It’s that time of the year again – preparing our hearts and minds for Easter! I really believe that this is going to be an Easter Weekend to remember at Coastal! It will be our first Easter in our new facility. And we’re hoping that our new Chapel will be open as well for overflow. But one of the ways that we prepare ourselves for Easter at Coastal is by participating in an Annual 40 Day Easter Fast! The Fast begins on Monday, March 7th and goes through Good Friday, April 15th! Fasting is simply denying yourself something physical for a set period of time for the spiritual purpose of focusing on prayer, the Word, repentance, and your relationship with God. Jesus said, “When you fast . . .” In other words, Jesus meant for fasting to be a regular part of the Christian lifestyle. I would encourage you to get your whole family involved and make it a powerful spiritual experience.
What do you choose to fast? It’s different for different people. It’s probably the thing that first comes to mind when you start considering to fast. It might be some form of technology or social media that seems to have a stronghold in your life. It could be television. It might be some specific type of food – sugar, caffeine, sodas, meat, etc. It could be drinking or smoking. It could be time – where you get up earlier each day for 40 days and have a quiet time. It could be gossip or negative words. You decide that for 40 days nothing negative will come out of your mouth. It could be worry. You pray. You decide. Read through Matthew 6:16-18. Don’t make a big deal or a fuss about it. If you are interested in participating, respond to this email or write the words, “Easter Fast” on your Connect Card this Sunday.
Begin praying now for your “ONE”, the people in your life you will be inviting to church over Easter weekend. We’ll share the specific service times soon, but right now, like last year, it looks like we’ll be having 6 services over 3 days – 1 service on Friday night, 2 services on late Saturday afternoon, and 3 services on Sunday morning!
This Sunday, I’ll be continuing in our series called, “The Names of God.” The name I’ll be looking at this week is Yahweh. Out of all the names for God in the Bible, this particular name is the most common. And yet, it’s a name that’s rarely translated in our modern versions. Go ahead and read Exodus 3 & 4 in preparation for my message. This is the passage where God taps Moses, an 80 year old fugitive, murderer to lead His people out of their captivity in Egypt. And in doing so, He reveals a few things about Himself to us. Don’t miss it! And as always, invite someone to join you! I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
Make sure you mark your calendars and plan to attend our next Night of Worship on Friday night, March 18th, from 7-8:30pm. Invite your friends and family to join us for an inspirational evening of worship, prayer, and encouragement. Childcare will be provided for birth to kindergarten (RSVP for Childcare on your Connect Card). The theme for the evening will be, “At the Cross,” the same as the sermon series we’ll be in, preparing us for Easter. It’s really going to be an awesome night! Don’t miss it!
I want to share some great news from this past Sunday at Coastal. First of all, we had A LOT of 1st Time Guests with us! In many ways, that’s normal at Coastal. We expect Guests. We expect that you invite people to join us. We expect that you pray for your ONE, that you’re praying for the growth of our church, that you’re asking God to use Coastal to draw people to Himself. We expect you to warmly welcome and greet people each week, making people feel like welcome, expected guests in your home. Well, this past Sunday we gave away 17 1st Time Guest Bags! And then, are you ready for this? 3 people gave their life to Jesus, 3 people want to get Baptized, 5 people renewed their commitment to Christ, and one person wants to talk to someone about becoming a follower of Christ! WOW! WOW! WOW! Coastal that’s why we do what we do right there! Praise the Lord! Keep inviting, keep sharing, keep reaching out, and keep praying!
