We are home from vacation and it was great to be back at church!  We were in Las Vegas for a gymnastics meet and then we headed over to Anaheim to visit Disneyland, which is one of my favorite places on the planet!  Such a nice break from reality!!! 🙂  Alas, you can’t stay in Disneyland forever and we are excited about diving into the next season of our lives and our church.

We are baptizing people on March 25 at our Good Friday service.  We are ready have 7 people signed up, so if you’d like to add your name to the list because you are ready to go public with your faith, go to www.coffeechurch.com and sign up ASAP!  We’d love to celebrate with you.

Matt and Andrea were out of town on vacation this weekend, so THANK YOU to Jordan and Rachel for leading worship and to Sarah for leading KidCity.  All three leaders did an outstanding job using their gifts and hearts for ministry.  We have truly amazing people at North Creek Church.

God is doing so many profound things in our midst.  People are visiting our church, meeting Jesus, getting baptized, and thriving.  I am loving seeing God turn around this tumultuous season for His glory!

We are also about to roll out a new way to give to North Creek.  You can download the app called Pushpay, find North Creek Church and set up your account.  It makes giving SUPER simple.  After your account is set up, which takes about two minutes, then you will be able to text your giving.  I love this century!

Speaking of giving…have you given your $12 this month if you made a 12 for 12 commitment?  With just $12 for 12 months we can significantly upgrade our giving for our 12 missionaries.  I love the people we support and the work they are doing all over the world for Jesus.  You can be a part!!  On PushPay, you can give your $12 under the Be Present option.  It will go to the right place!

Easter is coming in a couple of weeks, so think about who you can invite.  We have flyers up on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/CoffeeChurch/.  Take a moment and use your social media to let people know about where they can celebrate Easter!  Also, on Easter Sunday we are taking an offering for Charity Water to help provide safe and clean drinking water for people all over the world.  Prepare a gift to bring with you!

We would love for you to volunteer one Sunday a month if you aren’t already a part.  Volunteering is a great way to get to know people and make friends!  You can find the form online and we’ll get you plugged in quickly.

Thank you for praying, for serving, for giving, for reading your Bibles, for being humble and for seeking Jesus with your whole hearts.  We are an imperfect people, but passionate about a living God!

We are so glad to be on this journey with you and completely blessed to be your pastors.

Be blessed!

Great weekend all around!  My mom was in town to visit, which is always fun to have grandma around.  She wore my kids out with crafts, walks, games, and baking!

Happy Anniversary to my in-laws, Alvina and Ivan!  They have been married for 52 years.  Isn’t that something!  And they made my wonderful husband out of that marriage as well, so bonus points all around!

We are kicking off a new series next Sunday about judging.  In our society “judging” is a hot button, but it can also be misconstrued to include the idea that simply having an opinion makes you judgmental.  Come and join us for the next three weeks as we see what the Bible says about judging.

Do you need prayer or do you want to be on our prayer team?  Email prayer@coffeechurch.com to be a part. You’ll get prayer requests via email and then you can send your own requests as well.

Easter is just 26 days away!  Our service will be at 10:00 am (both our hearing and deaf services), so plan to join us at Prairie High School for a beautiful morning.  Invite friends and family!

We are also having a Good Friday worship night with baptisms, so if you are ready to get baptized, we would love to celebrate with you.  That event will be at the Link Church, who also graciously houses our youth group.  More info to come!

We are saving up to buy a new digital sound board as our old board is about to bite the bullet.  Jesus has kept it going longer than it should have, for sure, but it is definitely time to upgrade.  If you’d like to help us with that fund (about $4000), mark your giving envelopes “Chris and Matt’s High Maintenance Fund”.  Just kidding.  “Sound board” will do just fine.  I do love our very talented team, but they sure are needy! 😉

We have a North Creek soccer team!  If you’d like to be a part of a weekend team, contact Amanda at 360-624-7445 or email amandaseanriley@yahoo.com.  We are still looking for a few more players!

After Easter we are going to be providing various “North Creek U” classes that teach various aspects of the Bible.  Some will be strictly foundational Bible topics, some will be financial classes to help you with budgeting and debt, and some will be life help topics, such as social media help for parents of teens.  We will randomly schedule short term classes on Sunday mornings to come along side of you as you grow in your walk with Jesus.  If you are gifted in a particular topic and are interested in teaching, shoot me an email at stacy@coffeechurch.com.

On that note, have a truly incredible week as you live for Jesus!  Be blessed!

