Sunday Reflections
10/21/07 10:43 PM
I really do love Sunday mornings at Coastal!
(Evidently, so does Andy - see his blog.) LIFE - I LOVE IT!
Like Allan Thicke says about Vegas, "What's
happening at Coastal, should be happening to
you!" Sunday's are just alive with activity,
and not just busyness but people serving,
training, and connecting. Our Praise &
Worship Team, Sound, and Multimedia volunteers
are all ready to go at 8:15AM. (By the way,
they did a great job today!) Janet is meeting
with our Coastal Kidz Teams at 9:30. Our
children are practicing for the Christmas
Prorgam. And then there are all the other
volunteers - Nursery, Splash Zone, Communion,
1st Impressions, 3C's Cafe, Promiseland
Registration, Financial Team - it all fits
together so that we can share and experience
LIFE!
Have you noticed it (if you haven't, you're not paying attention)? We're growing! There were so many new people today. And many new people are returning. In fact, I do need to ask a favor of our Members and Regular Attenders. I need you to be understanding of your Pastor. I would love to talk with all of you immediately after church, but I can't. That really is the only time I have to make that initial contact with as many new people as I can. So I need you to be understanding and accommodating, but I need one more thing. I need your help in reaching out to those new people as well. Introduce yourself, listen to people's stories, invite people to return and bring their friends. We did bring out another row of chairs. And we will be leaving it out. But we still obviously need everyone to move up and in. You're probably going to get tired of me saying that, but it really does help in making more room.
And speaking of making more room - our big announcement today was that we will be adding a second service on the first Sunday of the new year, January 6th, 2008. It's all about expanding our capacity to reach more people. Our service times will be 9:30AM & 11:15AM. I am so pumped! It also expands our capacity for ministry. More and more people can serve God by serving others. Commit this exciting change to prayer! Think about how you might serve in one service and come to the other. Talk about it with your friends - the people you've been inviting. Use it as a new way to invite someone and talk about our church. I believe that our attendance will automatically jump by at least 20% the day we add the second service. And then we'll be talking about adding a Saturday night service.
One immediate way to serve and help make this transition smooth is volunteering in Promiseland. We talk about Promiseland a lot. At times we might sound like a broken record. And when you hear something so often, it's easy to dismiss it and think it applies to someone else. Hear this loud and clear - we are talking to YOU! Pray about the possibility of serving in Promiseland. It's not that we need more warm bodies to fill spots. It's not just that we can't go to 2 services without more volunteers. It's not just that people won't return to a church without an excellent Children's Ministry. It's that we have an opportunity to share and experience LIFE with these children. We get to introduce them to Jesus! We get to change this next generation! Promiseland is not childcare so that the adults can hear about Jesus. It is one of the most important Ministry opportunities at Coastal. And if you think you can't get involved, because you can't teach - you obviously haven't talked to Janet yet. There are so many ways to volunteer. We are working on a new Promiseland website where parents can keep up to date on information, activities, and needs. Janet will also have a blog where she can cast vision and share information. It is nowhere near complete, but you can visit here to see the design. It is also linked on our homepage.
And finally, let's just say that I missed preaching the last two weeks. I hope it showed. We started our new series, "Simple Church" today. Jeremiah did a great job with the stage design and our Creative Team has done a great job in thinking through and planning the series. In a way, it's more than just another series. It's a reminder of what we do and why we do it. It's like a mid course correction to keep us on track and focused. At Coastal our purpose and process is simple: LIFE - Love it, Learn it, Live it, Give it! Today we talked about "Love it" - Worship. We talked about being an everyday, life long worshipper. Romans 12:1 from the Message, "Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering." I challenged everyone to be real careful what you treasure ("What's in your bag?"), because it shapes your life. We also talked about why our weekly corporate gathering is so important - because we "behold LIFE!" So, live everyday this week as an offering of love to God. And come Sunday with a spirit of joy, excitement, anticipation, and expectation, because we have the privilege of seeing LIFE change! I love what I do and I love you!
Have you noticed it (if you haven't, you're not paying attention)? We're growing! There were so many new people today. And many new people are returning. In fact, I do need to ask a favor of our Members and Regular Attenders. I need you to be understanding of your Pastor. I would love to talk with all of you immediately after church, but I can't. That really is the only time I have to make that initial contact with as many new people as I can. So I need you to be understanding and accommodating, but I need one more thing. I need your help in reaching out to those new people as well. Introduce yourself, listen to people's stories, invite people to return and bring their friends. We did bring out another row of chairs. And we will be leaving it out. But we still obviously need everyone to move up and in. You're probably going to get tired of me saying that, but it really does help in making more room.
And speaking of making more room - our big announcement today was that we will be adding a second service on the first Sunday of the new year, January 6th, 2008. It's all about expanding our capacity to reach more people. Our service times will be 9:30AM & 11:15AM. I am so pumped! It also expands our capacity for ministry. More and more people can serve God by serving others. Commit this exciting change to prayer! Think about how you might serve in one service and come to the other. Talk about it with your friends - the people you've been inviting. Use it as a new way to invite someone and talk about our church. I believe that our attendance will automatically jump by at least 20% the day we add the second service. And then we'll be talking about adding a Saturday night service.
One immediate way to serve and help make this transition smooth is volunteering in Promiseland. We talk about Promiseland a lot. At times we might sound like a broken record. And when you hear something so often, it's easy to dismiss it and think it applies to someone else. Hear this loud and clear - we are talking to YOU! Pray about the possibility of serving in Promiseland. It's not that we need more warm bodies to fill spots. It's not just that we can't go to 2 services without more volunteers. It's not just that people won't return to a church without an excellent Children's Ministry. It's that we have an opportunity to share and experience LIFE with these children. We get to introduce them to Jesus! We get to change this next generation! Promiseland is not childcare so that the adults can hear about Jesus. It is one of the most important Ministry opportunities at Coastal. And if you think you can't get involved, because you can't teach - you obviously haven't talked to Janet yet. There are so many ways to volunteer. We are working on a new Promiseland website where parents can keep up to date on information, activities, and needs. Janet will also have a blog where she can cast vision and share information. It is nowhere near complete, but you can visit here to see the design. It is also linked on our homepage.
And finally, let's just say that I missed preaching the last two weeks. I hope it showed. We started our new series, "Simple Church" today. Jeremiah did a great job with the stage design and our Creative Team has done a great job in thinking through and planning the series. In a way, it's more than just another series. It's a reminder of what we do and why we do it. It's like a mid course correction to keep us on track and focused. At Coastal our purpose and process is simple: LIFE - Love it, Learn it, Live it, Give it! Today we talked about "Love it" - Worship. We talked about being an everyday, life long worshipper. Romans 12:1 from the Message, "Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering." I challenged everyone to be real careful what you treasure ("What's in your bag?"), because it shapes your life. We also talked about why our weekly corporate gathering is so important - because we "behold LIFE!" So, live everyday this week as an offering of love to God. And come Sunday with a spirit of joy, excitement, anticipation, and expectation, because we have the privilege of seeing LIFE change! I love what I do and I love you!
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