Thanks for Praying

Thanks to everyone for praying for Linda Dickey. She cam through surgery fine and is recovering. I am sure she and her family will be grateful for your continued prayers as she recovers.

Vic Sees the Light

I know many of you have been praying for Victor to regain his sight after his most recent surgery. Just now I received this email from Arlene Murray.

Sunday Elaine told me that Victor was sensing light and said he saw letters randomly. My sister said that when she was there and his mom turned on the light he reacted to the sudden brightness in the room. We serve an awesome God don't we? God is truly a good God Today Elaine said Victor's sight is coming back. THANKS BE TO GOD. She said he saw her face and he could see the metro cards and map's he had on the walls in his room. Lets us give God all the glory and the praise and continue to believe together that Victor's sight will come back 100%. God is able. Please continue to pray for Victor, Shereen and Elaine for continued strength and perseverance and that the Lord will continue to do wondrous things in their lives.

We thank God again for all that he has done and will continue to do for Victor and Lorna.

Thanks be to GOD. Have a Blessed Day.

Counting Blessings

I thought I would take a moment and count a few blessings publicly...

1. I am so thankful for God and His word. ( I know pastorally it is what you expect at the top of the list, but I am sincere here.)
2. My wife and kids - They are so awesome and I literally enjoy every minute with them. (Not everyone can say that)
3. My ministry friends I have a wonderful support group of guys that I learn and grow with and who will not only pray for me but pray with me.
4. The Cornerstone Staff - Gabe and I were talking this morning about how perfectly God has built our leadership team. The funny thing is that we all enjoy each other and the ministry we do.
5. Our church - Man what a great body of believers, You guys are awesome and I am constantly blown away by you.
6. Bible Fellowship hit a record high last week without even trying. It is a testament to the individual leadership and the organizational changes we made over the summer.
7. Trunk or Treat - I said it before and I will say it again, you guys knocked it out of the park!
8. Church growth - I am so glad to see how God has grown our church in just one year. Every once and while I like to back us up to the door frame and say, wow your growing like a weed.
9. Hope - Over the last few weeks as we have studied the idea of hope, I am so glad to have a positive outlook on the direction that God is leading us as a church.
Amendment I
10. All those who I left off the first list who have now emailed me, including my mother in law, my sister and especially you!

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!

Praising Mantis

I saw this photo on Flickr and thought that this guy finally realized that prayer is more than heads bowed and eyes closed. Prayer includes hands raised with our eyes to heaven. The next time you are tempted to be one dimensional in your prayer remember the praising Mantis.

Inside Out Umbrellas

In spite of tornado warnings we had a great day at Cornerstone this past Sunday. Just as the second service crowd was coming in the sky fell out. Inside out umbrellas, yellow wet floor signs, cold, wet, but happy. It was great to see some of our great UK members return after months apart, as well as the return of several of our new Easter guests. The worship was awesome, bringing tears to my eyes as we sang in unison of our Holy God. If you missed because of the storm, I highly recommend that you catch up by listening to the message here.

Update: I got this from Chuck Stephens and thought I would pass it along...

"... I wanted to say what a wonderful day yesterday was! The worship, message and small group time were all exciting and uplifting. I’m very anxious to see how God continues to work in our midst at Cornerstone." - Chuck Stephens

Baby Sienna

Just a quick announcement for all you CBC people. I just got an email from Kelly Smy and Cristina (early service) had little Baby Sienna and both are doing great. She was 7 pounds 11 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. I guess that makes me a new pastor, or Uncle or something right? Here is her picture.

Easter Sunday

What an amazing day. After subtracting doubles we had 226 in attendance today in three services. Let me be the first to say that everything was awesome. It went so smooth that it was hard to believe. Each service was well full and there would have been no way if so many of you had not attended the 8:15 service. Thanks a bunch. I will say that our leadership was incredible. Sue, 900 eggs later, wow! Gabe, your team was outstanding today, and the special music what can I say. We have the best music! Bruce, you and the welcome team did a great job taking care of our guests. I am so proud to get to serve along side of all of you. Many of you brought cameras today and as I get pics I will post them here for you to see. Thanks again for making today a great start to our new Five Love Languages Series!