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!!  On Sunday my oldest daughter, Delaney, made a Valentine for everyone in the church so that nobody would leave that day feeling unloved.  Sometimes it’s the little things that make the most difference in our world!

Last week I forgot to highlight that our students had an incredible time at Generation Unleashed conference.  God did some truly amazing things in the hearts and lives of our teenagers!  The Difference Youth Church is doing really well reaching this generation for the cause of Jesus.  If you have a teenager that needs a positive, Jesus-centered place to learn about God and His Word, join us on Thursday nights.

We officially have a signed contract for the sale of the Battle Ground building!  It won’t be an official sale for 60-90 days, so please continue to pray for God’s will to be done.  We will begin looking for the right facility, but the market is currently limited, so we will patiently wait for the right building as we continue to grow at Prairie High School.

Are you totally unfamiliar with church and Jesus?  We invite you to come.  North Creek was created and set up for people who have no idea about Christianity and just want some time and opportunity to figure it out for themselves.  You are welcome to be a part of our church while you discover what you believe.

Save the date!  For three Sundays (April 17 – May 1), we are having a class to help you understand the framework of the Bible.  More info coming soon, but if you want some foundational teaching on the history and application of the Word of God, we’ll have a 30 minute class on Sunday mornings.

Are you ready to get baptized?  We have a date coming up to baptize people and we’d love to include you.  Go to www.coffeechurch.com and fill out the baptism form.

This was a Facebook post that I loved this week: “Took my mom to church today. I’m pretty sure that was the first time ever. ‪#‎family‬ ‪#‎northcreek”  This is my favorite!  God changes hearts and lives!  There is freedom when we walk with Him, so invite a friend.

I love what God is doing at North Creek Church.  As we have walked through transition, it has been so incredible to watch the power of God alive and well in the midst of challenges.  And a side note…we have the most incredible staff team on the planet!  The integrity and faith by which they execute their lives is humbling and inspiring.  I would go through fire with them any day!  I could not be more excited to be a part of North Creek and the amazing future we are running into.

Here we go!!!!

Such a jammed packed weekend of people and fun!  Congrats to the Broncos on their Super Bowl win!

Our good friends, Jeff and Angela, came down for the weekend.  They helped plant our church 10 years ago and it was SO good to laugh, reminisce and catch up with their beautiful family!  I had forgotten some of the most funny things about our early years as a church and I was literally rolling laughing over some of the memories.  I am so grateful for the journey!  Isn’t this a great picture of three of my favorite guys on this planet?  So grateful for their friendship and partnership on the mission of Jesus.

Growth Groups started with great success this week!  ALL of them were strong and had wonderful discussion over 1 Peter.  If you’d still like to jump in, please do so!  They are open groups that discuss the previous sermon.  They also meet every other week, so it is an easy and fruitful commitment to make to help get to know some new friends.  One of them is a Young Adults group that is doing really well, so if you are on the younger side of life, this is a good way to get connected.  You can sign up anytime at www.coffeechurch.com.

We had a fun Super Bowl party on Sunday afternoon with a house full of people and kids!  I’m not a football fan, but I am a people fan, so it was nice to be with friends and family for the afternoon.

I am LOVING watching the children worship in KidCity.  If you have a heart for kids, talk with Andrea about how you can be involved!  It is such a blessing to see the Holy Spirit working in the hearts and lives of our young ones.  Speaking of kids…our Youth Camp is June 27 – July 1 and our Kid’s Camp is July 11 – 15.  It’s always around $300, but worth every penny!  Save those dates and the registration forms will come in a couple of months.

Our Annual Business Meeting is coming up on February 21.  It will be at Prairie High School from 11:30 to 12:00 pm.  We will keep the meeting to the top priorities and then we will hand you the current financial info and a packet with a report from each department so you can read about all of the good things happening at North Creek.  Please plan on attending that meeting if you consider North Creek your home church.

I love what God is doing at our church.  God has used various changes to remind us of our purpose and we are stronger than ever.  Nothing else matters except leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus.  Are you on mission with us?  The world needs Jesus and North Creek will be a beacon to those searching for Him.

On a sad note, Skyview High School lost a student this week unexpectedly.  Zayne Shomler was a friend to many of our students and we grieve with this family deeply.  Will you pray for those that knew and loved this young man?

And students…don’t walk this road alone.  Call a loving adult, show up to youth group, surround yourself with caring friends…grief is overwhelming and confusing.  If you don’t talk to someone, it can literally swallow you whole.  You are loved, valued, and cherished by the God of the universe.  He won’t let you go.

Be blessed.