Greater Things with T.J. McCormick » Coastal Community Church

Spring Forward

T.J. — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:50:37 +0000

Don’t forget that this weekend on Saturday night before you go to bed to set your clocks forward one hour. I really dislike that I lose an hour of sleep but at the same point I am looking forward to worshiping God sooner with everyone at Coastal Community Church on Sunday. I guess that there is a pro to every con. Look forward to seeing you Sunday at 10am at Monarch High School.

Opportunity Knocks

T.J. — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:07:22 +0000

I cannot believe how fast this year is going. I am starting to put together my message for Easter, which is April 4th, and thinking about all of the people who will come to church this one day of the year. What an opportunity for us as a church to show people that the church isn’t about rules or religion but about relationship. I know that God has brought COASTAL COMMUNITY CHURCH to COCONUT CREEK for a reason. That reason is to show people that God loves them unconditionally and that he sent his son over 2000 years ago so people could not just know about him but KNOW HIM!

I want to encourage each person to step out in faith and invite your friends, neighbor, co-worker, the clerk at the grocery store, the barista at Starbucks, or basically anyone that is breathing air on this planet to church. They will come, they are programmed to come, they want to come. The question is, will you ask them to come with you?

Can we seize the opportunity that is before us to reach people for Jesus? I believe we can.

This Weekend

T.J. — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:10:33 +0000

I am so jacked up for this weekend at Coastal Community Church . I love the series that we are doing right now called UNWRITTEN. It is so important for our walk with Christ that we get a vision of where we are going in life so we can make decisions based on the direction we are suppose to go. It is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of life and lose track of where we are and where we are going.

This weekend is going to be incredible. We have some things planned that are going to knock your socks off. I am going to be sharing a principle that has transformed my life personally and I believe will help guide you in relationships. You do not want to miss what is going to happen. I want to encourage you to invite a friend or three or thirty three because this weekend is going to be transforming.

Can’t wait to see you this Sunday, February 21st at Monarch High School at 10am.

Confessions of a Pastor-Part 3

T.J. — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:57:37 +0000

I struggle with this whole idea that if people really knew me, they would not like me. I think that if I allow people to see the real me, the one that has flaws, that doesn’t always know what he is suppose to do, the one who is living completely by faith because he doesn’t know what to do, that no one would want to follow. I struggle with this a lot. I am in completely unfamiliar territory being a lead pastor of a church. I have been on staff at large churches, taught thousands of people but there has always been someone else who at the end of the day, the buck stopped with him. Now the buck stops with me. I want to be the best pastor, leader, friend, husband that I can be, but let me just confess, I DON’T KNOW WHAT I AM DOING. I am walking more by faith now than I have at any other time in my life. I am trusting God for direction, answers, provision, and help. I try to walk around like I got it all together but the reality is that I don’t, I am just walking the faith walk, trusting that what I heard from God is God. I wish that I could tell you I know all the answers and have it all figured out but unfortunately I am learning along the way as well.

Right now at Coastal Community Church we are in a series called UNWRITTEN, and in this series we are discovering the vision that God has for the different areas of our life. I believe that it is going to be an incredible series of vision and revelation for people to discover what God still wants to do in their life. One of the things that I have discovered in life is that God has a purpose for us, but there is a process to get to the purpose and the process is the point.

I am really enjoying the freedom that is coming from this confessions of a pastor series of blogs. This is the process that God has me in to experience His freedom and presence. I am falling in love with this verse in James 5:16

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

It seems like the more that I get things off my chest the easier it has been to communicate with God. I can finally see why the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. That person is not trying to hide anything from God, isn’t dealing with the guilt of concealment, and does not feel the burden of their mistakes. There is so much freedom in confession but yet we stray away from it, why? Why would we want to live outside of God’s presence when we can live in it.

Psalm 91

T.J. — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:14:42 +0000

I was doing my time with Jesus today before early morning prayer at our offices and a verse really stuck out to me today that I have read hundreds of times. It is found in Psalm 91:1

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

What really struck me about this verse was the word DWELL. In the Webster’s dictionary it means: to live as a resident. I started to think about my relationship with God and am I a resident of a consistent time with God. The thing that happens when I am dwelling with God is that I am right there with him, following (hence why I am in His shadow) but yet protected because he is making the way for me, leading out in front.

I find it so easy to be a nomad in my relationship with God. There are times when I dwell with him but then all of a sudden I will find myself out wandering around looking at other places to be my shelter or residence. I don’t know why I have this tendency but I do. I want this year to be the year where I take up permanent residence in God’s house, where I don’t wander out looking for other places to rest or other people to follow. This is the year where I believe each of us needs to establish our residence with His.