Volunteer Community

THIS Saturday night we have our next Volunteer Community, 7pm at the Warehouse. Volunteer Community is something we did for the first year or so of our church in 2006 - 2007 then we took a break for a while and tried some other stuff, but this year we rolled it out again with one purpose. To show our volunteers a good time! We are not trying to attract people and hopefully get them to volunteer. We are not trying to cast big vision and bore them with church stuff. We simply want to throw them a party, feed them some awesome food, have some crazy fun together, give away some stuff, and get to know each other better.

We have the gatherings catered, we play some kind of game to get people going, we eat, and then we break up into our teams for about 10 minutes. This is a time volunteers can bring things up and feel like we are listening to them.

This quater we are doing just one more thing and that is giving everyone a copy of our new Sunday playbook. We have been working on this for 6-months and it contains everything in words and pictures that needs to be done for Sunday to work and work well. It has step by step parts and expectation parts all in one document.

So that is Volunteer Community. If you are a volunteer at the Suncoast right now don't miss it, bring the kids if you want! RSVP, just so we know how much food, with Rita rita@canthisbechurch.com

If you are a church leader and want more info just shoot me an e-mail: brian@canthisbechurch.com

Fall Kick Off [RE-CAP]

This past Sunday at the Suncoast we had our annual fall kick off. This year we took a chance and did this before Labor Day, for the past 4 years we have done this after Labor Day by a week or two. School starts way early in Pasco County so we thought we could grab some of that natural momentum. Here are some random thoughts on the day and some pics:
  • First of all thanks to Rita for helping with the stage idea and for making it happen. Here is what it looked like as people walked in. Notice the lights on the jeep under the screen light up!!! It was a cool stage design!


  • Our Coastal Kids ministry rolled out a new bounce house, how cool! We had the one bounce house as you walked in near the check in kiosk, BUT the shark was awesome! Thank you Crystal for doing so much with our kids!

  • We also started the service with the band doing "Life is a Highway" and I am always impressed by how they can learn and pull off new songs with only getting to practice for 45 minutes on a Sunday. Thank you Steve for making all my crazy song ideas a reality! The song helped to set the mood.
  • We also started a new message series called "Joyride". I talked about how chasing happiness is like chasing the wind. Happiness is based on happenings and those always change. So, what if there was something more foundational that was independent of our circumstances we could count on for the ups and downs on this ride through life. You can watch the message here on my blog at the upper right.

  • After the service we had sno cones! We found out it slows people down and makes them stick around for a minute since no one wants a car full of kids with sno cones. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We also had popcorn AND...

  • My favorite part was we had R/C trucks with a track set up for the kids to race on. You will also notice the bright red jeep parked on the walk way! That was the first thing people saw as they walked up Sunday. It was a little bit of a "Wow" factor and thanks to Hal Mayer for letting me borrow it.

  • Then it was time for tear down... took a bit longer this week with all we had going on, but thanks to the peeps who got drenched as we loaded the trailer!

  • I thought Sunday was a good day at the Suncoast. We did what we do best I think. Everyone had fun!!! Yes, fun in church!
  • I am always blown away when someone takes the time to e-mail me and say something from Sunday changed/challenged them! Go God!
  • I'm not going to lie, I was a little bummed by the total attendance at the end of the day, but we had a good number of first time guests and the room felt full. Not sure if the timing was off by doing it before Labor Day, but we tried something new?
  • I am stoked about this series and what I think God is going to do in people's lives!
  • If you invited some people like I did, and they didn't show, keep asking them to come. This week is a great week for them to jump in. Keep in mind why we do this. Our church is not here for us, it is here for them! Be the Gospel this week Suncoast!
  • I can't wait for this Sunday... so I can drive the R/C trucks again :-)

Fall Kick Off "Joyride"

This Sunday at the Suncoast we are having our big fall kick off. Each year around this time (actually we have been waiting until after Labor Day, but school starts back so early here in Pasco County so we are doing it now) we make a big push for everyone to bring some people with them as we get the fall ministry season started.

