Church News

We usually don't use this blog for internal news, but I wanted everyone to pray for Suzie Holland and Maureen Wray as they were in a car accident on US 27 after church today. Mo has a few cracked ribs, and Suzie had stitches in two places and a chipped knee cap, but both are going to be fine. Please pray for the driver of the other car who was thrown from the vehicle and may not survive. Suzie's car is most likely totaled and they will need much prayer as they deal with the trama of such an event. We thank God for His protection . - Joel

Bono on Worship Music

My fellow blogger and pastor Bob Franquiz has this great quote from U2's Bono.

“All music is worship. It could be worship of self, of women, of God, but it’s all worship."

Of life and Roller Coasters

What is your favorite part of the roller coaster experience. Most of us enjoy the entire ride, except for the sudden jolt of the stop at the end which we can make a metaphor for death. But before you continue reading ponder your favorite part. Here are 4 for your consideration. 1. the Climb 2. The Free fall 3. The Recovery 4. The twists and turns.

THE CLIMB
We love the climb because it is full of anticipation. As in life anticipation is a great part of the joy. This is the essence of dreaming and planning. With each clink of the chain we climb higher and higher getting a better view on our way to the summit.

THE FREE FALL
The free fall is fun because is scare the mess out of us. Our bodies and mind are suffering from sensory overload and we are overwhelmed with the realization that we are not in control nor are we going to be for some time.

THE RECOVERY
I love the recovery as you come to the end of the free fall and have weight again. Everything suddenly comes back to normal and although there are twists and turns ahead, at least we can catch our breath and gain our composure.

TWISTS & TURNS
Twist and turns can be anticipated but not overcome, they have a way of throwing you from one side of the car to the other and either being close to the one you love or way to close to a total stranger. Such are the twists and turns.

Do you have a favorite part of the coaster? Do you have a favorite part of the roller coaster that is our life? Life is full of ups and downs, of twists and turns and I must admit that I prayed that if God would stop this roller coaster that I would gladly get off. You see, roller coasters are no fun for those who are afraid of them. My wife is one who can't stand them. She has ridden some with me, but in the process would close her eyes for the entire ride. We all know that closing the eyes just makes it worse, but those who are afraid don't agree. There are those who ride life's coaster with fear. Closing their eyes as if ignoring the ups and downs will miraculously flatten them out. I feel for them. I know that life is difficult for them, and I long for them to enjoy the ride. There are also the screamers. These are the ones who mock the fear by screaming at the top of their lungs. Their yells are not an expression of their fear, but the denial of such.


Like it or not life is often a roller coaster and therefore we have to treat it as such. It is my goal for you to enjoy the ride.
Let the climb bring anticipation and faith in the heights that your journey might take you. There is no telling how high God's plans are for you.
Let the free fall help you understand that you are not in control. That long before you got on this ride that a designer planned for your ride. Respond to those free falls by holding on tight to the grips if you must, but those with great faith in the designer have learned to raise their hands even during the free fall.
Let the recovery build your faith in the designer. And with every recovery from every free fall, may you grow in your knowledge of His design and plan your the ups and downs in your life. Let it help you to regain your composure and prepare for the twists and turns ahead.
Finally, let the twists and turns in life bring you into closer contact with the ones you love, let it pull you together as you laugh and scream in tandem. On the same note, if you happen to be going through this ride with a total stranger, you will likewise laugh and scream together and will go away from that shared experience with an unusual bond.

So for all you Cars fans out there, life is not a highway, it is a roller coaster and Oh what a ride.

Afraid of Ghosts?

October is just around the corner and it seems that Halloween will be just as big this year if not bigger than last. I have been thinking a lot of what we fear in preparation for a new message series to begin in October called fearless. I have found that the greatest source of horror film fodder centers on two close, but vastly different things. The first is ghosts or spirits without bodies as in the movies ala Sixth Sense and Poltergeist, and secondly the opposite, namely of bodies without spirits such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Frankenstein.

Now track with me here as I go deep theological on you. What is horrific to us as humans is the separation of the natural body and spirit combo. For those of us living on this earth, we fear the separation of the body from the spirit and therefore fear either one without the other. This is born out of a world view that is based on the natural world as we know it. Philosophers may refer to it as existentialism or to a lesser extent humanism. I am not by any means saying that to fear ghosts or zombies is in some way a conscious philosophical decision, but I am saying that our fear of them is the natural result of our world view.

