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”:
- UPCOMING OUTREACH PROJECTS:
Clothing Team – Our Coastal Clothing Team will be organizing and sorting clothes TODAY, November 19h, 9:30am-11:30am. Meet at 2952 Old Pond Road on Johns Island.
Thanksgiving at Joseph Floyd Manor – Wednesday, November 24th, 9:30am-1pm, we’re going to be putting on a huge Thanksgiving Meal for the folks at Joseph Floyd Manor. The food is covered, but we really need volunteers to come and serve. Joseph Floyd Manor is public assistance housing and has a large number of low income elderly and disabled people. Meet at the church.
Neighbors Together (formerly Tri-County Ministries) – We will be assisting with their Emergency Grocery Distribution, Wednesday, November 24th (and Wednesday, December 8th), 9:45am-12:30pm. Meet at: 2105 Cosgrove Ave. North Charleston.
Saturday Serve – The foundation of all of our serving opportunities at Coastal really starts with Saturday Serve – the first Saturday of every month. The next Saturday Serve is Saturday, December 4th. We meet in the Welcome Center/Cafe at 8:30am, project leaders make a “pitch” for their serving opportunity, and then we serve! Make plans NOW to be there!
If you are interested in serving in any of these projects, you can sign up on your Connect Card this Sunday or sign up now on our website. If you have any questions, please reach out to Pastor Chris Jones at 843-870-4613. - Our goal for our 9th Annual Christmas Offering is $125,000! Now through the second Sunday of the New Year, January 9th (8 more 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 these 8 weeks 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 (Thursday, December 24th, 3pm, 4:30pm, & 6pm). Our entire Christmas Eve offering will go toward our Annual Christmas Offering. With this year’s offering we are purchasing a second box truck and remodeling our old auditorium.
- Our Christmas at Coastal series kicks off on Sunday, December 5th! Our new facility will be beautifully decorated and a great place to get pictures! Sunday, December 19th is going to be “Ugly Christmas Sweater Day” at Coastal! We’re encouraging everyone to break out and wear that ugly Christmas sweater! We’ll have 3 special Christmas Eve Services on Friday, December 24th at 3pm, 4:30pm, and 6pm. Childcare (Birth-5th Grade) will be provided for all 3 Christmas Eve services with a Christmas Pajama Party for children 2 years old and up.
- Don’t forget – there will only be one in-person service on Sunday, November 28th (the Sunday after Thanksgiving) at 9:30am. The service will be online at 9:30am live and replayed online again at 11:15am and 6pm on Sunday. If you’ve got friends and family in town from Thanksgiving, bring them with you to church!
- If you’re fairly new to Coastal, a great next step is our Newcomers Reception. Our next Newcomers Reception is Sunday, December 5th, in the new Gather Space next to the cafe immediately following the 11:15am service (at approximately 12:30pm). This is a great way to learn more about Coastal, meet staff and key volunteers, as well as meet some other new people. You can respond to this email, sign up on our website, or sign up on your Connect Card on Sunday.
P.S. SPRING LIFE GROUP LEADERS! If you are interested in Leading, Co-Leading, or Hosting a Spring 2022 LIFE Group in-person or online, sign up on your Connect Card. For more details or to answer any of your questions, please reach out to Pastor Scott Huff at scotth@coastalcommunitychurch.org.
