Our Time to Pray!

One of the things that I have learned in my Christian life and is more apparent than ever during this campaign, is the fact that the work of God cannot be accomplished apart from the power of God!  God’s power is what will provide for our church as we step out and buy land.  It will be His provision, and His guidance that brings it all together. 

Knowing this, it is imperative that we seek Him in prayer.  Last weekend we stressed the fact that if we are to succeed in this campaign it will be a result of each member and attender at Cornerstone seeking God, and asking Him what they should do.  I do not want this to be about our church or our community or myself.  I want everyone to pray.  We are doing everything we can to encourage our members and attenders to pray, but at the end of the day, it is up to you. 

Once the disciples came across a difficult demon that they were unable to cast out, and Jesus said to them, some of these do not come, but by prayer and fasting.  Literally, there will be some things in our life that cannot be accomplished apart from praying and fasting to God.  It is my prayer that we will all go to this place in prayer so that we can get to that place of blessing.

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.

Please Pray for the Pollock Family and Bell Shoals

Word has come that both Pastor Pollock and his son were killed in the plane crash. Please keep their family and church in your prayers. - Joel

Pastor Forrest Pollock Missing

I received news this morning that Forrest Pollock, the Pastor of Bell Shoals Baptist church in Tampa is missing. Apparently, he was flying his private plane to North Carolina and then on to Texas. A search is under way for him in the Mountains of NC. This is one of the great pastors of our state, and has done some amazing things at Bell Shoals. Although, I do not know him, I greatly admire Bell Shoals. Find updates from the church website here.

3 Hour Challenge

I want to throw down a challenge for all the people of Cornerstone. We are expecting great things from God this Easter and have been making many plans for how we will accommodate the crowds and orchestrate the service. In all the practical planning we can tend to put too much confidence in planning and programs and not spend enough time in the preparation of prayer. Here is the challenge: Between now and Easter, (18 Days)spend 3 hours praying over the Easter services. We want to focus our prayers on asking the Holy Spirit to help us be effective in Elevating Christ on Easter Sunday. This will be done through music and message, but also through individual ministry. We know that if Christ is exalted, then souls will be drawn to Him, and that is our ultimate end. If you want to sign up for the 3 Hour Challenge, please let me know by emailing me. It would be awesome to have the participation of our entire church family in this most important exercise.

A Great Prayer

Today as I responded to emails from our online ministry. A woman named Esther from Nairobi who just accepted Christ wrote "Give me, Lord, what you know is good for me and that which I know not how to ask." I Googled it and think that it may be from St. Augustine's confession but am not sure. I just thought that it was an awesome prayer for us today.

Trunk or Treat

Today we delivered 3,000+ invitations to Trunk or Treat event. It is our hope that the children of Four Corners will have a safe and fun place to do their trick or treating. Let me ask you to pray for us as we prepare for this great event.

1. Pray for good weather. Tropical Storm Noel is threatening.
2. Pray for good turn out. We want to adequately serve everyone who attends. Pray for consistent turn out throughout the evening.
3. Pray for future opportunities. This event is just one in an overall determination for our church to serve the families of our community. Pray that the relationships that are established on Wednesday will continue for years to come.

We are asking all of our volunteers to be in place by 5:45 p.m. and be ready to distribute their candy by 6:00 p.m. For our guests all parking will be in the parking lot to the immediate left, and there will be attendants to help you.

Pray for Pastor Bruce

We got a call this morning that Bruce Wanless, our pastor to senior adults broke his leg on a Harley. He had surgery this morning and he is recovering well. Be sure to lift him up in prayer and if you would like to send note you can send it tomailto:rv5wheel@aol.com

Pray for our Open House

We have been going fast and furious as we prepare for our open house on this coming Sunday. The banners will be shipped today, we have the new nursery furniture, yard signs are on the way, the drapes are almost complete, the website is up, the security station was in pace last week, we pick up the new carpet today, and we will be passing out fliers on Thursday. It has been a lot of work, and many of you have given great amounts of time and money to see our kidZone go first class, but I am asking for one more thing. PRAY. Please pray that our efforts will bring glory to God by bringing children to Jesus. Everything we do is to that end. Please pray for us as a staff, and for the remaining details to fall into place. As your pastor, I need your prayer. God is at work, and where God is at work, you can be sure that the spirit of this world is at work as well. Pray that we will not lose focus on what God is doing. Pray for good weather as we put invitations out, pray for new families to come out this Sunday to share in the excitement. Pray that our kids will see this and know that they are valued.

Goodbye Bruce and Jacki

Today we say goodbye to Pastor Bruce. For those of you not from Cornerstone, Bruce is our Sr. Adults Pastor who works part of the year with us between October and May. They will be leaving this morning to head to Minnesota for the summer. Bruce and Jacki mean so much to me both personally and pastorally. I HATE it when they are gone. They said something about grand kids and their eyes glassed over like some victim of alien mind control. Please pray for their journey this week as they travel.

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.

Prayer response to the VA Tech shooting

They just announced that there are over 32 fatalities in the shootings today at VA Tech University. My heart is broken for the families and friends of the victims. We as a church and Christian community must lift them up in prayer. In response to this I would like to give some people that we are praying for:

1. The families and friends of the victims.
2. The Christian student unions as they minister to their classmates.
3. The faculty and staff at VA Tech as they deal with the emotions and try to finish the year.
4. The family of the shooter, theirs is a terrible loss as well.
5. The area churches as they respond to the tragedy.

6. Tomorrow's Convocation

Prayerful Preparations for Easter

Tonight we will be having a special time of prayer to prepare our hearts for Easter. In preparation for our prayer meeting we have added the following starter ideas to our prayer list. This is by far not the extent of our prayers, but just breaking the ice.

That we all will be reminded of God’s love expressed in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
That people will come to know Christ as personal Savior.
That people will come back into a daily walk with God.
That we all will be reminded of those who still need to come to the cross.
That we all will invite others to come and worship on Easter.
That people who come, will find Cornerstone to be warm and welcoming.
That people who are invited will come.
That all of our services will be balanced for space.
That our ministries will be adequately staffed.
That our church will be able to continue to minister to families beyond Easter.
That the music and the message will effectively glorify God and encourage others.
That God would bring people back to join a small group Bible Study on the Love Languages.
That the praise and worship time will be engaging and exciting.
That the message will be life changing
For the Praise Team, Pastor Gabe & Pastor Joel as they do three services in a row
For the Easter Egg Hunt to run smoothly and the kids to have fun.