Robert Pooley

New Billboard is up!

Its cool to see it up and going.  This is a temporary design.  The great thing about digital is that you can change it.

I can tell you this... I haven't been this excited about our church since we planted.  Its a great time to be at Coast.

By the way, the tagline on the billboard is  "A church you can relate to"

From this week's newsletter...

There is so much going on and I am stoked!!!      So here's a few thoughts for a Thursday.

>>First of all, our new billboard is going up in the next day or so..  It will be on the new digital billboard located on the hwy 98 right next to the Good Samaritan Clinic.  You will be able to see it traveling eastbound to Navarre.  I'm really pumped about it...  We are going to use a lot of different methods to help our community know about Coast... so that we can tell them about Christ.  Of course, the most effective method is word of mouth...  Go tell someone.... and invite them to Coast.   Here's the sign.

>>Easter is coming up fast!  Easter services at Coast are going to be spectacular.  The Coast Choir will be performing...  I know that Choir sounds so traditional... but you know Coast...  No one has ever accused us of being traditional.  You won't want to come in late on Easter Sunday...   

>>Speaking of Easter... you need to be thinking of who you can invite to be a part of Easter at Coast.  I want to challenge you to invite no less than five people to our Easter Services.

>>The Sunday after Easter is going to be a great day too...  It will be the 10th Anniversary of Coast.  And we will be partying hard... including a free lunch on the grounds with the Cajun Cookers for Christ out of Baton Rouge...  Great Cajun cooking... and if you are not a fan of Cajun food.... we will have hamburgers and hotdogs too.   Its going to be a PARTY!!

>>There are quite a few things that are bubbling under the service that I am very excited about... You will be hearing about some of those things really soon.

>>This is a great time to be a part of Coast Community Church...  and I hope you are as excited as I am about all that is happening.  Here's a couple of things that you can do to help...1) Try to be at Coast no later than 20 minutes before a service... 1st time guests arrive early and its a great opportunity to meet them.  2)  Try to fill up the front parking lot first.  3)  Try to fill up the front seats first on Sunday morning...  leave the back seats for first timers.  4) Worship!  Don't hold back... We believe that authentic worship is attractive the honest seeker.  5)  Invite your friends...  then invite them again.  Keep inviting them till they come to Coast with you.  6)  Let the joy in your life be evident on your face.  In other words... smile, laugh and enjoy the morning at Coast.  7) Try to make it a goal to meet at least one person you don't know each week.  There are lots of new faces... so that one should keep you busy. 8.  Pray and Believe that God is getting ready to do something explosive at Coast.  9) Find someone serving at Coast and speak a word of encouragement to them. And finally, 10)  The most important thing... press into God like never before...  We are going to need you to be strong in the faith... and ready to serve.  God is going to show Himself strong and we want to be ready.

>>I love you guys... we are becoming a great church and its a joy each week to worship with you.

Let's Rock the World together!

Cya Sunday,

Robert

American Idol Girls

Brooke sang Carly....  Carly sang Ann Wilson of heart... and those were the highlights for me.  The guys were not so good last night... the girls about the same.  Still no one has wowed me enough to vote.  At this point I don't think it matters who goes home.

American Idol

Despite being heralded as the best crop of singers yet to hit the idol stage... I felt like the guys were very unimpressive tonight.  I haven't cast the first vote yet.  There are a couple I like so far... but nobody is just wowing me.   The closest to me tonight would be the final singer... David... but again, it really didn't hit me.  I still like Michael Johns the most... but definitely not his best performance...  And Jason Castro wowed me last week... but merely ok this week.   

I think the 70's had some of the most creative music of any decade... and nobody really capitalized on that.  I don't understand.  Well, maybe the girls will do better...  So far... I'm snoozing through Idol.

We will miss you Larry!

I first heard about Larry Norman somewhere around 1981.  I was very skeptical about Christianity... and couldn't conceive the thought of Christian Rock.  Vicki, my wife had become a believer and I was still pursuing becoming a rock star.  One day she came home with one of Larry's albums, and I looked at the cover... and there was this cool looking guy with long blonde hair.  He didn't look like anyone I had ever seen in church. 

At the bottom of his album it said, "This record meant to be played LOUD!"  I thought, "OK, you are getting my attention.  Then I heard him sing, "Why should the devil have all the good music?"  And that got me to thinking...

It was a huge stepping stone for me towards becoming a believer.  Larry's music made me think... it showed me it was ok to question the status quo... and it showed me that Christians could rock.

Larry passed from this life on Sunday at the age of 60...

As he knew the end was coming soon... he wrote this to be put on his website.

"I feel like a prize in a box of cracker jacks with God's hand reaching down to pick me up. I have been under medical care for months. My wounds are getting bigger. I have trouble breathing. I am ready to fly home.

My brother Charles is right, I won't be here much longer. I can't do anything about it. My heart is too weak. I want to say goodbye to everyone. In the past you have generously supported me with prayer and finance and we will probably still need financial help.

My plan is to be buried in a simple pine box with some flowers inside. But still it will be costly because of funeral arrangement, transportation to the gravesite, entombment, coordination, legal papers etc. However money is not really what I need, I want to say I love you.

I'd like to push back the darkness with my bravest effort. There will be a funeral posted here on the website, in case some of you want to attend. We are not sure of the date when I will die. Goodbye, farewell, we will meet again.

Goodbye, farewell, we'll meet again
Somewhere beyond the sky.
I pray that you will stay with God
Goodbye, my friends, goodbye.

Larry

Thanks Larry... you made a huge impact on my life!  You were a great pioneer... and we will miss you!

Ahhh... it seems like only yesterday...

Me and some of the boys...

Walk in music

Our walk in and walk out music changes every week at Coast... but if you are interested... here is an iMix of this week's walk-in music.

Click here

Some are just born to rock...

As a kid I gave my first concert with a toy guitar in the waiting room of Santa Rosa Hospital... I was all of four or five singing "Hound dog" to a standing crowd...  but I was noting like this.

You read it here first!!

Coast Community Church in Gulf Breeze Florida is going to be a church of thousands!

And it will happen faster than anyone thinks.

Too Busy For Love?

We live in a culture that is overloaded.  No doubt about it... we are busy people.  And when you get overloaded, one of the things that really starts to suffer is your relationships.  How does overload affect our command to love God and love others?

This Sunday @ Coast I'm going to be talking about what happens when you get too busy for love...  If you are in the Gulf Breeze/Navarre/Pensacola area and you are not attending church anywhere... you won't want to miss this one!