We try to make the build up for this a lot like Easter or Christmas Eve. We start a month to 6-weeks out talking about it and teasing about it. We want everyone to bring someone on August 22nd and that is not just a nice suggestion, we REALLY want everyone to bring someone with them. It is a natural time for people to check church out and we want to capture that momentum.

We plan a lot of fun and creativity into this date and I wish I could tell you about all the stuff, but you will just have to come and find out Sunday at 10:30am at Rushe Middle School. We also will be starting a new message series called, "Joyride". Since we know people are bringing guests, it will be something everyone can relate to no matter where they are on the spiritual spectrum.

The bottom line is I know there are thousands of people living within a few miles of where we meet that don't go to church. Our mission is to be a church for those people. The saved don't need a doctor, the sick do... think Jesus said that!!! This Sunday we will do anything short of sin to get those people to the Suncoast and make sure they have a great experience.


So:

1. Pray for this Sunday
2. Bring someone with you
3. Come EARLY!!! Trust me!
4. Hang out and mingle, let's be the friendliest church around!

The Next Two Weeks @ the Suncoast!



This Sunday at the Suncoast we are doing a talk called "You Asked For It". Over the past two weeks on twitter and on the communication cards on Sundays we have been asking people what is a question they have always wanted answered in church. This Sunday we roll out the answers or at least the best I could do with them. It should be fun and don't miss the first 5 minutes of the service as the band rolls out the "You Asked For It" song... hint: It is also the redneck national anthem. For more info click HERE.

ALSO: be asking people to join us for the fall kick off on the 22nd! We are starting a new series called "Joyride" and the 22nd is going to be off the chain. We have so many creative things planned from the walk up on that you will be blown away. So BRING PEOPLE! And, together we will pack God's house.

Can't wait... :-)

Favor and Followship by Jeff Kapusta

Recently, I got to talk with a church planter in North Carolina who has been at this about the same length of time I have (4 years). We had met back in South Carolina at a friends house a year ago but got to really chat for about 30 minutes the other day and it was refreshing to hear his heart behind this blog post. I can relate to the journey of church planting and the challenge when things are not up and to the right. If you are a church planter I hope this will bless you like it blessed me:

We’ve all got a unique journey
by Jeff Kapusta

This past year has been a challenging one on many fronts. It has been a roller coaster ride of joy and frustration. God has been teaching me many things and someday I’ll pass them along. However, one of the things I’m learning is that God really does see things differently than we do. I read this today and it literally stopped me in my tracks.

“There is always the temptation to look at someone and judge the amount of God’s blessing upon his life based upon the number of people who have chosen to follow him. But if numbers tell the whole story, we would have to assume that God removed His blessing from Jesus toward the end of His ministry! In the weeks prior to His crucifixion the crowds began to wane. In the end there were only a handful of faithful men and women who dared to be associated with Him. Followship is not an accurate indicator of one’s worthiness to be followed.” Andy Stanley–The Next Generation Leader.

Too often I’ve judged the favor of God based upon whether or not all the numbers were up and to the right. How wrong I was. Next time you are tempted to think that you are any less blessed because the numbers are down and nobody is asking you to speak at conferences just remember that Jesus’ numbers dropped too and He never spoke at a conference either. Your journey is unique! Enjoy it!

Singing Bee

Two weeks ago at the Suncoast we had a little fun and did our version of the "Singing Bee". The band was teaching us a new song called "Rise and Sing" by Fee and we had the idea that we could get a bunch of copies of the Northpoint Awake CD that the song is on and give those out as prizes if people would sing along into a mic. We really had no idea how it would go over but it was a hit. We even had some people do it for free. Here is what we did:
  • Opened the song as usual.
  • Then at the end of the chorus Steve gave everyone some heads up while the band played in the background.
  • Then he went out into the audience with a mic and as the band did the "Whoa, oh, o whoa oh o" the person would do the echo part and get a free CD as everyone clapped for them.
  • That was it, they finished up the rest of the song and it rocked.

If you have not tried a "Singing Bee" to intro a new song, try it! People will remember that song the next time we do it I guarantee you.