Robert Pooley

How observant are you? Take this test...

Sunday Night Thoughts

**What a day!   Celebrated our Tenth Anniversary!  Wow!

**Great crowd... we are definitely growing...

**Cookers for Christ from Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge were amazing...  Jambalaya... and it was some kind of good...  And such servant hearts.  Pastor Dino has really instilled the servant attitude in all of their folks...  We fell in love with their team.

**To celebrate our tenth anniversary as a church... Coast gave Vicki and I a trip to Hawaii... We were speechless... and that doesn't happen very often.  We will make plans to go in October and we will celebrate our wedding anniversary while there.  Thanks Coast family... you shocked us today... in a great way.

** Still new faces every week... and today two were added into the kingdom today with several others making decisions to renew their relationship with Christ.

**Had a blast watching the smiles, hearing the laughter, and seeing people all over the property... eating, talking, playing volleyball, tossing a football and so much more.

**Julie Arnold rocks!  She is our event co-ordinator and she did an awesome job making today happen.  It really is a gift to pull off big events.  She blows me away.  Her hubby Ken is great too... and the cool thing is that this anniversary party he didn't have to go to the emergency room.  That is a good thing!

**The people at Coast are wonderful... We prayed when we planted Coast that we would be a place where people could build the best relationship with God they have ever had... and the best relationships with others they have ever had... and it has happened!

**It was hard not to cry as I watched the testimonies on video today...  God has done so much.

**The band just brought it today... loved the Delirious cover they did... Solid Rock.  It was great and Mike had the bass thumpin'.

**I feel overwhelmed by all that God has done...

**Thanks to our great staff and ministry teams for all their hard work these last three weeks...

**Thanks to our elders... you guys have kept me sane... although there maybe some questions about that...

**Next week starts our new series, "Fearless."  We are going to be talking about breaking free from fears... including financial fear, the fear of failure, and the fear of rejection.  Its going to change some lives.

**I am excited about all the new folks who have come recently to Coast... and for the ones who are about to be coming.  Thanks to the Coast members... we challenged you guys to invite your friends and you did... big time!

**Its been a really fulfilling day... and a great ten years... but honestly... we are just getting started.  The best is yet to come.

**I'm whooped and going to call it a night!  Will sleep good tonight.

Ten Years

Tomorrow at Coast we celebrate ten years as a church.  Its hard to believe all that God has done over the years.  Lots of people worked, sweated and sacrificed to make Coast a reality.  Some of our original team is gone now...  some have moved... some have moved on... but I am grateful to all of them.

If someone would have told me all it would take to plant Coast before we planted... I might've said no... but I don't think I would have.  We have seen so many life changes...  marriages saved... addictions overcome... and on and on and on.  God has been good to us.  And I am so grateful for all He has done.

Much is happening here at Coast now...  We have our own building... its much too small... but we own it... along with Beach Community Bank that is.  We are growing.  We have great friends...  and life change is happening every week.

When I see all that is happening... its hard not to think about Vicki and I in Books-a-million in Pensacola... journaling and praying about what it would take to plant a church.  We have come a long, long way from those days.

To everyone who has helped us out along the way... to all the members, and former members of Coast.  I say thank you.

To those who thought we would never be able to do it... that Gulf Breeze didn't need another church... and to those who have spoken negatively about us along the way.  I say thank you to you too.  You made me press into God more and seek His vision and His direction...  You made me realize I couldn't do it on my own... it would take a team of dedicated people under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  And for that, I will always be grateful.

Ten years... and yet I feel like everything is just now dropping into place.  We have a great staff!  You guys on staff... rock!  You know you do.   We have a great group of volunteers who get it... they really get it.  We have a great group of friends who join us every week...  We have a great group of new friends that are coming every week...  And to all of you I say... the best is yet to come! We are just getting started.

I am looking forward to tomorrow's celebration and to our Cajun dinner after...  Its going to be a great day.  Happy Ten Year Anniversary Coast!

Couple of thoughts

Haven't felt that good the last couple of days... sinuses... achey.. and such...  just left me feeling like not wanting to do too much...  but, lots to do... so stayed busy all day with newsletters, meetings, planning for Sunday... working on the new series that starts in a week and a half.

