Friday, December 12, 2008

Looking Ahead

It is amazing to me that 2008 has already come and for the most part gone.  I don't want to rush into 2009, with the best days of 2008 still to come, but it is impossible not to be overwhelmed by all the excitement that lies in January of next year.  This month as we have been planning and preparing for the big move to the new auditorium, we are excited to see God working out every detail to His purposes.  We have placed the order for 200 new chairs and the money is in for all but 62 at the time of this post.  We look forward to seeing the people that God is going to sit in those chairs as He continues to use our church to reach this community with the good news of Christ.  The stage is being set for Cornerstone to reach new heights in 2009, as we continue to lift up Christ here in Four Corners.  Here are a few things to look forward to...

This Sunday
If you have been at Cornerstone for any amount of time you know that every weekend is a special event for us.  Our teams have been working hard to put together a service that will usher you into the presence of God and lead you to worship and know Him more than you have before.  We will be going in depth on the angels' announcement of "Good Tidings of Great Joy."


Christmas Weekend Services - December 20th & 21st.
We are planning the biggest Christmas event in our church's history and want you to invite your friends, family and neighbors to come and enjoy Christmas through the eyes of a child.  The program will include drama, music, sign language and even a performance by our new children's puppet team.  There will be three shows in all and we strongly ask that you attend only one show in order for there to be enough room.

December 27 &  28 - Ward Hodges
Our resident missions representative Ward Hodges will be coming to speak for us.  Ward is our representative with World Hope and as we prepare for our first ever missions trip to Nicaragua, Ward will share with us some of the amazing things God is doing through Hope.

January 3 & 4 - Gio Llerena - Major League Baseball Chaplin
I am excited to tell you that my good friend and Tampa Bay Ray Chaplin Gio Llerena will be with us.  Gio has a very special ministry to the players and staff of major league baseball and as the Rays are coming off their best season ever he will share with us the importance of teamwork and keeping our eyes on Christ.

January 10 & 11 - Annual Vision Meeting
Every year we set aside one Sunday to reorient ourselves to the vision God has given us as a church.  We will celebrate the victories of 2008 and look ahead to where we see God taking us in 2009.  This Sunday will amaze you, I promise.

January 18th - The Big Move
We are combining all three of our services on the 18th in order to celebrate our big move to the middle school auditorium.  Not only will our seating capacity triple, but every aspect of our church will take a giant leap forward.  If you regularly come on Saturday, nights we are asking that you find someone to switch shifts with you for this very special day.  We will follow the service with a dinner.

February 1 - Missions Trip to Nicaragua
We have a team from our church leaving just after the 10:45 worship service to head to Nicaragua for 7 days to work with World Hope to build outposts for the mission.  We will be having special dedication services this day as we commit to spreading hope to Nicaragua.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Get Jesus out of your yard and into your home!

Okay, here comes a rant, so be warned.  All over people are putting statues of baby Jesus all over their yards.  People I never see leaving for church on Sunday mornings have spent literally hours constructing a lean to in their front lawn to display a plastic Jesus.  I even read this morning how more people are installing surveillance cameras to catch "baby Jesus thieves" who like to collect lawn ornaments and such.  Now I am not a big fan of the  way that Santa and his shelf-elfs have taken over Christmas, and I do think the atheists need another season to claim as their own, but really, get Jesus out of your yard already!  Jesus did not come to this earth to lay in the manger for 2,000+ years.  Why do we insist on celebrating His birthday as if he was still a newborn.  I mean, I don't celebrate my wife's birthday by dressing her like a newborn and sticking her outside in the cold all night.  The advent of God coming to this earth is what we should be celebrating, not his birth, not the fact that he was a cute baby.  My Christmas wish is that all who want to celebrate Christ's mass (leaving heaven) would go to the Lord's house to actually spend some time with Him.  God forbid that we waste time getting plastic Jesus out of the attic, just to leave him out of our homes.