January 31 Coffee Church Highlights

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February 3, 2016
Ministry
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God is so good!  He takes us on journeys that are full of ups, downs, twists, and turns, but He never lets go.  He just NEVER let’s go!

No news to report yet on the sale of our Battle Ground campus, but stay tuned!

By the way, we have our Annual Business meeting at Prairie High School at 11:30 am on Sunday, February 21 following service.  We will have a booklet with comprehensive info and we’ll go over the most relevant and get you out to lunch!  Childcare will be provided.  This meeting is for anyone that calls North Creek home.

Also, a good date to note is our Good Friday service on March 25.  More info is coming soon, but mark your calendars as we will be doing baptisms this night!  Want to get baptized?  Fill out a form at www.coffeechurch.com.

Hasn’t worship been awesome lately?  If you pray and read your Bible throughout the week, you won’t believe how much better Sundays get as we corporately worship together.  Our relationship with Jesus is not a pit-stop on the weekend, but rather a daily filling of His mighty power!  Dive in!

Growth Groups kicked off this week and so far, SO GOOD!  We switched it around this time to be every other week and our curriculum is a discussion based on the chapter of the Bible that was preached on the previous Sunday.  We had our group last night and it was the BOMB!  Such a great group of people!  I heard the same about Harold’s group and the Young Adults as well.  The Matekovich’s group is tonight, so if you want to get it on the first one, you can still sign up online at www.coffeechurch.com.  I know they have a room for just a few more, so get on it!  We will add more groups when the others are full, so feel free to jump in anytime.  If you have questions, email Chris at chris@coffeechurch.com.

We are currently looking for four more volunteers for Kid’s Checkin for one Sunday a month.  Easy, but important job!  You can sign up to volunteer for this or any other job at www.coffeechurch.com.  All kid-related jobs will require a background check.

I’m apparently having a Super Bowl party…it’s a long story… Anyway, if you need a place to go for the Super Bowl, email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com.  Bring your own non-alcoholic beverage and a snack to share.  I’m also inviting all the teenagers and young adults, ’cause they’re the life of the party!  Kids are always welcome.  We’ll have multiple TV’s, but the Seahawks aren’t playing, so who cares? 😉

People need Jesus.  Share with someone this week about the love of Christ in your life.  He is worthy of your praise!

Be blessed!

Stand Your Ground

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January 28, 2016
Ministry
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In the United States, a stand-your-ground law is a law that authorizes an individual to protect and defend their own life and limb against threat or perceived threat. This law states that an individual has no duty to retreat from any place the individual has a lawful right to be and may use any level of force, including lethal, if the individual reasonably believes they face an imminent and immediate threat of serious bodily harm or death; this is as opposed to duty to retreat laws.

Forty-five U.S. states have adopted the castle doctrine, stating that an individual has no duty to retreat when the individual’s home is attacked. Twenty-two states have removed the duty to retreat requirement from other locations as well. “Stand Your Ground”, “Line in the Sand”, or “No Duty to Retreat” laws thus state that an individual has no duty or other requirement to abandon a place in which the individual has a right to be, or to give up ground to an assailant.

–Wikipedia (solid source, I know…)

 

Lately my prayer life has been one of a great battle.  The more time I spend with the truth of Jesus, the more clear that the lies of the enemy become.  Where Jesus has declared victory, we too often run in retreat.  We bend to depression, being overwhelmed, and feeling defeated.  We feel hopeless, defenseless, and powerless.  We look altogether like the rest of the world in our beliefs, our speech, and our defense of morality in America.

Jim Elliot, martyred missionary, quoted, ““Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God.”

Perhaps that is the sin we must first confess…simply being ordinary because we have forgotten the extraordinary God that we serve.  As Christians, we must learn to hold the line of Godliness in the power of the God we serve.

He created you to heal the sick, cast out the demons, call forth rain to dry lands, and release the prisoners from their chains.  He has called you to stand your ground.

And we miss it.  We let our marriages fail, our kids fall away, our sick die, our offenses grow, and our faith seems no different than a powerless moral code with negotiable lines in the sand.

No more. It’s time to submit our hearts and lives to His Word.  It’s time to become a people group that is submitted to prayer.  Not the garden variety of “before dinner” prayers, but a fierce prayer life that makes demons tremble when we walk by.  A prayer life that creates an anointing in our life where people are healed by getting too close to our discarded tissue.  A prayer life that demands righteousness and kicks sin to the curb. We must connect to the power that is seen in the book of Acts.

