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Some Sundays are so funny, it’s hard to describe!  It’s those Sundays where everything is breaking, falling apart or lighting on fire.  Those are the Sundays that you smile and remember that Jesus is still in the room, so everything else is irrelevant.  We had that Sunday this week!

My two favorite moments were when one projector at Hazel Dell exploded before service and a hazy, blue smoke filtered through the ceiling.  As Chris Harold said, “I think it’s dead.”  Yeah.  It’s dead.  Then only 30 minutes later the preaching opener video played upside down and backward for no reason.  Really?  How do you do that???

On a positive note, we had some great ministry happen in the midst of it all.  Our “Us” series has been impactful on many levels over the last month and this week was no exception.  Both campuses had the message “Finish Together”, which was focused on the issue of marriage and divorce.  It is a tricky subject in our society, but nonetheless, one that must be addressed from a Biblical perspective.  If you missed it, you can listen online at www.coffeechurch.com.

Jordan and Matt both had awesome cover songs this week as well!  It has been fun to watch our worship teams stretch themselves into some new genres and show us what they’ve got!  I will miss this series when it’s gone, but I bet we’ll come up with a new, creative idea for the next series.  We serve a creative God, so there is never a shortage of new ideas.

We are praying for those impacted by the tornado in Oklahoma.  It is epically devastating and difficult to process.  If you’d like to give to tornado relief, we support Convoy of Hope as a church.  You can give online at www.convoyofhope.org.

Small Groups opened for registration on Sunday.  We have some great groups that are designed especially for you to make some good friends!  You can register online at www.coffeechurch.com.  Thanks for being a part of our community!

I love where North Creek Church is heading!  This is such an amazing adventure that we are all blessed to be a part of.  I feel like our greatest days are yet to come and He will use our ministry in incredible ways in our future.  We are loving multisite, loving our addition of Battle Ground, and loving our team.  We are humbled and blessed.  He is so worthy of our praise for all that He pours out on our lives.  Don’t lose focus on that in your own world!

If you’d like to give to our “Projectors-That-Aren’t-On-Fire” Fund, we’d appreciate it.  We will use this opportunity to trade out our back projector (which is the wrong resolution), which means upgrading the projectors adds $1000 to our monthly budget.  On that note, did you know that our giving drops every summer?  It’s a challenge for most churches.  Since we don’t stop ministry during the summer, we would love for you to make a commitment to give even when you’re gone.  We have great online giving tools on our website that you can use when you’re off to the beach and camping!  We appreciate your faithfulness!

Let’s go change the world.  Be blessed!

Happy Mother’s Day!  I had a wonderful Sunday being loved on by my family!  I hope that you all did as well.

For those of you who struggle on Mother’s Day with either the death of a mother, child, or infertility, I prayed for you.  God has this amazing ability to write a beautiful ending to what appears to be a tragedy in your life.  Never give up hope because we serve a God dripping with grace and miracles.

Our worship team has been doing amazing Love Song specials for our Us relationship series.  I have LOVED them and think it was an awesome gift to our church to accentuate this very important series!

Are you having fun on the dates we are giving you?  SO important to work on your marriage!  If you don’t want to do pre-scripted dates, make up your own and enjoy time with the most important person in your life.

My daughter burned her leg really badly with a bowl of soup last week.  It was an interesting journey of wound care, worrying, and praying.  We are all amazed and impressed by how quickly she has healed.  We praise God that He takes care of our bodies and our hearts!

On June 30 we will be having our annual Baptisms and Brunch.  We combine all of our churches together for breakfast and baptisms… it’s my favorite Sunday of the year!  Mark your calendars.  If you know that you’d like to get baptized that day, we’d love for you to fill out a registration right now by clicking HERE.  We usually have a lot of baptisms, so it is a big help for organization when we can plan ahead.  That being said, there is never a point that it is too late to sign up.  We just want to celebrate your decision to follow Christ as a church family.

I am also looking for those of you will servant’s hearts who would like to set up and man the food tables that morning.  It’s going to be Potluck Style this year, so if you LOVE to serve, email me at stacy@coffeechurch.com.  If you LOVE to eat, just show up!

We are also looking for one more set of small group leaders.  If you are interested in filling that spot or just have questions, please email Tasha at Tasha@coffeechurch.com.  Small groups start soon!  The summer session is a bit more relational, so you can look forward to some opportunities to make friends in creative settings!

Serving Jesus is a challenging and exciting journey!  I hope you are living the adventure!  Be blessed!

 

 

 

 

What a great day!  Could the weather have been more incredible?  I love Easter for obvious reasons, but when the sun shines and ends a long, rainy winter, it just makes the whole holiday perfect!

