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Easter Sunday Coffee Church Highlights

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March 29, 2016
Inspiration, Ministry
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So much to celebrate over our Easter weekend!  Thank you to our incredible team of volunteers who serve faithfully to provide a great environment for so many people to experience the love of Jesus.  My heart is full as I reflect on the privilege it is to be a part of this church and each of your lives!

Our Good Friday was off the hook with our baptism service as we dunked 14 people.  You can see a bunch of pictures on our Facebook page at North Creek – The Coffee Church.  Each story was incredible to hear as God is truly and deeply changing lives.  My family’s personal moment was watching my daughter, Delaney, baptize her friend, Laurie.  She was a big part of Laurie coming to church and was thrilled to be a part of that moment with her.  The other part of the story is that Laurie then invited her friend Kira who was also baptized on Friday.  That’s people being the church!

baptismEaster Sunday we had 330 people who joined us in giving honor to our Resurrected King.  Matt and Rachel wrote an gorgeous song about True Love to go with our theme and Mark preached a great message out of Matthew.  Our Deaf Church had a huge potluck to celebrate as well.  It was an awesome morning!

In our kid’s class we had 9 kids raise their hand to accept Jesus.  WHOOO HOOO!!!!  That’s why we get up in the morning.  Then they all got eggs with candy and stickers on their way out of the door.

We also took an offering for Charity Water to help provide clean water for people all around the world.  We’ll have the final total soon as we tally up all the giving, but we’ll be right around $7000, which is PHENOMENAL!  So thankful we are part of a generous church.  You are still welcome to give at www.coffeechurch.com under the Be Present link.

In the middle of all of the chaos of Good Friday and Easter we also had a gymnastics meet on Saturday for Kennedy in Kennewick, WA.  We made the whirlwind trip in between our baptism service and our Easter service.  She had a strong meet and walked away with first place all around, which was awesome!  She also placed in all other four events – 1st on beam, 2nd on vault, and 3rd on floor and bars.  Proud of my little athlete who gives all the glory to Jesus!

I ended the weekend with a full cup and long nap to recuperate from all the excitement.  Now I’m ready to dig in, watch our church grow, and continue to change the world with the message of Jesus.  Let’s do this!

Gymnastics and Jesus

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July 31, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry
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My daughter has recently moved up to gymnastics team, so I spend a great deal of time watching girls flip themselves precariously through the air and somehow land without incident most of the time.  Without any history of gymnastics in my own life, I have learned more since we started than I probably ever needed to know.

One of the most fascinating (and also tedious) aspects of the last year was how much time the coaches spend on strength training.  I have watched so many different workout sessions that my head could explode.  It felt like I waited for months to see my daughter do anything that even remotely looked like gymnastics.  With 12 hours a week in the gym, I was amazed in the beginning at how little was outside of the realm of muscle-building.

But now I get it.  I’ve watched Kennedy’s body begin to move differently.  Her legs, arms, and abs all function together because they have been trained to.  Where she used to struggle with a back bend, she can now easily fold in half, flip, and turn upright again.  And it wasn’t just because she learned the skill, it’s because she earned the skill.  Her body didn’t need to be told to do it; it needed to be prepared to do it.

I think faith is the same way.  If you stretch your faith muscles and work them out in what seems like the smaller things, then the larger challenges in life come easier.  We didn’t plant a church in our first step of faith…that would have been insurmountable.  We had stepped out in multiple avenues for many years to build our strength and trust in God.  When it came time to launch an entire church, we used the reserves of God’s proven reliability from years of experiences.  In seasons of dark doubt, we looked back on those moments to keep us on the right path.

Just like muscles, faith can be gained or lost in any series of habits.  There is never down time to your faith.  The best thing you can do is constantly be finding ways to push yourself in areas of trust in God.

Here’s a couple of thoughts on how to stretch your faith muscles:

1.  Speak what is Biblically true instead of what your flesh feels.  Trust God through your own voice!  When you are tempted to speak negatively, allow God’s Word to be your only outlet expressing your faith.  You will find yourself challenged in your thinking all the time!

2.  Spend time every day in the Bible and prayer.  As you read something or feel like God is telling you something, act on it.  For example, if you read the story about the Good Samaritan, find a way to bless a neighbor that day.  Give your faith time and effort to apply.

3.  Tell people about your relationship with Jesus.  There is nothing that will grow your faith more than making Jesus a part of your conversation.

The good news for my daughter’s gymnastics career is that she will continuously get stronger.  The better news is that there will always be a new and greater challenge in front of her.  That may sound like a bad thing on certain days, but it’s not.  It’s thrilling!  It’s exhilarating!  It’s what keeps us motivated in life.

So, go head, be brave and ask God to grow your faith today…but get ready…it will be the ride of your life!

May 26 Coffee Church Highlights

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May 28, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry
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Nothing lit on fire this week on Sunday morning!  We’ve made progress since last week!

It was a really great Sunday morning at both campuses!  Hazel Dell had finished the Us series last week, so we welcomed missionary Craig Mathison with us to share a message about Zaccheaus.  It was really great having him with us for the morning!  If you would like to give to our missionaries, just mark your giving envelope for Be Present.  We have a monthly commitment to a dozen missionaries and your giving helps us reach that commitment.

At Battle Ground we finished off the Us series with Kris Gray preaching on Nurture Romance.  She knocked it out of the park as usual!  We enjoyed that series so much and appreciated all the great stories of various dates that our married couples participated in.  Lots of amazing things happening in the marriages at North Creek!  If your marriage needs some changes, we are praying for you.  We serve a God of redemption and miracles!

