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Okay, okay, we’re not really having a “Black Friday Sale” at Coastal! I just thought it might be a creative way to get you to open and read my “Friday 5.” I know how some of you get when you hear the word SALE! I hope you and your family truly had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday! Today is traditionally called “Black Friday.” And then next week we have “Cyber Monday” and “Giving Tuesday”! Regardless of what labels we assign these days, the reality is that more people will buy more STUFF online this weekend and over the next month than any other time of the year. That’s not a bad thing, BUT it isn’t eternal. Our church exists to share and experience the LIFE and LOVE of Jesus with Charleston & the world – and that IS eternal!
So, while you’re shopping online today and over the next month, why not consider doing one of 2 things. And here’s my CYBER OFFER: 100% of your investment will go to reaching people for Jesus!
Many people give to Coastal with their smartphone through TEXTING! After a one step, one time registration process (takes less than 2 minutes), you simply text any amount to 843-277-8337 and hit send. GIVE IT A TRY! You can give any amount, any where, any time, any place. It is not billed to your phone. It is through your Bank/Credit Card that you register. It is simple, safe, and secure.
Whether you and your family are here in Charleston or out of town this weekend, I hope to see you at Coastal on Sunday – in-person or online! However, remember we are only having 1 in-person service this Sunday – 9:30am. As always, the service will be online live at 9:30am, and rebroadcast online at 11:15am and 6pm. We kick off our “Christmas at Coastal” series on Sunday, December 5th. Take advantage of this season and this series and invite your friends to church!
On a very personal note, I’m asking you to please pray for a friend of mine – Mike Diamond. He has COVID-19, and I just found out that he’s been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. He’s had many respiratory issues over the years, so this is very serious. I say my friend, but in all reality he’s my Dad. He was the one who led me to the Lord, he was my Youth Pastor growing up, he was the best man in my wedding, he’s my mentor, my Pastor, and my spiritual Father. I’m pretty sure I’ve talked to him every week of my life for the past 41 years. Pray for his wife, his children, and his grand children. Pray for his church. He’s the Pastor of Victory Christian Church in Goose Creek, a small church that he started years ago. I will keep you updated as I hear more. Thank you!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
First of all, I just want to thank everyone who participated in Operation Christmas Child this year! It looks like we filled around 900 shoeboxes this year! I say around 900 because we had multiple people take shoeboxes directly over to Charleston Baptist after we had already loaded ours up and taken them over. Plus you can still build boxes online until November 22nd. Go to Coastal’s Build a Shoebox Online Challenge Page and for only $25 you can build shoeboxes that are used to reach “the ends of the earth – hard to reach places.” Here’s the link https://sampur.se/3Ao3bXv. Think about it – that’s over 900 opportunities to share and experience the life and love of Jesus with children around the world! And as we say here at Coastal, if you change a child’s life, you change the world! Thanks for being a world changer!
Also, I want to encourage you to come tonight to our Night of Worship, 7pm, here in our main auditorium. And that’s exactly what it’s going to be – a night of worship and praise, singing to and about our awesome God! You need this. We need this. The Holidays tend to be a very stressful time of the year for a lot of people. Add that to the stress of this past year, plus just the normal stuff of life, and you have a recipe for disaster. The theme of the night is peace. Come worship and experience the Prince of Peace together with your church family. This service will NOT be online. It’s in-person only. Honestly, I think that’s good sometimes for a church. There is just something powerful and different about the gathered church. In fact, all through the Bible you find example after example of God moving in powerful ways when His people gathered together to worship Him. Come and gather with us – 7pm tonight, childcare only for children Birth-Kindergarten. Everyone else will be in the auditorium. I hope to see you!
Have you and your family prayed about what you can give to our Christmas Offering this year (see below)? Have you made an initial gift? Our goal this year is $125,000. Big Goal. But guess what? After just one week, we’ve already received $22,935! How awesome is that?! As we’ve learned time and time again, not everyone can give the same amount, but everyone can make the same sacrifice. The amount will look different from person to person, family to family. What’s a sacrifice to one family, might not be a sacrifice to another. But, when we all sacrifice together and give generously by faith, that’s when God shows up and does a miracle! What do we say at Coastal? We’re going to work like it all depends on us, pray like it all depends of God, walk by faith, trust God with the results, and celebrate what He does in our midst!
We wrap up our series on the Fruit of the Spirit this Sunday. I’ll be talking about self-control. I hope you’ll make it and that you invite and bring a friend. I also hope you’ll make a real push to invite and bring someone over the month of December and especially Christmas Eve (see below). People are open to spiritual things throughout the Holidays. Leverage that, use that openness for the Kingdom. People are most open to an invitation to church during times of trouble, transition, and tension. That pretty much describes the times in which we live. And people especially feel that way during the Holidays. Pray for the open door and then boldly walk through it. What’s the worst thing that could happen? They say no. What’s the best thing that could happen? They could give their life to Jesus, and you were just used by God to help change someone’s eternity. It doesn’t get any better than that! I love you Coastal! And I love being your Pastor! I never want to take that for granted, and I never want to take for granted what God is doing through our church!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
Shoeboxes, Shoeboxes Shoeboxes! Don’t forget, all filled and completed shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child must be returned by this Sunday! You can also build and send these boxes directly through OCC’s website without even leaving your home! Go to Coastal’s Build a Shoebox Online Challenge Page and for only $25 you can build shoeboxes that are used to reach “the ends of the earth – hard to reach places.” Here’s the link https://sampur.se/3Ao3bXv. Together, with Christians all around the country, we get to be a part of reaching thousands of children all around the world! How exciting is that! None of this would be possible without YOU and your generosity!
