Happy Father’s Day!  We had a full house on Sunday as we celebrated the men of North Creek.  We handed all the men a Big Daddy Size Dad’s Root Beer.  Mark added his to some vanilla ice cream and had an awesome float!

We preached our Man Card series at both hearing campuses.  We spoke on integrity at Hazel Dell and courage at Battle Ground.  Our Deaf Church had a men’s retreat, so Dawn Smith spoke out of Ruth.  All three churches had great Sundays and we are blessed by some incredible leadership all around!

Small groups are clicking away and enjoying getting to know each other.  Our small group spoke about not living in fear.  Such a relevant topic for so many of us!

Our teenagers head to camp next Monday.   Would you take some time and pray for the 30 students who are going to spend a week focusing on their relationship with Jesus?  This generation needs a powerful move of God.

Mark was in Haiti this week learning what Convoy of Hope is doing in that country.  He’ll be sharing later this summer about his trip and asking us all to give up a day’s wages as a donation to help Haiti.  You’ll be inspired by his stories!

While he was gone I renovated the garage for him for Father’s Day.  I painted the floor, walls, and all the cabinets/shelves.  I cleaned and dusted and I AM SO EXCITED about it!  It was one of those projects that was hanging over our heads for too long and now it’s done!  Such a relief and now we can enjoy it all summer.

We also had a shower at my house for baby Pust on Saturday.  I looked around and was so blessed by the people in my world.  We are surrounded by such amazing people who are committed to living for Jesus and I consider it an honor to grow old with each of you!

My prayer lately for North Creek is twofold: 1.  That we would be people who read our Bibles. 2.  That we would do what it says.  Our culture says a lot of things are OK, but they aren’t…we’ve got to arm ourselves with a Biblical worldview or we will not know what pleases God.  We, as Christians, cannot go around promoting a false doctrine because it is socially acceptable.  We all must aim to be obedient regardless of the popularity of the issue.

On that note, let’s change the world!  So many people to impact, so much to do!  Be blessed1

As I write my highlights this week, the news of another school shooting is blasting through the news.  Just last week Seattle Pacific University faced the same horror.  My nephew was on the SPU campus at the time and now Troutdale is just too close, so I understand the shock.  That being said, I implore you to use these moments to further your resolve to live for Christ and lead your family to do the same.  We will never be able to completely stop tragedy, but we can live our lives with an eternal perspective, which is the road to hope.  Reynolds High School, we are praying for you!

Now on to my Sunday Highlights:

It was Graduation Sunday for our 2014 High School Grads!  We had 13 graduates between our two campuses, so there was plenty to celebrate.  I am very proud of the diversity that is represented in that group of grads!  God has brought us people from all walks of life and we were thrilled to be a part of their journey in Christ.

We also got to welcome baby Pust at Hazel Dell!  Nate and Emily are enjoying getting to their new little one and are doing well.  Thank you to those of you who are bringing meals to all of our new babies!  We very much appreciate being a part of a church that is there for people during the lows and the highs.

Speaking of being there, our small groups are all started and doing well.  I heard that Chris is torturing people in the men’s workout group, and they are loving it!  I personally feel that if you vomit at a small group, that’s a failure, but the guys must see it differently…

Summer Camp is just around the corner, so would you be praying for our teens and kids?  We have about 36 going to youth camp and the kid’s camp registrations are due in a couple of weeks.  There is NOTHING like camp to change a life!  If you can, would you give scholarship money?  We are helping a lot of attenders out this year with a $50 scholarship, which is key in many of them being about to attend!

We usually do our big baptism weekend in July, but we are moving it to August this year.  Join us on August 17 for a wonderful morning to celebrate with people whose lives are being changed.  Also, if you’d like to get baptized that day, you can register at www.coffeechurch.com

Here’s the key to success in life:  do what the Bible says.  Not what you think it says, but what it actually says.  It’s the hardest thing you’ll ever take on, but in the end, it will pay out in dividends of changed lives!

Be blessed!

Congrats to our Battle Ground youth pastors, Mat and Janell Marbrey, on the birth of Chloe on Sunday!  Baby #1 of 3 that we are expecting this month at North Creek.  We got to meet her on Monday and she is just a gorgeous little girl!

Small Groups registration opened on Sunday for our summer semester.  Would you take a moment to sign up asap?  You’ll find the complete list at www.coffeechurch.com.  It is such a great opportunity to get to know some people at North Creek.

We are a couple of weeks into our current series, My Greatest Investment.  We are talking a lot about using the time we have been given wisely and with purpose.  Many great insights into parenting, being married, and our personal discipleship.

Read your Bible today.  Too many of us have CNN theology…we believe what we see on the news and what we are being told by media and our culture.  God has a greater plan and purpose for your life than what the world has to say.  We must know what Jesus has to say in order to allow Him to mold and shape our hearts.

Summer Camp is right around the corner for both kids and youth.  We give $50 scholarships to help students get to camp.  If you would like to donate, you can give in the Giving Boxes or online.  Just mark the giving “Scholarship”.  The other thing you can do is Rent a Student.  If you have projects around your house and would like a student to help you, please contact Kris at kris@coffeechurch.com and she will help you get as many students as you need.  We have lots of Hazel Dell and Battle Ground students ready to work!

We have lots of new faces around every Sunday.  Make sure you meet someone every week!

If you are free on Thursday, we are doing some yard work at Hazel Dell from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm.  We are down to the final details in our parking lot and we are excited to get it all done!

I hope that you have a wonderful week!  If you don’t, just remember that North Creek Church loves you and believes in you.  Be blessed!

Such a wonderful weekend as we gathered together to honor Jesus! We finished the Comeback series this week, but we never really finish telling people that it’s not too late to comeback to Jesus.

In fact, two people gave their lives to Jesus this weekend.  Nothing better than that!

Chris Harold preached through some intense toothache pain at Hazel Dell.  I was formulating Plan B if he passed out.  Thankfully we ended the series without incident!

Did you know that our Youth Ministries are ROCKING it???  Battle Ground took off like wildfire and Hazel Dell continues to set the tone for leadership and changed lives.  We love teenagers and look forward to watching God use our youth to change our community.

The deaf church had amazing time on their missions trip to Mexico last week.  Pastor Jim brought us back candy that tasted like peanut butter chalk.  It’s his favorite candy, so I’m not sure what that says about him…  He said the best part of the Mexico trip was being part of people’s comeback story!

We also had our Network’s Conference last week and enjoyed seeing a lot of our pastor friends.  We also heard some incredible messages.  George Wood, our national leader, preached one of my all-time favorite messages.  It was simply the stories of some of our missionaries from decades ago.  Many of them died never knowing the full impact of their ministries.  It reminded me that God is doing a deep work that I may never be able to see or understand until Heaven.  Keep going!!!

We need more volunteers!  Our kid’s classes are about to pop and we need assistants.  If kid’s aren’t your thing, maybe Kid’s Checkin is more up your alley?  It’s a great way to bless the children’s ministry without actually working with kids.  You can sign up to volunteer at www.coffeechurch.com.  We would love to have you involved and it’s a fabulous way to get to know people.

We are working on small groups for the summer.  We still need leaders!  It’s a fun semester to jump in because summer is shorter and more informal.  If you are interested, email Kari at kari@coffeechurch.com for more information.

We have an incredible series coming up called My Greatest Investment.  We only have one life, each with 24 hour-filled days, but there are keys places to put our time that will reap great fruit.  Join us for the next four weeks as we dive in!

P.S.  It’s Mother’s Day next Sunday.  Take your mom to church!

Whew!  Always a boatload of stuff going on! I hope you are full of joy and peace.  Be blessed!