Fusion

This weekend we are launching stage two in our Elevate Campaign. Fusion will be a four week series on building intentional relationships. We will begin this Sunday as we examine the nuclear reaction that took place when God infused the church with the apostle Paul. We will look at some key elements of who we are as a church and look ahead as we recognize that God is in the process of infusing our church with many new people. It will take some big changes at our smallest levels but in the end we believe that God is transforming us from a church of addition to a church that fully realizes his power of multiplication. Here is a graph of the first 5 years of our church attendance. It is obvious that we have some lessons to learn from our last encounter with breaking 150 back in 2006, and that God is already taking us to places that we have never been before.

Elevating

I have received so much feed back from our church concerning our new elevate campaign. Phone calls, emails and greeting cards. I am just waiting for the singing telegram. It is exciting for me as a leader to know that we are all of the same spirit in the desire to see God do more through our church in the next year. Tonight we will begin our new message series on giving. I will do my best to unapologetically teach the direction of our giving. Churches tend to struggle to find balance in the area of teaching principles of giving. Either they harp on it or they avoid it to a fault. According to some of our leadership, I was avoiding it too much. So beginning this weekend we will take it to the next level. I still fear that we will have that one guy show up and go away convinced that all churches talk about is giving. But I guess that is a risk that we will take, and God will have to help him understand. By the way, I have entitled the message "Give Up!" Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

Elevate!

You heard it here first. Our theme for 2008 will be "Elevate!" It is our goal this year to take our church to the next level of effectiveness. In order to accomplish this we will seek to elevate Christ, elevate the people of the church, and elevate our community. The story began last fall as our leadership team sat down to discuss making our purchase of land a top priority for 2008. We spent several months evaluating and talking to outside leaders about where we are at as a church and what it will take for us to raise sufficient funds to purchase land in this market. We realized along the way that although land is an important goal, that it should not be the main goal, but only a tool to achieve the main goal. Our main goal as church is to elevate Christ, in our hearts and in our community, and Jesus has promised that if He is lifted up (elevated) He will draw all men unto himself. On Sunday we will have our annual vision meeting, but it is not just any vision meeting. I really see it as a turning point for our church. I believe that if we spent the last 5 years of our infancy focused on surviving, we must spend the next 5 on thriving. We will lay out the 5 year plan that will elevate our church to the next level of effectiveness, and will call us up to a great level of service to our Lord and to our community. If you have anything to do with Cornerstone or the Four Corners Community, you CANNOT miss this Sunday.