And speaking of Christmas and generosity, I hope you saw my email yesterday about this year’s Annual Christmas Offering! Our goal is big – $125,000! But I believe that over the next 9 weeks, with God’s help, together we can reach it! Beginning this Sunday, November 14th, through the second Sunday of the New Year, January 9th (9 weeks), we are encouraging our entire Coastal family to give above and beyond their regular tithes and offering to this year’s Christmas Offering. To give, all you have to do is designate your gift “Christmas” on your check, offering envelope, card swiping “description”, online through Paypal, or TEXTing (843-277-8337). You can give your gift during those 9 weeks (Nov. 14th – Jan. 9th) at any of our regular Sunday morning services or anytime through TEXTing, our website, or our App. You might also consider giving it all at once during one of our 3 Christmas Eve Services (Friday, December 24th, 3pm, 4:30pm, & 6pm). Our entire Christmas Eve offering will go toward our Annual Christmas Offering.
So what are we going to do with that $125,000? Mainly 2 things: 1. We are going to be purchasing our SECOND “Box Truck”! Given the popularity of the tailgating outreach at Coastal, the number of volunteers who attend these types of events, and the impact made in the community, the deployment of a 2nd truck would potentially double the impact of our outreach efforts. 2. We’re going to remodel our old auditorium into a Chapel. As a Chapel, it will serve many purposes – not only for kids, but for students, overflow worship, LIFE Groups, community meeting space, weddings, and funerals. Specifically, we hope that this Christmas Offering will help purchase the flooring, paint, chairs, lighting & AV equipment.
So, start praying about what you and your family can give toward this offering and maybe make an initial gift this weekend. Remember, this offering should be over and above what you regularly give. If you’re not regularly giving (weekly, monthly), use this time of year and this offering to start. If you’re not tithing (10% of your gross income), step out in faith and start tithing. Reaching this goal will be a celebration of what God can do through our church as together we stretch our faith. Again, simply use the keyword “Christmas” whenever and however you give toward the Christmas Offering.
And speaking of generosity – I say it all the time – I want our church to be known in the community as a generous church. Well, you might be wondering what we did with all the cases and equipment that we were setting up for the past year for Coastal Kidz over at Orange Grove Middle School? WE GAVE IT AWAY to a new church plant in Roswell, GA! We probably saved them $50,000! Here’s a part of an email we got back from them:
Thank you Coastal for your continued generosity! I love you and I love being your Pastor! Have a great Friday! Can’t wait to see you over the weekend – Saturday: Membership Class 9am at the church (or Zoom – see below), chair set-up at 9:30am, Tailgating at the Pink House 10am (see below), or Sunday: Worship in-person or online, 9:30am & 11:15am! Oh and speaking of Sunday services, there will only be one in-person service on Sunday, November 28th (the Sunday after Thanksgiving) at 9:30am.
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
I am so excited to share with you our plans for our 9th Annual Christmas Offering! Over the years, this offering has made a huge IMPACT on our ministry!
For example, the Christmas Offering has enabled us to:
God has used our church and the Christmas Offering to do all of that and so much more! Well, beginning THIS Sunday, November 14th, through the second Sunday of the New Year, January 9th (9 weeks), we are encouraging our entire Coastal family to give above and beyond their regular tithes and offering to this year’s Christmas Offering.
To give, all you have to do is designate your gift “Christmas” on your check, offering envelope, card swiping “description”, online through Paypal, or TEXTing (843-277-8337). You can give your gift during those 9 weeks (Nov. 14th – Jan. 9th) at any of our regular Sunday morning services or anytime through TEXTing, our website, or our App. You might also consider giving it all at once during one of our Christmas Eve Services. Our entire Christmas Eve offering will go toward our Annual Christmas Offering.
Why a Special Offering? It’s a way for us to grow in our faith and to prepare us for what God wants to do through our church in a bigger way in 2022. It’s a way for us to sacrifice together as a church family and give generously. Christmas is all about giving. Many people, during this time of year, are in fact looking for opportunities to give. And there is no better place to give than to your local church.
