Category: Ministry

New Missions Wall

Today we finished a new missions wall in our foyer. I think it turned out really amazing. The map is a very cool wood feature that is well done and we will finish it with pins showing the countries where the missionaries we support are serving. Our friends had purchased a map and had it displayed in their home showing the places they have visited in the world. We thought it was just the thing to visibly show our missionaries and keep missions front and central to our church. I believe that churches who prioritize missions are churches who are blessed by God and growing. I want to be a church that not only supports missions but sends people to the mission field. My prayer is that this wall will help keep missions before our church and help increase monthly gifts to missions as well.

Mathew 28:19-20

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

I know what God wants to do…

There are sometimes in a Christians life when God interrupts everything and supernaturally steps in with a fresh breath of his presence. Whether you are at church or simply praying in a solitary place. It’s a moment when you can barely speak. For me, it is always accompanied with tears.

I don’t know about you, but I want that every day. It just seems that it is a rare thing these days. When I experience these moments of God’s presence in my life, I realize what God wants to do! He wants us to be people who hunger after him. To seek him first; to long to be with him; to cry out for more of him and more of his presence in our lives. It’s only from this posture and heart that we can step into the rest of our lives with the power and presence of God’s spirit and have any eternal impact.

I want to never lose this! The problem is I find myself going through a day and putting my head on my pillow having not spent the time in God’s presence. So many distractions keep me from doing the one thing God wants me to do. But when I back up and evaluate what is most important in my life, family, and ministry… I would answer prayer.

Jesus understood the value of daily prayer. Scriptures often say that when he awoke, he found a solitary place to pray. He stayed connected to his father in heaven by prioritizing prayer. He lived the verse, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”.

To stay close to God, to know his heart, to never stray from his power at work in my life. I want to constantly live feeling his breath in my life, his voice in my ears and his spirit leading me.

I believe that God wants the church to be a people who prioritize prayer. To take him at his word that if we will humble ourselves and pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven and forgive our sin, and heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

I know what God wants to do! He wants to do something new and fresh in our midst. He wants to reveal himself in a new way. I think he is simply waiting for us to pray.

A New Normal

With the COVID-19 virus and a quarantine strategy in place, we are finding that much of our lives is under a new understanding of normal. During this VERY unusual and unprecedented time we are living in, I want to encourage you to maintain as much ‘normal’ as possible.

Often when tragedy strikes, we hunker down, step away, and disconnect from our lives. In our current society, much of that has been determined for us. Though we may be spending a lot more time at home for work, school, play… pretty much everything, we can still make an attempt to live with a new sense of normal. What I mean by that is: set an alarm to get you up at a specific time. Take a shower and get dressed. Do your hair. Read your bible. Pray. Do the dishes. Clean the kitchen. Mow the lawn.

Set up a system that helps you focus on things other than what is going on around the world. Find a new ‘normal’ in your life.

I know the temptation of sleeping in late, staying in your pajamas, binge watching TV all day; after all, who is going to notice or care? I believe that finding a schedule that keeps you engaged will help you de-stress your life and your thoughts. It will give you the opportunity to keep growing in your life and possibly keep you from going crazy. See the positive in the situation! What a great opportunity to get the yard looking nice for summer, the garage cleaned, the house put in order, that book read. Also, see the opportunity in more time with your family. Put a puzzle together, play some board games, take a walk. Just a few ideas to make the most of this situation we are all faced with. Remind yourself that it could be worse; then pray that it doesn’t get any worse!!! Stay committed to keeping your mind, heart, and soul healthy!

Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

Many Hands Make Light Work…

Thank you to everyone who came and helped unload our flooring!

We recently received our shipment of 10,500 Square Feet of flooring for our building renovation.  It came on 11 pallets and weighed a total of 19,000 pounds.  I called the company and said I was inquiring about what vehicle to bring to pick up our order and the man responded, “A semi-truck!”  At first I thought he was joking, but he said, “seriously, it’s around 20,000 pounds of product and your best bet is a semi-truck!”  I told him we happen to have two of those in our church and the plan was set.  Thankfully we had lots of help unloading and it only took 35 minutes to empty the truck.  Thank you Valentine for lending us your truck.

I love watching a group of people show up and be present in their world and make a difference.  We are better together!

God uses the mundane for the miraculous

This past January we preached a series titled, “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop!”  That phrase is one that I have been praying a lot lately.  I want it to sink into my heart and continue to motivate me to do what God has called me to do as a man, father, husband, and pastor.  It’s easy to become discouraged and want to throw in the towel.  Quite frankly, life is hard.  If you make it through one days challenges, take a short breath because another one’s right behind it.  If you’re not careful, you may stop right before God shows up and does the miraculous.  That was the point I loved the most in Pastor Chris Harold’s message during this series…

“God uses the mundane for the miraculous.”

In Joshua chapter 6, God had asked the Israelite’s to march around the city of Jericho each day for 6 days without saying a word.  I can imagine after they marched and returned to camp, they felt a little silly.  What was God’s purpose in something so mundane?  I can’t fully answer that question but I do know that if they had quit after day 6 they would have missed the victory of day 7.

On day 7 God asked them to march around the city 7 times but this day when Joshua gave the signal, they were to shout.  As they let out the victory cry, the walls of Jericho fell!

You may not understand all that God has you doing in your everyday life, it may even seem mundane, but keep trusting God to use it for the miraculous in your life.  There is value in continuing to do the right thing when it seems no one is noticing.  There is value in obeying God when it doesn’t make much sense.  There is value in staying motivated even when you don’t feel like it.