So, the enemy took a few hits in our lives.  They hurt, they really hurt.  He may have even won a few battles here and there.  Weep, struggle, ache, but for God’s sake…get up.  Stand your ground.

STAND YOUR GROUND.

January 24 Coffee Church Highlights

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January 26, 2016
Ministry
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Good things are happening!  After a mountain of transition last year we are settling in to our new normal and doing well!

We are in the middle of preaching on 1 Peter and it’s been a great series out of a solid book.  If you haven’t read 1 Peter yet, dive in and wrestle with all the nuggets of wisdom!

Our Growth Groups are open!  We are doing them a bit differently this time.  We will be having a discussion about the sermon series and the Scripture from the sermons.  They will also be meeting EVERY OTHER week, so if you have a crazy schedule, you can still be a part!  We also have a young adults discussion group for those of you who are a little younger.  REGISTER HERE

andreaThis weekend we got to announce that Andrea Garner is our new Children’s Pastor!  She has been overseeing Nursery and Tiny Town for several years and we’ve broadened her role to include Kid City as well.  She has a beautiful heart to grow our children in the basic disciplines of prayer, reading your Bible, giving, and serving.  I encourage you to send your child with their Bibles, as they spend time in a small group looking at the Word.  Welcome Andrea!  Even though you’ve been here for 5 years! 🙂

We are STILL in negotiation for our Battle Ground building, only now we have a couple of groups interested in the property, so that’s good!  Commercial property is complicated, so this process just takes time.  We will keep you updated, but it’s not quick…

Are you praying and worshipping Jesus throughout the week?  If you only spend time with Jesus on Sunday, you’ll find yourself dry in your walk with Jesus.  The church’s job is not to be your only source, but rather a gathering place for people to rejoice together in all that God is doing through their time with Him throughout their daily lives.

We want you to volunteer at North Creek!  It is by far the easiest way to feel like a part of your church.  We have several opportunities on Sunday morning or our youth ministry on Thursday nights.  You can also host or lead a growth group throughout the week.  You can find a link to volunteer at www.coffeechurch.com.

God is good.  Walk THROUGH all that you are facing with that in mind.  You will find that steps of obedience and faith strengthen you exponentially!  You can do this.  You can thrive.  You can be an overcomer!

I love you all and am praying for you.  Be blessed!

 

January 17 Coffee Church Highlights

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January 19, 2016
Ministry
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You know what the grace of God really is?  It’s the fact that in the midst of the darkness, the challenges, and the trials, He fills the empty soul with hope, joy, and vision.  God is good!

We are ready for a full year of recalibrating our church and seeking Jesus on a whole new level.  Come on the journey with us!  There is majesty in the moments that seem like they are full of the unknown.

There is an amazing woman in our church who emails me every Monday to ask how she can pray for us this week.  I cannot even describe to you what that does to my heart!  Thank you, friend.  Thank you! 😉

We have an offer that we are bouncing back and forth with on our Battle Ground campus.  When that sells it will help us to look forward to the future and find our new “home”.  Would you be praying?  We need all of us hearing from Jesus and walking in unity.  Currently we have no debt, which has been an incredible blessing!

How can you help this year?  Show up.  Show up to church, growth groups, outreaches, in your neighbor’s lives, at your kid’s school…you get the idea.  Be a part of community!

On that note, Growth Groups are opening in a couple weeks.  We are shifting them to every other week to discuss the Bible passage we are hearing about in the sermon.  It’s going to be an awesome way to dive into the Word of God whether you know a ton or are completely in the dark.  Would you pray about committing to come twice a month to be a part of a solid community in faith?

Hasn’t worship been AMAZING lately?  Sunday was off the hook as you could literally feel the Holy Spirit at work in the hearts and lives of people.  Come ready to hear from Jesus and then obey WHATEVER He tells you!

Did you like the sermon opening video with the Star Wars theme?  I laughed when the audience clapped after the video.  How hilarious was that?!?!?  Such a great video to go with a phenomenal series on 1 Peter.  Read along with us!

We are doing well after a mountain of transition in 2015.  Thank you for your faithfulness and encouragement as you have walked this road with us.  It was quite the undertaking to sell property, find a temporary home for Sundays as well as the youth ministry, and now move forward to the next step in our future.  The best is yet to come!

How can you help at this juncture?  Give faithfully.  As our budget is steady and solid, it will allow us to purchase a property that fits our needs better.  All we need is a body of believers that is committed to tithing and we can fulfill ALL that God has put in our hearts to better reach our community through outreach.