Some days you just want to get under a blanket and sleep...  think I might just go do that.  Tomorrows another day!

Tuesday Idol Thoughts

Ok... started off rough for me...  but here's my idol thoughts...    loved David Cook... its hard for me to think he's not the front runner at this point.  I was listening and thought, "No way... that's Billy Jean. Unreal!"  Great choice!   

Michael Johns, don't get me wrong, I thought he did an awesome job... but...  in my opinion, he brought nothing to it.  I mean the judges are always busting people for not bringing themselves to the song... and yet he does the cover pretty much straight and they think he's a genius. Is there some judging bias?  Don't get me wrong, I ike the guy... but tonight's performance didn't boost him any in my eyes. 

Loved Brooke...Randy's criticism kills me... one week, he tells her he thinks she should have brought the band in, and this week that he thinks she shouldn't.  I just think he doesn't like her... but I like her style.

And I always like Jason Castro... but that might be the cool dreads.    I thought David Archuleta had a good performance... but as an artist, he's not really my style... and disagree or not, I'm the one voting... or not.

Every one else was ok to me...  Who would I send home?  Either Kristy or the girl who's name I can never remember.  Romelaide? 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it....

Jason Castro

Jason Castro celebrated Easter today at Saddleback Community Church.  Turns out he is not only really down to earth but also a solid Christian.

I like this kid... I don't think he is the next American Idol but I definitely think he can have a good career. I'd buy his cd...

Thanks to Josh for the heads up.

Easter Sunday Thoughts...

** Wow... what a day...  I just had a great nap... and believe me.. I needed it!

**Had lunch with several of our families after church.. Mexican at Toro Bravo... and two of the guys tackled the El Gigante.  Its one of those burritos that are so big that if you eat it... you get a tshirt and a free dessert...  Well, my administrative assistant Scott (on the right) has done it three times and he pulled Ken Arnold along for the ride... the first pic is a pic of the burrito they had to eat... They each had to eat one of those... they didn's share it.  And the second pic is a pic of them in their award winning tshirts... By the way, after that burrito, you can only wear a double xtra large.

**Coast was packed today... beyond our imagination... We've got to start imagining bigger.  What a cool day with lots of new smiling faces... the band rocked... the Choir blew the doors off the place... and we have new brothers and sisters in the kingdom today... along with a large group who stepped back into their faith today!   Homerun!

**About ten minutes before the service started, I looked at some of our 1st Impressions team and told them, "We are running out of church."  It was packed!

**Thanks to all the teams and volunteers that it took to make this morning happen. It was one of the most volunteer intensive days we have ever had and people took it above and beyond...  Thanks to everyone for the hard work!

**The stage design looked great... it was warm, inviting and funky.  Great job Kara!!!!

**So many new faces... it was wonderful...

**I just want to give serious props to our staff... they worked so hard to make Easter pop... and they did it!

**Thanks to all the great folks who ministered with Children today... every report that I heard indicated that it rocked back there...  You guys are awesome!

**I know I say it all the time, but I love our church... and with our tenth anniversary coming up... I don't think I could be any happier or any more excited.  Its so obvious that God is doing something special.

**Happy Easter!!

Thoughts

**Tomorrow (Saturday) is our Easter Egg Outreach at Swenson Park... Should be a great morning. I am always amazed at the crowd.

**I love the way our teams put things together.  The outreach at Swenson Park is all planned... volunteers are in place and everyone is at "g" waiting on "o."

**The message for Easter (The Far Better Life) is coming together... my problem... too much stuff... I have to edit back for time sake and not say a lot of the things I want to say...  (Sigh)  I guess that's why we have other Sundays.  But what do you cut out?  This is going to be tricky...

**Had a great night having dinner with some of our friends who live out at Pensacola Beach.  Beautiful house... great company... and I am stuffed... the food was awesome...    (Side note... I can lose wait tomorrow right? )  God has given us some awesome folks at Coast!

**Ready to settle in and call it a night... tomorrow is another busy day...  then as soon as we finish Easter, we begin working on our 10th Anniversary Celebration.  Its going to be a rocking great time... a real blow out...  I can't wait!

**G'nite All!

Looking forward to Easter!

Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won't stay there.  ~Clarence W. Hall

American Idol Review

Yuck!