The reality is, we don’t have what it takes to make the walls fall in Jericho.  Our best option is obedience to what God has asked us to do.  He wants to get the glory for what happens in your life.

Let’s not stop!  Keep pursuing God.  Keep trusting him. Keep standing for him.  Don’t stop on day 6!  We never know what God will do in a day.  Let’s wake up with the expectation that today can be the day that God’s miracle breaks through.

I’m not going to Stop pursuing the things of God! I’m not going to stop trusting God!  I’m not going to stop standing for him!  I can’t and I won’t!

Oh So Close!

For the last several weeks we’ve been announcing that we are close to closing on our new building.  It gets to be a bit embarrassing to keep making the same announcement.  Today we are scheduled to sign papers.  If you’ve ever bought a house or building, you know that the final thing before closing is signing the paperwork and bringing your money to the table.  I can finally say that we are right at the finish line and expect to close either tomorrow or Friday (Yeah!!!!!!!).

The irony of being at the finish line is that it’s also a starting line.  Once we own the building we start to work to get it back in shape to be a place where the church gathers and worships our God.

We have scheduled our first work day this Saturday from 9am to 12pm at the new property.  We will be removing some overgrown bushes, trees, and brush in order to make room for new landscaping.  I can’t wait to watch the transformation in the coming months and step into our new home.  On your marks, get set, let’s go!

Dedication Night- June 4, 2017

This last Sunday night was so much fun to gather at the “old bar” on Highway 99 and worship, pray, and take communion together.  We rented this space for over 5 years starting in 2008.  During this time we grew, saw lives changed and developed an incredible vision for this property.

We took many steps to purchase it but each one fell short.  We concluded that God was sending us elsewhere and emotionally let go of this property.  I remember thinking in my heart, “If God wants us here he knows how to get us here”.  But even as I was thinking these thoughts I never believed that we would be back.  God has a funny way of bringing you back to previous points in your life and letting you finish what was left undone.  This is where we are today…back at the place we were 4 years ago but this time with the money in the bank to purchase this building.

Standing on the stage again Sunday night brought a flood of emotions to my heart.  I felt as if God was saying to me, “Welcome Home”. It was a raw environment with no stage lights, or decorations.  Nothing was manicured or cleaned up.  I felt as if God was saying take a look at how bad it is; just soak it in.  There was no hiding the mess of things.  I have felt for a long time that this is what its like when we come to God; there really is no hiding our true selves and nature. He accepts us just as we are but as we submit to his leading, we are transformed into something beautiful and useful to him.  It is with this anticipation that North Creek walks forward in faith to see God’s transformation; not only of this location but a continued transformation of people’s hearts and lives as we surrender to him.  It brought the truth fresh to mind that the “church” is not a building, but the people who gather there.  I can say that the church is alive and well!

My favorite part of the night was writing scriptures and prayers on rocks as a memorial to what God is doing at North Creek.  I am excited for the rocks to become a permanent piece in our renovated building.  I feel they are representative of the excitement, anticipation, unity, and hope that we feel as a church.

  

Women’s & Men’s Conference 2017

The women of North Creek are heading to Bothell, WA this weekend for the NW women’s conference.  They will join women from Washington and Northern Idaho to build relationships with one another as well as with God.  I am excited for them to get away for a few days and be refreshed.  Conferences and camps can provide a focused time of renewal for your life and relationship with God.  There is something powerful in setting time aside with other people, getting away from your ‘normal’ day to day routines, and positioning yourself in an environment designed to fill your life with encouragement and fun.

I personally look forward to every opportunity I have to connect with other people in these kinds of environments.  I want to encourage those who are not able to attend to be in prayer for our women that God would pour into them what each of them needs this weekend.  I want to also encourage our men to plan now for the Men’s conference which is coming up on May 19 & 20 this year in Pasco, WA.  We have had so much fun these last few years with the games and also being challenged to be the men that God wants us to be.  This years theme is “Anchored”.  Take a moment to watch the promo below and then head on over to www.coffeechurch.com for more info and to sign up.

You just have to start!

With a new year comes new opportunities, dreams, and goals.  I have felt for some time a push from the Holy Spirit to begin writing and capturing all that is in my heart for the church.  There are so many Sundays where I know I have left much on the “table” that didn’t make it into the sermon.  So much more that I want the church to understand, wrestle with, and implement into their lives.

So I have gotten my blog ready, dialed in some details, and honestly the difficulty has been starting.  What is the first blog you write?  Shouldn’t it be clear as to what this blog will be about?  Shouldn’t it capture the heart of what you are trying to accomplish?  Yes to both!  But as you think about life, rarely is it perfect in its execution.  We rarely see what our decisions will become years from now.  We have to make our best plans, put our best effort forward, and step out in faith in what God has asked us to do.   Sometimes starting IS the important thing.  A decision that gets the ball rolling!  I am thinking in my mind right now of all the times I wanted to do something and felt that God was leading me to it, but I never did it because I never started.  So I am starting!

I hope that you will find value in these pages for your life!  I hope that you will join me in seeing who God has created you to be!  I hope you will be encouraged and inspired to do what God has created you to do!

As we begin 2017, what area of your life are you finding difficult to start?  What decision have you put off that you just need to pull the trigger on?  What is God pushing you to do that you may not execute with perfection, but starting will get the ball moving in the right direction down the field?

You just have to start!