Robert Pooley

Greater Things

Starting day two of the #GreaterThings Compassion Conference.  The speakers are amazing.  Last night we heard from Tommy Barnett and Joyce Meyer. Today, people like Miles McPherson, Christine Caine, Mark Batterson, Matthew Barnett and Dino Rizzo.  Last night was open to the general public and Healing Place was 90% full.  But here's the reality:  A major conference on compassion and ministering to the poor, the hurting, the broken... and only 800 people registered. 

Joyce Meyer said last night if the speakers had been talking about the top 12 secrets to growing your church to Megachurch status, the place would've been packed.  

Its a little sad to me to see such a small response... but then I started thinking of Gideon's small army... God can do a lot with a small group of people who are radically comitted to His purpose.  

I am believing God is going to give us some new ideas to make a difference in our community... and  ministering to those who are boken and hurting.  God does not dispise small beginnings.

Coast Info

Hey Everybody!

Its going to be a great weekend at Coast as we start our new series...

This week, one service only at 10:30 AM.  So sleep in, and join us for the 10:30 service. We will have the coffee waiting for you!!  This week we will tackling the topic, "I Quit Making Excuses!"  Think about this!  This will be the last time New Year's day is on a Sunday till 2017...  What better way to kick off a New Year!  Make 2012 special by putting God first!  And... invite a friend.

Also, if you are interested in making an end of the year contribution for your 2011 taxes or to give your Giving to Christ at Christmas offering, you can give online at www.coastcommunity.org and click on the giving tab.

Finally, if you are on Facebook, like the Coast Facebook page here.  If you are on twitter, follow us @Coastcommunity.  And if you have texting, then text (all one word) JoinCoast to 69302 for weekly updates.   If you are interested in listening to your favorite messages, or messages you have missed, go to www.coastcommunity.org and click on the messages tab.  Share the Coast website with your friends.

I am looking forward to see what God is going to do in 2012... Click here for a great video to help you remember that God is creating something beautiful in your life.

Awakening - 21 days of prayer, fasting, and personal devotion

January 15th - February 4th 2012

Starting on January 15    th, Coast Community Church will be joining with other churches across the nation for a season of prayer and fasting; a spiritual journey that will set the tone for our effectiveness throughout the year. The name of this campaign is...

Awakening: 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

Many of you have already established times of prayer and fasting in your life and have experienced the powerful impact it has had. As a church, we have seen increased salvations, breakthroughs and miracles as we chose to put God first at the onset of the year. This year, we are uniting with several other churches to pray and fast together, aligning ourselves with the power and favor of God. Just imagine what can happen if the Body of Christ unites behind this purpose that is so close to the heart of God. What a powerful way to start off the year. If you have a desire to pray and fast, this is a great way to do it.

The fast begins Sunday, January 15th and ends Saturday, Februay 4th.

Fasting Resources

This info is for the individual participating in the 21 day season of prayer and fasting. We are so glad you’ve decided to set aside this time and start the year off seeking God in a powerful way. Our goal is to provide you with resources and links that will help you have a successful season of prayer and fasting.

The resources on this page will be updated periodically, so be sure to check back often.

We are suggesting that you consider joining us in a 21 day Daniel fast...  This a partial fast that allows you to eat things like fruits and vegetables, but not sugar, or meat or bread.  For info on what a Daniel Fast is you can click here and here.  Note:  There is a lot of info on fasting on this site. so take some time and really look it over.  There is also a cookbook available for downloading online.

Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)
³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

Fasting by Bill Bright

Never fasted before and don’t know where to begin? This guide written by Bill Bright provides a practical guide on prayer and fasting.  

