It’s been such an exciting and emotional week here at Coastal! Our construction project has officially started! This week and next week is all about site work and demolition – tearing down all the interior ceilings and walls of our existing Coastal Kidz Building and putting up all the silt fencing and tree barricades. You can go to my Facebook page for pictures! It’s exciting because it’s something that we’ve prayed about, talked about, and planned for almost 2 years now! It’s exciting because it’s always fun to see new construction! It’s exciting because very few churches, organizations, or businesses would do what we’re doing on the heels of a national shutdown and during a pandemic! But God is faithful, and this church is thriving! It’s emotional because we’ve been in this current building for 16 years. It’s emotional because of the miraculous way God provided our building in the first place (ask me that story). It’s emotional because of the many memories and stories associated with the old building. It’s emotional because I’m overwhelmed with gratitude when I think about the generosity and sacrificial giving of our church that makes this possible. Here’s what I said to our onsite General Contractor this week, “This is personal for me. I’m not some guy in a long line of Pastors hired and fired by a local church. My wife and I started this church 30 years ago. This is our Baby. This is our family.” That’s why it’s been an exciting and emotional week!
So here’s what I’m going to ask you to do this week to mark the beginning of this project and all the excitement that goes along with it. I’m asking you to give. I don’t care how much you give, just give something above and beyond your regular giving specifically toward this project, this week. Many of you have already made a specific 3 year “Daring Faith” giving commitment above and beyond your regular giving. Give something toward that commitment this week. Again, the amount doesn’t matter – $1, $10, $100, $1000, $10,000 or more. Your giving is a tangible way to give thanks to God, to express your excitement and support, and to walk and give by faith. Here’s what I’ve learned over the past 30 years as your Pastor: when together the whole church gives and walks by faith, that’s when God shows up and does a miracle. I know this is late notice. I know I haven’t prepared you in advance for this. But it’s just something I felt led by God to ask of you – to give. DO NOT worry about the amount. However you give – online, TEXT (843-277-8337), App, Offering Envelope, check – simply use the keyword “Daring Faith.” If you’re TEXTing to give, “daringfaith” is all one word, no spaces.
Don’t forget that we now have both of our Sunday morning worship services (9:30am & 11:15am) open for in-person worship. However, our 9:30am service is the only service with Coastal Kidz Children’s Ministry (probably until sometime in October). And speaking of Coastal Kidz, beginning THIS Sunday, September 20th, Coastal Kidz will be meeting across the street (where most of you park) at Orange Grove Middle School! We will be setting up Coastal Kidz tomorrow (Saturday) morning at 8:30am. If you are interested in being a part of the Coastal Kidz Set-Up Team, respond to this email or reach out to Janet Rollins at 843-442-8299.
I love you Coastal and I love being your Pastor!
Here are this week’s “Friday 5”:
- Upcoming Outreach Projects:
Sububan Hotel Tailgate We’re sending a tailgating team to the Suburban Hotel in North Charleston on Saturday, 9/19 (tomorrow). We meet at Coastal at 10am. We will be serving hamburgers and hotdogs to veterans and those who are transitioning from One80 Place into permanent housing. Help us to establish relationships with people who have never experienced the love of the church or of Jesus. The project will be completed by 1pm.
Tricounty Family Ministries Interested in helping families in need? We’re serving with Tricounty Family Ministries on Wednesday, September 23rd from 9:00 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. We will be assisting with the Emergency Grocery Distribution. We will be assisting many of the same people we serve at the North Charleston Tailgate at Saturday Serve. Tricounty Family Ministries is an organization that desperately needs volunteers! You can sign up for this project on your Connect Card on Sunday.
If you are interested in serving in either of these projects or have any questions, please reach out to Pastor Chris Jones at 843-870-4613. - 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 FREE for 1 year! 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!
- One of our favorite missions that we support here at Coastal is Operation Christmas Child (OCC). Well, because of COVID-19, OCC is going to look a little different this year at Coastal. We will not be having our big “Wrapping & Packing Party.” Instead our OCC Team here at Coastal and a few other volunteers will pack & wrap boxes with the current gifts/supplies we already have on hand (you can sign up on your Connect Card to be a part of that Team). From this point forward, what we are asking our church is to simply take home the shoeboxes we provide and pack them as a family and then bring back your completed boxes to the church between now and Sunday, November 15th. Weather permitting there will be a table right outside our building with shoeboxes ready to take home each Sunday. This would be a GREAT opportunity for you to teach your children about generosity, the true meaning of Christmas, and the love of Jesus. You can go to OCC’s website for a great list of suggested gifts/items for the shoeboxes. Different is not bad. We really believe that we still have an opportunity to pack hundreds and hundreds of shoeboxes and share the love of Jesus with children all around the world! Pray about how many boxes your family would be willing to pack, step out in faith, grab a few shoeboxes on Sunday, and help us do just that!
- LIFE Groups start this coming week!! If you haven’t already done so, go online right now and check out the Fall Semester LIFE Group Catalogand sign up for a Group today! And yes, you can sign up for multiple groups. There are a variety of groups (both in-person and/or online) on almost every day of the week. YOU NEED THIS! WE NEED THIS! So check them out and starting signing up!
- We begin a new series THIS Sunday, September 20th, called, “Hope in the Dark.” We’ll be preaching through the book of 1 Peter. As a part of the series, we’re going to provide a daily devotional (5 days a week) and a weekly memory verse for the duration of the series as we read, study, and pray through 1 Peter together as a church. If you haven’t already done so, sign up for the devotional (it will be emailed to you daily)! I really believe this is going to be a great study and a great series for our church and our community! As always, invite and bring a friend to Coastal – either in-person or online.
P.S. Beginning this Sunday, and during the duration of our construction project, no one will be able to park or drive down the first drive (the old building) of our campus. It will now be a “Construction Only” drive & parking. Please park across the street at Orange Grove Middle School or even at Oakland Elementary School.
