Friday, September 21, 2007

Interesting Photo

Here is an interesting photo of an elderly catholic nun being frisked by a Muslim Airport Security Guard. It just screamed irony and absurdity to me.

The Present/Future of Four Corners

Last night the Four Corners Area Council met to discuss the future of our area. Here is the Orlando Sentinel article.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Jonathan Who?

I love being on the front lines of ministry. Since Cornerstone began just over 5 years ago we have seen God do some remarkable transformations in the life of ordinary people in our community. Last night at our prayer meeting a lady came up to me and announced that she will be on vacation from work on October 14th and will be able to come and see me preach. I went through my calendar in my head and told her that I was going to talk about Jonathan and his armor bearer taking on the Philistines. That God is not limited to save by many or by few. Then she told me that she had never heard of this "Jonathan" and was looking forward to coming. Blown Away! As a pastor's kid who was in church 9 months before I was even born it is often astounding to me how much I take for granted the things that I learned in church as a child. I also think that many "established" churches underestimate the benefits that they enjoy after years of ministry. I am humbled to help this lady know more about her wonderful Savior and begin to grow in her walk with God, and I will always put the lambs before the sheep.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

So much to celebrate

We have so much to be thankful for at Cornerstone. God has truly blessed our church over the past few years but right now it seems that we are hitting the summit of a large mountain on our journey, and though we know there are more mountains ahead it is just great to stop and enjoy the view. We are experiencing the best September ever at Cornerstone with great attendance the last two weeks and again we were talking in staff meeting about how to create more space. Also, we have seen three families join and two baptized in the last few weeks as well as numerous newcomers to our church. On top of that the worship services have been out of this world and makes me wonder why we kept the blend for so long. For instance, in both services this past Sunday, there was an amazing spirit. Spontaneous standing and clapping in the middle of the contemporary worship service, and plenty of tears and a standing ovation for God in the early service. It just goes to say that no matter the style, people need to be free to get into worship of God without the distractions of songs they don't like or know. It has also been fun to watch the reaction of other churches to our starting a classic service. I received a call from a pastor who after talking to us began a classic service and is loving it too. I also came across this article of another church who began a service called traditions. Maybe it is a coming trend. The most credit for our continued growth is the amazing small groups and how they have organized themselves for growth. Anyway, have a great Wednesday, we will be studying prayer again tonight and practice some prayer journaling. It will be fun!