Download

Prayer Requests and Testimonies

During this season, our church staff would love to believe and stand in agreement with you in prayer.  Please let us know any that come during your time of prayer and fasting at[email protected]

 

 

 

 

Additional Links on Prayer and Fasting:

 

 

 

 

• Jentezen Franklin – Fasting
• Bill Bright – Campus Crusade for Christ (7 Basic Steps to Successful Fasting)
• Daniel Fast

Articles on Prayer and Fasting:

• Is Fasting Appropriate for Christians?by Billy Graham
• The Purpose and Power of Fastingby Dale O’Shields
• The Power of Prayer and Fastingby Marilyn Hickey
• Why Fast?by Melanie Stone
• Fasting and Eating Disordersby Kerri Weems

Books on Prayer and Fasting:

• Fastingby Jentezen Franklin
• Hunger for God – Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayerby John Piper

 

 

 

Some Christmas Weekend Thoughts

• What an amazing weekend!
• Someone said once, Tell God your plans and watch Him laugh.  Even though we started talking about Christmas and doing preliminary planning back in July, the last 24 hours were a blizzard of rushing, stressing and ultimately trusting God.
• Our former worship leaders, the Hodges, were to be in town this weekend to do worship and some creative stuff for our two Candlelight Communion Services and our Sunday morning Christmas service. Got a call this week, Beth had sprained her ankle and Gary was sick as a dog. They were stuck in Orlando where they had been raising support for the missions field...  and so they were not coming.
• The Hodges are so faithful, so I knew they were really sick, but what to do? 
• Sooooo Friday became a blur to me as we went to work completely redoing all our plans for the weekend... and guess what happened?  God showed up!
• Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services were special, and powerful and Christmas was alive in our hearts... especially the idea that "God IS with us!"
• By the way, the Hodges are still under the weather, but feeling somewhat better, if you want to find out more about them and their ministry, go here.
• Somewhere between services we opened presents and stockings.  I am blessed with an amazing wife, a beautiful daughter and an awesome future son in law.
• After church, we had lunch with great friends.  I can't tell you how amazing it is to have the friends I have... people that I love laughing with, and hanging out with, and generally just enjoy doing life with them.
• Our Coast Dream Team, our volunteers, pulled out all stops to make today amazing, from our office staff, to our Splash Zone and Surf Factory Children's Ministries, to our First Impressions teams, our tech teams, our worship team and so many more.  We have the BEST folks... and I am blown away by their servant hearts.
• I ate too much this weekend!  Not complaining, not apologizing... just stating the facts!
• The family did our traditional Christmas trip to the movies and saw the movie, "We bought a zoo."  Highly recommended.  Written by Cameron Crowe... His stuff is always great!
• By the way, if any of you know Cameron Crowe... would love to sit down and talk with this guy. :)
• I am some kind of tired...  I think I may be in hibernation the next couple of days!
• Pastor Scott worked his fanny off this week to make this weekend happen, and so did his wife Sherri... They are an inspiration!
• I love our Coast Family!
• Just in case I didn't get to tell you... Merry Christmas!

A quick message to our Coast Family

Hey Everybody... its the week of Christmas... and it's going to be an amazing weekend at Coast!  I am so pumped about our Christmas Eve Candlelight services and our Christmas Day Worship Experience! And here's where you come in... can you take the time to invite someone to Christmas Eve and to Christmas Day at Coast?

Take the time and think about who you can invite this weekend.  Do it by Facebook... do it by twitter... send them a candy gram... knock on their door, leave an invite cake and run... whatever it takes!  But invite someone!  

The Christmas Weekend Experiences that we have planned, 2 Candlelight Communion Services on Christmas Eve and then a separate Christmas Worship Experience on Christmas Day, will with God's help, be a powerful way of making Christmas Eve and Christmas Day powerfully come alive for your family. 

Christmas Eve is always an intimate special service that touches my heart and gets me ready for Christmas... but this year is very special, because Christmas is on a Sunday.  so we have planned a very special Christmas service for you and your family and invited friends.  We are doing one service only, at 10:30 AM, so you will want to get there early.

So take the time, get a person in mind, and invite them to join us this weekend at Coast! You just might change their life forever.

