Okay, honestly this was supposed to be called Sunday Night Mind Dump, but it’s now Tuesday so the title doesn’t quite fit.  When I got home from our 3rd service on Sunday night, I got out my computer and was ready to “mind dump.”  Instead, I found out that Knology’s internet service was down in my area and that they were “working on it.”  So, here goes – these are just a few random thoughts from my weekend and the weekend at Coastal:

• Had a wedding rehearsal and wedding Friday & Saturday.  Very nice couple, but did have a first.  The Bride decided to flip flop the Bride/Groom side (wedding party, seating, everything) because she had a “best side” for the pictures.
• Best part of the wedding for me was that I got to work with Kimmie and Renee from our church.  They were the photographers for the wedding – very talented and very special people.
• Last week was “wild & crazy” here at Coastal!  Sean did a bit of remodeling and preparing in the Youth Room for the new semester.  Wes oversaw several major projects in the auditorium:  painting, screens, projectors, shades, curtains!  Both guys did a great job!
• Can’t thank Ricky & Brian enough.  They both worked hard to see everything get done.
• We got a new door at the Welcome Center  entrance!  And boy what a difference it made.  In fact, it’s possible that the door stole all the thunder of the day!  Everyone noticed it and loved it.  Even students noticed it.
• It’s amazing what a difference small consistent changes make in creating and maintaining momentum.
• Oh and on top of all the stuff going on, Lora, my administrative assistant, went back home to Ohio to get her stuff.  We miss her when she’s not around.
• Sunday was part two of our “Back to School” series and it was “Teacher Day.”  We set aside a part of the service to recognize, pray for, and give a gift to the Teachers of our community (we gave each Teacher present a $20 gift card from Wal-Mart).  We had 26 Teachers in the house!
• We were back over 300 on Sunday!  Had lots of guests and excitement!  I was so excited to see so many of my Teacher friends from Oakland Elementary School.  I “cashed in a few chips” and put the “invite squeeze” on a few of them and they came!  They all said they loved it.  I think some might even come back.
• Our whole Worship Team is just awesome!  Love each and every one of them!  Sundays are long days for them.  Wes has done a great job!
• Loved the video clip and sermon bumper we showed Sunday!  Can’t go wrong with School of Rock and Jack Black.
• My message was entitled, “Meet THE Teacher” and I talked about Jesus the Master Teacher and what he came to do.  I think it connected.
• We have so many awesome volunteers!  I love seeing their enthusiasm and smiling faces each and every Sunday.  The Beams are AWESOME!  I think Kathy can comfort any baby and Matt is just as awesome in Clubhouse.  Kids respond so well to a man in Promiseland.  Matt leads our LIFE Group Ministry which has just started signing up people.  Kathy buys for and works in our Cafe.  Their son Josh ran the computer (with a brand new system) on Sunday morning.  And they set everything up for Ice Cream Sundaes on Sunday night!  Thanks guys!
• People love ice cream (Mike Pardini LOVES sprinkles).
• Proud of Gracie Horton for inviting her Teacher!  She came to the 3rd service!  Proud of Ronda Blanton for covering in Promiseland so they could sit with her.
• We need MORE volunteers for our 3rd service!
• A couple from Pittsburg, PA came to church on Sunday that I married 6 years ago.  On Monday I performed a Renewal Ceremony for a couple from Washington State that I married 4 years ago.  I enjoy performing weddings.  Honestly, most Pastors do not.
• It’s time to pull out the stops and make the ask for our new series starting September 12th, “That’s What HE Said.”  It’s all about SEX.

Well, that was our weekend.  I’d say it’s obvious I need to take a “mind dump” more frequently, but then that would sound gross.

Yesterday after work, I stopped by, of all places, TJ Max to buy hot sauce.  Yes, hot sauce.  Wes, our Worship Pastor, got me some Habanero Roasted Garlic Hot Sauce & Chipolte Sauce and I am addicted to it.  I can’t find it anywhere but there, so that’s where I go.

