Today was “Crazy Hair Day” over at Oakland Elementary School (the school across the street from our church). So, I walked over in my “crazy hair” and had lunch with Gracie Perkins and her Kindergarten Class. That’s me in the middle with the big fro and shades. The other picture is me, Gracie, and one of the Lunch Room Ladies. It felt kind of cool to have hair! Actually, it was extremely hot! How about a “Crazy Hair Day” at Coastal?

I’ve only got a few minutes before I’m heading out the door, but I wanted to share a few things about Sunday. It just seems that we’re riding a wave right now! I just really look forward to our Sunday morning gatherings – the people, the music, the word, the kids, lives changing, all of it! We had another great crowd and it was great to have Bryan Miller back from Afghanistan! I know Brooke and Ashley are glad to have him home. He’s back home for about a month. He’s going paintballing with us on Saturday. I want to be on his team.

We were in the second week of our “Simple Church” series. We talked about discipleship. Our main focus was on our church’s goal of helping people become self-feeders. Yes, we want to teach and preach truth and sound doctrine, but we then want the emphasis to be on giving people the training and tools to learn on their own. We are not going to be a church that keeps adding program after program. We are not going to create an atmosphere where the church takes responsibility for an individual’s spiritual growth. And it was so awesome to read all the Connect Cards where people wrote down their next step they need to take in their spiritual journey. Way to go Coastal!

We had several people sign up for our 101 Membership Class but were unable to attend last night. We will reschedule another one very soon – be on the lookout! Had a great visit with Bruce & Linda last night. He said something really cool I wanted to share with you. I told them that I knew Janet was the woman I would marry after our first date. He said that he knew Coastal was their home after their first visit. Is that awesome or what?

Another cool thing from yesterday – a 9 year old girl filled out a Connect Card before Coastal Kidz and wrote, “This is a great church. It makes me feel closer to Jesus when I’m here!” She also checked that she gave her life to Jesus! I love this church! Speaking of Students, Cameron Williams, 15, spoke last night at WAVES! He talked about honoring your parents. He did a great job! Is this an awesome church or what? Jeremiah and his whole volunteer staff are doing a great job. Jeremiah even took a few students down to Universal Studios in Florida for the weekend. Is that a great Youth Pastor or what?

Well, I’ve got to go get some ribs off the grill – heading over to Eddie Evans to watch his Packers play the Broncos on Monday Night Football. Yes – you heard right – baby back ribs! Take a big sniff – can you smell them? Don’t worry – I did 45 minutes on the treadmill. I should have done an hour because Janet made some brownies for me to take that have 3 Hershey’s Symphony bars in the middle. I think it’s Kathy Beam’s recipe. She’s the devil! I’m weak! I hate to tell you this Eddie, but when I don’t care about the teams – it’s all about the snacks! You better be grilling brats!

I was in my office tonight while our Praise & Worship Team was practicing when all of a sudden I heard Andy Gill shriek, I mean shout with a deep manly voice, “Pastor Chris – I see a giant, flying, vampire, rat beast!” At first I thought it was some term of endearment he used for little Andy. But when I walked out of my office I saw mighty warrior Andy stalking the great monster. I quickly joined in the hunt. After about 20 minutes, multiple strategies, many weapons, and destroying three rooms we captured the beast! We then slew the great beast with our bare hands, gutted the animal, painted little Andy with the blood of the animal in a coming of age man ceremony, started a fire with some flint from a filling in my tooth, and fed the families of our Praise & Worship Team from the meat of its carcass. Okay, actually we scared our wives and set it free outside. But that didn’t sound very Wild at Heart!

I know – I haven’t posted since Sunday night. Let’s just say it’s been a strange, long week already. I wrote a post about 6 weeks ago entitled, “The Pursuit of Happyness,” about Rob James, the young man who showed up at our church in need of help. Come to find out this week, the whole situation was a lot more like another movie starring Will Smith, “Six Degrees of Separation.” That movie was about a con man who managed to convince a number of people that he was the son of Sidney Poitier.

