Sunday Replay

(With the Football Playoffs, thought you would like the picture - thanks Scott.) Really loving two services already. My voice hasn't completely recovered - if you were in the second service, I'm sure you could tell. But I just love the vibe of excitement at Coastal right now! We're having more people in the first service than in the second, but we have more visitors and return visitors in the second. What really cracks me up though is that people still come late to the second service. But whether you're in the first or in the second, keep inviting and bringing people. Be willing to come to whatever service your guests prefer to come. Adding multiple services in and of itself will not grow the church. God grows the church through people who are praying, inviting, and reaching out.

One of the things that I am so proud of our church right now is the numbers of people who are serving. For many volunteers at Coastal, Sunday is a long day - especially the Praise & Worship Team, Promiseland, and Student Ministry. But you faithfully serve because you love God and you love seeing people's lives changed. You believe in what we're doing.

For those of you wondering what you might do to help - come to one service and then serve in the other or in between the two. Here are some ways to serve: Our Communion Team prepares, sets out, and then cleans up Communion each week for both services. Our 1st Impressions Team really needs volunteers right now. We need to more than double the number of people in this Ministry. They are the ones who welcome and greet everyone, hand out bulletins, answer questions, direct people with children to the check-in counter, and take up our offering. They help create a warm, helpful, inviting atmosphere from the parking lot to the chair. They need your help! Our 3C's Cafe (coffee & doughnuts) could always use more volunteers to set up, clean up, and help create a warm cafe-like atmosphere. Right now we have a couple of people who have taken it upon themselves to clean up (pick-up bulletins, empty trash, and vacuum entry ways) in between services.

Other than 1st Impressions, our greatest need and opportunity to serve is in Promiseland - our Children's Ministry. You don't have to be able to teach to serve. You can work the check-in counter. You can serve in Nursery. You can be an assistant. But what I want you to see is that if everyone coming to one service would simply be willing to volunteer in Nursery in the other service once every six weeks or so, what a huge need that would meet and what a difference you would make in the Kingdom. Maybe you're not ready to be a lead teacher in Splash Zone or Coastal Kidz, but could you simply sit in and help? And speaking of Promiseland, Janet said that our new teams in Coastal Kidz did a great job yesterday! Way to go Mark & Ashley! If you are willing to serve in any of these ways, simply shoot me an email and we'll get you started.

After the second service we had a Newcomers Lunch. I love meeting new people and talking about Coastal. Huge thanks to Kathy Beam for taking care of the meal! They are a great example of a family who serves in multiple ministries. Sunday is a long day for them, but they do it for the Lord and they believe in what we're doing (and they have four kids!).

My message yesterday was pretty hard hitting. It was on the idol of religion. That's right - religion. I believe that if there is something in our culture that is keeping people away from God today it is "churchianity" - people go through the motions, go to church, but don't have a personal relationship with Jesus. The passage we looked at was from Luke 11 where Jesus had a rather heated confrontation with the Pharisees. I said you might be religious if . . . outward appearance is more important than inner purity; rituals are more important than a relationship with God; being seen by others is more important than serving God; rigid rules are more important than love; and reliving the past is more important than recognizing God's present activity.

Sunday afternoon Janet took the kids to WAVES and I headed to the visitation for Shealy Pendarvis' mom who passed away on Friday. She had Alzheimer's Disease. The place was packed. She was a very faithful, loving Christian woman. As her husband, Shealy's dad, gave me a hug, he teared up talking about his bride. He called her his "sweet girl" and told me that she's dancing with Jesus now. They had been married for 61 years. That's right - 61 years! What a great example of a loving relationship of faith and commitment! Thank you God for my "sweet girl."