Pastor Allan Burnett Know Your Authority in Jesus In Acts 19, Paul arrives in Ephesus, and ended up staying there for well over two years, building a church community, to whom he would later write one of his letters.  We learn much in this chapter about how important it is to know your authority in Christ Jesus. The story is told of a young boy, Ben Hooper, who grew up to become a Governor of Tennessee.  Ben was born to a young woman who was not married, and as a result, Ben didn’t have many friends in his school, and in fact, endured much ridicule.  When ..read more

Pastor James Fam How to Become Partners in Ministry As we journey through the Book of Acts, we see how God places different people to partner with Peter and Paul in their missionary work. We believe in the empowerment of lay leadership (i.e. people who are not employed by the church) so that the primary tasks for pastors are to teach, to preach, and to equip others in the church to do the work of the ministry (Eph 4:12). A great example of these partners in ministry that we see in Acts 18 is a husband-and-wife team named Aquila and Priscilla, who supported the work of Paul first in Co ..read more

Jacqui Bishop You’ve Gotta Know Who To Listen To A good friend and mentor of mine used to always quote these lines from an Amy Grant song: “You’ve got to know who to, who not to listen to…” If you enjoy 80’s pop throw backs, I suggest you check it out. I can still hear my friend’s melodic sing-song way of communicating that timeless advice. But the question remains: How do I know who to and who not to listen to? It is more important than ever when we are bombarded with input every waking hour. All it takes these days to publish your message to the masses is an idea and an internet con ..read more

Pastor Chris Karuhije How to Honor Your Father In 3 Steps In today’s world, the concept of “honor” seems like it’s lost its true meaning. We talk about it a lot, but do we know what it means, especially when it comes to honoring the people who are still here with us? While preparing for this blog, I researched how different cultures honor their loved ones. Though I found some interesting traditions, most of the material was about honoring the dead, not the living. In fact, there’s much research on how our ancestors, even after they’ve passed away, bring luck and prosperity, but when i ..read more

Pastor Karen Kepkay What About Disagreements? Who is comfortable with relationship conflict? Let’s be honest, most of us don’t because either we are unequipped to handle it well or we fear negative outcomes associated with it. Our education system does not teach us healthy conflict resolution. If you were raised in a non-confrontational culture or family, the default is to avoid or run away.    The truth is that we  all experience differences and disagreements in our relationship with others because God has created us with unique personalities. As we grow in the likenes ..read more

Pastor Brad Bergman Can I take a compliment? How do you respond when someone praises you or gives you a compliment? Do you feel awkward and brush it off? Or do you light up and think to yourself, “Finally! Someone noticed how amazing I am!” Encouragement is powerful. More than that, as Christians, we are instructed to encourage each other until Jesus returns (Hebrews 10:25), and we want our community to foster and perpetuate a culture of encouragement. It’s so much better than the alternative! I want to be in an environment where people are building each other up, not tearing them dow ..read more

Pastor Allan Burnett From Service to Leadership This coming week is going to be a significant week in the life of Coastal Church as we Ordain two young men who have each been serving faithfully as Campus Ministers, Payam Jalali who has been serving as the Campus Minister of the Burnaby Campus, and David Trivino who has served in that role with the North Van Campus, and now at the Commercial Campus. As we come to Acts 13 in our journey through the book of Acts, we see one of the greatest examples in the New Testament church of Ordaining someone, or setting them apart for Christian mini ..read more

Pastor Dave Koop Teaching Children To Flourish In A “New Canada”   Recently I have been asked by parents for suggestions on how to raise their children in our “New Canada”. What do they mean? They’re referring to the secularization of a nation that was once called Christian.  When a nation moves away from having God above country, the country inadvertently takes the role of God.   This isn’t something new. Parents throughout history have wrestled with similar issues. As the world heads into uncharted territory with the advancement of technology and an increasi ..read more

Pastor James Fam 3 Essentials in Sharing the Gospel Everyone who comes to faith in Jesus has a different story. Your spiritual journey probably started differently than others at your church. I often think of my testimony as being quite ordinary and not as remarkable as those dramatic tales of conversion that feature supernatural healing or include miraculous signs and wonders. “No one would ever come to Jesus because of my testimony.” At least that was what I thought until a conversation that took place after I shared my testimony in church several years after becoming Christian. A g ..read more

Pastor Dave Koop Famous Last Words Over the course of history there have been some interesting last words that have also revealed where people’s hearts were at. Here are just a few examples: • The last words of the famous painter Picasso were “Drink to me.” • P. T. Barnum, the creator of  “Greatest Show on Earth,” the Barnum and Bailey Circus, had these last words when he died in 1891: “How were the receipts today at Madison Square Garden?” • Sir Winston Churchill, the statesman who is famous for his commencement address of “Never give up!” died in 1965, with these last words ..read more