Another Summer of IMPACT is almost in the books! I say almost, because there are still 3 more projects left – 2 today & 1 on Sunday (see below). I know we say this every year, and we’ve said it over and over this month, but it really has been the BEST SUMMER OF IMPACT EVER! The 58 projects in June saw a total of over 1000 volunteers and almost 3000 volunteer hours! Please pray for all the seeds of love that were planted, that they will bear much fruit for years to come! Much thanks goes to Chris Jones, our Pastor of Outreach here at Coastal. As you can tell, much prayer, planning, organization, and preparation, have all gone into Summer of IMPACT. And part of what makes Chris Jones such a good leader is that he knows that none of it would be possible without all of our great Project Leaders and the countless volunteers (YOU) who willingly, joyfully served all month long. But, as you know, even as June comes to a close, serving never comes to a close at Coastal. Serving and loving our community is not relegated to one day or even one month at Coastal. It’s something we do all year round! It’s a part of our culture. In fact, you can now go to our website and already see and sign up for 185 outreach projects lined up from July 1st all the way through the end of the year! That’s approximately 31 projects a month!
Okay Coastal, VBS is now 1 week away from this Monday night: July 8th-12th, 6-8:15pm each night, for children 4 years old – 5th Grade! Are you ready for this? We already have 266 children pre-registered!
There are 4 Big Needs for VBS:
1. Simply put, with as many kids as we will see, we need MORE VOLUNTEERS – YOU! Please GO TO OUR WEBSITE AND SIGN UP TODAY! You can also TEXT “vbsvolunteer” to 843-571-1777 to volunteer. There is a place for you!
2. If you haven’t already done so, PLEASE REGISTER YOUR CHILD ONLINE. This really makes the check-in/registration process go so much smoother when VBS begins. Online Registration will be closed Friday night, July 5th at 6pm. After that, you will only be able to register at our campus each night in-person before VBS. So, the time is NOW, please register here: https://coastalcommunitychurch.org/vbs/. You can also TEXT “vbs2024” to 843-571-1777 to register your child.
3. FOOD! At Coastal, we try to provide a mini meal for our VBS snacks since we meet during many families’ dinner time. If you are able to help provide any of these last remaining items, go here https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0844A9A82DA4FE3-48645655-coastal#/ to sign up.
4. MONEY! This years VBS Offering will be going towards 2 things: 1. Our Peru Missions Team this Summer will be building 25 “Shanty Homes” at a cost of $25,000. 2. If/when we reach that goal, the remainder of the offering will go towards the purchase of a second 15 passenger van to take volunteers to outreach projects and to pick people up and bring them to church on Sundays. You can begin giving now through the week of VBS. Simply designate your offering “VBS.”
If you have any questions about VBS, please reach out to Janet Rollins at janet@coastalcommunitychurch.org or Aly Huggins at aly@coastalcommunitychurch.org. It really is the BEST week of the Summer! I hope you’ll be a part of it! I love YOU, I love being your Pastor, I love what we get to do together, and I can’t wait to see you and your friends this weekend!
Making An IMPACT With You!
Pastor Chris
- UPCOMING OUTREACH PROJECTS:
Lowcountry Food Bank: TODAY, Friday, June 28th, 1pm-4pm. The Lowcountry Food Bank is leading the fight against hunger in our community. Working with our community partners, this project will have us serving in the Charleston Regional Food Center. Please be sure to wear closed toe shoes. You must be over the age of 12 to volunteer and be accompanied by an adult if younger than 16. Meet at 2864 Azalea Drive, North Charleston.
Downtown Charleston “Hotdog Ministry”: We will be grilling and serving hotdogs to the homeless and hungry downtown! TODAY, Friday, June 28th, 4-6:30pm. Meet at Coastal.
Community Blessing Box Resupply Project: Our church helps to provide non-perishable food and hygiene items to 16 individual blessing boxes in our community. On Sunday, June 30th, during all 3 services look for the Table in the Welcome Center and pick up to bag of food & supplies with an address for a Box. This is a great project for families with children!
Coffee & Doughnuts with the Vets at Patriot Villas: Friday, July 5th, 8:30am-11:30am. Meet at Coastal.
Clothing Team: Our Coastal Clothing Team will be organizing and sorting clothes, Friday, July 5th; Monday, July 8th; Friday, July 12th, 9:30am-11:30am. Meet at 2952 Old Pond Road on Johns Island.