We love being your pastors!  Be blessed this week!

 

Top 5 Blogs from 2015: #1 – Loving The Church

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January 8, 2016
Ministry
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As we kick off 2016, I am reposting my top 5 blogs from last year this week.  It was an intense year with a lot of lessons that I am so grateful that God walked me through!  Enjoy your first week of a new year.  Seek Jesus, set some goals, and decide to finish strong.  I believe in you!

 

Loving the Church

From May 15, 2015

There’s a blog going around that makes my heart break.  You might have even read it…it’s yet another writing by a so-called Christian ripping apart the Church and how misguided apparently every pastor on the planet actually is.  And I don’t understand it at all….even if it’s true.

You see, if I were Satan, I would get some young, punk blogger to write an article just like that and then I would get embittered or confused Christians to share it all over social media.  That would be a sure-fire way to destroy the Bride of Christ one broken soul at a time.  Good call, Satan. Good call.

On the other hand, if I were Jesus, I would have some young, punk blogger write her stories of her deep love for the Church.  I would have her tell the tales of ministry in the Pacific Northwest…the least churched region of America.  Maybe if she writes, someone who needs a Savior will fall in love with an imperfect church in Vancouver, Washington and come to see about her Christ.  Maybe.  Just maybe.

So, I’m fighting with everything I’ve got to speak well of His Church.  ‘Cause I LOVE His church.  I love His church, all it’s faults, and the journey His Church is taking to find Him, exalt Him, and honor Him.  You may disagree with the means, but I haven’t met a pastor who wanted anything but the life-changing power of Jesus.  And I deeply honor each one for that very reason.  They get up every morning and keep loving people and trying new things to reach people.  Bravo, pastor, bravo!  Keep up the fight!

We’ve had our fair share of critics ripping apart our church over the years as well.  And one thing has been constantly true: while the critics are complaining, we are neck deep in the Holy Spirit’s beautiful work.  The dichotomy is heartbreaking at times. While one group is seeking the face of Jesus, the other is seeking the “problems with the church.”

Let me be clear: You will always find what you seek. 

If you want to find Jesus in the halls of our church, you will no doubt find His powerful presence in the midst of the efforts of a multitude of volunteers, prayer warriors, and passionate people.  If you want to find problems, you probably won’t even make it through the front door without a list a mile long.  It’s your choice, but it’s also your price to pay for that choice.

We spend our days walking with people through profound testimonies of salvations, healings from long awaited prayers, homeless families getting jobs and housing, the Holy Spirit changing a spouse’s heart against an affair, pregnancies that were said would never happen, and on and on and on.  His POWER is ALIVE AND WELL!  And then on the same note we weep daily over lives in our church that need an intersection of Jesus.  Lives broken by addictions, molestations, divorces, abandonment, and pain.  We carry a weight that walks the hallways of our buildings every Sunday that most will never see.  We weep daily. 

Ironically those moments are all too often followed with negativity from others over the music choices, the décor, our cheap seats, how we do the offering, some offense over an obscure sentence one of our “renegade” preachers accidentally said… We get accusations about how we don’t love Jesus and how we should love Jesus differently. We get told how ridiculous our website is.  And how everything would be better if we fixed our parking lots….Nothing we do is good enough, right enough, or godly enough….

And what do I wish I could tell the critics?

 

Hush.

It’s hard to hear the Holy Spirit over your voice.

HE IS SPEAKING.

He is calling His children home.

His love for His Bride is deep and wide.

He is here to change a NATION….OUR NATION.

Do you hear Him?

Get on your knees and declare Him Lord.  He is Holy. Righteous…so, so holy…

Hush.

 

No more division, no more dissention.  No more blogs about how terrible pastors are and how broken His Church is.  No more.  Correct or incorrect, the repercussions are devastating to the very thing that Jesus loves most.

You are frustrated at Church, because YOU are frustrated with your own lack of Jesus in your heart.  But this Sunday, do me a favor at whatever church your feet may fall into…

Seek Him with a precious abandon. 

Your frustration at the shortcomings of the pastor standing in front of you who was called by Godwill melt in the face of Jesus.  You will find that you won’t worry about the music, the lighting, the dirty nursery toys.  You will find that you have no choice but to hush in His holy presence.  You will also find that when you are standing face to face with the God of the universe, you won’t have the guts to speak against His bride.  You will find humility and honor in that moment.

You will just find His face.  If you really want to see the Church awaken…just find His face.

Hush.