Sunday Reflections

We kicked off our "Wild Ride" series yesterday! It was a lot of fun! We decorated the stage with several "wild rides" - a Harley, a four-wheeler, and a jet ski. (I'll post pictures later this week.) Jeremiah did a great job with the opening song - "Life Is A Highway." They had a lot of energy! And if you had been at any of the practices - you would have been impressed. Sunday morning might have been the first time they actually got through the whole song without stopping. Speaking of our Praise & Worship Team - most people have no idea how much commitment and work is involved in this ministry. They practice for two hours at least twice a month and for an hour every Sunday at 8:15AM. Sure there are other bands with better musicians and singers (although I think our team is awesome!), but I know this - our guys love the Lord, each other, and the church. They love leading people into the presence of God - both believers and those who are far from Him. They also have to put up with me - because on occasion I push them to the next level. Thank you Praise & Worship Team for what you do, who you are, and who you are becoming! (And congratulations Miranda & Andy!) By the way, we probably won't sing "Life Is A Highway" every week, but Prisca and Jeff will be back this week, so we'll probably do it again on Sunday.

We had a load of people gone this week, but we were still pretty packed. We had a lot of visitors! Keep it up Coastal. This coming week is the Car Show - sponsored by the Coastal Carolina Corvette Club. Use that as a hook to invite your friends! Let's bring out more chairs this week. Let's have people begging for a second service! I thought everyone enjoyed having Raef Judd and his Charleston FD #9 race car at church. I know the men and kids did. Not that you Ladies don't care about cars and motorcycles and trucks and such, but it was almost comical watching the guys check out Raef's car and the stuff on the stage. So guys, again, here's the challenge - use that draw to your advantage! Invite. Invite. Invite. Did I mention we have a car show this Sunday - 10AM-1PM?

Give aways = more Connect Cards! That's what I've discovered. Yesterday we pulled a Connect Card at the end of the service and gave away a 1-day Harley Davidson rental compliments of Low Country Harley Davidson. Les Bowick (Coastal's own Firefighter) won the gift certificate. During our Summer Series, "Reel to Real" he won a DVD player! (Les, tomorrow we're buying lottery tickets!) Do you know what I really discovered from our Connect Cards yesterday? Two people crossed the line of faith and gave their live to Jesus! Several others renewed their commitment to Christ, asked for information about Coastal, and would like to join a Small Group! Coastal, that's called LIFE change! And every one of you who serve, share, volunteer, give, pray, and invite made that happen! That's the Wild Ride that I talked about yesterday! And that is always worth the risk!

That's what my message was about yesterday - the spirit of adventure and taking risks. Christianity is not for the faint of heart. It requires risk to become a Christian and it takes risk to live the Christian life every day! It's called faith. It's not blind faith. It's not roulette. It's a reasonable faith - but it's faith none the less. Over the coming weeks we're going to look at examples of several "wild rides" that people in the Bible took. If yesterday was any indication, it's going to be awesome series!