What's happening at Coast!

Hey Everybody,

I know this is the busiest time of the year... so here's a few headlines.

"Giving to Christ at Christmas"  You can read about it here.

Our "Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest" is this Sunday...  Really looking forward to seeing what everyone does... Wear your most colorful loud Christmas sweater. This is going to be fun!!

Speaking of Sunday, we continue our series "All I want for Christmas is..." this week, and I will be talking about joy.  This is a perfect Sunday to bring a friend!  Why not stop right now, think of someone you can invite, then pray, and give them a call. I'm really looking forward to bringing the word this Sunday!

Important - Christmas and New Years Schedule:  We will have two Candlelight Communion Services on Christmas Eve. The times are 5:00 and 11:30.  We will have one very special Christmas service on Christmas day.  The Christmas service will be at 10:30 only and will be a short but powerfully impacting service.  What a perfect day to worship Christ and put Him first.  He IS the reason for the season!  New Year's day, which is also a Sunday this year, will also be one service only at 10:30.  Get there early, we will be kicking off a brand new series called "I Quit."

Finally, you are probably seeing a lot of new faces at Coast. So we need your help in several ways... First, try not to take the back row seats in the auditorium... first time guests prefer them... Try to get to Coast early and take the front seats.  Secondly, use the "3 Minute Rule."  The 3 minute rule says, that for the first 3 minutes after a service ends, talk only to someone you don't know... then after that, feel free to visit with anyone you want. Thirdly, when you arrive at Coast, we need your help with parking.  Try to park in the spaces in front of the building on either side first.  This allows the back area for our guests.

Alright, if you made it this far... thanks...  Its going to be an amazing Christmas season at Coast. Can't wait to see you there!

Pastor Robert

Seven Reasons You May Not Ever Accomplish Anything Significant In Life.

Thought I would pass this on from Perry Noble's blog... great stuff!

#1 – Procrastination!  (Remember, procrastination is assassination on the amazing future God has for you – James 1:22!)

#2 – You are allowing your past to identify you rather than Christ to identify you!  (See I Corinthians 6:9-11!)  You are not who you were…you are who you are in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17) and if you don’t let your past die then it won’t let you live.

#3 – You are more obsessed with what others think about you rather than what Christ thinks about you!  (See Colossians 3:2-3, Galatians 1:10)

#4 – You do not understand the fact that God’s Holy Spirit lives inside of you (Ephesians 1:13-14) and has gifted you and is calling you to do something greater than you could ever imagine (Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 3:20)

#5 – You are afraid (see Isaiah 41:10) – and remember, no one who ever accomplished anything significant for Christ didn’t have to take a significant step of faith (Hebrews 11:6!)

#6 – You believe the lie from hell that says you are an accident when Scripture says that God custom designed you (Psalm 139:13-16) and that you were clearly created on purpose, with a purpose and for a purpose.

#7 – You are obsessed with things that have ZERO significance when it comes to eternity (I John 2:17).

 

Courageous!

Ok, I have to admit... I struggled a little bit with the new movie, "Courageous."

"Courageous" is the latest film from the makers of "Facting the Giants" and "Fireproof."  And let me just say, I enjoyed every one of these movies. I know some people have complained over the years about production values or sub par acting... not me.  I have been actually blown away.  When you consider that these movies were written and produced by a team of people from Sherwood Baptist Church in Georgia, and not some big Hollywood studio...  it really is quite an accomplisment.

In fact, when you watch the credits, and you see the catering is done by So and So's Sunday School class, you can't help but be encouraged by what God can do with a few people, limited resources and a great big God-given vision. 

And like everyone else, I have been moved by the stories of the football coach in "Facing the Giants" and the firefighter in "Fireproof" and the law enforcement officers in "Courageous."  And like everyone else I was convicted and challenged in my faith... and for all those things I appaud the film makers on a job well done.

