Easter @ the Suncoast

Hey Suncoast, FOUR things I want you to know about this Easter Sunday at the Suncoast:

1. Come 10-minutes early!

If you are not serving somewhere this week then make plans to come 10-minutes early (that would be 10:20am). Think about when YOU check out some place new, you typically give yourself plenty of time and arrive a few minutes early. Our guests this Sunday will typically be arriving a few minutes early so lets fill the room BEFORE the countdown clock even starts at 10:28am! Lets create a warm, inviting, exciting atmosphere that anticipates a GREAT service and all that God is going to do.

2. Park in the Sunlake Blvd lot!

We have two parking lots at the school. One off of Mentmore and one off of Sunlake. Lets just fill the one lot along Sunlake THIS WEEK! Make the U-turn and park where our signs direct you. It says, "This place is happening" to the people passing by or pulling in.

3. Pray!

I don't say that because I am a pastor and you think I should say that. I say that because if God doesn't show up on Sunday then it will be an "event" but it won't be life-changing! Lets beg God to show up on Sunday. Lets pray for the hearts of the people we have been inviting and others have invited. Lets pray our marketing this Easter is blessed 10-fold! Lets pray God softens and prepares hearts to hear about Jesus in a fresh way! Lets pray for our volunteers, staff, and would you PLEASE pray for me too. Lets also pray for a HUGE number of people to COME BACK over the next two weeks after Easter!!!

4. Keep Inviting!

Keep handing out your eggs, keep handing out invite cards, keep ASKING people if they can come and wait for them to give you an answer! USE SOCIAL MEDIA! Tweet and post info about this Sunday. Use our website as a tool. You can grab all kinds of info to tweet or post and send them to pages like "The Current Series" page where they can watch the promo video. Why? Because sometimes all someone needs is an invitation:

Volunteer Community THIS Saturday!

THIS Saturday night, 7pm at the Warehouse (14426 Black Lake RD. Odessa, FL 33556) is the first Volunteer Community of 2012!!! If you are one of the awesome volunteers at the Suncoast then don't miss this quarterly time of fun where we simply say, "THANK YOU!" You can also bring your family for the fun and it all starts at 7pm this Saturday night.

If you have never been to a Volunteer Community here is what usually goes on. We always EAT, and EAT GOOD! This time we are having a Tampa Bay fav, Cuban's with Black beans and Rice. We also do something wild and crazy for those who dare. At Christmas we played "Minute to Win It" and one of the challenges had dancing (more like shaking) involved and it was pee your pants funny! So, I think Rita and Crystal have something planned along those lines, can't wait, even I don't know what it going on. We usually wrap the night up with a SHORT talk where I basically just say, "Thank you" and "Keep up the good work!" It is a lot of fun and a great chance to get to know people without the hustle and bustle of a Sunday morning. AND, if you attended the Christmas Volunteer Community we will be giving you the "photo booth" pics!

Finally, you guys will get to be the first to hear some exciting news! Just going to leave it at that. But, trust me you will want to hear this!

If you have any questions please let Rita know at:

rita@canthisbechurch.com

Can't wait!!! See you on Saturday Night, 7pm!

New and Next

This coming week at the Suncoast is all about NEW and NEXT...

... first the NEW:

New Message Series This Sunday!

"Those People"

We all have some difficult people in our lives right? Someone who is just a bit needy maybe? Every time they talk to you they have some big crisis and need you to fix it for them. Or, maybe you have some really nasty, critical people in your life. How do you deal with that? What about those manipulative family members? And, the list goes on and on... they are, you know, "Those People" and sometimes we think our lives would be a whole lot better if we didn't know them. So, what do you do? How can we help? How can we show love and not go crazy ourselves? That is what these next four weeks are all about at the Suncoast.

Let's do all we can to pack the house and invite people like we really believe this stuff about Jesus and His love and His forgiveness Suncoasters! I left a few cards this week and personally invited my pharmacist! There is still time, so let's go for the ASK! "Will you come to church with me this Sunday?"

Now the next...

NEXT Groups Start This Week!