Church was fun all around!  We preached the value of the resurrection and were thrilled to have all of our services well attended to hear the good news.  We love guests at the Coffee Church and are always ready to welcome anybody in for the message of Jesus.  We had 450 people into our churches for this amazing weekend and look forward to the Stories of Changed Lives we will hear for months and years to come.

Our worship teams knocked it out of the park!  Thank you to Matt and Alissa for leading us well.  We appreciate your faithful teams who serve week in and week out with amazing talent!

I also want to thank all of our volunteers who served yesterday.  We had plenty of hands of deck and it was just a smooth morning all around.  We appreciate all that you do to help lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus.

We gave all of the kids candy-filled eggs on the way out the door.  ‘Cause that’s what my kids needed on Easter….more candy.  At 4:30 am my oldest daughter called me in to her room with a stomach ache and proclaimed, “I think I ate too much candy!”  No kidding.

We served free lattes at Battle Ground, which just meant that everybody at Hazel Dell came in the door saying they considered swinging by Battle Ground on the way to Hazel Dell…I reminded them that there at THOUSANDS of places to get a latte in the Vancouver area and they will be just fine.

Eddie apparently did something cool on his guitar at Hazel Dell.  I miss these things as I have an amazing inability to understand music.  I did however enjoy worship, so they are doing something right!

I came home to a house filled with 30 people…the more the merrier!  We had a massive egg hunt in my back yard, which means that we’ll be finding eggs until winter.  I am surrounded by the best people in my life!  Then we invited my in-laws to a smoked turkey dinner, compliments of our friends John and Kari!  We loved it and were excited to have Grandma and Grandpa with us to end our Easter celebrations.

Pastors – whatever we thought was so important to do for Easter Sunday, we should probably do every week.  That’s how we try to go about church at North Creek, but even I found myself doing things that probably should have been done months before.  Our job is a matter of life and death all 52 weeks a year.  No pressure…

We have some good things to tell you coming soon.  We always have good things to tell you.  The favor of God is with us and we know He is moving us where He wants us to be!

Next week will mark our one year anniversary of the launch of North Creek Battle Ground via a merge with Maple Grove Church.  Best. Adventure. Ever.  And so much of our gratitude goes to the Hazel Dell folks who put the mission of God in front of their own desires and needs.  We are humbled by your hearts!

Let’s make Easter a year-round point in our lives.  He’s alive, which means you are too!  What better news could I possibly put in my blog?  On that note, live free today!  Free of addiction, anger, pain, doubt, fear…all of it!  Be blessed!

 

Love, love, love Jesus’ Church!  It just never gets old.

What does get old is Daylight Savings Time…ugh…Sunday felt like I got hit with a 2 x 4.  And let’s just say that the kid’s classes were a joy all around!  Thanks to all of you parents who navigated getting the kids ready with less sleep than normal!!!

We had a teenager quoting a chapter in the Bible at Battle Ground and an 8 year old quoting at Hazel Dell.  It is awesome to see our young people filling their brains with the Word of God!

Remember that next Sunday night, March 17 at 6:00 pm is our goodbye dessert for Wayne and Jenny.  It will be an informal setting where you can express your appreciation to them for their 20 years of ministry here.  We look forward to blessing them!  If you have a moment, email me a letter of appreciation for them at stacy@coffeechurch.com that we will print out and present them in a book.  You can also email me if you are interested in providing a dessert for our event.  Thanks so much!

We have been growing a lot lately and would love your help in volunteering on Sunday mornings.  You can sign up at www.coffeechurch.com under the Resources tab.  Our volunteers only work one service a month and have a great time!

Our Kid’s Checkin computer was down at Battle Ground on Sunday…yikes!  Sorry about the wait for you parents, but I’ve got some great news for you – not only will the computer be up and running on Sunday, but you now officially have two computers!  Twice the excitement for our bursting kid’s classes at Battle Ground.  Hazel Dell, you’re next!!!!

I love change…no really…I love it.  I know that’s strange, but I am an early adopter and look forward to new adventures.  Here we go!

Worship was amazing at both campuses this weekend.  We sure love our worship teams and appreciate the extraordinary amount of effort that they put into that ministry.  Thank you!

Sometimes I wonder if kids and teenagers run our church.  Everywhere I turn there are young people doing ministry in our midst.  It might be my favorite thing about North Creek and I never want it to change.  Our kids feel like they can give and serve in our midst, which is the foundational point of the church.  It’s not about “attending the show” but about being a part of the body!

Think about inviting a friend for Easter…actually, just invite them now!  We have guests all the time and love it.  There’s never a bad Sunday to visit North Creek.

I hope your week is exciting!  Give the glory to God.

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???