It’s been a great start to LIFE Groups this week! If you haven’t joined one yet, it’s still not too late (see below). In my Wednesday Morning Men’s Group this week, I was encouraged to hear so many guys were reading through the Bible with our church this year! Well, now that we’re in Leviticus, a lot of questions came up about the law, the sacrifices, the tabernacle, and many of the details. One of the guys in my Group reminded me about a great resource/website to help answer many of the questions you might have about a particular book, section, or passage of Scripture that I want to pass along. It’s called, “The Bible Project.” It’s filled with awesome videos outlining and overviewing the entire Bible! I would highly recommend it! You can literally use their search, type in “Leviticus” (for example), and find lots of videos explaining this book and answering so many of your questions. They even have a free app for your phone or mobile device! But most importantly, don’t give up! Keep reading! If you missed a day, don’t fret! Today is a new day. As you read, ask God to speak to you. And speaking of the Word, I’ll be in Genesis 22 this week, talking about Jehovah-Jireh (The Lord Will Provide) in our series on the Names of God. Don’t miss it!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I LOVE VALENTINE’S DAY! Why you ask? Because today is mine and Janet’s Wedding Anniversary – 35 years in fact! Our very first date was actually on Valentine’s Day as well. I was a freshman and Janet was a senior at a small Bible College in Atlanta (Atlanta Christian College – now Point University). On that first Valentine’s Day date I told Janet that I loved her. She replied, “I love you too.” But honestly, her response was more like, “Aww, I love Jesus and puppies and ice cream, and being at Bible College where we love everyone like a brother and sister in Christ, sure, I love you too, Chris Rollins.” But I knew this was different and I figured she would too, soon enough. She did. We were engaged in May and got married the following Valentine’s Day! Janet is the first and only woman I’ve ever dated or kissed. So yes, I am a romantic and yes, I love Valentine’s Day.
However, over the years as I’ve told people to “Have a Happy Valentine’s Day” I’ve actually had people snap back, “You mean, ‘Happy Single Awareness Day’, don’t you?!” Or today is the day I usually hear all about the Hallmark/Flower Industry conspiracy. One married woman once told me, “I told my husband, ‘You better not get me flowers or chocolate on Valentine’s Day! I don’t want that stuff unless you do it all year long.'”
Okay, okay I get it. Not everyone feels the same way about Valentine’s Day that I do. But hear me out, romance has very little to do with expensive candlelight dinners, flowers, or chocolates – although for some people it might. Romance is simply choosing to love someone exactly the way they need to be loved, expecting nothing in return, regardless of how you feel and regardless of how they respond. It’s the little things, done consistently, over time. It’s willingly sacrificing your needs for someone else – putting their needs ahead of your own. And when you find someone who will do that with you – trust me, there’s nothing better!
But here’s what I want you to think about today. If that’s the real definition of romance – then in many ways, our God is the “Great Romantic.” He knows exactly the way each of us needs to be loved and He willingly chooses to love us that way, regardless of how we respond, expecting nothing in return. He does the little things (and big things), consistently, over time – things that we usually take for granted. Thank God today for His great love for you and ask Him to help you to be a better lover!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
It’s finally here – LIFE GROUPS START THIS COMING WEEK! If you haven’t yet signed up for a Group, it’s not too late to join one. You can go online now, check out all the Groups in our 2022 Spring Semester LIFE Group Catalogand sign up for a Group today! There are multiple ways to sign up for a LIFE Group (online, Connect Card, LIFE Group Kiosk), but you only have to sign up one time, one way. Once you sign up for a Group, your Group Leader will contact you with all the details. And get this, so far we’ve had 588 LIFE Group sign-ups! I say so far, because there is still plenty of time to sign up for a group. In fact, hopefully by now you received your LIFE Group Catalog in the mail. If you didn’t, we might not have your correct address. If you’ve already signed up for a Group, please pass the catalog along to someone else and invite them to join. It’s going to be an awesome LIFE Group semester!!
I’m also excited about tomorrow – Coastal will be operating 2 Tailgating Parties at the same time, on the same day (meet at the church tomorrow at 10am – chair set up at 9am)! We’ll be at the Pink House and our new location at Charleston Vets. We’re only able to pull this off because of YOU – your generosity and your availability! If you want to serve in either of these opportunities, go to our website and sign up today! You’ll also be able to see and sign up for all of the other outreach opportunities of our church as well.
