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

Pastor Fari Maghami Palm Sunday: Journeying with Jesus Towards the Cross “The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord. Blessed is the King of Israel!” Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter of Zion; see, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”  At first His disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize tha ..read more

Pastor Karen Kepkay Why Serve? My family has a long history and experience in the food industry in my native city Maracaibo, and servanthood is truly part of our DNA. My grandparents, uncles and parents all have owned and run their small and large scale Chinese restaurants. And so growing up, the restaurant was my only playground which I quite enjoyed and learned from.   My parents were always intentional in teaching me the value of work and serving others by putting me to work in the family business. So, my first waiting-table experience was at the age of 12. Of course, the ..read more

Pastor Brad Bergman 3 Ways To Be More Generous Take a second to think about the most generous people you know. How would you describe them to others?  I think fondly about the people who come to my mind because they are so enjoyable to be around. Generosity is an attractive quality.  Conversely, I find spending a lot of time around stingy people difficult. Think of the character Ebenezer Scrooge from Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol. His miserly ways pushed away everyone who cared about him, and his greed overwhelmed and consumed every part of him. Generosity was the key t ..read more