Anyway, I was wearing my, “I Love My Church” shirt (looks like the classic, “I Love NY” shirt).  A black woman at the store told me she loved my shirt and that she loved her church too.  I asked her where she went and she told me – a church out in the country.  In fact, she told me that they had recently celebrated their 143rd anniversary.  Wow!  143 years!  They had a revival and a big celebration.  I told her that our church was only 20 years and I was the Pastor.

When she found  out that I was a Pastor, she wanted to tell me something that she was very excited about.  She went on to tell me how they had just recently baptized their first white person at her church and that they had never had a white person before attend their church in all her years going there.  She hoped that this was the beginning of change.

I told her about our church, about how we had grown over the last year and a half.  I told her that one of the things I was most excited about was our new diversity.  We were starting to become a beautiful reflection of our community – white people, black people, rich people, poor people.  She thought that was great.  I told her I would pray for her church and she said she would pray for ours.

I’m not sure who said it first, but sadly it’s still true in many places:  ”The most segregated hour of the week is Sunday morning.”  I’m glad that’s beginning to change at Coastal.  Because not only is it a beautiful reflection of our community, the truth is, it’s a beautiful reflection of Christ.

I love it lately when someone asks me about something in our our church, maybe it’s about Student Ministry, our sound system, or Children’s Ministry and my response is, “I don’t know.  Ask _____.”  There was a time when that wasn’t the case.  I had my hand in everything.  That’s changing.  And it’s for the good of our church.  I will not be the lid that keeps our church from growing.  I will empower and entrust people of Godly character and then set them free to do ministry.

Now don’t misunderstand.  I will still cast vision.  I will still give oversight.  Will they make mistakes?  Absolutely.  But now I won’t be the only one!  And I won’t do all the ministry.  I will build teams and lead leaders.  I will focus on my primary calling of teaching, leading, and casting vision.

It’s a difficult shift that many churches fail to make.  And it keeps churches from growing.

Just a quick  thought.   Last Sunday, Memorial Weekend, my son Christopher played guitar on the stage with our Worship Band.  Christopher has been playing guitar for two years.  In fact, he bought his guitar over Memorial weekend.  Sean, our Youth Minister, was preaching and thought it would be awesome for one of his students to play with the Worship Band.  Sean talked to Wes.  Wes talked to Christopher and the plan was in motion.

Christopher didn’t want anyone to know he was playing.  He didn’t want me to post it on Facebook, Twitter about it, nothing.  He just wanted to do it, without everyone making a big deal about it.  He would be nervous enough on his own.

The day came and Christopher did an AWESOME job (so did Sean)!  Wes will probably get him on the stage again sometime over the Summer.  The only thing about the experience is that I found myself very distracted.  I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Christopher and his hands.  I was so proud.  During the worship set I actually asked God to forgive me for not being able to focus.  To counter my distraction, I thanked God for Christopher, for his gifts, and his desire to use them for His glory.  I thanked God for the gift of children and allowing me to be a parent.  I asked Him to help me be a better parent.

Reflecting later on my struggle to focus, I felt God saying to me, “That’s okay Chris – the same thing happens when I watch my children use their gifts to my glory.”  And then I was reminded that I’m God’s child.  I wonder how much joy and pleasure it brings God when we serve Him by serving others, when we use everything He has blessed us with to bless others.  And instead of watching all of the splendor of His creation, I wonder if He gets “distracted” with a proud smile watching His children serve.  Just a thought.  I love you Christopher!  Rock on!

I know it’s a week late, but I just wanted to share a few thoughts about Easter Sunday 2010 at Coastal:

• It was our church’s 20th Anniversary!  Janet and I started the church 20 years ago.  Our first service was Easter Sunday, 1990.  It has been one wild adventurous ride.  And I wouldn’t change any of it.  Even the trials and difficulties have produced a greater faith in God and many lessons learned.  I love what I do.  My calling is stronger today than it has ever been – so is my sense of urgency.
• Overall it was truly an amazing, historic day!  We had the highest attendance in the history of our church – 473!  That blows me away!
• This was important:  Learned that we can grow to around 550+ in our current service configuration (before we have to do something different – i.e. add another service.).
• Loved kicking off a new series on Easter Sunday – “Break Free”!
• Loved the set design!  Not your typical Easter Lily look.
• The band, the stage, the message – all fit together perfectly!
• People whose names were written on the wall came to church!
• Loved hearing Felicia sing!
• The weather was Amazing!
• Missed my daughter Lydia being here.
• Cried during the first service thinking about the past 20 years and all I have to be thankful for.
• Had 1st time guests from the Egg Drop.
• Needed more volunteers in Nursery!
• Had TONS of kids in Promiseland!
• Cool having a “Video Overflow Room.”  Sean learned a lot and we are just a few steps and pieces of equipment away from live streaming our service on the internet.
• Love our volunteers!   Between the Egg Drop and Easter Sunday, they really knocked it out of the park!
• Love Wes & Sean and their families!
• The Spirit is moving at Coastal and God is using our church to draw people to Himself.  People are being changed by Jesus who are in turn coming to Coastal and being changed by Jesus.  It’s contagious!
• I was exhausted on Sunday night!  Took the day OFF on Monday.
• It was great having Lora (our former and now future Administrative Assistant) in town for the weekend!  She will be moving down at the end of April!

There is so much more that has been swimming through my head, but those were just a few of my thoughts from Easter.  Feel free to share yours.  The great thing about the last 20 years is just all the people that God has blessed my life with.  Nothing greater than seeing people come to faith in Jesus and then taking next steps.  And I get to do that with the best wife and children I could ever imagine!  Thank you Father!  Thank you Janet!  Thank you Lydia & Christopher!  Thank you Coastal!  Hold on to your fork!  The best is yet to come!

What an unbelievable weekend! The 2nd Annual Charleston Egg Drop was a huge success. First of all, we could not have scripted better weather leading up to the event and the day of the event. As far as numbers go – my guess is that we had around the same amount as last year, 3,000+ people! What we did get this year was better information for follow up. Mainly, that was the result of pre-registration – one of several improvements that made a huge impact from last year.

Another improvement from last year was the field. Ricky Spell made sure that children were able to gather eggs from all sides of our field this year by clearing back the underbrush on the tree line side of our field. (By the way, this will also help with parking.)

Speaking of parking, this was probably the area of greatest improvement! This year we provided free shuttle parking/service from the Sears parking lot at Citadel Mall. It looked like the majority of people who pre-registered took advantage of it. Overall, it just made the event go so much smoother.

Our Registration Team also knocked it out of the park! We increased the number of volunteers and their visibility and it helped greatly. Kathy Beam & Co. did an awesome job.

The folks at the games & water area worked non-stop. Security, child-care, the list goes on and on. There really are too many other people and areas to single out.

The overall reaction from our guests and community was a positive one and one of improvement. Also, and this one is big, every kid got eggs this year!

Things to improve: sound that can be heard from different points on the campus, power for blowups, better communication with volunteers on field, rotation of volunteers especially at game area, more sponsors, bug spray/sunscreen station, more/larger drink dispensers available.

Like last year, we will take a few minutes at the next FUEL and talk about the Egg Drop and make notes for next year. Yes, if you ask me right now, I’ll tell you there will be a next year. Oakland will be in it’s new school and parking should be even better. Also, we’re thinking about the possibility of doing 2 Egg Drops on the same day and splitting the age groups – maybe pre-school in the morning and then elementary school later. Who knows? These are all things to think about as we continue to grow.

But here is what I do know – we had people who came to church on Easter Sunday for no other reason but they came to the Egg Drop and were invited! Win-Win!

On Sunday we started a short two week series called, “Contagious.” It’s all about being contagious and sharing our faith. It’s kind of ironic because it seems like a large number of our people are sick right now. But Sunday was very powerful. I closed out my sermon by asking people to come and take Communion and then to write the name of a friend who needs Jesus on the walls of our auditorium – that’s right the actual white walls of our auditorium with black sharpie pens. It’s actually an idea that I got from Newspring Church. It was something they did several years ago. I’ve been waiting on just the right time to do it. With everything going on at our church right now, this seemed like the right time.

At some churches, they put the names of people who give a lot of money on plaques and display their names on pews or walls or name rooms or halls in their honor. On Sunday, I said we would never do that. All honor and glory will go to God. The only name we will lift up is Jesus. However, we are on the same mission that Jesus had – to seek and save the lost. And the names we wrote on the wall remind us of our mission. It is also a reminder that our building is nothing more than a tool to accomplish that mission. It is also a call to prayer.