For those of you who have simply gotten out of the habit of attending church in-person, consider this your nudge to return! You are truly missed here at Coastal! I love what we’re doing online. We have greatly improved our online experience over the last several years at Coastal. It is a GREAT, GREAT TOOL! We have invested time, money, volunteers, and staff to it. It is not going away, and we will continue to make it better. However, it is NOT the same as being in-person. It’s easier to get distracted online. There is a lack of accountability (no one knows if you’re there or not). And therefore, it’s just easier to get out of the habit. Now, if you’re sick, out of town, or live out of town, by all means, take advantage of it. In fact, everyone should be regularly sharing it with your friends and spreading the word. Most people will check out our church online before they come in-person. But it’s time to remove from your conversational vocabulary this statement, “Let’s just stay at home and watch church online today.” Push through and COME to church! Obviously, the church is not a building. And one of our sayings over the years here at Coastal has been, “We don’t just GO to church, we ARE the church!” We even had a t-shirt with that on it (mental note – we need to redo that t-shirt)! I believe all of that with my whole heart. So that’s not what I’m talking about. But there’s just something powerful when God’s people gather together in-person for worship and for the proclamation of God’s Word! So join us online when you HAVE to, but don’t make it a habit. I love you Coastal, and I love being your Pastor! And I can’t wait to SEE you in-person on Sunday (and yes even online)!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
Wow! I really can’t say enough good things about LIFE Group Sunday this past week at Coastal! First of all, it was so awesome to have everything inside in our new facility! Can you imagine how cold it would have been outside underneath a tent (like we used to do)? And all of our LIFE Group Leaders really knocked it out of the park with their booths/tables! You could just feel the energy and excitement on our campus! And most importantly, we’ve had 462 LIFE Group sign-ups SO FAR! I say so far, because there is still plenty of time to sign up for a group. In fact, hopefully you received your LIFE Group Catalog in the mail this week. If you’ve already signed up for a Group, share it with someone else.
It’s hard to believe, but this Saturday is the 6th Anniversary of our church doing Saturday Serve – 6 years of consistently being the hands and feet of Jesus, serving and loving our community! As always, we meet in the Welcome Center at Coastal at 8:30am (come at 7:30am and help us set up chairs). You’ll hear a pitch from a ½ dozen great leaders explaining the different serving opportunities they are leading for the day. Then you’ll choose the serving opportunity you like the best, and then head out to serve! It’s that simple! There is no need to bring anything. All we need is YOU and a willingness to serve (and we even give you a FREE t-shirt). All projects will wrap up by lunchtime so, it’s not a sacrifice of your entire Saturday. And bring your whole family – several of our projects are definitely “child friendly.” In fact, one of the projects that we are bringing back this Saturday is a Craft Project for young children – the kids will be making Valentines for Veterans! So again, don’t miss this Saturday Serve this Saturday!
And speaking of Veterans and serving, I have an exciting announcement to make. On Saturday, February 12th, Coastal will be operating 2 Tailgating Parties at the same time, on the same day! It will also be the very first serving project for our 2nd Box Truck! By the way, this is made possible through your generous giving toward our Christmas Offering! One Tailgate Party will be at the Pink House (see below) and the second Tailgate Party will be at Charleston Vets. Charleston Vets is a transitional housing facility for veterans in North Charleston. And what’s even more exciting about this relationship is that it’s managed by one of Coastal’s very own – Joe Towles. We’ll be grilling up some burgers & hotdogs with chips, desserts, and drinks. Most of the veterans we will be serving are in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. Additionally, some were also previously homeless. The facility is much like Patriot Villas, another transitional housing area for veterans where we send outreach teams to serve. Join us as we serve and build new friendships with these local heroes. If you want to serve in any of these opportunities, let us know on your Connect Card or go to www.coastalcommunitychurch.org/missions and sign up today!
I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor! What we’re a part of and what we get to do together never gets old! I hope you feel the same way!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”: