Friday, January 30, 2009

Let's Get Ready to Ramble!!!!

No offense to Boxing Announcer Michael Buffer but there is so much going on that this blog is going to be a bit of a ramble.  keep up if you can....

1. God is doing some amazing things at Cornerstone.  Last weekend we had a record Sunday attendance, save Easter and Christmas.  Somebody asked what we did to get everyone there.  I said, nothing it was a God thing.  It is His church and He has decided that it is time for us to grow to the next level.  Now we just have to make some adjustments...
2. Speaking of Adjustments, I cannot wait to move over to the other building.  We have brand spanking new chairs and 3 times as much space to fill up in all three services.  No kidding, our church could run 1,000 in the space we will have....Let's fill it up!
3.  Today I have to go to the store for some toiletry items.... this is not usually news, but it is for our Missions trip to Nicaragua.  We have 8 people from our church leaving this Sunday afternoon and will spend a week doing construction on the Hope Center in Teco!  You can see the progress made by previous groups, and we will be doing all kinds of stuff.  I will be taking part in a baptism, I am guessing my part will be to distract the crocodiles, a la Steve Erwin, and then preaching via translator on Wednesday night.  Seriously pray for me to not screw that up!  I plan on telling my buddy Paul to let me speak in English, and for him to just preach in Spanish.
4. Speaking of World Hope, tonight we are going to a celebration dinner at First Baptist Orlando, celebrating all that God has done this past year through World Hope.  I am so glad that we have a strategic Missions Partner like Hope.  I don't know any missionaries who balance Evangelism and Ministry like them.  Jesus served people AND preached the gospel.  To do one and not the other is inadequate.
5. I will be meeting today with Gabe to work on some stuff for our upcoming message series Kaleo.  It is going to be awesome, and I want to kick this one up a notch.
6. It has been 1 month since Ward came along side and started working with us in our small groups.  God has given him a vision to make our church the most biblically literate church in the world, and I believe that Ward believes God will do it!  We are working with our small group leaders on Wednesday nights and are looking forward to getting everybody excited and engaged.
7.  This Sunday will be my last message from Gideon.  I am going to miss that dude! He has taught me a lot about myself and how God wants to use me and how to find His plan for me.  This weekend we will see that God want's us to do MORE with less.  Prolly a good message for 2009!
8. Let's put the recess back in recession!  I am tired of all the complaining!  Let's enjoy the downturn seriously!  I remember when the lights went out as a kid and we "GOT' to use candles!  That was a blast.  Just cause we have less, does not mean we have to pout!  Let's kick up the creativity and put recess back in recession!
9. Just got word from Paul in Nicaragua, that as soon as our team leaves, a surgical team will arrive from Canada.  I am not a Dr. but I can do my part by building an examination room.  That is teamwork!
10.  BTW for any of you who skip church when I skip town, I will not miss a weekend service, and I will know if you are not there!  More so, you will miss out our presentation on the 7th and 8th if you are not there, and I may not post pictures here simply out of spite!  Don't miss!
11. Giving was great in January!  We took a step forward this year, and set an aggressive budget.  Each week we need $5,000 to come in so that we can continue growing forward.  I told someone the other day that February will be the test for the rest of the year.  Moving into the larger room requires that everybody get on board and share the load.
12.  I don't know a time when I have been more hopeful about what God is doing in our church.  We do not have another "growth barrier" until we hit 400 in attendance and I can't wait to get to the foot of that mountain. Let's enjoy the journey!