Easter is this Sunday!

Easter is coming in just a few days! I am extremely excited about this particular year and my prayer is that this weekend will be a catalyst for the future of our church. I am believing that our church has the best days yet to come as we strive to impact our community, see lives transformed, and be all that God designed us to be!

Easter is by far my favorite Christian tradition. It’s the one event that sets our God apart. He’s not dead! He’s risen, He’s alive, and He’s a part of our daily lives. I am hoping that our building is crammed with wall-to-wall people to celebrate together about an incredible Savior who deserves all of our praise!

Our services are at 9:00 AM and 10:30 AM on Sunday. We’ll have plenty of hot coffee and a beautiful morning planned! See you there!

March 28 Highlights

My highlights are going to be limited, since I wasn’t at North Creek yesterday! Our family took the day off for Spring Break and headed to Renton to go to our former church. It’s the church that Mark grew up in, had his first youth pastorate at, and where we were married. It’s also the church that Troy and Jana Jones now pastor, who are dear friends of ours. Our deep ties to Renton will always be a part of our lives.

Yesterday they celebrated a new main auditorium addition to their already expansive building. We were supposed to be in Montana this week, but our plans were adjusted, so we headed up to celebrate with old friends. It was a nice morning and afternoon to support our very excited, but exhausted, friends!

I always hate to be away from North Creek, but I know it’s good for us. We actually stopped by the building at 7:30 am to make sure everything was perfect…I can let go, but not entirely…

Yesterday we moved the complimentary coffee pots to help with the traffic flow by the Kid’s area. I heard it was pretty funny watching everyone go to where the pots used to be and look in horror as their precious coffee wasn’t there. I guess I should have warned people…

Kris Gray spoke yesterday on the Little Red Paper Clip. I heard through the grapevine that she did an extraordinary job. No surprise there…she’s remarkable! It’s fun to be gone and not worry about anything! We are surrounded by competent leaders who love this church.

I am excited for Easter! It’s my favorite holiday and this one is extra exciting for me since our building is shiny and ready for guests. Feels good to have some projects knocked out…many to go, but we’re miles ahead of where we were!

I’ve heard twice this week that North Creek is “one of the best kept secrets in Vancouver”. Nice compliment, but I’m not into secrets…shout it from the roof tops! We’re a great church seeing people’s lives changed by the hand of God! Come on in!

Mark and I are taking the week off as much as possible. We need the mental break and know that the next season of ministry will require more than we’ve ever done before. It’s a new season of leadership and we look forward to what lies ahead…

If you have a good highlight from yesterday, add it to my comments link below. I’d love to hear, since I missed the fun!

See you on Sunday!

Building Renovation Pictures

Thank you to Rachael Yonko for taking some great pictures of our building renovation. And a BIG thank you to everybody who helped to make our church a real showpiece in our community. It went from a night club with a bad reputation to a corner that is redeemed and well loved. It’s truly transformed!

Sign

Walkway/Portico

South Side

Front Face

Great Email to Share

This is from a wonderful person from North Creek. Thought I would share this amazing story with you:

I’ve really enjoyed this last series, Scars. It’s been one of the most moving and thought provoking subjects I’ve experienced in a church. It’s been interesting not only seeing how it’s affecting my life, but also those in my small group and my friends. To know that the struggles we face in this area are almost universal, to be able to share them and lean on one another makes the journey a smoother, if not an easier one.

When we started this a few weeks back, I didn’t realize the path it would take me down. Not being one who likes conflict, I’ve always been one to try to resolve rifts and seek to make amends, and to show forgiveness to others because I myself have been shown the same mercies at times in my life. But soon it became apparent to me that the one thing that I haven’t been able to do, perhaps because the pain is too great, is forgive myself. I have struggled with myself for as long as I can remember. There’s no defining childhood moment as to why. My house, growing up, wasn’t exactly overflowing with love, but it wasn’t bad either. There was just always something missing. The more I tried to fill that space, the more I didn’t like the person I was becoming. It still hurts to look back and see the things I filled my life with, starting in middle school; alcohol, drugs, suicide attempts, lying, more drugs, sexual impurity and immorality, abortion. I wasn’t worth anything to myself, and I couldn’t see that I was worth anything to anyone else. The relationships I chose in my life reinforced these beliefs, and when I tried to chase a relationship with God, I just couldn’t believe that I was worthy of His love and certainly not His forgiveness! Not after all the things I had done. But thankfully He is not a god that turns away from you when you turn from Him. No matter how far I thought I was from His love, He was only one step away when I was ready to turn to him, broken and bruised.

Life is different now (thank goodness!!). There’s no longer something missing; there never really was. God has always been here, I just finally took my blinders off! Love fills my life now, and with the help of North Creek, I can feel a joy in my heart now. Not just moments of passing happiness, but real, lasting joy that can only come when walking with Jesus. The joy that comes with having a relationship with Him, knowing that he is a glorious, amazing, LOVING God! He has forgiven me and wiped the slate clean, and I think it’s time that I do, too. I know this doesn’t mean forgetting my past or pretending it didn’t happen, or that I won’t still struggle from time to time with my self worth, but with prayer and time, perhaps I can use my experiences to help the needs of others and to glorify His name!