NEXT Groups are small groups of people from the church that circle up during the week to dig deeper into Sunday's message, serve the community, give and pray for each other. We believe life change happens best in groups, in community, in relationships with other Christ-Followers. Where did we get that idea? Well, Jesus! Look at what He did. He spent time with the crowds, but gathered up 12 guys and spent the bulk of His time with them. It was a small group, or a NEXT Group as we call them. AND, they are a lot of fun! I have made friendships with so many people at our church because of groups. I will never really get to know people on a Sunday, just not going to happen. It won't happen for you either! But, in a NEXT Group by the end of the 12 weeks you will have some new friends and your faith will be stronger.

So, I dare you, double dare you, double dog dare you, call you chicken... to try one of these groups. Look, we all are busy, Cheryl and I just had a baby!!! But, you make time for the things that are important to you. Spending time in a NEXT Group, I'm telling you, is a much better use of your time than kids sporting events (they are not going pro), working late, or doing laundry (a much better use of time than that). Your soul is eternal and your relationships are eternal. Make an investment in what matters!!! Take a next step in a NEXT Group!

We have groups for middle and high schoolers and adults. For all the info check out the NEWS page of our website.

NEW and NEXT. Two big vision pieces of our church.

The 300TH!!! Sunday That Was

Service #001

This past Sunday was the 300th service at Church of the Suncoast. Go God!!! He has not let us down in 300 tries. When I stop and think that all this started from literally nothing more than a dream and some faith it is pretty amazing. We literally had no people, no money, and no building and in a matter of months we pulled off service #001. And, since that Sunday in 2006 there has always been a location to meet in, enough people to get it all done, enough money to pay the bills, enough people in the seats to celebrate, and enough life change to keep us going one more Sunday. We have had a lot of ups and downs, had a ton of change to deal with, but our church is a survivor. For 300 services we have never wavered from one thing:

The church is not about us, we are here for this community, for those that don't yet know Jesus!

If you missed our 300th celebration (shame on you) but here were a few of the highlights:

• The band came out with water pistols in honor of one of my favorite sayings, "We are going to charge hell with a water pistol."
• We had a special video where some people shared thoughts about their memories from the past 3 to 300 services:

• We asked people to bring some kind of handout, t-shirt, program, picture... something they kept that was memorable and we had a few seconds to share what it was, and why it was meaningful, a little audience "show and tell".
• I shared my top 10 favorite services:

• My number 1 favorite service was NEXT Sunday! Because our best days are still to come! When our little bit of faithfulness intersects with God's faithfulness, things happen, movements begin, things explode. It will happen guys!
• We then sang "We Unite" as a rallying cry and it was on to "Balanced" part 4.

The message video should be up Tuesday!

PUMPED about what the next 300 will look like. Let's do this!!!

Don't forget we have Baptism and Child Dedications on Feb 12th. To get info or sign up please e-mail us at:

info@canthisbechurch.com

2012 - The Best is Yet to Come!

Happy 2012!!! It has been a while since I updated my blog as you might have noticed. Call it a newborn, Christmas, sick wife break for the past few weeks.

We had little Sophie (who is now like 9lbs) on December 5th. I didn't work that week she came home, then worked the next week to get ready for Christmas Eve at the Suncoast. Cheryl got sick the first time somewhere in there. We had 16 people and 3 dogs at our house on Christmas day!!! I didn't work the week after Christmas, went back the week of Jan 1st, and Cheryl got sick again. She is doing better today and little Sophie is doing great too! But, that is where I have been, I think, the days all run together.

But, back to 2012. Here are a few reasons I think 2012 will be the best year our church has ever known and why I think you are in for one incredible ride as you partner with what God is doing.

• God is not done with our church and He is not through with you! If you think God doesn't have anything left for your life then think again. You can't reach the mountain top without going through the valley. Our church has survived 2011 and that means He has something more planned for us in 2012! You are still here, why? God has something more for you too!!! Let's find out what together!

• I am in a better spot to lead. I have talked about this here on my blog and even opened up one Sunday in December, but I feel like God has done a lot in my life over the past 12 months and I am better able to navigate the ups and downs of leading and growing a church. It is hard to have a healthy church without a healthy pastor! I believe that!