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, July 6th. We meet in the Auditorium at 8:30am, Project Leaders make a “pitch” for their serving opportunity, and then we go out and serve!
Soldier’s Angels: We’ll be helping with the Veteran’s Mobile Food Distribution, Tuesday, July 9th, 8am-12:30pm. Meet at 1113 Sam Rittenburg Blvd. (The Elks Lodge).
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, July 11th, 11:30am-1pm.
Double Tailgate Day: Meeting Street & Joseph Floyd Manor: Saturday, July 13th, 10:30am-1:30pm. Meet at the church and then pick which Tailgate you’d like to serve.
2nd Saturday/2nd Meal: Saturday, July 13th, 9am-12noon. Come serve with us as we prepare a hot meal in the Coastal kitchen and then deliver those meals to one of our awesome ministry partners – organizations like Charleston Vets, S.C. Strong, Brighton Place, Joseph Floyd Manor and more!
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. - We are planning our 2nd BEACH BAPTISM of the Summer out at Folly Beach County Park on Sunday, August 11th, at 5pm. You can sign up for it on our website. The only requirement for Baptism is that you have personally given your life to Jesus. Baptism is a public profession of your faith, and it’s a great celebration! It beautifully illustrates Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. If you’re unable to participate in our Beach Baptism, remember at Coastal we’re ready for you to get Baptized any service, any Sunday. If you are interested in getting Baptized, simply respond to this email, sign up on your Connect Card, or sign up on our website.
- As a fun way to celebrate the Summer and our “At the Movies” series, we’d like to take any children from our church and their friends (and children at heart) to the 10am special showing of the new “Inside Out 2” movie at Citadel Mall Cinema, Tuesday, July 2nd – ON US (concessions on you)! Doors open at 9:30am. RSVP on your Connect Card or respond to this email with the number of tickets you’ll need. We’ll meet you at the front door of the Theater on July 2nd! Parents, if you’d like to read a good review of the movie, go to https://www.pluggedin.com/movie-reviews/inside-out-2-2024/
- This Fall, when we come back to the Sermon on the Mount, we decided to make our sermon series a church wide Spiritual Growth Campaign. What’s that you ask? Well, it’s church-wide in the sense that we want to involve everyone at our church at every level: everyone hearing the same Sunday morning messages corporately, all of our LIFE Groups studying the same material in small groups of 10-15 people, and a daily devotional for everyone’s individual quiet time. Together, we’ll all be studying, discussing, learning, praying, and striving to live out the greatest teaching we have from Jesus! I truly believe that this Fall is going to continue to usher in a season of tremendous spiritual growth at our church. For so many people, it’s going to be one of those turning point moments in their life.
How can you help? We’re looking for LIFE Group Leaders! Last semester we had 58 Groups. This coming Fall we need 75+ Groups! In many ways, for our Leaders, this will be a little bit easier of a semester. We’re ALL going to be doing the same study, so you don’t have to fret about what to choose. And WE are going to be providing the teaching material. In fact, we’re going to record our Pastors or a Staff Member giving a 10-15 minute teaching for each week’s lesson. We’ll also provide all the Small Group questions with your own discussion guide. All you have to do is facilitate the meeting. We’re also going to stress/recommend Groups of 10-15 people meeting in homes and as much as possible, moving away from the church building. Again, we really believe this is going to be a tremendous season of spiritual growth not only for our church! If you are interested in hosting, assisting, or leading a LIFE Group, please reach out to Pastor Scott Huff at scotth@coastalcommunitychurch.org, or let us know on your Connect Card on Sunday. - Interested in officially making the Coastal church family, your church family? Our next Membership Class is TOMORROW, Saturday, June 29th, from 9am-12pm, in the Chapel. You can respond to this email, sign up on our website, or sign up on your Connect Card on Sunday. Breakfast & childcare provided!
P.S. Our “Summer Reading” series begins Sunday, July 21st! “Summer Reading” is where we as a Staff pick out 7 books worth reading over the Summer, and then each week we use the subject matter of one of the books as the subject of that week’s message. You can see the books and the dates in the insert on Sunday. This Sunday, June 30th, we’ll have a small number of each book available for purchase at the church. Or simply pick up the books yourself through Amazon and enjoy! Remember, “leaders are readers!”