Thank you for everything.

March 21 Weekend Highlights

What a weekend! On Saturday we “finished” the building. It’s not quite done, but only a couple of minor projects are left. It looks awesome!

Heritage Church in Hazel Dell rented a boom truck for us so that it would make it easier to paint the roof tiles. What an awesome image of partnership!

Mike McColm from Ten Talents Missions came and worked to get it all done. He doesn’t go to our church and he didn’t have any self-benefiting reason to give three days of his life to us, but he loves Jesus and believes in our mission. He doesn’t know this yet, but our board voted yesterday to support his missions organization. It’s so easy to support someone with such an amazing servant’s heart. We can’t wait to tell him!

Chris Harold preached a great message yesterday on using our scars to tell the story of how great God is…awesome ending to a pivotal series in our church.

My daughter, Kennedy, looked at Delaney this weekend and said, “Laney, you’re not God.” Don’t we all need that reminder sometimes…

Great latte made for me by Demetri and Lora yesterday morning. Great way to start my day! I’m moving the complimentary coffee pots next week to see if we can ease some of the congestion on the north side of the bar. It will be funny to watch people’s faces when they go to get their coffee and it’s not there…must bring a camera…

So many stories came out of this sermon series about changed lives. We love to hear how God is working in your life. Email mark@coffeechurch.com with your story.

Talked to someone about leading a small group yesterday. Excited for people’s futures in the church. We have quality people who love Jesus and just want to be on His team.

Mark and I drove around looking for future campuses last night after dinner…so fun to dream. I think God is aligning people for our new campus. I’m nervous, but very excited. Do we think we can actually launch on 10.10.10? I don’t know. What I do know is that you’ve gotta give it all you have and let God fill in the parts that need miracles. He’s good at that job.

Alissa and team did a phenomenal job at worship yesterday. Marcus has really built up a team around him and he’s not afraid to let other people be really good. That’s a secure leader and one that God will honor. Way to go to all of you!

Tonight we have a missions meeting for our Mexico trip in June. Can’t wait to play with beautiful Mexican orphans!

Easter is two weeks away. If you are on Facebook, we have an event listed on the North Creek page. I invited all of my 700+ friends. I encourage you to do the same. You just never know who needs a great church and will walk in the door on April 4.

We’ve got a lot of different things going on right now and it’s a bit of a balancing act to keep all the trains moving forward at the same time. Pray for us!

One Step at a Time

When we decided to start a church we had lots of ideas tumbling around in our brains and to this day we haven’t figured out how all of the pieces fit together. What I have learned is that if you take the first step, you’re more likely to be able to see the second step.

Once again I see that as we are giving our building a mini-makeover. All of us sudden it went from a run down dump to a trendy, artsy, funky coffeeshop…I honestly couldn’t see it two weeks ago, but when we were prompted to paint the building, we just took THAT step. There was no agenda for another step, but as the saying goes, “One thing always leads to another.” I can’t wait to take the next step as God leads.

This plays out as well as we embark on a second campus. People that want to be involved inevitably ask the same question, “So, what’s this all going to look like?” Hmmmm…I can tell you Step One. Is that good enough? It’s not that we don’t have some sort of an idea, since we’ve done this before, but it’s definitely not a clear picture. It’s a process. And sometimes our greatest fault as Christians is not taking the first step because we can’t see the second step.

It’s the essence of faith. Don’t wait for the whole picture to present itself. Just take one step and see where it takes you.

March 14 Highlights from North Creek

Here’s my thoughts from yesterday:

Daylight savings time is a cruel joke. I was exhausted! Most of that had to do with the building project we are in the middle of, but an hour less sleep for me and the kids was not welcome. Can we all just commit to leaving it the way it is???

Our walkway is red. Gotta say…I love it. It’s bold and crazy, but I love it.

On a lighter note, it was another wonderful day as a part of our church family. We are continuing on with the topic of scars and God is doing a DEEP work in people’s hearts. One factor of North Creek that I appreciate is that God seems to do a lot of His work outside of our four walls. I love that people are discovering that they can read their Bibles, pray, and cry out to God anywhere. He meets them where ever they are at and works in their hearts without the background of a worship team and a pastor.

The youth lead worship yesterday. They did a great job, but the funny thing to me is that I don’t even notice the teenagers as a separate entity anymore. They are everywhere and serving in every ministry right along side of the adults. There is literally not a service that goes by without a teenager in with the preschoolers, kids, nursery, coffee bar, media, and worship team. They are a part of the fabric of our church. They are one our leader’s email list and invited to our leader’s meetings. They are treated with a combination of respect and apprenticeship. We know they are still “kids”, but they are also in the process of putting one foot into the adult world. What a better place to do that than a church? We are the best place for them to succeed and to fail.

