Poet

/

There is a gal in our church who writes poems often...like several a week. She recently emailed me two of them. I thought they were great, so I wanted to share them. Thanks, Jessi! Here they are:

His servants sat down,

and He washed their feet.

Down on His knees,

He carefully cleaned.

He's the King of all Kings,

though He humbly walks.

To serve His dear kingdom,

He teaches and talks.

You think that your special,

You're no more then Him.

Let go of your pride,

or your future will dim.

____________________________

To contemplate the end,

allows you to live.

To look upon sadness

makes it easy to give.

Going to parties is

an escape for awhile.

When it's all said and done,

it gets harder to smile.

You live more through death,

your heart becomes pure.

So live in the moment,

only now is for sure.

--Jessi Coffey

Crazy week

/

This has been a crazy week! I am Pastor by day and home improvement wanna be by night. We are trying to get the new crib ready to move into BEFORE we have furniture to work around. Almost done. A few more days and 30 more trips to Home Depot for stupid little things, and we will be ready to rock and roll.

Today I had an awesome experience when I called every person that visited CCF over the last 3 weeks. The stack of cards was big! The connections I got to make on the phone were the highlight of my day! God is sending us some neat new people every week! That is something that we ought to be thanking Him for.

On the road all day tomorrow. 3 visitations and 2 off site local networking meetings. I am telling you, I am in the office less and less. I would rather be with people or in the community any day of the week! The day will come when I work from a laptop in a cubicle somewhere in the church and my office is used for ministry! We shall see!

--NK

Key Dates to Remember

/

Hey Church,

Here are some key dates to remember:

  • This Sunday: Discovery 101 right after church!
  • Sunday, August 24th: Small Group Sign-ups for all new and existing groups!
  • Sunday, August 31st: Small Group Sign-ups for all new and existing groups!
  • Sunday, September 7th: NEW Sunday Small Groups Begin Meeting 9am-10am! (There WILL be ministry for kids.)
  • Sunday, September 14th: Friend Sunday and Fellowship Meal. (Flyers will be ready for you to pick up next Sunday, 8/24.)

Mark your calendars and spread the word!

Making Connections

/

With a lot more detail to come...here is the gist of what our Fall Small Group Curriculum and Message Series will be about:

Title: Making Connections
Connecting with Jesus, Connecting with God's Family and Growing to be Like Jesus!

Making Connections will take you on a discovery journey through this fall. On this journey, you will discover your very nature as a person, God’s feelings towards you and how to respond to God’s love and purpose for your life in Jesus Christ. You will spend time with the Lord and with others being formed and transformed into His image in order to live and fulfill the purpose He designed you for. You will learn about Jesus’ own purposeful living while here on earth with his disciples while remaining connected with his heavenly Father. This study will seek to follow Jesus's footsteps and to challenge you to model your life after His life. Finally, the journey this Fall will help you discover certain tools to enable you to respond to God’s love which was lavished upon us in Jesus Christ and continues in the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. Every Sunday message and Small Group meeting throughout the Fall semester at CCF will be intentionally focussed on the HOW TO's of Loving God, Loving People and Living as Disciples!

Rick Warren needs our help

/

Here is an excerpt from an email that was forwarded to me today from Rick Warren:

This next Saturday, August 16, 2008, I will interview Senators John McCain and Barack Obama for an hour each at our nationally televised Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency. The following morning I will be preaching a message entitled “The Kind of Leadership America Needs.”

I’d value your opinion and feedback. What question would you ask BOTH candidates if you had the chance? Please frame your question in a way that it could be asked of both candidates (to be fair). This would be a great help to me.

So, do you have any ideas of a good question? Leave one by clicking on the comment button below.

For a short season and a great reason...

/

If you were not at church yesterday, you missed the announcement that I shared with the community that Pastor Mike and his family will be transitioning out of CCF in the next few weeks. Pastor Mike and I have agreed to his resignation. It was our mutual sense that it was not the fit that we had hoped and prayed it would be. As it became more obvious that Mike and CCF were not the match we had hoped, we sensed the Lord's leading toward this decision.

Here is what I invite each of us to focus on these days:

  • God is sovereign. He moves people around and in and out of situations at His discretion. People come and go. Years come and go. But the word of the Lord will stand forever!
  • Pastor Mike is leaving in good standing and relationship with myself and the organization.
  • Pastor Mike made a difference in me and in CCF that will have lasting impact...for that we are thankful!
  • We made a difference in Mike's life and family that will have lasting impact! For that we are thankful!
  • God is holding CCF in His hands and has only the BEST in store for our future! He's got this!! God has heaped His favor on CCF for many years and I know that I know that He is still protecting us and planning for our great future as a church!
  • God is holding the Rosado family is His hands and has great plan in store for them as well! I know that I know that Mike is incredibly gifted and divinely called. I look forward to the story that will unfold for his future.

