Sunday at East Coast we celebrated two years of ministry! Here are a few highlights of 2011…
- We started the year out with a fast, here’s how someone was impacted
- Going through the book of James and The Fruit of The Spirit in Connect Groups
- Giving almost $700 to the Tornado Tithe Challenge
- The day we cancelled church
- Serving Arnold Anderson and his family
- Having a meaningful baby dedication service
- East Coast Kids!
- Hanging out with kids at the Joe James Center
- Seeing 20 children sponsored for new school clothes in 24 hrs
- Giving 75 teachers school supplies at DuPont Middle School
- Giving 100 backpacks filled with school supplies to kids in need
- Leading Atreyu to Christ!
- The Red Letters
- Seeing EC bring 87 boxes for Operation Christmas Child
- Participating in Holiday Magic
- Sponsoring families at Christmas
- Seeing our budget increase by almost 23%!
East Coast, 2011 was a great year as we joined hand in hand to build a bridge with others for the gospel! That’s been our vision from day one, and were keeping it that way. As your pastor, I’m proud of you for how you selflessly gave. Because of you, we were able to give nearly $9,000 away to foreign & local missions.
We’ve built many bridges & we will continue to do that. But, this year I want to focus on the second half of our vision: Bringing a voice for the Gospel! Sunday, I challenged our church to do that. I’m taking that challenge seriously and have already started making that a priority in my life by sharing the gospel today. 2012 is going to be a great year for us East Coast! The best is yet to come, and I’m looking forward to serving this year with you!
Accomplishing the vision together,
Pastor Kevin
We have an opportunity to adopt seven children in Jacksonville as a church family for Christmas. Below are a list of the kids, their sizes, and their wish list. If you would like to adopt one of these children for Christmas please email us the name of the child and what you are able to purchase. So we don’t double up, please wait for a return email confirmation before purchasing anything for the child.
If you are unable to purchase all the gifts for a child, and would like to purchase one or two items, that is great. Please contact our children’s director Mindy 904-504-4239 and let us know or email us (info.eastcoast@gmail.com). Grab a family or two and sponsor a child together!
Marnell 14 year old boy
Large Shirts
Size 28 pants
His wish list is for a bike and a football.
Mernae 14 year old girl
Junior size 7/8 in pants
Large Shirts
Her wish list is for a bike, necklace, and earrings.
Benwah 10 year old boy
Medium Shirt
Size 12 Boys Pants
His wish list is for a rip stick, bike, and a football.
Marion 4 year old boy
5T shirts and 5T pants
His wish list is for a bike, board games, and skates.
Jarvaris 17 year old boy
32 size pants
Large Shirts
His wish list is for a bike.
Jayda 17 year old girl
We don’t have clothes sizes for her.
Her wish list is for jewelry and a Walmart gift card.
Solomon 1 year old boy
12 mos pants and shirts
Shoe size = 3
His wish list is anything ELMO.
You can drop off items purchased at church on Sunday or at the McLendon’s by Wednesday 12/21, email us for the address (info.eastcoast@gmail.com). Thank you for your help; please let us know if you have any questions. Again you can contact us via email or you may reach out children’s director Mindy at 904-504-4239. If you are not local to Jax but want to get involved, you can donate online here and we will do it for you!
Thanks for helping us build a bridge, meet a need, and make a difference!
Last Saturday night was the annual Holiday Magic celebration in San Marco. Many thanks to Southside Baptist Church, First Place Sports, and the San Marco Merchants Association for organizing the event! Last year, A few thousand people showed up and with the Festival of Lights 5K being combined with it this year, there were even more!
East Coast, with the cool temperatures that night, there was a constant line at the tent for free hot chocolate and free coffee… actually we ran out! Our goal that night was to build a bridge with our community. Whether you set up, tore down, served hot chocolate & coffee, or blew up a few hundred helium balloons – thank you. Thanks for serving the community. What a great night!
Saturday Dec 10th is the annual Holiday Magic Celebration in San Marco. Last year this community saw 3800 people gather for this family Christmas event. The fun starts around 5pm and will go till around 9. Here’s what you can expect…
Santa and Ms. Claus will be there with their camera, horse drawn hay rides, a petting zoo, bounce houses & inflatable slides for the kids, mini train rides, jugglers, live music, & food! Word on the street is that there will even be a mountain of snow…
East Coast, here’s where we need you
We will be set up right outside the San Marco Theatre. Here, we will give away free helium balloons, hot cocoa, and coffee to those who pass by. We will need help filling the balloons, tying them off with string, and serving coffee & hot cocoa. There are two shifts to be a part of: 5:00-7:00 and 7:00-9:00. If you would like to help us, email us here info.eastcoast@gmail.com and let us know which time slot you are able to work. Get there early as parking will be an issue. East Coast, you know our vision – come help us fulfill that this Saturday as we meet the people in our community!
See you Saturday!
Pastor Kevin
Just wanted to give you a quick follow up to Operation Christmas Child. East Coast, last year you gave just over 60 boxes to children around the world. This year we set a goal of 100… That’s a big goal in my mind. When it was all said & done, and we dropped the boxes off to be shipped around the world, the total came to 87! I’m thrilled with that. Thank you for your sacrifice in giving. Some of you gave one, some of you gave five, some of you gave 10 or more. Whatever you gave, it mattered! These boxes went to children who have next to nothing. With each box, comes the message of hope & forgiveness found in Jesus! Because of you, these children may end up having everything…
Thank you East Coast for building a bridge & bringing a voice!
