Coastal, I know I keep saying this each and every week, but it’s true – I’m so proud of your willingness to serve and love our community, to truly be the hands and feet of Jesus where we live, work, and play. Between our Food Bank, Blessing Boxes, volunteering at the Low Country Food Bank, and the Saturday “Grab & Go Meal Drive Through” we are literally feeding thousands of people in our community! Our plan all along was to continue to offer the Saturday meal until the students went back to school. Well, at this point it’s starting to look more and more like we’ll be doing this until the Summer.
I want to let you know about something else that we’re going to be doing to serve our community. 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. Now, because of health and State regulations, they are only accepting meals and food from DHEC certified kitchens. In other words, even though normally they would be thrilled to eat food cooked by Pastor Chris & Janet or any number of awesome Coastal cooks, they’re not able to at this time. However, they are working with local restaurants and organizations to help provide meals. So, 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. We’re also going to be working with MUSC to help provide meals at other locations in the West Ashley area. So another thing we need people to do is to write “Thank You” notes to the Health Care workers (we’ll provide the stationery). And get this – they were so excited to learn about everything we’re doing in the community that beginning this week, they are going to be advertising our Saturday meal to all their employees!
Coastal, the other thing that has blown me away (but really should be no surprise) is your generosity! You are living out 2 Corinthians 8. The context of this passage is that a group of poor, struggling Christians in Macedonia heard about a financial need in Jerusalem, and they begged the Apostle Paul for the opportunity to help. Listen to these words, “Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia (through Coastal Community Church). They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing. . .” 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 (NLT) Coastal, that’s YOU!
So, as I’ve said before, at this point and at this scale, the BIGGEST WAY TO HELP is donating money. You can simply go to our website and give or text ANY amount to 843-277-8337 and use the key word “meals” (ex. $100 meals). Thank you in advance for your generous giving!
Just a few other reminders about this week:
- Our “We Love Coastal” video was such a hit this past Sunday that we’d like to keep doing it during this series. So now that you’ve seen what we need – get busy! We’re looking for 10-15 seconds of you and your entire family saying your name and what you love about Coastal or what a difference we’ve made in your life or what comes to mind when you think about your Coastal family. All videos should be in a well lit area. Do your best to minimize background noise. All videos should be in landscape / horizontal perspective (“long ways”). All videos recorded on iPhones can be texted to Pastor Scott at 859-230-5129 OR emailed to Pastor Scott at scotth@coastalcommunitychurch.org. All videos recorded on any other phone or video equipment can be emailed to Pastor Scott at scotth@coastalcommunitychurch.org. If for some reason, we can’t use/edit them for the service, we’ll do our best to use them on our social media.
- This Wednesday morning, April 22, 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 (please make note of the new time). Both Groups will participate in a Zoom “SCAVENGER HUNT” 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.
- We still need more Christmas Cards written for Operation Christmas Child. You can pick up the cards & envelopes at the church. This month’s (April) gift item that we are collecting is stuffed animals (May will be coloring books). Also, we are looking for volunteers to start wrapping shoeboxes. We have the boxes and paper ready to go at the church!
- Because of the amount of food we are giving away each week through our Food Bank and Blessing Boxes, we still need food donations. Items that we always need more of are: pasta, rice, pasta sauce, canned fruit, canned pastas and canned protein (chicken, tuna, etc.). Don’t forget that you can go directly to the Blessing Boxes themselves. Their locations are:
– 413 Geddes Avenue, Charleston
– 928 Savage Road, Charleston
– 2758 East Surrey Drive, North Charleston
– 1998 Hugo Avenue, North Charleston
– 1050 St. Andrews Blvd., Charleston
If you have any questions about the Blessing Boxes, please reach out to Chris Jones.
- All of our LIFE Groups are now online and open for new people to join! For a list of all our Online LIFE Groups, go to this page and sign up today! And I’d like to give a shameless plug for my Tuesday night Group. We just wrapped up our “Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts” study, but we’re going to continue on as a Young Couples Group! So we’d love for you to join! Sign up today!
- Our WAVES Student Ministry (6th-12th Grade) has Virtual Small Groups taking place on Wednesday Nights at 7:00pm. These video based small groups are designed to be a time where students can join in with their friends/other students their age (high school and middle school boys and girls) and spend some time connecting with them and leaders. The group kicks off with some virtual hangout time and then the students will go through a video study; spending some time discussing various topics. To join the zoom video chat at 7:00pm on Wednesday, just visit the student page on the Coastal website (https://coastalcommunitychurch.org/connect/students/) and click the group pertaining to you. For all the latest Student Ministry info, please be on the lookout for their weekly email and follow them on instagram!
- For our next 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 Monday night, May 4th, 7-9PM. You can sign up on your Connect Card on Sundays or right now from our website. The week before the class we will mail you the Membership Packet/notes for the class.
- And last but not least, Janet and I will be hosting another Facebook LIVE event this Wednesday night at 8pm from my Facebook page (back by popular demand – haha!). Send me a Friend Request if we’re not already friends. No real agenda, just a fun time of hanging out and maybe a little bit of Q & A (send in/post those questions)! But this week Janet and I (mostly Janet) will be making her world famous carrot cake – and GIVING IT AWAY to a lucky viewer! And I will try once again not to say or do anything inappropriate!
LIFE & LOVE!
Pastor Chris