I’m not sure how long we will leave the names up, but for now and for a time, they will remain. In fact, we will encourage our people to continue to add names to the wall. It was a very powerful moment in the life of our church.

This morning to close our our Men’s LIFE Group I told the guys that we were going to go in the auditorium and I simply wanted them to walk by the walls and silently read the names. We then got down on our knees and prayed for the names on the wall. It was one of the most moving moments we’ve experienced together. We’re encouraging our Prayer Team and anyone from our church who feels led to do so, to do the same thing – pray for the lost.

At Coastal, we don’t just go to church, we are the church. And we are on a mission – to share and experience the LIFE of Jesus with the world around us. How do I know that? The writing is on the wall.

I know, I know – I’ve done a terrible job lately of posting on my blog. I’m going to try to do better. There is a little story I’ve been wanting to share, but just haven’t – until now.

For some of the different sermon series that we do, we’ll give away gifts at the end of the service. It just started as something fun to do. Usually the gift goes along with series in some way. For our “Accelerate” series we gave away Nascar related gifts. During our “Beautiful” series we gave away stuff geared toward women. You get the idea. It also serves as an enticement to fill out our Connect Card. We’ll draw a name from the cards to determine who gets the gift. It’s funny – everyone fills out a Connect Card when we’re giving something away.

Well, at this years Christmas Eve service we decided to give away a few things. The “big gift” was a turkey & a ham. We made a joke how during the “UFC” series that we did that the guys got jacked up when we gave away meat (ribs & steaks). And since it was Christmas Eve we were going to give away a huge turkey & a spiral sliced Honey Baked Ham. Everyone laughed and went crazy.

I drew a Connect Card and the winner was a 1st Time Guest visiting from out of town. She was an older woman who came to see her son’s family here in Charleston who just recently started going to our church. She got a big kick out of winning.

The next week I got a Thank You note from the winner. She told me how much she enjoyed our service – the music, the message, and how friendly everyone was to her. She thanked me for the ham & turkey and told me how wonderful they both were and how she fed her friends and family with them.

She also told me that she wanted to give our church a gift to express her thanks – a piece of art. She gave me her phone number and asked me to call her with instructions about shipping the gift. I called her and told her that the gift was not necessary, but she insisted. Then she said something that caught me off guard. She told me to make sure to let her know when it arrived so she could take it off of her insurance.

What? Take it off her insurance? Let me cut to the chase. She sent our church a bas relief bronze sculpture entitled, “Christ of St. John of the Cross” by Salvador Dali – worth about $8000. Not a bad return for a turkey & a ham!

Sunday was Newcomers day! About once a quarter we have a Newcomers Lunch immediately after the 2nd Service and then Newcomers Dessert & Coffee immediately after the 3rd Service. Newcomers is a chance for those who are new to Coastal to learn more about our church, discover possible next steps, meet new people, and enjoy some great food. Speaking of great food, a big thanks goes to Kathy Beam, Susan Brown, and Michelle Horton for taking care of our meal and desserts! I love these opportunities. I love meeting new people who are curious and wanting to take next steps. I love sharing our story. On top of all of that – we laugh a lot together!

We were in part 3 of our “Accelerate” series and talking about the habit of prayer. The best part of the message was a comment on a Connect Card, “Today’s message was great! I learned a lot this morning. I did not know how to pray until today.” Also, just from Sunday’s Connect Cards – 6 people want to learn more about Coastal, 3 people renewed their commitment to Jesus, 2 people want to be Baptized, and exactly 100 people made a commitment to spend time in prayer every day this week! We also have an 18% increase in LIFE Group sign-ups compared to this point last semester. Oh, and our attendance was 282 on Sunday!

Jennifer Smith was also at Newcomers Lunch yesterday – not because she’s new, but because she had 5 people with her, all of whom she invited! One of those people is her grandmother. She has never been in church before – at least not that Jennifer can recall. She just started coming to Coastal. She loves it! She also just found out she has cancer. She came up to me after the lunch and said something like this, “Pastor Chris, I want to say something to you. I’m bashful, so I didn’t want to share it with the whole group, but I want to tell you something. My family is all here because of doughnuts and coffee. Thank you.”

