Man alive we have MEGA-preachers at our church!  Every week I so enjoy whomever is up there!  This week Mark and I split the difference and each attended a different campus.  I heard his sermon went great and I had the pleasure of watching Chris Harold move his arms a lot…and preach an amazing sermon!

If you were wondering who the beautiful new singer was at Battle Ground, that is Jordan Schmidts new WIFE, Rachel!  They got married last week and brought his incredible new bride back to the Coffee Church.  She jumped in with both feet to the youth ministry and worship team.  We are so excited for this newly wedded couple!

In January we prayed that this year would be one of miracles and it’s holding true…I met Sandy’s two new daughters and Will and Sarah felt their baby kick “on the outside” for the first time in church yesterday.  Both of those conversations were answers to prayer and I can barely contain my joy for both of them!

We need massive amounts of volunteers for the fall.  Our number usually go up by 1/3 in all kids classes come September!  If you are ready, willing, and able to help in a kid’s class, email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com today!

Yesterday, somone thought I was married to Chris Harold and someone else thought Alissa was married to Mark!  Just to clarify, Mark and I are happily married to each other!  In fact, Friday was our 15th anniversary.  If you missed the picture on Facebook, here it is:

I know, we look young.  I heard that a couple of times yesterday…

We are gearing up for small groups in a couple of weeks!  If you are interested in leading a 10 week small group, just email Amy at office@coffeechurch.com and she will begin stalking you.  If you just want to attend a group, you’ll get all the info in a few weeks.  It will be a truly amazing fall!

Next Sunday is the LAST Sunday that our Kindergartners will be in Tiny Town.  If you have a Kindergartener, could you email Kim at kim@coffeechurch.com for Hazel Dell or Vanessa at vanessa@coffeechurch.com for Battle Ground and let them know that you have a child transitioning.  We don’t want to miss anybody and all of our information is by age, which can vary depending on the child!  Kim and Vanessa will help ease your child into a new class and small group.

It was the last Sunday of August, which is both good and sad!  As pastors, we love the fall because everybody comes back from summer vacation, small groups kick off, and we have our “normal” community again.  That being said, it was a nice summer and we’ll miss it, too!

Before you log off, click HERE and like our Facebook page!  Have a great week!

My daughter has been begging me for a garage sale for weeks.  I finally gave in when she said she wanted to give all of the proceeds to missions.  How on earth am I supposed to deny my precious 8 year old the opportunity to sell her toys to give the money to a great cause?  We don’t even have enough for a worthy garage sale, but you better believe that I will proudly display our few tables of treasures for her sweet smile.

During the process of preparing for a garage sale, we’ve been going through the house collecting things that we no longer need.  It’s an emotional process to say the least as each item forces us to decide whether it’s serving the purpose it needs to serve, or it can better serve elsewhere.  Sometimes it’s because I really love that item, but it’s no longer practical or useful in my home.  Sometimes it’s because I don’t even appreciate the item, but there is a sentimental attachment to it that is unbreakable.

I see a similar trend that plays out in many pastors with whom we have crossed paths.  As a whole, lots of pastors try to hold on to people in their churches, for a variety of reasons, at any cost.  They look at people they love and cannot handle the idea of letting go.  As a shepherd of a flock, this is both a strength and a weakness.  Of course we should love each and every sheep, but sometimes love is holding on and sometimes love is letting go.

Sometimes pastors hold talented and called people too tightly and are gripped with fear by the idea that God may call them somewhere else.  How would I do my ministry without them?!?!  Rather than dreaming for the BEST for their team, they hope that they only become the best while serving within the context of their church.

Sometimes pastors put up with division, bad attitudes, and negativity because they so desperately want to avoid rocking the boat.  For attendance, financial, or relational reasons they allow the inappropriate voices to have a place in their church.

I think one of the most difficult and necessary steps to a healthy church is that we, as pastors, must love people enough to LET them go (and in some cases, help them on their way).  When they have a dream from God, we should swing wide the doors of our church and fill their pockets with financial blessings on the way out.  When they have a negative voice, we should rebuke and correct as the Bible instructs, without fear of whether they stay or go.  As a good friend of mine once said, “Their negativity is costing you more than their tithe is giving you.”

Bottom line: Pastoring takes guts.  Guts to throw 100% of your heart at people that are not yours to keep.  It is our job to understand releasing people with blessing and growing people without fear.  Good luck.

Some Sunday mornings seem like a train wreck waiting to happen.  This weekend was setting itself up to be just that!  Our youth pastor was scheduled to preach at Hazel Dell, but ended up having emergency gall bladder surgery on Wednesday, Battle Ground had a complicated sermon with tons of videos needing to be made on a computer that crashed, and volunteers were dropping like flies.  At one point I thought it could end up being a joke that wasn’t so funny.

But the same thing ALWAYS happens…the church becomes the church.  People came in early, with smiles on their faces.  Volunteers walked up and asked if they could fill in for anybody who was missing, the videos not only came together, but were perfect, and Josiah stepped up to the plate to not only preach, but preach with excellence!  There was a funny moment when I looked around and had nothing to do because everybody was already doing it.  I love when God reminds us that He has it all under control and the church is about HIM, not our smoothly operated systems.

The best highlight is that we baptized Kevin in the Deaf Church service on Sunday.  Congrats!  We are very excited for you!

