Weekend Reflections

Well, we're scrambling around today, getting last minute things ready for our Summer Youth Retreat - food, supplies, packing, etc. My whole family is going. Should be a blast. There are 14 students and 4 adults. We're going to Atlanta and staying at Atlanta Christian College (Janet's & my alma mater). Can't wait to show the students the site of our first kiss in a special "behind the scenes" tour. I'm sure there's a plaque or statue there.

Each day we're taking a trip to an Atlanta attraction and then having a fun evening of worship, devotions, and group activities. We're going to the World's Largest Aquarium, Six Flags, and Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain just opened up the nation's largest family adventure course called, "Sky Hike." It looks like a lot of fun. I doubt I'll be blogging much this week. We get back on Saturday around 1pm.

And speaking of our Student Ministry, Friday night we had our Spaghetti Dinner/Silent Auction to raise money for the trip and Student Ministry. It was a huge success! The students sold a ton of tickets for the dinner and we raised over $2,200 just from the auction. I want to thank everyone who helped, donated food, bought tickets, donated and bought auction items, and helped clean up. A special thanks has to go to Melanie Bowick. She was a woman on a mission as far as getting people to donate stuff for the auction. Thanks Melanie for all you did!

On Sunday we kicked off our "At the Movies" summer message series! Our auditorium looks like a movie theater. We talked about being a real superhero and bringing your friends to Jesus. It was a very strong message, but very well received. Lots of people wrote down names of friends and family needing Jesus. Our prayer team is joining with you in praying for your friends. Don't give up. Pray. Keep loving and serving. Invite them to Coastal. And when they come to Coastal, let's all join together in making them feel welcome. Remember, everything we do here at Coastal is about pointing people to Jesus and seeing them experience the abundant life of Christ.

A great opportunity to invite your friends is our "Movie on the Lawn" on Saturday, August 16th. It will start around 7PM with free food, jump castle, and live music from our band. Just as it starts to get dark (around 8:45) we'll watch a family movie (PG) on our 16'X21' screen! (If you have any suggestions about the movie let me know). It's going to be a fun evening for the whole family.

We're having visitors every week and they are coming back - and so is our Youth Group on Sunday nights! If what we are beginning to see is any indication, the Fall is going to be awesome! Speaking of the Fall, our message series for September is going to be called, "Game Time." It's a sports theme and it's going to ROCK! And get this - are you ready? To kick it off, on Sunday, September 7th we are going to have one combined service - OUTSIDE - complete with tailgating (think food, fun, and music)! It is going to be a huge event! And then on Monday night September 8th we're going turn our auditorium into a Monday Night Football Party - another chance to invite your friends! There are a few other things that we'll be doing for this series, but I don't want to give it all away just yet. Believe it or not I'm already pumped up about our series in October. I'm going to be preaching through the book of Jonah and we're calling it, "The Deadliest Catch." Be on the lookout for our plans for a Deep Sea Fishing Trip in October! Join me in thinking, "What if?"

Well, this is much longer than I intended. Keep us in your prayers this week. If we get internet access, I'll blog. If not, I'll just Twitter. As you can tell, your Pastor is very pumped about Coastal and our future. Like I said Sunday - join us in the adventure of a lifetime and beyond!