So, you are probably wondering, what is my struggle point? Well, here it is. I struggle with the fact that in "Courageous" as well as some of the other movies, that when the main character comes to his decision point...  that from that time on, things go perfect for them. 

Spoiler alert:  If you haven't seen the movie and you intend to, you may not want to read further.

For example, after the death of the child, the father in this movie recognizes that he is in a struggle point with his son, but all it took to correct that was him making a decision to follow his resolution. The problem is, that with many parents, when they make a decision to follow Christ, they expect that their teens will immediately follow, and they are devastated when that doesn't happen as expected. Instead we pray, and we live out our life of faith in front of them, and we trust God at some point they will make the right decision.

For each of the other main characters there were similar things.  Ok, I know you will want to mention the one deputy that goes to jail... but that is because he really didn't follow his resolution.

See, the truth is... following Jesus Christ does not mean that your life is going to go perfect and be rainbows, smiles and cotton candy from here on out.  In fact, in Scripture, Jesus clearly says, "In this world you will have trouble." (John 16:33) We live on a messed up planet, with people who are carrying deep hurts and deep wounds...  and some of those people make bad decisions that affect everyone around them.

Jesus never promised us that when we follow Him that our life would be perfect. But He did promise us that He would always be with us. He did promise us that whatever we are going through, that He would be right there, He would never leave us or forsake us.

I talked about this idea in our Habakkuk series at Coast which you can listen to here. The bible tells us that Jesus Himself learned obedience through the things Hs suffered. (Hebrews 5:8)  And in the same way, I believe that we learn and grow in our faith, as we learn to trust Jesus during the dark times of our life. Truthfully, you learn more on the mountain tops than you do in the valley.

Life doesn't get perfect when you follow Christ.  "In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer (Jesus says) I have overcome the world."  James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let persevearance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

God is alive and working as we walk through the difficulties of life.  And just like in the movie, when we put our trust in Him, He meets us and begins to guide our steps and lead our lives.  The bible tells us that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2) and I do believe that as we follow Him and trust Him with all of our heart, that He will help us navigate the struggles of life.

So should you see the movie?  Yes, and take it for what it is... an encouragement to step up and be better parents, and be the people God created us to be.  Step up and live a life of faith, and in doing that...  your life will be richer and you will impact the world around you.

 

Points of Interest

Just some stuff I found interesting this week.

• Four Money Saving Phone Calls by Michael Lukaszewski
• Ikea in Australia offers a daycare for men while the ladies shop. Finally!
• Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes. – Oscar Wilde
• Pumped up Kicks/Dubstep  Definitely worth a look.
• Designer Music Mixes
• Draw a Stickman  Too Cool!
• Something deep in the human heart breaks at the thought of a life of mediocrity. Our hearts cry out for life. ~C.S. Lewis
• Dream more than others think practical. Expect more than others think possible. Care more than others think wise. ~Howard Schultz
• One person with passion is better than forty people merely interested ~E.M. Forster
• Dreams come a couple sizes too big so you can grow into 'em. ~ Rev Run
• Carlos Whitaker lists his top ten modern worship songs.

Jared Anderson in Concert at Coast

Coast Community Church will be hosting a special prayer and concert event on Monday, September 12th at 7:00 PM.   The event is called "Hear us from Heaven: A campaign of worship and prayer."  

This special evening features Jared Anderson.  Jared is a prolific songwriter and one of the worship pastors at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Jared is also a member of the Desperation Band.  

Jared and his band, will be coming to Coast Community Church in Gulf Breeze for this special night of prayer and worship.  Not only will it be a strong night of worship, but we are also going to spend time praying for our community, our nation, businesses, our schools and more.

This is a free event, but we will be receiving a love offering at the event.  Seating is limited.  For more information you can call the Coast offices ay 850-916-0346 or go to the church website www.coastcommunity.org

Here is a video of Jared singing his latest release, "Great I Am."