Old pastor friends of ours, Paul and Joanie Walterman, surprised us on Sunday after not seeing them for about 10 years.  I lost it.  They were with us during the most challenging moment of ministry and their love meant the world to us.  Sometimes you don’t need to DO a whole lot to BE important to people.

Mark did the summer recap at Battle Ground, highlighting camps, missions trips, baptisms, and babies!  I heard it was a lot of fun!  Hazel Dell gets the recap service this upcoming Sunday.  It’s a “Don’t Miss” service!

We are four months into our multisite strategy.  We are seeing lots of good things happening and we are on the road to where we are going!  I really can’t believe it’s only been four months since launch.

Kris is easing back into reality after surgery!  It took 15 of us to cover her for a week.  She’s a busy lady and we very much look forward to having her back 100%.

We got some more Kid’s rooms painted this week!  Thanks for those of you who jumped in and helped hammer out two large rooms in one day!

Also, a big thank you to all of you who gave school supplies to help our local schools out!

I am looking forward to everyone coming back to a regular schedule in September.  I am so thankful that everyone seemed to have a great summer, but I miss seeing everybody on a regular basis.  I’m a sucker for a schedule!

We are beefing up our volunteer schedule for the fall.  If you are interested, we specifically need:  Sound people (we will train you), Media computer at Hazel Dell, Nursery, Assistants in KidCity, Host Team (greeters), and Babysitters for early worship practice (about an hour before services).  You can fill out a volunteer application by clicking HERE.

Have a great week!  I heard Thursday is supposed to be a hot one!

We’re back from the missions trip!  I love our country and I missed our churches!  It was great to be back in the familiar territory.  After a few flight delays we were home by 2:00 am.  Ouch!  Good thing we attend the Caffeine Church.

We had an amazing time, which I’ll blog about this week.  Such an amazing experience serving our missionaries, Jamie and Berly Bello.

Church was great yesterday!  Mark was at Battle Ground talking about listening when God speaks.  Really GOOD!  Chris was over at Battle Ground nailing out Samson.  I love the Amazing Stories series because it’s awesome to relive the Bible stories.

We are gearing up for our Fall Kick Off and believing God for even more miracles as we go forward.  We have had a truly amazing summer with 25 baptisms, a phenomenal youth camp, missions trip, deaf youth camp, and now this morning the Kid’s left for camp.  God is doing an incredible work in our midst.

Speaking of Kid’s Camp…would you pray this week for our 20 students who have a great opportunity to meet with God?  I may be praying enough for all of us as my oldest daughter is there for the first time.  Nonetheless, pray anyway.

I heard Jordan knocked worship out of the park at Battle Ground yesterday.  Way to go!  God has amazing plans for that man’s life!

The best part of ministry:  Watching lives being changed by God right before our eyes.  The saddest part of ministry: watching people missing out on how much God is moving because they don’t like the way it’s being accomplished.  Too many people in too many churches spend too much time grumbling about things that are too unimportant.  Learned that in America and the DR.

Speaking of God moving…we are doing baptisms at Battle Ground on Aug. 12 and Hazel Dell on Aug. 19 to catch a few people who might not have been available on our last two opportunities.  If you’d like to be baptized, you can sign up HERE.

Thank to Vanessa Thalhofer for all of her hard work getting the details done for our missions trip!  We love and appreciate you!

We want you as a volunteer!  We need one more volunteer in every area at every campus.  Would you take a moment and sign up HERE?  It’s a great way to meet some people before small groups start in late September.

I hope you have a great week!  We love being your pastors and can’t wait to see all that God does in your life.  He is worth serving!

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

This verse and MANY more like it are littered through the pages of the Bible like confetti after a celebration. God clearly has a loud and clear message for His children: Be fearless.

Even as we read that, something inside of us pushes back. “Fearless? Have you read the news? Do you see what COULD happen to you? Or what if someone laughs at me? What if I fail? What if I’m making a mistake? What if I think God said it, but He didn’t? What if it costs me something I love? What if it costs me my life?…” The playback in our heads when we think about being fearless is literally overwhelming.

The other extreme we tend to go to in our mind is that we should be REALLY fearless and try to prove that death has no power over us. That’s when you read the news about people playing with venomous snakes and running through heavy traffic. Yes, that’s fearless, but it’s also stupid.

That means that somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot with God. Somewhere where stupidity stops and the death grip of the unknown is released from our lives. It’s the place where we understand the victory that God has given us and we walk in the confidence of that as we do the daily things He’s asked us to do.

As I raise my two children, it is the fear and the insecurity within them that I wish I could take away the most. I know that they have the ability to rise to the challenge. When they fall short, not because of the lack of talent, but rather the lack of trying due to fear, I cringe to the core of my being. I see the potential and, as a mother, I see how simple the task before them REALLY is, not their perception of it. How similar it must be as our God watches our lives! If only we could let our perceptions fade into the reality of God’s view!

The biggest problem with living a life gripped in fear is that we also live lives without miracles. Being fearless results in the hand of God moving in ways beyond our means and that is the part of Christianity that is inspiring and compelling! Maybe that’s why God says to be fearless over 300 times in the Bible…He really wants to show us the awe-inspiring, all powerful, miraculous God that created the universe at the snap of His finger and parted the Red Sea at the request of a man. When we “get” being fearless, He gets to be a Holy God in full display in our lives.

So, what’s your fear? What do you worry most about? And what would happen if you just let it go?