business at the Coffee Church! We loved our vacation, but we also love our lives, so it was nice to be home!

I got to lead a group of young girls in KidCity…man, their questions and comments are awesome! Although I used the word “Hell” (correctly in a sentence) and got lambasted by a bunch of second graders for swearing…lesson learned!

Met a family yesterday with 13 children under the age of 18. Yeah, I’m impressed as well.

Alissa and Nate Johnson lead worship yesterday! Great job to both of you! Alissa will be jumping over to Battle Ground in the next few weeks and we can’t wait!

Our newest baby, Noah Fletcher, came to visit us yesterday! He topped the scales just over 5 pounds, so you can imagine how tiny he seems! He came early, but healthy and whole, so we are glad to see him already. Congrats to Tony and Janelle!

Our team spent yesterday afternoon at the Battle Ground campus formulating our transition and renovation plan. So much fun to dream and scheme for North Creek Battle Ground. We will be having several work days scheduled and will let you know about those ASAP. We want both campuses pitching in to help as there is plenty to do and five weeks to do it! Not a problem.

Mark finished up preaching on Paul. Love everything about Paul’s journey. He was an all-or-nothing type of guy and I appreciate that very much!

If you are a good seamstress and have some free time for a fairly big project, would you email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com? I once sewed a pair of shorts with one leg…

Lots of questions about what our plans are with our new campus…here it is in a nutshell:

Make it esthetically look like our current campus. For those of you who haven’t gotten to visit yet, we look alot like a giant Starbucks…except with reclaimed materials.

Implement our systems and processes into Battle Ground…our Kid’s Checkin, Small Groups, etc.

Develop a preaching schedule with dual speakers by hiring another full time communicator.

Double our worship team using our current members, Maple Grove’s current members and new recruits…we really need two more drummers overnight.

Double our Kid’s Ministry Teams from KidCity to the nursery. Vanessa Thalhofer will be added as the Battle Ground Children’s Pastor. We need about 10 new volunteers between the two campuses in this one area.

To start, we will be bussing the teenagers to Hazel Dell on Thursdays, but that is with the agenda to create another youth ministry in Battle Ground as soon as it is feasible.

We also need to launch an advertising campaign in the next few weeks that let’s Battle Ground know we are launching.

Just a couple of things to do! 🙂 Here we go! We can’t wait!

Ready or not, we’re back from our trip to San Diego where we soaked up as much sun as we could! We had a great time playing with our kids and having fun at Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, the Safari Park, and a couple of beaches, too! We packed a lot of fun into six days. Here’s our highlights and insights from our trip:

1. If you don’t believe in God, spend a week looking at animals. There’s so much creativity and uniqueness! All of creation really does shout the name of God!

2. The trainers at Sea World can get animals to do far more than most of us can train our children to do. I was most impressed at the trained cats. Seriously, if you can get a cat to do what you want it to at a moment’s notice, you’ve got talent.

3. If everybody getting off of the River Ride is soaking wet, it is foolish to assume that your family will be the one family to go through a waterfall and be dry on the other side. Wishful thinking and stupidity often go hand in hand. That is precisely why the human dryers at the end of the ride are constantly full at $5 a pop.

4. If it is in the 60’s and you are from Washington, your kids will go swimming in the pool at 9:00 am. The hotel workers wearing their sweaters will look at you like you are nuts.

5. Mark has always wanted to go to Chick-fil-A. We decided to go for lunch on Sunday. That is only made more funny by the fact that Mark has always been impressed because they are closed on Sundays to honor God. We honored God at Wendys instead.

6. It was awesome to stop thinking about everything and just have family time. We did a great job disconnecting and are now very much excited to get the job done! Here we go!

We’re still on vacation, but I wanted to share a blog that I loved. I hope you enjoy!

Good Idea. Now What?
By Charles Lee

Ideas are sexy.

They are attractive, unbridled, and full of inspired passion. There’s no doubt that ideas are fun to think about, share, and platform. Ideas have a unique way of injecting us with adrenaline, energy, and hope.

Ideas are wonderful. They help us innovate, problem-solve, and move into areas considered unfathomable by previous generations. History has shown us time and time again that ideas help shape our world’s future trajectory.

Unfortunately, many people with good ideas will never see their ideas actualized. In fact, many of them will end up taking their ideas to the grave (literally!). This is tragic indeed.

These individuals are lovers of ideas, not makers of ideas. You see, all idea-makers love ideas, but not all idea-lovers have the ability to make ideas come to life. Unlike idea-lovers, idea-makers are not satisfied with just having a good idea. They are committed to seeing their concepts actualized in the real world. In addition, they are willing to reframe their lives so that their ideas can be implemented well.

