Happy New Year – well almost! 2025 is just around the corner! But guess what? No matter what 2025 brings, Jesus is still on the throne, God is still in control, and our mission is still the same: “to share and experience the LIFE and LOVE of Jesus with Charleston and the world!”
I sincerely hope you and your family have had a wonderful Christmas! And let me say how awesome our Christmas Eve services were at Coastal! We had our largest Christmas Eve services ever – 1972 people in person (another 940 online)! I want to thank all of our volunteers who served so joyfully! We could not do what we do without you! I especially want to thank all of our Worship & Production Team who came very early and were here for all 4 services over 2 days! There is just something special about lighting candles and worshipping together. (If you’re available, we’ll be taking down all of our Christmas decorations this coming Thursday, January 2nd, at 9am. We could definitely use your help!)
Don’t forget that we only have 2 in-person services this Sunday – 8:30am & 10am (no 11:30am services). I love you Coastal! I love being your Pastor! And I love what we get to do together! Hold on to your fork Coastal – the best is yet to come!
Happy New Year!
Pastor Chris
- UPCOMING OUTREACH PROJECTS:
Downtown Charleston “Hotdog Ministry”: We will be grilling and serving hotdogs to the homeless and hungry downtown! TODAY, Friday, December 27th, 4-6:30pm. Meet at Coastal.
Food Pantry Sort & Stock: Coastal feeds an enormous amount of people. Come to the church and help keep our Food Pantry organized (and have a lot of fun while you’re at it)! Thursday, January 2nd, 11:30am-1pm.
Clothing Team: Our Coastal Clothing Team will be organizing and sorting clothes, Friday, January 3rd; Monday, January 6th, 9:30am-11:30am. Meet at 2952 Old Pond Road on Johns Island.
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 will be serving there, Friday, January 3rd, 9:30am-11:30am. 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 4th. We meet in the Auditorium at 8:30am, Project Leaders make a “pitch” for their serving opportunity, and then we go out and serve!
As always, 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. - As we begin 2025, we are having a Coastal Kidz Volunteer Training for all Coastal Kidz adult and student volunteers. We are offering the training twice: Sunday, January 12th, 12:45PM (lunch & childcare provided) or Saturday, January 25th, 9AM (childcare provided). You only need to attend one. CLICK HERE to register for the Coastal Kidz Volunteer Training. You can also text the word “training” to 843-571-1777. Childcare is available by REGISTERING HERE or texting “trainingchildcare” to 843-571-1777.
- We are in the planning stages for our SPRING LIFE GROUPS! LIFE Groups are the primary vehicle at Coastal for community – learning, friendships, fellowship, and care. We typically have all different types of Groups – Bible studies, book studies, activity groups, support groups, men’s/women’s groups. Would you possibly be interested in leading, assisting, or hosting a LIFE Group this new year? The Spring Semester begins in February and depending on the Group, lasts for 8-12 weeks.
Training for new Spring Life Group Leaders will be offered in-person on Saturday, 1/18 from 9-10:30am or Tuesday, 1/21 from 6:30-8pm. Returning leaders’ training will be online on Thursday, 1/23 from 8-9pm. All leaders only need to attend one session. RSVP on your Connect Card this Sunday. Contact Pastor Scott Huff at scotth@coastalcommunitychurch.org if you have any questions or are interested in leading a Group. - As you know, Coastal does an enormous amount of Outreach throughout our community. Much of it is funded every year through our annual Christmas Offering. This year’s goal is $150,000. The money will be used for another Box Truck for Disaster Relief & Outreach, another 15 Passenger Van, New Life Children’s Home in Peru, VBS, CSM Summer Camp Scholarships, & Soldier’s Angels Food Distribution. The money is also used for Benevolence & General Outreach. What we’ve discovered is that we reach our goal when EVERYONE participates. We can’t all give the same amount, but we can all make a sacrifice. Every gift counts, every gift matters. To give, all you have to do is designate your gift “Christmas” on your check, offering envelope, online, or TEXTing (843-571-1777). You can give your gift any time until January 12th at any of our regular Sunday morning services, or anytime through TEXTing or our website.
- Coastal Young Adults Weekly Streaming of “The Porch!” If you are in your 20’s or early 30’s you are invited to our NEW weekly gathering to stream “The Porch” including small group discussion! Every Monday night, 6:30pm-8:30pm in the Coastal Chapel, beginning Monday night, January 27th! For more information, please contact Pastor Scott Huff.
P.S. DON’T FORGET – we offer our Coastal Members and regular attendees free access to RightNow Media, an online church video library. It’s just one of the many ways to express our generosity to our church family. Essentially, RightNow Media is a Netflix for Bible studies with videos for kids, students, singles, parents and married couples by teachers like Dave Ramsey, John Piper, Max Lucado, Tim Tebow, and more. All the content can be accessed from any computer or smart television and through the RightNow Media app on a phone, tablet, Roku, Apple TV, etc. If you haven’t already done so, click here to set up your account!