As Ricky Ricardo would say "Let me splain." If I choose the world view that this life is all that there is, that we all evolved in the past in order to dissolve in the future then I have nothing greater to fear than the evidence of that dissolution - ghosts and zombies. On the contrary, if I believe that there is a Creator God who is spirit in form and dwells in heavenly places. And I believe that our physical bodies are just the temporary shell until our spirit is released to be with Him for eternity, then I do not fear the separation of the the spirit and the body. In fact, I embrace it.

So what should we fear? As people who have accepted Jesus Christ and His world view as put forth in the Bible, we do not have to fear death. For those who have not accepted Christ they must fear death because death is the eternal separation of body and spirit. However, Jesus kicks it up a notch in the book of Matthew chapter 10 when he says...

Matt. 10:28 (NKJV) And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Unbelievers also have God to fear because God is able to kill the spirit for eternity in hell.

Today I pray that you will overcome your fear. That God will help you to accept His world view. And that as a result you will be able to be fearless.

Interesting Photo

Here is an interesting photo of an elderly catholic nun being frisked by a Muslim Airport Security Guard. It just screamed irony and absurdity to me.

The Present/Future of Four Corners

Last night the Four Corners Area Council met to discuss the future of our area. Here is the Orlando Sentinel article.

Jonathan Who?

I love being on the front lines of ministry. Since Cornerstone began just over 5 years ago we have seen God do some remarkable transformations in the life of ordinary people in our community. Last night at our prayer meeting a lady came up to me and announced that she will be on vacation from work on October 14th and will be able to come and see me preach. I went through my calendar in my head and told her that I was going to talk about Jonathan and his armor bearer taking on the Philistines. That God is not limited to save by many or by few. Then she told me that she had never heard of this "Jonathan" and was looking forward to coming. Blown Away! As a pastor's kid who was in church 9 months before I was even born it is often astounding to me how much I take for granted the things that I learned in church as a child. I also think that many "established" churches underestimate the benefits that they enjoy after years of ministry. I am humbled to help this lady know more about her wonderful Savior and begin to grow in her walk with God, and I will always put the lambs before the sheep.

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!

Kathy Griffin

I know many of you were angry about recent comments made by comedian Kathy Griffin, FOX News' Lauren Green's rebuttle is nothing short of amazing.

My garage is always a mess

My wife is an excellent housekeeper and has taught me and our kids to take great care of our house. For instance every bed is made and rooms are cleaned before leaving for school at 6:45 a.m. However, the garage is my territory and it is a different story, maybe even a different book. Someone said that a garage is a place to keep $250 worth of junk while a $15,000 vehicle sits just outside. There is only one way to get the car in the garage, you must get the junk out. I will admit that I love my junk and even love the church's junk that I keep in the garage. Like the original sound booth, and even a pulpit complete with a gold leaf cross on the front. Truth be told, my cars may never get to spend a night in the garage. Now from time to time I will organize my garage. I will compartmentalize things and places, I will sweep the floor and clear the biggest spot int the middle of the garage that I can. After these episodes, I usually walk away feeling good about my junk, good about the fact that I can open my garage door without shame. However, it does not take long for the junk to fall back into place. In 1 week, maybe 2 it is a mess again, so I face the embarrassment, and hassle or organizing my junk. In truth many of us do this with our lives. We have a place, a spiritual or emotional garage where se keep all of our junk. While our house may be in order and visitors to our house may be impressed, we keep the garage door locked. We would hate for someone to see the mess that we keep in that junk drawer. The origin of the word holy comes from the same root where we get the word whole Meaning complete. Essentially, if there are areas of our life where we hide our junk, then we are not holy. So what do we need to do in order to stop organizing and rearranging our mess...

1. Identify the junk - We need to look long and hard at the things in our garage. Ask ourselves why are we holding onto them. Are we really going to use that again, are we really going to need a ten year old version of that ten years from now? I think we hold on to a lot of bitterness and anger this way, we think that we may need that old hurt to use on the one who hurt us.

2. Throw it out - Let it go man, just let it go. This is much easier after you have labeled it as junk. But it still requires effort. There are some things that you can easily bag up and set by the curb, and there are other things that are heavy and might require the help of some close friends.

3. Move the car inside - Let your poor garage fulfill its purpose in life. It lives for the car to pull in and to wrap its automatic door behind it. Let it be filled with all the goodness that comes when things are not just organized mess, but exactly as the builder intended.

Now I know what your going to ask. Have I cleaned out my garage? Not yet, but as I pulled out of my driveway this morning I was looking into my garage and thinking it is time to organize it again already. Then God spoke to my heart and said stop organizing your junk, and just get rid of it. So, later today, I will go out to the garage and take step number 1. What will you do with your junk today.