Yes, ideas are not enough.

Good ideas need things like intentional strategy, implementation processes, sustainable infrastructure, collaborative teams, viable networks, smart branding, and a deep commitment to hard work to see everything through. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart.

Nevertheless, it’s not impossible. Ideas can be implemented well by anyone who truly considers their concepts worth actualizing. Do you really believe in the ideas that run around your mind and keep you up late at night? The good news is that many of these elements needed for implementation have proven principles and insights you could leverage to help take your ideas to market.

Our world is framed in such a way that if you choose to pursue your passion, you can find ways to get there with people who actually care. Now, this will require honest self-assessment, an actual plan, and a commitment to develop skill-sets necessary to build a quality product or service.

In our world today, it’s not that difficult to get an idea out there. You can market your idea until you’re blue in the face and use all the tools out there to get your work in front of people. The difficult part is getting people to care about your efforts. This takes clear understanding of why you exist, unwavering commitment to quality, and an unending zeal to grow your tribe of loyal supporters one person at a time by providing remarkable products or services.
So, where does one start?

My recommendation is that you take a step back and breathe. I know that seems impossible given all that you’re juggling in life. After all, who has time to stop, right? As paradoxical as it may sound, one of the best things you could do for your idea is to slow down and assess your journey towards implementation.

Your ideas matter to our world. We need them. My hope is that you implement them well.

Good Idea. Now What?

The other night I was sitting with my girls and Delaney said, “Mom, I’m really worried about my wedding day. How am I going to kiss a boy in front of all of those people?”

I have to admit that I laughed out loud at her absolute cuteness. I reassurred her that she would figure all of these things out in due time. (I also told her that I would get pyrotechnics to light off indoor fireworks for her just like we did almost fifteen years ago. The shock of the fireworks will definitely stop people from focusing on the infamous kiss!)

With all of the transitions going on with the details of an additional campus and acclimating another church into our world, I am probably guilty of some similar moments with God. I’ve been pouring over the details in my mind, trying to make sure I’ve got a handle on everything. Needless to say, it can be overwhelming on a good day and hit us like a tsunami on a rough day. So, I pray and the only thing I ever get back from Heaven is, “We’ll figure all of these things out in due time.”

Ironically, that is the answer that I most appreciate from God. Just like the Sunday School song from years past, I know that He has the whole world in His hands. He’s got a handle on the big picture AND the details. Just as I know that Delaney will be MORE than happy to kiss her husband on that fateful day, all of our details will come with nervous joy in due time.

I’m sure you have things in your life that rush over you with panic and fear. We all do to one degree or another! And I hope that the still, small voice in your heart reminds you that most of what you are worrying about will work itself out for His glory…in due time.

With the upcoming adoption of another church, we’ve spent the majority of time talking about HOW we do church. We’ve been entrenched in conversations that are very important about how our systems work, what our kids and youth programs look like, how we go about church discipline, and the myriad of structure stuff that is vital, but not life-giving. So, to give myself some reprieve from the trenches, this blog is dedicated to WHY I give my life for His Church.

People in our church are from all types of life, perspective, and cultures, which constantly grows my life, perspective, and culture.
Multiple families in our church have been restored from affairs, financial disaster, and division by the grace of God.
Teenagers in our church see past status and love their peers. I believe that students aren’t committing suicide, aren’t doing drugs, and are living out their dreams because of Jesus.
Hunter is a toddler and his favorite saying is, “I love the Coffee Church.” His early childhood memories will be ENJOYING God’s House. He will find it easy to love Jesus if he loves Jesus’ bride.
People feel welcome in our church no matter what they wear, what they look like, and how much ink they are sporting.
Men in our church have started reading their Bibles and are leading their families.
We’ve baptized over twenty people in the last year.
We have strong, empowered women who love the Lord with all of their hearts. They are not gossipers, but they are life-givers.
Last week I got to teach someone in our church how to pray. (There’s no wrong way!)
We’ve had people miraculously healed from pain and sickness in our midst.
Our team would literally do anything for Christ and are willing to try new things at every turn.
We hand out people’s first Bibles like Halloween candy. There’s LIFE in those pages and we are changing history every time we equip someone with His Word.
Many people fasted for the first time ever last month.
I love to see people laugh and smile at church. I know that people come in with real pain and problems, but I always want our church to be full of joy and a respite from it all.
People are happy and blessed to volunteer and thank us all of the time for “letting” them serve. No, really, thank YOU!
My kids LOVE ministry and being the pastor’s kids. They live a life that is full of friends and fun.

So, that’s WHY we do what we do! It’s like a breath of fresh air to my busy brain! Now back to that “other” business! 😉