Mark and I headed off on Sunday night to our previous church to help them celebrate their 75th Anniversary Celebration.  It was great to see old friends and how big all of their kids have gotten!  It was a crazy realization that there is a good chance we will be celebrating North Creek’s 75th Anniversary from Heaven.  I can’t wait to meet all of the people that came to know Jesus through our church.  We’ll all have a big party with lots of coffee!

Congrats to Nick and Maria from our Deaf Church on their wedding this weekend!  We wish you well on your new life together!

Also, congrats to Rob and Lori on the birth of their daughter on Saturday!  Such an incredible moment when you become a parent for the first time!  We wish you plenty of sleep for your new life together!

We hope you had an enjoyable Memorial Day!  Seven years ago I had a baby on Memorial Day, so it will always be a very special day for us.  The importance of giving birth to a baby that will grow up in a free country because other’s have given their lives is not lost on me.  I am so grateful for those who have given the ultimate sacrifice so that I can tuck my kids in at night.

So many great things in store for North Creek!  We have lots of exciting plates spinning right now…solving the need for a youth pastor at Battle Ground, solving some of our facility issues at Hazel Dell, continued growth…thank you all for being a part of it and investing your time and resources into the House of God.  We love to see lives changed and we are ready for more of it!!

Invite a friend with you this month as we kick off our Protect and Serve series in June.  It’s going to be a wonderful series that has nothing to do with the police…

Our Learning Center is celebrating the last days of school today and tomorrow with a BBQ.  That means I had a hot dog for breakfast…  If you are interested in an incredible preschool environment for your toddler in the fall, you can get all of the info you need at www.coffeechurch.com.  And a mommy note: lots of our signups are from Vancouver families, so there are carpool potentials in your future!  Congrats to all of our “graduating” preschoolers this week!

So much going on and so much to say!  Thankful to be a part of this church and your lives.  Be blessed-

 

Easter at the Coffee Church

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March 22, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry
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Facebook timelineI can’t wait for Easter Sunday!  It’s one of my favorite weekends of the year as we take time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.  It’s the moment in history that separates every other religion from Christianity.

Without Easter, we serve a dead Christ whose promises were buried in a grave with Him.  With Easter, we serve a living Savior who has defeated death itself and bridged the gap for our sins.  Now that’s a reason to celebrate!

Our theme for the morning is “This Changes Everything.”  So many people in our world just need something to change in their lives.  What if Jesus is the change people are looking for?  What if He’s the change YOU’RE looking for?  We want to invite EVERYBODY to join us!  We don’t care if you love church, hate church, are scared of church…we just want you to come and experience what Jesus is all about in an environment where you’ll be love and accepted.

We’ll also have special stuff for all of the kids and a gift to send home with them as well, so your children will be well taken care of!

So, wear whatever you want, grab a cup of coffee on the way in the door, and enjoy Easter morning with us at the Coffee Church.  See you soon!

 

March 3 Coffee Church Highlights

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March 5, 2013
Inspiration, Ministry
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claraAlways something exciting going on at North Creek!

As you probably read in my blog yesterday, Wayne and Jenny announced their resignation.  They are excited about their new season of ministry and we bless them!

At Battle Ground, we had an 8 year old quote James 4.  Nailed it!!!  She will be at Hazel Dell next week, so don’t miss it.  We are never to young or too old to memorize God’s Word.

At Hazel Dell, Kris quoted James 3 and nearly burnt the house down with her live illustration.  Side note:  If the match is lit, don’t hold it next to the box of matches.  Her husband is a fireman, so if things had gone terribly wrong, we’d still be OK!

We also officially opened the preschool registration for the Learning Center in Battle Ground.  We inherited a great legacy of Maple Grove Preschool and we are excited to build on their foundation.  We are getting lots of calls and inquiries already, which is very exciting!  You can find all the information and registrations forms at www.northcreekkids.com.  Get your registration in for the fall soon!

We got the best gift on Sunday…smoked pork chops!  Yes, I’m a Montana girl and can easily be won over with meat.  Yummy!

We need Kid’s Checkin Volunteers at both campuses.  It’s an easy job and the more we have, the smoother our process gets.  Sign up at www.coffeechurch.com to work one Sunday a month.  We appreciate our volunteers!!!  Also, here’s some great news for all of you parents…we are adding an additional checkin computer at both campuses to alleviate the line.  It will all be done by Easter!  Thank you for being patient in our growing church!

One of our goals is not to solve all of our problems at once, but to be solving SOME problem all of the time.  It’s a very balanced way of making sure we are getting the ball down the field in a measureable way.

One thing that will never change is that everything changes!  That’s why we trust God when the changes unfold and know that everything will be just fine in the end.  God is faithful!

As I also mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Sunday marked one year of multisite and merging.  I may just have to write an entire blog about that!  It has been one of the most amazing years of our lives, but it did not come without some tough lessons and leadership ability stretching.  I give a lot of the credit of North Creek’s success to two very flexible campuses full of people.  I feel that an immeasureable amount of grace was poured out on our lives as we attempted to forge new paths to our future as a church.  We are humbled and blessed by those of you who did not say, “Well, we’ll see….”, but rather said, “Well, let’s do it!”  That support has made all the difference…we are grateful pastors!

What a God!  What a Church!  What an adventure!  What could possibly be next???