We have a coffee cup mural on the side of our building. It’s so cool! Thanks to Alecia for doing that for all of us. I think that if Jesus walked the earth in this day and age, He would hang out at coffee shops. It’s the modern day well. It’s where our society goes to talk, to develop relationships, and to plan. He would be there, rubbing shoulders with all types, and trying to get into their business…and ultimately their hearts.

Someone handed me something that they had been holding on to as a symbol of a past wound. They gave it to me as a new symbol of how God is healing them. It was a pretty emotional moment for both of us. I am humbled to be in the story at all because God deserves the glory. He’s the only one who can change hearts! That being said, I’m gonna keep that thing as a momento of how God is using our church. I want to be a place where people finally lay down their guard and allow themselves to be all that they were meant to be.

Thanks to all of you who have come and worked at the building. It’s remarkable how much better it looks already and we still have a few hurdles to jump. Here we go!

The Favor Of God

At the conference we went to last week, Mark Batterson talked alot about the favor of God. So, that prompted me to ask, “Does my life have the favor of God? Does our church have the favor of God? And if those statements have a YES on the end of them, what is holding me back from doing ANYTHING for His glory?”

Go to www.BibleGateway.com and type in “favor of God”. Read some of the chapters that talk about the favor of God. The reality is that, while God does not show favoritism in His love, He does “hand out” favor in our endeavors. It’s really a very deep and profound thought.

Below are some verses I pulled out. Basically from these particular verses, favor is something you can grow in, it is bestowed on those whose walk is blameless, and Nehemiah wanted God’s favor based on his service to others for God. All interesting points to ponder…

Nehemiah 5:19
Remember me with favor, O my God, for all I have done for these people.

Psalm 84:11
For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.

Luke 2:52
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Although I don’t quite have this topic all figured out, I am committing it to prayer. My prayer is that my life would be filled with God’s favor. That His favor would be on my children, on my marriage, and in my church. I am partnering that prayer with helping me to live a BLAMELESS life. I not only want God to give me favor, but I want to represent Him well as I live out my Christian life. Sounds like a dynamite combination!

Baggage

We got this incredible email this week. Thought that I would share it:

I was doing a lot of head nodding during Mark’s sermon. While I have forgiven those who scarred me years ago, it hit me that some of the anger and resentment is still there, like scar tissue from a scoping, or surgery so to speak. Until that is FULLY cleaned out, whatever was operated on, cannot function correctly.

I believe, and have been praying that during our challenge, and even more so, during this series, while going through our daily reading, the Holy Spirit will work in us, helping to vanish the scars in our lives.

Mark hit on a point when he said we think we’ve grown, or reached a point where we have it all under control. Learned all we think we need to learn. Through this series and this challenge, God is showing me that He can take away those things that have been circling the drain, but won’t go down in my life for sometime. The fact is, until one is really ready in their heart to let something go and be done with it for good, it will continue swirling around like a plugged drain.

God, keep doing Your work in our hearts…

Reflections

I’m going to share for a few days about some of what we picked up at the two Conferences we attended last week. Such great stuff!

Mark Batterson said, “Don’t think big, think long.”

That totally struck me! I am very good at thinking big and then getting frustrated when growth is slow. Don’t get me wrong…I love the growth that God has given our church over the last three and a half years. I am humbled that He has entrusted our ministry with what He has. The problem is that I know deep in my heart that God has an enormous agenda for our little church and I want it…NOW.

The funny anomoly is that I know that North Creek is a long term commitment for the Newell family. It’s not a pit stop in ministry or a stepping stone to something greater. It’s the beginning and the end in our mind. You would think that would give me patience to build the foundation that God wants for us and to take it one day at a time, knowing that we do have time. God willing, we’ll still be here 25 years from now when it’s time to pass the torch to some young punk who has big dreams and more energy than we’ll have then.

However, my flesh gets in the way all of the time. I want His Kingdom built on my timeline and often forget that God’s timeline is always perfect. I want the end of the story in beginning of the book.

The other anomoly is that more than anything else, I want our church to have a strong foundation. Quick and catastrophic growth can often undermine that foundation and ultimately crumble what was built. Knowing that, you’d think that I would be glad that we are growing by 5 people a month. That adds up and yet it’s manageable. We can disciple, train, minister to, and accomodate that much growth into our system easily. We never are at a breaking point in our structure and we continue to have momentum.

And yet…having a church of 10,000 people overnight is always in the back of my mind. It’s people’s LIVES. It’s their growth, their marriages, their children who are at stake. It’s a desperate tension. God, give us your people, but please do it in a way where we do more good than harm.

Hmmmm….so much to think about. So many ways to grow and such a better person to become. Lord, make us more like you with goals and dreams that align with your timeline.