• You have not given up! The fact that you are still here, still plugged in, still contributing and still wanting to see this church grow and thrive and change this community means a lot. It means you are doing all you can to be found faithful and when our faith intersects with God's faithfulness at some point this year it will be absolutely amazing to be a part of. I think about the scene in the first Transformers movie where they first discover Bumble Bee is a robot and he throws the door open for them to get in. Sam says to Mikaela who is skeptical, "Don't you want to get it, 50 years from now don't you want to be able to tell your grand kids you went for the ride!"

• Life change is REALLY happening here! People who were not going to church, not really sure about the whole God thing, are still meeting Jesus and He is still changing their lives at our church. AND, we get to be a part of that? OMG!!! That pumps me up just thinking about it guys! I think it honors God when we do all we can to be a church for the unchurched. We have not turned our backs on that calling even when it would have been easy over the past 12 - 18 months, the best is yet to come!

I am excited about this next year of ministry and I hope you are too. God has a lot He wants to do in your life and in the life of our church. This is my prayer for you in 2012:

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" Ephesians 3:20

It's Christmas Time Baby!

Well, the time is here Suncoast family! The stores are packed, the streets are nuts, and the time to get your invite into full gear is on!

This Saturday night, 6pm at Rushe we will have the chance to partner with the angels in not only celebrating the birth of Jesus, but partner with God's redemptive work in our world. That means God is moving in people's hearts even now. He will bring new people into His eternal kingdom at our church this Saturday. AND you could be a part of that!!!

How? By investing your remaining minutes into some people around you and then inviting them to the Suncoast for Christmas Eve. The service is going to be different from anything you have ever seen at the Suncoast. We have put a lot of effort into this time, this moment, this opportunity. Will you join me in honoring God and His Son by doing all we can to pack the house? It is the best gift you can give Him these last few days before Christmas!

• Will you bring someone?
• Will you make sure you are there at least 5-minutes early?
• Will you consider what gift God would have you give to this years Christmas Offering?

I am praying for you! I am praying for the people you will be asking! Will you pray for the staff and for the service and for the souls HE WILL SAVE THIS SATURDAY NIGHT?

I love my church!

Christmas Offering 2011

The Sunday That Was (November 6)

We always try to keep our stage fresh and Rita had the idea for this one. It looked really cool once we got the lights on it! I can't wait for the day we can have our own stage and I can turn you guys loose!

We also had some new help for set up which was awesome AND Karl walks in and makes pancakes and sausage for everyone! Holy cow! Set up never smelled so good. So thank you Mike, Kris, Patti and Karl.

We started a new series yesterday called, "CHAOS" and I have been amazed at how timely and relevant this is to so many people's lives. Of course the world is full of chaos these days, but so many people came up to me and commented on how yesterday hit them right in the middle of their own chaos. Go God! I know He will use this series if we let Him. The message will be up later today if you missed it or want to give it a second watch or listen.

The room was fuller too Sunday which was good to see from the stage. I hope you will join me this week in making sure it is even fuller this Sunday. I know a bunch of people in my life that need to hear this series, even just a week of it! So, who do you know that needs to be here? If you e-mail me I will pray for them this week, pray that God opens their hearts for your ask, and gives you the boldness to actually do it!

As we closed out the service I was pumped because you guys were actually excited about worshipping God through the offering! That is cool. If we can make that shift that this isn't about dollars and cents, this is about obedience, about worship, about honor to God then look out! The Bible says God LOVES a cheerful giver and I think He is just looking for a church to bless that He knows will be generous in return!

I also mentioned a couple things I am also excited about:

Each Sunday from now until the end of the year I am asking you to get in the habit of bringing some can / box food items each week and dropping them off in the back of the room. We will be taking them to Christian Social Services in Land O' Lakes and even one can a week they tell me makes a difference! So, let's "wow" them with our generosity and help make sure no one goes hungry this holiday season!

The second thing is our annual Volunteer Christmas Party on December 3rd. If you are one of our amazing volunteers at the Suncoast then don't forget to save the date for this always over-the-top event. (If you don't serve yet, you might want to start now just so you can come!!!)

It was a great Sunday Suncoast. Let's do it again this week for, "CHAOS" part 2. If you want to do some reading ahead of time read 1 Kings 17 - 19. ILMC!!!

The Sunday That Was (October 16)

Yesterday we opened up our new series called, "Prayer" with what else but Bon Jovi's 80's hit, "Livin' on a Prayer". We even gave the band some 80's rocker hair to jam with... they had just a little fun with it! This was my view from off stage looking at Josh, Meredith and Rayzor. You never know what might happen next at the Suncoast.

Here are some random thoughts from the first talk in this 3-week series:

Prayer is an interesting, confusing, even at times offensive subject. It is also powerful, many people rely on it for a sense of peace, and studies have even shown it has many health benefits. It is at least a topic we are interested in and curious about no matter where you are on the spiritual spectrum.

A lot of people don't pray more because they just don't know how!

We also don't pray more because we get bored or distracted when we pray. The office next to ours at the Warehouse has a guy that cusses like a sailor almost every day when I pray... it is a little distracting!

Many of us don't pray more because we think our request are too small to bother God with.

Others of us don't because we are not sure our prayers make a difference!

The bottom line is prayer is simply communication with God. David asked God in Psalm 5 to consider his SIGHING! David felt like he was so close to God that even a sign could be a prayer. It is a lot different than we think!

IF you let yourself break out of your preconceived ideas of what prayer is you can find a lot more creativity and effectiveness and meaning!

Try: Talking to God with gut level honesty, about everything that matters to you, continually (don’t pray for long periods of time, but never go long periods of time without praying) and finally we must learn how to listen for God's response.

Five years from now, your life should look radically different because God wants to say something to you TODAY that could change the course of your life, the life of your family, maybe the course of generations to come. Will you learn to listen for His response?

This Sunday we will dive into the mystery of unanswered prayer. I hope if you are reading this then you will be there this Sunday. I hope you will pray about someone to bring too!!!

I wanted to let you know two vision pieces of what is going on right now at our church. One is THIS SATURDAY at 9am a bunch of people will be showing up at the West Pasco Pregnancy Center for our NEXT Serves project. We want to make Pasco County a better place! We want to serve our community. Service is a big part of the Suncoast from Sunday mornings to service opportunities like this. This Saturday we will help do some landscaping and building maintenance so wear some old stuff and meet at the center at 9am. Marge is leading the event and her e-mail is margie7444@aol.com Everyone is welcome to help make a difference and here is the address and map:

West Pasco Pregnancy Center

***NOTE: There are no NEXT Groups this week so we can serve on Saturday!

The second vision piece I want to mention is this week our church is giving back thousands of dollars to local ministries that help people in need from Land O' Lakes to Ybor City. We are also setting aside some money to help those in need at our own church! As a church we believe the Bible teaches to live on 90% of what God has blessed us with and give back to Him 10% called the tithe. From day one of the Suncoast we also believed if God asks us as Christ-Followers to follow this command then we as a church, as an organization, need to follow it as well. So we "give back" 10% of everything that comes in each year. To date we have given back over $75,000 in the past 5 years!!! As this money goes out this week pray that God blesses and multiplies it and that it is used to bring even more people to Jesus. Stay tuned for updates.

Don't miss part two of "Prayer" this Sunday guys... it will be good stuff and I will try to have my "A" game back. Felt like I only brought a "B-" this week.

:-)

Don't Miss This Chance!

To all my friends at the Suncoast... DON'T MISS THIS CHANCE! As this week has gone by I get a stronger and stronger sense God wants to move in BIG ways this Sunday at the Suncoast. What does that mean?

I think marriages will start down a path of healing. I think students will find freedom from some past hurts. I think those of us with a low grade fever, an anger, a frustration that lies just below the surface will be released to new joy! I think many people will finally forgive themselves and those who have held them in a prison of emotional captivity...

BUT, MOST OF ALL I BELIEVE DOZENS OF PEOPLE WILL FIND THE FORGIVENESS OF JESUS FOR THE FIRST TIME! Don't miss the chance to be a part of this, and what God wants to do in the lives of the people all around you at work, in your family, and in your neighborhood. Invite like a person possessed by the forgiveness of God and can't wait to share that with others!

E-mail me, tweet me, or facebook who you are inviting so I can be praying.

I love my church!

This Sunday I am asking everyone to do one of two things.

The first thing is, if you have never been baptized as an adult, meaning you were old enough to know what you were doing and meant it, if you have never been baptized then bring a towel and a change of clothes and tell everyone you have DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS! I know it might seem a little scary, and what will people think, and I don't know, and what about my hair, and I am not sure I am ready and... Look, YOU WILL NEVER BE "READY". If you have accepted / trusted / believed in Jesus to be your Savior in your heart then you are as ready as you will ever be! You might still have some questions, you might still have some doubts, you might not understand it all. Fine. In the Bible, someone made a decision to follow Jesus and they were baptized that day!!! No waiting. Have you decided to trust in Jesus, then you need to follow in obedience this Sunday. This Sunday is YOUR TIME. Don't let fear keep you from obeying Jesus. The step of faith will be rewarded and you will experience what it is like to go public with your faith. No turning back! THIS IS YOUR SUNDAY! I believe that will all my heart and I have been praying for you!

If you are a parent of a birth - 5th grader then I would also challenge you to dedicate your child THIS SUNDAY! This is a simple act with profound implications. You are publicly telling everyone that you are wanting to raise this child in a Jesus-centered environment so that one day they will make the decision to follow Jesus as well. You are publicly saying you need God's help and the church gets to commit to YOU in helping with that process. Read Deuteronomy 6:6-9 That is your goal and commitment as a godly parent. That is what this Sunday's dedication is all about, creating that kind of environment.

The second thing I am asking you to do is pray for this Sunday. If you have already been baptized then pray for those that will be taking that step this Sunday. Pray for courage and boldness. Pray God's blessings over them as they obey and follow Jesus. Pray this Sunday is even more epic than last Sunday!

If you are getting baptized, during the final song at the end of the service on Sunday, I will ask you to slip back to the restrooms and change. If you are dedicating your kids go and get them from the Coastal Kids area during that time too. THEN, we will all meet at the Guest Services Kiosk in the back for some final instructions and prayer before we head out to the baptismal kiddie pool.

IT IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!
Praying for you.

Be BOLD

It is Wednesday... Sunday is coming! Our big fall launch is this week. We have talked about "Go Fish" for the past 6-weeks... AND, I am praying you are BOLD these next few days. I am praying you are bold in your invites, bold in your conversations, bold in your asking, bold with your friends and family, bold with your neighbors, bold with your co-workers, bold with the girl at Starbucks, bold with the guy that cuts your hair, bold with your baby-sitter... Bold enough to say, "You have to come and see. Just come and see. This Sunday come with me to church and see what I am talking about."

Be BOLD guys! Sunday is coming.

On Tuesday I walked into our landlord's office here at the Warehouse to drop off the rent check and I just laid it out there. "What are you guys doing on Sunday... Come to church! We are talking about how we don't have any time and money and sanity these days. Not that you guys deal with any of that as small business owners... Here is a card. Come to church this week!"

Last week I was e-mailing with the printer who does all our printing for the church. We have talked about church before and I know she is not a Christ-Follower. Went bold on her! Asked her if she can come this week. And, she said she could. Praying she does.

Also, praying for the people you are going bold on! Sunday is coming!!!

The Sunday That Was (August 14)

On Sunday we wrapped up our summer "Go Fish" series. If you missed the message you can watch it on the upper right video player here on my blog. We also gave away the deep sea fishing trip you have been entering to win during this series and CONGRATS to Angel on the "big catch". You can also see him win on the message video, great reaction!!! Enjoy it bro! Angel is one of our loyal set up guys and he and his wife Stephanie are stepping up to be our middle and high school directors (more on this later this week).

A few highlights from Sunday:

• The story in 2 Kings 7:3-16 is not one you heard in Sunday school but it put a period on our series because the 4 guys HAD TO GO BACK and tell the others about the GOOD NEWS.


• With great discovery comes great responsibility!


• BE CAREFUL: The longer you are a Christian the easier it is to allow our time and lives to be so absorbed with what God is doing in and for us that we forget to go back to those we left behind.


• We have a tension... will we go back to some of the people and places we used to know?

I also shared 10 questions if we really buy into anything we have talked about over the past 6-weeks, if we really thought we had to fish:

1. Who would you make time for to invite to lunch?



2. Who would you buy your next random gift for?



3. Would you do anything different financially?



4. Who would you have over for dinner?



5. Who do you need to invite to church THIS WEEK?



6. Would you change where you workout / shop / get your hair cut?



7. Would you change where your kids play sports?



8. Would you change your golfing / shopping partner?



9. How would you pray different?



10. Who would you adaciously pray for until they accept Jesus?

I hope this series has challenged you to rethink your faith and even how you live out your life with Christ. ONE OF THE BEST THINGS WE COULD DO now is get out there this week and make sure people come on Sunday because of us! We have a great fall launch planned and a new series called "Life at the Redline." It will be the perfect environment for someone to just "Come and see" like we talked about. I know you are busy and have all kinds of things to do this week. But, lets not miss this opportunity to "Go Fish" and introduce people to the God in this song...

This was our communion song from Sunday:

It Is Time To Take Your Next Step!

Our purpose for our church is:
Helping people take their next steps with God

And, specifically what we are trying to do is:
Create relevant environments in which God can work

Over the next month everyone will have the chance to take at least one BIG next step at the Suncoast. Here are a few of them:

> Bring someone for the Fall Launch (Aug 21)
Every year we hit the reset button and launch into the fall with hopefully lots of momentum. It is back to school time, and back to a routine time for most people, and that means getting back into the church groove. We start a big new message series about a highly practical topic for believers and non-believers. And, I am personally asking you to make sure there is another person there because of you on August 21st. We have been talking about "Go Fish" for 5-weeks now, let's do it!

> Sign up for a NEXT Group
Starting this Sunday the 14th we will be signing up for our fall NEXT Groups. NEXT Groups are smaller groups of people that meet for 10-weeks in homes on various nights of the week. During that time you will be diving deeper into Sunday's message, talking, sharing, praying for each other, eating, having fun, serving the community and giving to a cause your group chooses. Pick a group with some friends or make some new ones. Group sign ups will go until September 11th. I know this is a BIG next step for some, but don't let your fear keep you from something amazing!

> Baptism and Child Dedication (Aug 28)
When a person became a Christ-Follower in the Bible their next step was to "go public" with their faith and be baptized. On Sunday the 28th you will have the chance to follow Jesus in obedience. If you were baptized as a child I think this is for you too because there is nothing like letting people know you are one of His followers! To sign up e-mail us at info@canthisbechurch.com If you are a parent of a birth - 5th grader and would like to have them dedicated then we will also be celebrating that on the 28th. For more info e-mail Crystal at crystal@canthisbechurch.com

> Step up and serve
Right now we have a chance for you to serve God, and His people, and those who are coming to experience Him for the first time this fall! We have 2 - 4 spots in our Coastal Kids Ministry in the Beach (elementary age). We have 2 spots on our set up team. We have 2 spots on the greeting and usher team. AND, we can ALWAYS use more hands tearing down the school after church is over each Sunday. Investing in Wall Street is a crap shoot right now, investing in God's kingdom ALWAYS PAYS DIVIDENDS!

So, no excuses Suncoast. Now, is the time to take your next step. Sometimes the biggest things in life come from taking small steps of obedience. Again for more info on any of this, e-mail us at info@canthisbechurch.com

Looking for Wins!

So, real quick today I wanted to share with all my Suncoast family something that I was thinking and praying about this past week.

Everyone likes to be on a winning team. When the Rays and Bucs win, the stadium fills. When they don't, it is empty. Everyone likes a winner. In the church world the same thing applies but how you measure a win is much different, AND if left unspoken you guys will fill in the blanks for yourself and often that is butt's in seats. Which is an important measurement for wins because numbers are people, BUT they are also so fickle! So here is a quick list of some things to look for to know if we are "winning".

• If you see even one face you don't recognize then that Sunday was a win. We are here for those not here yet and even one guest means we won.


• If you see someone new serving, greeting, cafe, band, kids... if you have not seem them doing that role before then it was a win because they are helping to create a relevant environment for God to work. AND taking a next step by getting outside of themselves!


• Any Sunday (since we are portable) it all gets done and the video, lights and sound are right on it was a win because those guys and gals try really hard!


• Any Sunday you have a moment in the music/prayer/communion when you forget, even for a few seconds, that you are in a school cafeteria and all you are focused on is our God and His amazing love for us... WIN!


• When you see someone take out their program and take some notes during the message... WIN! When you do it... BIG WIN!


• When we have a baptism and child dedication Sunday like we do coming up on August 28th and even one person takes their next step of faith and gets baptized then that Sunday was a win and the angels throw a party in heaven! When even one family dedicates their child and says, "God help us and do something amazing in this kids life"... WIN!


• When you see people hanging out after the service and talking and laughing and enjoying being in the house of God then that Sunday was a win! When you head straight to the car and bolt, we lose...


• When your kids can't wait to get to church and don't want to leave, win! When they get you out of bed and they are the reason you came that week, yep WIN!!!


• AND, when people get their on time (that would be in the cafeteria by 10:30), when the seats are all full, and you see the ushers taking out more chairs, yes that is a win, and we should celebrate it!

Hope this list helps, obviously when someone accepts Jesus that is the ultimate win and it doesn't matter what else happened that day, but you don't always know when that happens like I do. Just know every month we have people do just that and we should be excited about that.

See you all Sunday, will we win?

New Direction for the Suncoast

July 10th and 11th I took the staff at the church and their families over to the JW Marriott in Orlando for our staff retreat. First of all it was an awesome time to just hang out as friends and people and refresh... not as staff and all the business talk. Suncoast you are blessed with some awesome people leading! BUT, Monday we huddled up and spent the day seeking God's direction for the church and learning some new things about momentum and about how to close the back door of our church. We had some really hard conversations, honest ones, and I wanted to share with you some of what came out of that retreat.

The first thing, which we have talked about already this year a couple of times and made public, was the need for a new location/building. There are a lot of reasons why, but the bottom line is we are actively looking for a new place to call home. Ideally, this would be something much more permanent where we didn't have to set up and tear down and do church in a trailer. A few doors have opened and others have shut, but we are looking! The area we are looking for is from Collier Parkway to Gunn Highway along SR 54 just to give you an idea.

Another thing that came out of it was about me, specifically that I do too much. I know some of you wonder what a pastor does all week, but I spend my time split between planning the weekend service, doing the daily operations of the church, preparing messages, being the "shepherd" and the thing that gets pushed to the side is being the leader. AND, to be honest someone can do everything I do except lead and preach. That is where I am most effective. So, I need to hand off a lot of what I do. Right now we are looking to bring on staff a programming director who would plan and prepare and execute the Sunday service. Rita and Crystal do a great job with their areas and Steve leads the band, but all of the other elements of the service itself would fall under this persons responsibilities. This would allow me to spend my time preparing my message and actually lead. You can't work on your church if you are too busy working in your church! If we are going to get better as a church then I need to stop being the bottle neck!

The last thing was I need to stop doing set up. So, we need two more guys to jump in and be on the team. It is an every other week commitment and we get going at 7:30am at the school. E-mail me at brian@canthisbechurch.com if you are interested.

There were other "tweaks" that came out of the retreat that we will be talking about soon, but wanted to share these three with you. I think it could be an exciting fall at the Suncoast :-)

A Suncoaster's Letter (The Homework)

Dear Mom,

I wanted to say thank you. Thank you for providing me with a strong foundation of faith. My pastor this week was talking about the moment you discovered faith and I couldn’t think of a day I didn’t have faith. So I thank you for all the things you taught me as a child! Even though we didn’t attend church much, you always taught us to pray at bed time, you tried to teach us Bible stories in the living room, you always showed us Gods love. Yes, I attended church classes when I was older, but they did not make me who I am today. So I thank you for the greatest gift a mother can give… the gift of Faith in Jesus!

I am so blessed, I know God has been with me my whole life, I remember praying to him on so many nights as a child and every step of my life. I have had many people help me develop my faith and lead me to take steps of faith that I never thought I would do. I know God placed _____ and _____ in my life for a reason, they also helped me grow and see God and Faith in a different light. I so miss them, but I know they are with me. My church has of course, helped me soar. I know God has perfect timing and I believe the day I received the flyer that lead me to attend to the Suncoast for the first time was part of his plan. It’s the perfect fit! I count my blessing each and every day! So I thank you with all my heart for planting the seeds and helping them grow!

I love you MOM!
Your Daughter

New Direction for This Blog

It has been a few months since I last blogged. At first I did a social media fast to spend more time focused on my relationship with God. Since then I have slowly started to twitter more and even an occasional facebook post or comment. AND, after some thought I have decided to go in a new direction with my blog.

Starting this week I will focus on things mainly for my church, Church of the Suncoast. I will be doing re-caps from the following Sunday, talking about upcoming events, sharing thoughts for our people, and casting the vision for the Suncoast. In the past I have shared ministry insights and creative resources hoping to share with others what I have been blessed with, usually by someone else, but for now, for this season, my goal will be to build up and equip the people that call the Suncoast home.

Look for a couple, maybe even three, post a week from here on out. It will likely be on Monday's and Wednesday's, or Thursday's.

Thanks for reading my blog and if you are a pastor or church leader please feel free to ask for anything, my e-mail is brian@canthisbechurch.com

Easter @ the Suncoast 2011

Wow! All I can say is wow! GO GOD! Yesterday was an amazing day at Church of the Suncoast. Obviously, it was Easter so we expected to have a bigger crowd, last Sunday I cast some vision about what if we could double the size of our church in just one week if we all brought someone, and for the first time in our five year history we actually did just that! We came within 5 people of DOUBLING THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE we had the week before, close enough to call it double right!

Every person had a story. Every person was someone we tried to honor and serve. Every person heard the Gospel of Jesus preached and acted out by our amazing volunteers who served. OMG! We had 52 kids yesterday and I counted at least 4 more on the way :-)

Here are a few other numbers to thank God for:

34 first, second or third time guests (and there are always more who don't fill out a card)

4 people accepted God's Easter gift and invited Jesus into their lives, THAT NEVER GETS OLD and that is what this is all about Suncoast.

175 the number of people at the Suncoast.

If you have followed my blog, or our church, then you know it has been a hard year for us. Just a lot of stuff going on in the area we do church. A lot of economic stuff that has led to a lot of relational stuff and so on. We were doing two services last year and had 237 and then the bottom fell out. We struggled, went back to one service. Really fought and prayed our way through this and Sunday really felt like we turned a corner. God is faithful Suncoast! Our best days are still to come.

Thank you to all the amazing people who made Easter happen. It was great to see the people stick around for Sno Cones and the bounce houses and just enjoy the day. I hope you were as pumped up as I was!

I love my church!

A Must Read

A friend of mine from the Suncoast sent me this post from the blog "Stuff Christians Like" and it is a must read:

Saying you’re having a hard time “connecting” at church.
This church isn’t very friendly. Have you noticed that? We might need to change to a new church, because we’re having a really hard time connecting at this one. We’ve been coming here for six months, sitting in service, not talking to anyone, then immediately sprinting out of the building and going home. And no one has connected with us. Rude!

We haven’t met anyone in small group either. We didn’t sign up for one, but still, it would be nice if a small group kind of magically happened in our living room, on a night that was convenient for us and someone brought banana pudding. Not box banana pudding, but like the kind your grandmother used to make. Is that so much to ask for?

Probably, considering that this church doesn’t really seem to reach out to people who have spent six months attending Sunday morning service and not participating in any other activities.

No one even called us and asked why we weren’t at the fall festival. Sure, we’ve never given them our number, but google it. And then help us connect.
I thought this church was going to be different. I thought it wouldn’t be like the last three churches we attended. Remember those three? Always saying, “Please stay for lunch and learn about the church. Please let us know if you have any questions. Please come to our first time visitor’s luncheon.” So annoying.

What’s that you say? Where are we serving at the church? Serving is a great way to get connected and plug into a place that is ultimately a two way street of people loving and giving and growing together? Even something as simple as handing out bulletins can jump start new relationships with new people? Ugh, that sounds like a lot of work. Quit judging us.

And start connecting us. We’re having a hard time connecting at this church.

For ways you can connect at Church of the Suncoast click here:
http://www.canthisbechurch.com/next-steps