We have a great volunteer youth staff that will be stepping up to the plate and providing ministry and love to the youth of CCF! More info to come as they assemble and devise the plan.

If Mike made a difference on your life, tell him. Encourage him and love him, Kelly and Chase as they go.

"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, but blessed be the name of the Lord!" Job 1:21

Willow Creek Leadership Summit 2008

/

CCF assisted a few key leaders in attending the Willow Creek Leadership Summit last week (Jaye Lindo, Pam Kaye and Carol Roberts). It is a video cast event to local churches around the nation. The 3 people that went from CCF had to travel to Glenarden! Cool, huh!

Anyway, they returned from this event pumped with excitement and information. This is exactly what a good conference should do. I have great confidence in Willow Creek and their events. So glad some of our folks got to participate.

If you are interested in reading some summaries of the different speakers and what they shared, click here and read Mark Beeson's blog. He did a fantastic job of summarizing nuggets and pearls and has posted them on his blog for people to read...for free! Check it out! (Mark is the Senior Pastor of Granger Community Church in Granger, Indiana).

Good Stuff!

Fear

/

Psalm 27 has been a blessing to my spirit recently. It is a powerful Psalm that addresses fear from many angles. I strongly encourage you to click here and read Psalm 27 and then engage a few of the thoughts below.

  • If we don't master fear, fear will master us!
  • The causes of fear...fear most often comes from:
    • The make up of our personality (temperament)
    • A bad life experience (psychological)
    • Parents, family and culture (environment)
    • Disobedience and lack of faith (spiritual)
  • Fear most often manifests itself through our uncertainty about the future, our regret about the past, or our inadequacies concerning the present.
  • In this Psalm, David is basically saying this...
    • The LORD is your light, your saving grace and your strength in all things...Live with that conviction at your core, and fear is going to begin to leave you! (verse 1)
    • Enemies, wars, and struggles will rise against you. Even then, be confident in your conquest knowing that the LORD is your light, your salvation and your strength..not YOU! (verse 2-3)
    • David is telling us that we need to put our confidence and hope in who God is, what God has done and what God will do!! When we learn to do this, fear won't reside in us. Our problem is that we are trusting ourselves too much (and not God)! (verse 7-14)

Psalm 27:4 says "One thing I have desired from the Lord, that I will seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple!"

Great Day Yesterday!

/

Yesterday was a great day! Awesome service. So good to be merged back together into one service. The energy in the room was so different. So good! Pastor Dave's message was great. His heart is so pure that he could just get on the stage and stand there as far as I am concerned and I would feel ministered to!

Spent yesterday afternoon doing things at the new house, like picking up a new washer and dryer that we found on Craigs List! We love Craigs List!

Last night was also a great time! We had a gathering to welcome the Kauffman family to our church and district. It was very well attended and a great evening! Thank you, Barb Good for an awesome job with this. Last night the seed was planted in my heart with something Glenn said...the seed is...I will be going to China next summer...and hopefully with many others.

--Noah

We Came Home to...

/

A new home. We settled on a new home while we were away this week thanks to a power of attorney that handled it for us (so we could still go away). This will be the first and last time that we will ever spend several hundred thousand dollars while we are on vacation. Get it?!?! We are really excited to make this home our own. It is just here in Bowie a few miles from where we live now. Needs a little TLC, but we love to do it. We will slowly do some work at the new house and migrate over to it over the next few weeks. We have tenants moving into our current home Sept. 1st. We thank the Lord (and a GREAT Realtor named Mom) for His favor over us as this has been a smooth transaction and a great experience.

If you are a CCF'er...we will publish our new address in the next update of the church director. If you are a friend or family member, email me and I will give you our new address.

--Noah

Home and Hyper

/

We are home...got here at about 4:00. Should have been here at 2:00, but was delayed to spend quality time in stand still traffic on 95 North....always a wonderful test of character after 7 hours on the road. We are glad to be home.

After being in the car most of the day, I find that I am hyper. I have been going and doing and mowing since we got home. Trying to burn off some saved up energy.

Looking forward to tomorrow morning. I have an announcement to share with the community that will pack a pretty big punch. Also, tomorrow is the Sunday that we MERGE TO ONE MAIN WORSHIP SERVICE...it starts at 10:30am. (On Sept. 7th, we will launch new small groups that will meet from 9am-10am). Pastor Dave will be preaching tomorrow. He is the former Senior Pastor of CCF before me and he serves as the Bishop of our district (for 3 more weeks). Glad to have him speaking tomorrow as I am just coming off of a trip.