Pastor Kevin
This week I heard something very strange – Christmas Music… on the radio… It’s not even Thanksgiving. Is it really time to be thinking about Christmas?
In less than two weeks we are collecting shoe boxes filled with love for children around the world. Every year East Coast has participates in Operation Christmas Child. Last year we gave away 61 shoe boxes. This year our goal is 100! We have boxes to take home or you can grab some yourself and fill them. Follow this link for more instructions on how to pack a shoe box.
What will it cost?
It costs about $15-$20 per box (including $7 shipping). Pray, ask God how many you and your family can donate. Make it a family event. Evey year I enjoy going to the dollar store with my children and let them pack the boxes. It means something to them. It also does something in them.
Help us build a bridge and bring a voice thousands of miles away from San Marco. The LAST day to bring your shoe boxes is SUNDAY NOVEMBER 20th! 100 lives touched with the gospel!! Lets come together to help make our goal! Grab some shoe boxes this Sunday, fill them, and bring them back next week!
Giving is Gods method not only to work in the lives of those being given to, but also in the life of the giver. Something happens when we give of ourselves and our finances to those in need. A few weeks before school started back up, East Coast was challenged to give in many ways. There were various needs that had to be met…
- For 5 weeks, kids needed to be served lunches at the Joe James Center
- 50 Students at that center needed backpacks & school supplies
- 25 of those children were in need of new clothes for school
- 50 more students at duPont Middle School needed backpacks & school supplies
- 75 teachers at duPont were in need of some supplies
East Coast, because of your generosity, we were able to meet those needs and build a bridge with those in Jacksonville. You gave 100 backpacks, helped 75 teachers with needed supplies, served children lunches, and when a need for new school clothes was made aware, you stepped up. Twenty four hours after we made that need known, every family was accounted for!
Our vision is two fold: to build a bridge and bring a voice. We want to serve Jacksonville and share the gospel. After multiple weeks of bringing the students at the Joe James center lunch and providing them with school supplies, we were able to share the hope of the gospel with them. It was all worth it when a kid named Atrayu asked Christ to forgive him of his sin and to be his Savior.
East Coast, Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for your giving spirit. Over the past two years, when you’ve seen a need, you have done whats necessary to fill it. Thank you for doing whatever it takes to accomplish both sides of the vision!
Thanks for investing in things that matter!
Pastor Kevin
Over the past three weeks we have been talking about church membership. A lot of questions were raised as to what it really was, why it was needed, and was it even really a biblical thing. This is what was discussed over the past three weeks:
Wk 1 – THE CHURCH: Why is membership important?
Wk 2 – THE LEADERS: What is the role of an elder?
Wk 3 – THE MEMBERS: What is expected from a church member?
If you would like to know more about how we understand the church to operate, what you can expect from leaders, and what would be expected from a church member; you can catch these messages on the podcast or find us in itunes under East Coast Church.
Not perfect saints, but progressive sanctification
Accomplishing the vision together!
Pastor Kevin
These past few weeks we have been collecting school supplies for the Joe James Community Center kids & The duPont Middle School students. I’m proud to say that over half of the backpacks were gone the first Sunday!! Thank you East Coast for your investment in what God is doing through in this city!
It has come to our attention that there is a real need for clothing for some of the families, five in particular. There are about 20 children that need clothing. If you would like to sponsor a child or family for school clothing please email us at info.eastcoast@gmail.com. We will then send you the age, gender, and sizes of the child(ren) that you would need to shop for.
To sponsor a child we are asking that you provide them with
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A pack of underwear
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A package of socks
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A pair of shoes
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And at least one outfit to get them started for school.
The DEADLINE date for turning in your items to church is SUNDAY AUGUST 7th. East Coast, we are presented with a huge need. We have an opportunity to meet that need, build a bridge, and bring a voice for the gospel. If you would like to help out, please email us.
Accomplishing the vision together,
Pastor Kevin
East Coast, last year we carried out our vision at a downtown community center by giving some less fortunate children a bag of toys and sharing the gospel with them. You can read about it here. This year we have another opportunity, except we will be building it with school supplies.
JOE JAMES COMMUNITY CENTER
The Joe James Community center has around 50 children that gather each day for a free lunch. On July 1st, we took them pizza and ice cream. We are doing it again for them on 7/22, 8/4, and 8/12. If you would like to go with us, shoot us an email. On 8/12 we are also delivering much needed school supplies. Here is what is needed: Scissors, crayons, glue sticks, notebook paper, ruler, pencils, colored pencils, erasers, soft pen pouch, & a backpack. If you would like to donate a school supply pack, it will cost $20 per student including a backpack. If you would like to fill a backpack yourself, we invite you to do that. Sunday 7/24 we will be hanging out backpacks for you to fill with your family.
duPont Middle School
At the same time we also have another opportunity to build a bridge with school supplies for a middle school in the heart of our community: duPont Middle School. In December, we had a coat drive for needy students there. You can read about it here.
East Coast, we want to continue that relationship with this school by providing needed school supplies to students & teachers. There are about 50 students & 75 teachers that are in need of a few things. Here is what is needed:
Students (50): A three ring binder, spiral notebooks, folders with prongs & pockets, notebook paper, pens, pencils
Teachers (75): Copy paper, tissues, & disinfectant wipes.
The cost for the students and teacher supplies is about $10 each. The students at duPont do not need backpacks, just $10 worth of supplies! We will be collecting supplies up until SUNDAY AUGUST 7th!
East Coast, lets continue to carry out our vision by helping those in need. So sponsor a few children at $25 each, grab a backpack from us, and lets build a bridge with school supplies & bring a voice for the gospel!!