What is our goal and where is the money going? Our overall goal is $125,000 – our largest Christmas Offering to date! Is that a big goal? Yes! Can we reach it? Absolutely! As always, I am very excited about where this year’s money will be going and the potential Kingdom impact. The money will be used for Community Outreach & Remodeling Our Old Auditorium. Let me specifically explain each:
How much should you give? Prayerfully consider giving a gift that will stretch your faith and include your whole family. For some people, coming up with “extra” money is difficult. We’ve learned that as we give, God provides. Maybe you decide to give up eating out or buying coffee for 9 weeks and give that money to the Christmas Offering. Maybe you sell something or have a yard sale. For some people $1000 above your regular giving is a huge sacrifice. For others, it’s not.
Maybe there is someone who might be willing to give a large matching gift this year. Just like our “Daring Faith” Giving Campaign that has enabled us to build our new building and all the other Christmas Offerings we’ve done in the past, we can’t all give the same amount, but TOGETHER, we can ALL make a sacrifice. That’s when God does a miracle, when together we ALL step out in faith.
Remember, this offering should be over and above what you regularly give. If you’re not regularly giving (weekly, monthly), use this time of year to start. If you’re not tithing (10% of your gross income), step out in faith and start tithing. Reaching this goal will be a celebration of what God can do through us as together we stretch our faith.
Merry Christmas!
Pastor Chris Rollins
P.S. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. The easiest and fastest way to give to the Christmas Offering is through TEXTing. Simply TEXT any amount followed by the word “Christmas” to 843-277-8337 (Example: “$100 Christmas”). If you haven’t signed up for TEXT-to-Give it’s a quick, simple, and secure process!
WOW! WOW! WOW! Grand Opening Weekend was truly AMAZING at Coastal! Honestly, we really didn’t know what to expect at the Open House on Friday night. Would anyone actually show up and drop-by? Well, show up you did! In fact, several hundred people showed up! And then Sunday came – the Grand Opening – our first official Sunday using our new space. I was speechless! It all started with our VIP Volunteer Meeting at 9am. We were two deep with Volunteers in our circle in the new Gather Space. And speaking of Volunteers, I can’t say enough good things about all of our Sunday morning LIFE Team Volunteers. You guys ROCK! From First Impressions, to the Cafe, to Security, to Coastal Kidz, to Worship and Tech, and the Prayer Team – all of you showed up in full force and served with love, joy, and excellence! I am so proud of all of you and can’t thank you enough! We had 662 people in person and another 475 people online! I think my jaw was sore Sunday afternoon from all the smiling. Finally seeing all the children in their classrooms, playing on the playgrounds, seeing all the people in the Gather Space getting coffee and snacks from the new Cafe, talking and connecting before and after services – it all filled my heart with so much joy and gratitude!
But like I said on Sunday, God is not finished with us and we’re just getting started! We’re going to keep loving, keep serving, and keep sharing and experiencing the LIFE and LOVE with Jesus with Charleston and the world! The new facility is just a tool to leverage towards that end. We’re going to use it, fill it up, add another service and keep growing!
If you were unable to be a part of Grand Opening weekend in-person, no worries! I can’t wait to see you this Sunday or very soon. And for those of you who came in person for the first time in a long time, I can’t tell you how great it was to see you. You made my day! There’s just something about the “gathered church” that being online can’t replace. It’s a great tool, one that we’re going to continue to use and improve, but don’t think for a second that it’s the same. It’s not. For those of you who have not yet returned to in-person worship, it’s time to come home. Use the opening of the new facility as a great time to return. In fact, the opening of the new facility is an opportunity for all of us to use to invite and bring friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers to come and see.
For those of you who were a part of our “Daring Faith” Giving Campaign or you have given generously and consistently to our church, thank you! We could not do what we do – including this new facility – without you. Now let’s finish what we started. We have 1 year left in our “Daring Faith” Campaign. Continue to give in faith. For those of you who weren’t a part of “Daring Faith” or who don’t give consistently or generously, it’s time to start – not for us, but for you. You are missing out on the joy of giving and the blessing of God.
Back to Volunteers for just a moment – don’t think for a second that we have all the Volunteers we need and that there’s not a place for you. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is a place for you and you are needed! Go to our website, check out all the LIFE Teams, and sign up to Volunteer today!
One last thing, speaking of leveraging our new facility. If there are any stay at home parents with small children looking for a fun play date, feel free to use our indoor & outdoor playgrounds, Monday-Thursday, 9am-3pm. And yes, feel free to invite and bring other friends with kids to join you. Or maybe you’re looking for a quiet place to work, use the internet, get away from your office or home office for a bit, feel free to utilize our great Gather Space during those same times. We have a great facility – now let’s use it!
I jump back into our series on the Fruit of the Spirit this weekend, and I’ll be talking about faithfulness. Read Luke 7:1-10 in preparation for my message on Sunday. And this Sunday is Time Change! Enjoy that “extra” hour as your clocks “Fall Back” one hour. I love you Coastal, and I love being your Pastor! I hope to see you Saturday at “Saturday Serve” and on Sunday for worship!
LIFE & LOVE
Pastor Chris
SUNDAYS
8:30am, 10:00am, 11:30am
460 Arlington Drive,
Charleston, SC 29414
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