I almost started crying. You see, several years ago I started a before school Prayer Group for the Teachers at Oakland Elementary School, the school directly across the street from our church. After our group meets, I push a cart around the school and hand out doughnuts and coffee to all the teachers. One of the teachers who started coming to the group was Jennifer. She then started coming to Coastal. She committed her life to Jesus, was baptized this December, and serves faithfully at our church. She invited and brought her boyfriend. He serves in ministry at our church too. Together they bring a young man who now calls them every Sunday at about 7AM to make sure they’re coming to get him. Jennifer’s mother, aunt, and grandmother have all started coming to Coastal. They fill up an entire row! They’re story is really quite miraculous.

Honestly, there are Tuesdays when that alarm goes off at 5:30AM that I don’t feel like getting up. This week – I don’t think that will be a problem. I love Newcomers Day! I love our church! I love getting to witness LIFE change! Thank you Jesus!

Well – here we go. This is my first blog post of the New Year and my first post on my “new” blog. Actually, it’s my same old blog, but it’s my first one on my redesigned site and my first time using Word Press. If any fellow bloggers using Word Press can help me with dressing up my site I would greatly appreciate it.

I want to thank the fine folks (Shannon & Matt) at Factor1Studios for our new website design and my new blog. They did a great job and are great people to work with.

Wow! What can I say? It has been an awesome beginning to 2010! First and most importantly, let me say that 2 people got saved last night and I think we already have about 5 people ready to get baptized.

We kicked off 2010 last week with a message looking back on 2009. It was simply an incredible year of growth and change. Last week was kind of crazy at the office. We were getting ready for FUEL, a new series coming up, 47 people going on a Ski Retreat, a new semester of LIFE Groups, a new website, logo, and bulletin redesign (and then just the normal weekly stuff). It was kind of a like a perfect storm – or just life at Coastal.

Did you catch that? 47 people (I think 40 students) going on a Ski Retreat! That’s the most students we have ever taken anywhere to anything. Keep Sean and his volunteers in your prayers. They leave Wed. after school for Gatlinburg, TN and return on Saturday. And I have to brag on the generosity of our church. We simply believe at Coastal that our Student Ministry is important and we ought to give accordingly. So, we stated the need and you guys have blown me away by your giving for this trip. Sean & Melissa have done a great job. As I said on Sunday, he works MORE than full time and right now we pay him part time. That must change this year – soon!

On Saturday we kicked off FUEL for 2010. We started FUEL last year. It is our monthly gathering of Coastal Volunteers. Honestly, it kind of dwindled a bit as we closed out 2009 – we didn’t meet in November (we had the Walk for LIFE) and we cancelled December because of the busyness of the Holidays. So, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. WOW! You guys blew me away! We had 50+ on fire, ready to go volunteers! The new format (Ministry Meetings the first hour) seemed to work great! I can’t wait for next month’s FUEL! With a little tweaking, this is going to become one of the best things we do.

And Sunday was just awesome! We had 285 people last week and I could just sense that we were about to make a jump and possibly break 300 soon. Well we did it yesterday – 305! Yesterday my message was simply about our vision and mission as a church. I talked about the year ahead and where I see us going. More and more I’m understanding that even when I think I’ve shared that stuff too much, people are just beginning to see what I see. And that’s okay. Believe it or not, I’m learning to be patient. I’m sharing stuff that I think about, wrestle with, dream, plan, prepare, study, analyze 24/7. It’s my job to lead, to creatively, consistently, passionately, lovingly cast vision. It’s easy to forget that God has to slap me upside the head about a 1000 times before I just begin to get a glimpse of His plan for my life – and even then I fight Him kicking and screaming sometimes (okay, many times).

We take my daughter back to college this week. She’s had a month long break and we’ve loved every precious minute of it. We leave on Thursday and come back on Friday. I’ve got a busy week. I need to get everything done before we leave on Thursday. Membership Class on Saturday morning and we begin a new series on Sunday – “Accelerate.” Plus Wes & Sean leave for the Retreat on Wednesday.