It’s hard to believe, but it’s true – TODAY IS MAY 1ST! And that means Summer is fast approaching! One of the ways our church marks the coming of Summer and sharing the love of Christ is through “Summer of IMPACT!” For the entire month of June, our church will saturate Charleston with a variety of outreach projects. From feeding the hungry, to sewing pillowcases for sick children, to ministering to the homeless – there is a serving opportunity nearly every day of the month! What better way to show that we are followers of Jesus than by serving the people in our community! “Summer of IMPACT” is one of the ways we do just that! Click on this link: https://coastalcommunitychurch.org/outreach/ to explore all of the different projects that are available this Summer.
You can sign up for one or more projects, many of which are kid and family-friendly. Once you complete a brief online form, you’ll receive an email soon afterwards from our Pastor of Outreach just to thank you for signing up and to answer any questions you might have. You’ll receive a second email from the project leader, a week prior to your project date, with all the details of the serving opportunity you’ve signed up for. For most of the projects, you simply sign-up and then show-up. Everyone who serves will also receive a FREE “Making an Impact” t-shirt (if you don’t already have one – haha) as our way of saying thanks for serving with us!
As the current crisis continues to unfold, we will assess and reassess our projects with the safety of our community and those who call Coastal home as the priority. In doing so, we will also continue to do our best to be a beacon of hope and of love in Charleston. We are Coastal, and that’s what we do. So check out the projects and join with us as we labor in love to MAKE AN IMPACT! Reach out to Pastor Chris Jones if you have any questions or if you have a project idea you’d like to share.
May also means Mother’s Day – Sunday May 10th! I’m so excited about Mother’s Day this year! Even though our services will be online, we’re going to go out of our way to make this Mother’s Day special for Moms. First of all, we’re kicking off a new series called, “Women of the Word.” Each week for 4 weeks we’re going to be looking at a different woman in the Bible, and the message is going to be delivered by 4 different women here at Coastal – hence, Women of the Word! We also have several women sharing their testimony during the series. And on Mother’s Day afternoon, 3pm-5pm, we’re inviting everyone from Coastal to go on a fun Sunday afternoon ride over to the church for something we’re calling a Mother’s Day Drive Through Celebration! Drive through our parking lot, and all the women of Coastal can pick up a special gift from the church, and then everyone in the car will receive a FREE cup of Baskin Robbins ICE CREAM! We’re also asking our kids & families to decorate a poster (“We love our MOM!” “Happy Mother’s Day!” “Our Mom is the Best” – you get the idea) that will line the drive of our parking lot. You can stop by the church to pick up the poster board for the signs! Make it a fun project for your family – get creative! Posters must be returned to the church by Friday, May 8.
The other thing that May always marks is Teacher Appreciation Weed at Oakland Elementary School – Monday, May 11th – Friday, May 15th. Each year we go over the top to express our love and appreciation to the Teachers and Staff of Oakland. And this year, in a time when they aren’t even expecting it, we want to shower these Teachers with love! We have several special things planned (lunch, breakfast, gift cards, gifts), but one way that you and your family can help is writing handwritten thank you notes. We need 75 of them! You can pick up the note cards at the church, and we need them returned by next Friday, May 8. Another way to help is through your generous giving! All of our community outreach projects (this one included) are funded by your giving. You can give through our website or simply text ANY amount to 843-277-8337.
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
- This Saturday, May 2nd, 11am-1pm, will be week 7 of our FREE “Grab & Go Meal Drive-Through.” This week we are planning on feeding over 1,000 people in our community Hamburgers/Hotdogs, baked beans, cole slaw, and dessert – plus a free roll of toilet paper for every family!! If you’re hungry, in need, or know someone who is, we’d love to help! Feel free to pick up a box and deliver it to someone you know. It’s our way to love and serve our community! Help us spread the word! At this point and at this scale, the BIGGEST WAY TO HELP is donating money. You can sponsor a meal by giving on our website: https://coastalcommunitychurch.org/give/ or simply text ANY amount to 843-277-8337 and use the key word “meals” (ex. $100 meals). The Drive Through is also a great opportunity to drop off non-perishable food items for our Community Food Bank.
- Interested in officially making Coastal Community Church YOUR church home? Sign up for our next Membership Class! For this Membership Class we’re going to do something we’ve never done before. We’re going to offer a virtual Membership class, an online class. It’s going to be this Monday night, May 4th, 7-9PM. You can sign up on your Connect Card on Sunday or sign up right now from our website. We’ll email you the notes for the class and the Zoom link. Next week you will receive your Membership Packet in the mail.
- Each Wednesday morning, Janet Rollins will be hosting an online Zoom meeting for Coastal Kidz! There will be two 30 minute sessions: 9:00AM – Preschoolers ( 2 yr. olds – Kindergarten). 11:30AM – 1st-5th Graders. Both Groups will participate in a Zoom “PET PARTY” this week! To participate in any of our Coastal Kidz Zoom Connections, please go to https://zoom.us/j/4864196205 just a couple of minutes before your child’s scheduled time to join the meeting. Parents, also don’t forget to take advantage of our Coastal Kidz online services/resources on our website!
- Operation Christmas Child has grown so much at Coastal that it is now a YEARLONG Mission of our church! Each month we will feature a “donation of the month” to help us better prepare for the thousands of boxes we will pack and wrap in the Fall. This month (May) we are encouraging everyone to bring coloring books. Even though our Sunday morning Services are online right now, you can still drop off OCC items during the week at the church. You can even pick up shoeboxes & wrapping paper to start wrapping shoeboxes. If you have any questions, please reach out to Teresa Spell.
- On Wednesday, May 6th, our church is going to be providing lunch for all the Staff & Health Care Workers at the MUSC COVID-19 testing site at Citadel Mall. We’ll be purchasing the meal from a local restaurant. We look at it as a “win – win”! We get to help feed and encourage those working on the front lines of this crisis, and we also get to help and support our local restaurants that have been hit hard financially at the same time. The meal will cost approximately $800. If you’d like to help with the cost of this meal, you can give on our website: https://coastalcommunitychurch.org/give/ or simply text ANY amount to 843-277-8337 and use the key word “meals” (ex. $100 meals). We’d also like to write “Thank You” cards that we’ll deliver with the meal. You can pick up the note cards at the church and start writing!
P.S. One week from today – Friday, May 8th 8am-12:30pm – Coastal is teaming up with the Veteran’s Administration and Soldiers’ Angels to supply local low-Income veteran families with food assistance at the mobile food distribution. Many of Charleston’s veterans rely on the food assistance provided by this event, and without volunteers these veterans would go without. If you are interested in this event, sign up on your online Connect Card. This project can support up to 40-volunteers. If you have any questions, contact Pastor Chris Jones.