See you in the morning!! Excited about what God has ahead for us!

--Noah

A Day of Two Cities

/

Today was a great day! We started our trek north this morning. It was a cool day as we spent half of a day in 2 great cities. We did sightseeing and cruised around Atlanta for the first half of the day. Then, we traveled about 4 hours north of Atlanta to Charlotte, NC. We spent the evening in Charlotte. What a beautiful city. If you have never been, I recommend it. Friendly, clean and beautiful! We saw families everywhere tonight....seemed like a great place to raise a family. (Second to PG County, of course!) Tomorrow, it's off to MD!

--Noah


A Modern Miracle

/

This is a priceless picture of what time and Jesus can do to people. This is my Uncle Gordon and my Brother-in-law, Randy. This picture may not mean much to some of you, but it is a VERY MEANINGFUL picture to me and my family. My 75 year old Great Uncle who spent his life in the south extended great love (and even apology) to my brother in law. Accepting an interracial marriage was not easy for him, but he has really grown! It has been a blast to watch these two cut up this week.

Howdy Yall

/

It only takes me a few days to pick up this southern accent. My family is southern! Sweet tea southern. Biscuit and gravy southern. Eat every 2 hours southern. Thick accent southern. We have a had a great time with them. Both of my parents are only children, so we have no Aunts, no Uncles and no Cousins. As a result, our Great Aunts and Uncles and second Cousins are all the extended family we have. Hence, we feel close to them. We have spent the last few days with the Davis family (the side of the family that we named our fist son after).

Tomorrow we are headed to spend the day in Atlanta. Then, we will start our trek north. It has been a relaxing and enjoyable few days. Now that I am very relaxed....it's time to start heading home.

--Love!

Heading South

/

We are heading south for the rest of the week. We will be in Columbus, Georgia visiting the Davis family (and will also spend a little time in Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA). I LOVE to drive and I LOVE to be with my family. Off we go. Road Trip.

If I can get connected, I will stay connected and send you a "hello" with a blog from time to time. If not, watch my Tweets on the right for Twitter updates. I always have phone coverage. See you Sunday, church! I am excited that Pastor Dave will bringing the message. And don't forget that this Sunday we MERGE to ONE MAIN WORSHIP SERVICE at 10:30am!!!

--Love ya, Noah

Welcoming the Kauffman Family

/

After living in Hong Kong for the past 15 years, Glenn and his wife June along with their daughter Lia and son Austin will be moving to the Laurel area and will be making CCF their home church. Glenn has accepted the role as Bishop for the churches of our district and will begin on September 1st. Glenn will also be working as Global Ministries director for Eastern Mennonite Missions. The Kauffman family comes to us with a intense passion for the Chinese people and world missions.

A word of explanation since we all have different understandings of the same word...we see the Bishop as our leader and overseer of the churches in our area. He will coach our Pastors and serve as our connection to our conference. This is the position our former Pastor Dave has held for the past several years and is now retiring from.

We want to extend a very warm welcome to the Kauffman family. Here are 2 ways that we plan to do that:

1. We will be holding a time of welcome and fellowship for the Kauffman’s in the Upper Room of the church on Sunday, August 10th at 6:30pm. Come and bring a snack to share!

2. After being away for 15 years, they need stuff! If you can help donate some household items to the Kauffman’s, please contact Pam Kaye at 301-675-1031 or e-mail pamkaye1@juno.com.

Here is a list of things they need:

  • Full-size box spring
  • One dresser
  • Small microwave
  • Television/DVD player
  • Picnic table or deck furniture
  • Grill
  • Drying rack
  • Towels, washcloths
  • Girls' bicycle
  • Card table and folding chairs
  • Computer

Washington Bible College Needs Us

/

Late last year, I posted about a connection that I made with Washington Bible College. For several reasons, this school is special to me. You can read what I wrote by clicking here.

Last week I received word that the college is really going through a financial crisis that is threatening everything from payroll to their future as a school. The thing that breaks me about this is that this is a LOCAL institution that is training leaders for the church. We need WBC in Lanham! Period. I wanted to make you aware of this reality and need. Things look very grim for WBC outside of divine intervention. WBC needs donors and prayer fast! I ask you to pray for Dr, Mercer, President and for the entire school that the Lord would supernaturally provide for them as they train leaders for the kingdom.
"A Generous man will prosper; he who refreshes other will himself be refreshed." Proverbs 11:25