It’s a rather long, involved story, but the whole thing started to unravel on Wednesday. I was supposed to take Rob to Charlotte on Thursday for his valve replacement surgery. That never happened. He called saying he had spent the night at Roper Hospital because he had passed out. Rob has a heart problem, but I’m not sure he ever had a physical heart problem. But who knows? Maybe he does. Part of a good con involves elements of truth. In the beginning, before he stayed with anyone from our church, we did our due diligence by doing a background check on him – no criminal record. And it did confirm certain elements of his story as far as his residence in Rock Hill and Columbia. And Rob does evidently have cooking skills. He got a job at the Fat Hen for about a week while he was here, and he did evidently work here in Charleston at another restaurant almost two years ago. Has he been here that long, conning innocent people? Was any of his story true? I don’t know.

I do know he that lied to another Pastor and church in the area during the same time. We rummaged through some trash he left behind at Bill’s apartment and found a Pastor’s business card. I called the Pastor and found out he showed up there on a bike telling the same story. (He said he got the bike from a Pawn Shop. It was my bike!) They ended up giving him some food, vouchers, and a little money. He showed up later with a van. He told the Pastor an old friend from Columbia who found out about his situation gave it to him. It was the van that Justin and Sarah, from our church, sold him. Wanting to help, they told him to pay them when he could. He never gave them any money.

He worked with Patrick as a laborer for a couple of weeks. He showed up and evidently worked hard. He quit that job supposedly because he landed a primo job as the “chef de cuisine” at a very nice restaurant in downtown Charleston. It was a great job – great money and great benefits. About two weeks into the job he passed out and was rushed to the Emergency Room at MUSC, all of which led to the discovery of his arterial stenosis, and him having to leave that job. Sarah came and picked him up from the Emergency Room. The chef job was a lie. It was one of the most involved, detailed lies I’ve ever heard. After talking to the real chef de cuisine at the restaurant, he remembered a Rob James (“a tall lanky white kid”) who worked there almost two years ago as a line cook. They keep their records on file and he faxed me copies. Sure enough it was him. Some of the information on the application was similar to what he told me, some was not.

I do know he went to the Emergency Room. I went to the hospital this time and talked to folks in the Emergency Room. He never spent the night there, however. Whether he went there for his heart or drugs or something else, I’ll never know. He actually faked passing out at our church one day during the week!

I do know that he also fraudulently charged over $800 on Bill’s credit cards. I do know that this will be the last time that he does not have a criminal record.

And finally, I do know that I am so proud of our church! So many people did the right thing for the right reasons – Bill, Justin & Sarah, Patrick & Jennifer, Courtney & Mark, Jeremiah & Cnydi, Andy & Miranda, our Prayer Team, and many others! Several people have commented to me, after hearing the story, how they can’t get that picture of a Small Group and our Prayer Team gathered around Rob, laying hands on him, praying for his heart and upcoming surgery, one Sunday after church. You know what? I’ll never get that picture out of my mind either. To me, it’s not a picture of a con man. It’s a beautiful picture of a community of believers doing what the church is supposed to do, no matter what.

Romans 12:17-21, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Maybe during that prayer we were simply heaping burning coals on his head. I don’t know. That’s between him and God. I do pray that God will heal his heart. And I do know that we will continue to feed, care, and love this world we find ourselves in no matter what. Like I said, it’s been a long strange week. I’ve found myself shocked, embarrassed, extremely angry, and very sad. For the last couple of days, I feel like I’ve been on a covert operation. Today, however, is a new day and I find myself very proud to be a part of a church like Coastal. I love you! See you and your friends on Sunday!

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!

This Sunday we begin a new message series entitled, “Simple Church.” The series is all about the simple process at Coastal for sharing and experiencing LIFE – Love it, Learn it, Live it, and Give it. To close out the series we are going to do something we’ve never done before.

