God is Bigger!

Photo taken during a recent walk through downtown

I went for a walk a couple days ago, and - I'm being transparent here - was pretty bugged. It was just one of those days, nothing was wrong, but everything just rubbed me the wrong way. So I did something productive, and went for a walk outside. I took along our 7 week old baby, Isaiah, so he could get some outside time too.

It was then, 2.5 miles away from my house, in the middle of bustling downtown Seattle, that I was struck with something incredible - God is Bigger. Bigger than me, bigger than my son, bigger than the church, bigger than the things we let consume us. I looked up and saw an old, majestic church reaching high up into the sky, and in the background was painted a gorgeous textured blue sky. God's majesty goes so far beyond us, so far beyond the things that we experience on a daily basis! God is bigger! 

The irony of the situation was not lost on me. I'm holding our baby boy, whom I love dearly, ignoring the love my Father was trying to show me. It was in that instant that I was overwhelmed with how big God is and how much He loves and cares for me. I simply had to stop and be overwhelmed. I just sat still in busyness, letting the Spirit work in my heart, worshiping my Creator.

This blog post is a little different, but hopefully after reading it, you'll take a minute to stop and appreciate the glory of God. He's so far above our daily tasks, above any church building, above ourselves. The best thing we can do is come together and humbly worship our Savior.

May God bless you this week.

Phill Christiansen

We Remember 9/11 - Won't You Join Us?

10 years ago this Sunday, a terrible tragedy occurred on United States soil. It forever defined the trajectory of our nation; it caused people to fall on their knees and ask hard questions. This Sunday at New Life Maple Valley we are going to remember these events. It will be a historic time both for us as a church and for us all as individuals. It will be a somber but powerful time that offers hope; a time where we aren't afraid to ask the hard questions. It will be an amazing day!

A few things to know about Sunday:

• There will be a time that we recognize all First Responders, Civil Servants, and Military. If you know of any - whether or not they usually attend church - invite them to be a part. It will be a powerful time of recognition and remembrance.
• Invite everyone you know. This will be a very public event, one that reaches far into society. This will be a time where people will come and be shown the peace that can only come from Jesus. Powerful!
• Begin to prepare your heart and mind now. We believe that this day will be one that God uses to stir up people, both those that know Him now and those that don't. God is moving, pray for life change.

Services will be at the usual time: 9:15am and 11am. Won't you join us?

Simply Incredible!

We had an absolutely incredible last weekend here at New Life Maple Valley! Where to begin?

On Saturday, we had over FOUR HUNDRED backpacks get distributed to the community. It was incredible to watch the needs of so many people get met in a very real, practical way!

Our guests were blessed with doughnuts (lots, and lots of doughnuts!), coffee, friendly faces - of both the human and balloon variety. That's right, we had a balloon guy on site crafting the finest, most incredible creations I've ever seen in balloon form!

But we didn't stop there! The very next day, on Sunday after both services we baptized people. From young kids to adults, we had EIGHT people stand up and publicly declare their faith. Incredible!

It still gives me goosebumps to see children boldly declare their faith. Pastor Chad, the Children's pastor did an incredible job leading kids through the decision.

God is doing incredible things in this town! We are so honored and blessed to be a part of it. Want to come, be a part of the movement? Join us on Sunday! We have services at 9:15 and 11, we'd love to see you there! 

PS: I dare you to count just how many times I used the word incredible in this post. And yes, it was on purpose. :-)