It’s here! It’s here! What’s here you say? Our CHRISTMAS PARTY AT THE SUBURBAN HOTEL – this Saturday (TOMORROW), December 19th, 10am-1pm! I hope you are as excited as we are! All the praying, planning, prepping, and giving have all come down to the actual event itself – where we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus for the people who call the Suburban Hotel home. If you don’t know, the Suburban Hotel provides transitional housing for homeless Veterans and former residents of the 180 Place Homeless Shelter. We’ve been serving there for the past 6 months, building a relationship with the residents. I can’t thank Chris Jones and his amazing Volunteer Team enough for all of their hard work leading up to this weekend.
So, here’s how you can help at this point:
Packing Party: TONIGHT at 6:30pm we’re meeting in the Welcome Center at Coastal. This will provide us the opportunity to pray together for Saturday and to make final preparations to ensure a smooth-running event. We’ll break down into several teams: Stocking packing, gift preparation, kitchen preparation, coffee bar staging, and equipment staging. Each team will be explained on Friday evening. Remember, many hands will make for quick work. So, if you can make it, we’d love for you to come.
Christmas at the Suburban: On Saturday morning (TOMORROW), December 19th the church will be open at 8am. We’ll be setting up chairs for Sunday in the auditorium and setting up Coastal Kidz across the street at Orange Grove Middle School (both things have to happen each week). We’ll need volunteers doing both. If you are donating any food items, please bring them to the church between 8am-9am. In fact, if you are volunteering for the event itself, please plan on being at the church by 9am. We’ll provide another briefing, pray and load everything for the trip to the Suburban. If you’ve ever been to a Saturday Serve – the format will be very similar. The plan/goal is to be at the Suburban between 10-10:15am setting up for the event. The Suburban Hotel is located on Dorchester Road right across the road from the Harley Davidson dealership off of Hwy. 526.
Please have all donations for the stockings and gifts at the church by TODAY at 12noon. This will help with the staging for the Packing Party tonight. Also, be sure to wear your “Making an Impact” t-shirt on Saturday! We’re going to flood the Suburban with a sea of Coastal Blue! If you need a Coastal t-shirt, we’ll have them available on both Friday night and again on Saturday morning. Children are more than welcome, and in fact, they are regularly with us on the Tailgates. If they are coming to serve, simply remember that they are your responsibility to watch them and keep them safe.
It’s going to be an amazing weekend! Please continue to pray for people to not only see Jesus, but to come to know Him personally! We as a church, can’t save anyone, but we know who can, and it’s our job to plant seeds and point people to Jesus.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Chris Jones – (843) 870-4613. I can’t wait to see everyone over the weekend!
Merry Christmas!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
- Upcoming Outreach Projects:
Coastal is constantly and continually engaged in being the hands and feet of Jesus in our community. Here are this week’s opportunities!
Lowcountry Orphan Relief – Lowcountry Orphan Relief provides support services and aid to meet the needs of Lowcountry children identified as at-risk or suffering from abandonment, abuse and/or neglect. Coastal has a long standing relationship with LOR and on Friday (TODAY), December 18th, 9am-11am we’re sending a team to build emergency care kits for children in the community. We meet at 1850 Truxton Ave in 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, January 2nd. 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! I can’t think of a better way to kick off 2021!
If you are interested in serving in any of these projects, you can sign up on your Connect Card this Sunday. If you have any questions, please reach out to Pastor Chris Jones at 843-870-4613. - Our goal for our 8th Annual Christmas Offering is $75,000! Now through the second Sunday of the New Year, January 10th (4 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 4 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.
So what are we going to do with that $75,000? Mainly 3 things: 1. We’re going to fully fund our 2 current monthly Tailgate Parties where we feed hundreds of people each month. 2. We’re going to buy a “Box Truck”! We’re super pumped about all the outreach possibilities of this truck – equipment and supply transportation for the tailgate parties, advertising for the church, disaster relief, community events, and more. 3. We’re going to purchase indoor and outdoor playground equipment for our new Children’s facility. So, start praying about what you and your family can give toward this offering. 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 the keyword “Christmas” whenever and however you give toward the Christmas Offering. - We are preparing now for the next semester of LIFE Groups – Winter/Spring 2021! If you are interested in leading or assisting a LIFE Group, please let us know. If you have already connected with Pastor Scott about leading a Group, please turn in your Group Information – study, day, time, location, style (in-person/online). LIFE Group Leader Training will be Tuesday, January 19th, 6:30-8pm OR Saturday, January 23rd, 10-11:30am. (You just need to attend one.) Both sessions will be offered online or in-person. If you have any questions, please reach out to Pastor Scott Huff – 859-230-5129.
- We’re having 3 special Family Christmas Eve services with nursery provided on Thursday, December 24th at 3pm, 4:30pm, and 6pm. Coastal Volunteers make sure you reach out to your Ministry Team Leaders about signing up to serve. Most importantly, be praying about who you will invite and bring. Also, please make note that the Sunday after Christmas (December 27th), services will be online only – no in-person services.
- Okay Coastal, it’s time to show your generosity once again! Grab an ornament with a teacher wishlist item from a classroom over at Oakland Elementary School. There are books, supplies, small things, big things, and “dream items”! Drop off or ship your gifts to Coastal Community Church (456 Arlington Drive, Charleston, SC 29414) over the next few weeks. Gifts can even be dropped off in early January. Label items with the tag number. To claim a tag virtually, email rachel@coastalcommunitychurch.org.
P.S. Don’t forget that simply because you are a part of the Coastal family, ALL of Dave Ramsey’s best selling resources and tools are available to you for FREE! This includes 5 classes (Financial Peace, Legacy Journey, Smart Money Smart Kids, the Jump Start Course and a new Budgeting course), the Everydollar+ budgeting tool, and a host of other resources designed to help families track their progress through the baby steps. You have access to everything for an entire year at your own pace, on your own schedule. Here’s the link: https://www.financialpeace.com/hosts/coastalcommunity?pc=94671724. Sign up today! We want to be known as a generous church, and we also want to do everything we can to equip our church and community to experience true financial peace in these difficult times!