On Sunday, November 18th, we’re not going to have our “normal” church service. We’ll gather together for communion at 9:30 and then at 10AM we’re going to leave the building and head off to two community projects and return at noon to pick up our kids (childcare will be provided at the church for Nursery and Pre-school age children). The two community projects will be at Oakland Elementary School (across the street) and Crisis Ministry Homeless Shelter (downtown). We are in the process of determining those specific jobs at each location (something like cleaning, painting, landscaping, beautification, etc.), but everything will be well planned out and prepared. In the coming weeks, we’ll give you the opportunity to sign up for one of those two projects. We’d like to have our church pretty evenly divided between the two projects. For those going to the Shelter, we will even provide 15 passenger vans for transportation. All you will have to do is to show up and serve!

We’ll have someone stay at the church to explain to our guests who show up at 10:30AM where everyone went and what we’re doing. Who knows – they might opt to walk across the street and join us! But what a great opportunity for the church to demonstrate Jesus in action. What a great opportunity for the church to “simply” be the church in our community. And, what a great opportunity to invite someone that you’ve been praying for and trying to “come to church.” We say all the time, “We don’t go to church, we are the church.” Well, let’s be the church!

Just a few quick thoughts about this past Sunday:

- Jeremiah did a great job. His message was from Matthew 9:10-13 about Jesus eating at Matthew’s house and the Pharisees pitching a fit. He talked about how the church is to be a hospital for sick people. Our disease is sin. Jesus is the cure. And like a doctor who sees someone in need, it is our responsibility to reach out. Who are you praying for? Who are building a relationship with? Who are you inviting?

- Janet began training for Coastal Kidz at 9:30AM. Coastal Kidz is our ministry to children 1st-5th Grade. On November 25th Coastal Kidz will have their own entire age appropriate service. We still need more volunteers in this ministry. See Janet if you have any questions about how you can be involved.

- Kathy Bench is faithfully leading our children during Christmas Program Practice at 9:30AM. It is definitely more difficult that people realize. She’s doing a great job. She could always use a few more adults to help out – sound, props & decorations, crowd control, etc.

- During the service I walked to the back of our auditorium. It’s a different perspective from back there. I think we’re going to add another row of chairs and leave them out. We’re creeping up to capacity. We still need our people to scoot up and in. When our kids are in their own service it will free up more space, but we are definitely growing. We had a good crowd on Sunday.

- One highlight of the day was praying for Rob with our Prayer Team and his Small Group immediately after church. Rob just found out he needs heart surgery. Keep him in your prayers.

- We had a Newcomers Lunch after church. I love telling people our story and encouraging them to join us in the adventure of sharing and experiencing LIFE! I also want to thank Kathy Beam for taking care of the meal for our Newcomers Lunch. Not only is she a great cook, but she has a servant’s heart and gets everything ready for us! (Those brownies were awesome!)

- Sunday night we went with a group from our church to hear Mercy Me in concert at the North Charleston Coliseum. They are a great worship band. Had a lot of fun.

- Got on the treadmill today – uggh, I am fat and out of shape (but I’m trying to do something about it). That brownie probably didn’t help. Everything in moderation right?

- On Sunday, November 18th we’re going to do something very cool! More about that later this week.

- This Sunday, we begin our new series, Simple Church. It’s going to be a great series!

- A bunch of people have signed up for our church Paintball event (see previous post). Invite and bring someone! That’s why we’re doing it. It’s our version of a Matthew Party!

- I’m actually watching Monday Night Football right now – just so I can see my good friend Buck and his son Robert. They’re at the game – in the Giant’s endzone right through the uprights. In fact, the Giants just scored and we saw them! We’ll probably see them a lot in the first half (in other words the Giants will score a lot – the Falcons stink). Oops – the Falcons just scored. Who knows? They’re a scrappy bunch of pit bulls. Bad joke.

I know, I know – some of you can’t handle that title. Don’t leave me a sad message however, just show up Saturday, November 3rd at Paintball Charleston and try to hide, because I will shoot you down! I may be big, but I’ve got puma-like moves. My son is so jacked he can hardly contain himself! We’re renting a field, grilling out for lunch, and going to battle! But do you know what I’m most excited about? Everyone is inviting someone to join us! I think we might have 40-50 people out there! It’s going to be awesome! There is a sign up list at church. Invite your neighbors, your co-workers, your family, anyone 10 years of age and older. Just sign them up and collect their money as soon as possible. The cost is $25. It includes all equipment rental, paint, air, field fee, lunch & drinks!

It’s weird because I’m not preaching tomorrow. In fact, I didn’t preach last week. Last week we showed the video message by Pastor Craig Gross of xxxchurch.com for Porn Sunday. Tomorrow Jeremiah, our Youth Pastor, is speaking. I called him tonight and asked him if he’s in the “zone.” He is. I’ve seen his message, it’s going to rock! In 17 years of ministry here at Coastal, this is the first time I have not preached at Coastal for two consecutive weeks. Through vacations, sickness, crutches, the births of my children, holidays, interns, Associate Pastor, I’ve never missed two consecutive weeks preaching. The truth is I’ve needed it. Long term, the preaching schedule I keep is not good for me, for you, and my family. I need to take breaks, rest, reflect, and hear from God. Tonight, Janet and I went out on a date. It was awesome! Jeremiah will speak more often this year. It’s good for him, for me, and for you.

But guess what? I can’t wait to preach next week! It’s in my bones! It’s my calling! We’re beginning a new series next week called, “Simple Church.” This preaching break came at just the right time. I’m jacked about this new series! It’s going to be about the simple process at Coastal for experiencing and sharing LIFE – love it, learn it, live it, give it. That’s it. It’s that simple. In a world where there is so much clamoring for our attention – it’s time to simplify, to strip away all of the noise and focus in on what matters. And sometimes even the church follows the world in that we just keep doing so much and keep changing our mind. We say this program is important, no this program, no, this new seminar, no, this way of doing things, no, wait, just add this to your schedule. It’s crazy! At Coastal it is and always has been about experiencing and sharing LIFE! However, there have been times when we’ve fallen into the trap of just adding more and more to be something we’re not. Strip all of it away – here’s the process at Coastal: love it (worship), learn it (life development), live it (Small Groups), give it (ministry & evangelism). Love it – Learn it – Live it – Give it. That’s what we do. That’s what we’ll protect. It’s what will cause us to say “no” to some things and “yes” to others. This might not be the focus of some churches, but it is ours. We are not trying to mimic anyone. We’re trying to be the church God has called us to be. As you can see – I am already in the zone for next week! Strap it on tight – we’re going to rock this city for Jesus!

This past Sunday three young boys sat on the front row next to me. When I introduced myself to them, one of them said, “I know you. You bring doughnuts to my teacher.” Sure enough – two of the boys go to Oakland Elementary School and see me each Tuesday walking from classroom to classroom passing out doughnuts, chatting with the teachers.

But let me share with you how they ended up at Coastal and how you played a part in it. At the beginning of the school year I told the teachers to let me know if they needed anything or if we could help their students in any way. Mrs. Hilton, a second grade teacher in my Prayer Group, told me about a boy in her class who needed some help with purchasing uniforms. I announced it to our Small Groups during our “Just Walk Across the Room” Campaign and several people gave money. I went to Wal-Mart, purchased some shirts and pants, and delivered it to Mrs. Hilton. The next day the boys parents walked across the street to thank us. I told them about our church, gave them a tour, and introduced them to Jeremiah. They told me that they might send their boys to church, but that they worked on Sundays. The wife said she worked at Athen’s Greek Restaurant. (As many of you already know, my family just has to have an Athens Greek Salad about once a month!)

Well a couple of weeks went by, no kids. But then one day I went out to Athens and guess who took my order – the mom. She thanked me again. I told her about our “Wild Ride” series and she assured me that she would send her kids. Sure enough – they came! In fact, they’ve come the last three weeks and on Sunday they brought a friend. So on this past Tuesday when I walked from classroom to classroom two little boys in second grade had a new friend and told their teacher, “I go to Pastor Chris’ church!” The truth is it’s not MY church. It’s HIS church and WE all play an important part in it. And when you give your money to Coastal, sometimes it goes to things as seemingly insignificant as pants and shirts or even doughnuts, juice, and coffee for teachers at an elementary school. But what I wanted to remind you is that we are changing lives! Both boys told me how much they enjoyed Coastal Kidz and would see me again! Who are you praying for and bringing to church?