If you have a girl within 40 miles of your home you no doubt are familiar with Hannah Montana. If you can get past the first 6:30 minutes of girl talk. Miley and her best friend Mandy do a great job of expressing their faith. In a culture that is desperate for positive role models. I have to admit I am a Hannah Montana fan.
I just got off the phone with Pastor Rafael Riera. They will be starting Sunday services this week at the Beef O'Bradys in Four Corners. I am so impressed with Rafael and his passion and expertise. He has a great plan in place and is already receiving lots of attention from the Spanish speaking community of Four Corners. Their Sunday school will start at 9:30 and Worship is at 10:30 a.m. I am asking all of our Cornerstone people to raise this church and this pastor up in prayer as they launch out this weekend. Also, I want to say how much I appreciate Mary Ann Owens and the team at Beefs for making their restaurant a sanctuary for church planting. It is obvious how much she loves our God.
I read a lot of books. I mostly read how to books dealing with church ministry stuff, but often enjoy a good biography or science fiction like "Out of the Silent Plant." I read newspapers and blogs, I read commentaries and manuals, and every once in a great while I will read some poetry. (the planets all have to be lined up for that) I as this because I always approach my reading differently depending on the genre. Fiction is almost always audio book. (don't email me that it is not reading if I am listening to it, I know, I know.) Commentaries and manuals I go to for answers, Newspapers and blogs I go to for information. Poetry I go to for inspiration or contemplation etc. I asked myself today, what genre is the Bible. Some would argue for for one or the other. I argue it is all of the above. Consider:
* Romance - A love story of of Christ and His Bride
* Fiction - Parables ( don't email me about this either. I know only a portion of stories are fiction)
* Self Help - Instructive wisdom
* Biography - of God
* Poetry - Of David, and Moses
* News - A Revelation of sorts
* Manual - Theology and answers to life's biggest questions
* Historic - A true gospel
I guess the Bible is all in how you look at it. Like a diamond, its beauty is discovered by the many angles and how the Light is reflected through each. Consider the you genre-atical approach the next time you pick up the leather bound book.
Hello Everyone, Thank you for praying for our Easter Services. First, I want to thank all of our volunteers who worked to make this our best easter ever. Without your hard work it would have been a very difficult day. Second, I want to thank all of our regulars who got tickets and bathed the day in prayer. God answered those prayers. Finally I want to thank our guests for coming out and worshiping with us. The family of God is an amazing thing and total strangers can seem like life long friends in no time. We finished the day with several folks accepting Christ as Savior, and 344 in attendance. This is more that we could have imagined and we give God all the glory. I will do what I can to upload some Easter pictures over the next few days. Here is a picture Terry Miles took during the third service. I also just returned from the hospital and Mrs. Pauline and Eulin Francis are doing well. Also, Nita, our guest that was taken by ambulance (Chest pain) is still being checked by the E.R. but she is doing much better and wanted to thank everyone for their prayers.
It is 4:30 a.m. on Easter Saturday. A few minutes ago I am lying in bed thinking about Easter. The main thought that consumes me is that Easter is about Christ. It is about worshiping the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. I'm trying to fall back to sleep because in a few hours the weekend will start and it won't stop until Sunday night. I wonder if an Easter Egg hunt somehow takes away from our worship of Christ on Easter. I think about the fact that Easter Eggs and Chicks and the fake grass are all some carryover of pagan celebrations into the Catholic church. I wonder for a moment why the Catholic church would celebrate "pagan" holidays, how they could pervert Easter with fertility rituals. Then I think about the fact that Jesus could have scheduled His death burial and resurrection for anytime of the year. The pharisees were truly willing to kill him at any time. But he chose the season of his resurrection. I remember that as I studied for this weekend's message, that when Passover was instituted that it was to be the first month of their year. Another beginning. I thought it was kind of God's plan for the death of winter to give way for the resurrection of life to spring forth. I wonder if God was the one who scheduled this to be the time of the birthing of new lambs, new chicks, and green grass. That it was His intent all along that we celebrate new life, a new year at this Season. I stop thinking bad about the Catholic church, I stop thinking bad about the pagans, I lay there amazed at how God is in control of every detail and that when we just stop long enough to pay attention, that He will reveal Himself to us. He is GOD! One day we will stand before Him in Heaven. We will fall to our knees in worship. We will finally stop. And we will finally understand that it is all about Him.
1. Lots of calls this week about our Easter services.
2. Lunch with Scott Smith from Community of Faith to talk Parking (I love that guy)
3. We are having the Easter Egg hunt before the service on Saturday and after the services on Sunday.
4. I think we are the only Easter Egg Hunt in town.
5. The Reporter (News Paper) did not change our ad to the one we sent.
6. Someone will read that ad and show up for an 8:15 service we are not having.
7. They will be angry and blame us.
8. We will accept credit for their mistake and apologize.
9. Our Team has spent many hours preparing for Easter.
10. Our members have spent many hours preparing for Easter.
11. Our guests would benefit by spending many hours preparing themselves for Easter.
12. We anticipate 300 people to worship with us on Easter.
13. We anticipate 1 person to be our focus on Easter.
14. Some of the Easter Eggs will have cash in them.
15. Only kids are allowed to hunt for Easter Eggs.
16. Additional parking will be available on the Soccer field.
17. Additional seating will be available because of the sacrifice of our regular attenders.
18. The worship will be amazing.
19. The message will be Bible.
20. The church will be friendly.
21. The Lord will be lifted up.
I am not a cheerleader by nature. I read some pastor blogs and it seems that they are constantly pumping the people of their church up with words like greatest and amazing. I have always shied away from SUNDAY, SUNDAY,SUNDAY type messages, but I do believe that this weekend is going to be amazing in the life of Cornerstone. As we approach this Easter Sunday, we do so with a few things already happening.
1. God's People are Praying - It is so exciting to me that our church has talked to God about Easter Sunday for the past few weeks.
2. People are preparing - So much work has gone into everything from the coordination with tickets, egg hunts, music and ministry.
3. People are coming - right now, according to ticket distribution, we have three full services. (Tickets were for regulars, not guests. No one will be turned away at the door.)
It is very possible that we could see attendance top 300 for the first time on Easter Sunday. Please continue to pray with me that God will work in the lives of people on Easter and that we will do our part in lifting up the name of Christ. Also, be busy inviting your friends and neighbors to come and join us for worship. Saturday 6:30; Sunday 9:30 & 10:45
So for the last few weeks at random, but never convenient times the phone would ring and "eharmony" would show up in the caller ID. Amy and I had exchanged many curious looks as to who in our household would be receiving calls from the dating website, but never enough to bother to pick it up. I had suspicions about Andrew (6 years old) as he has taken to wearing my cologne and last night he layered his shirts 3 deep before church. If you don't already know, these are obvious signs of a guy on the prowl. Well, today I finally answered the eharmony call. It took a few seconds for the automated answerer to pick up their end of the line and then she asked for..... you guessed it Jackie. I told her that she must have the wrong number, but then again we have at least 4 Jackies in the church. Jacque Conard, Jacki Wanless, Jackie Bartels, and Jackie Wortz! I'll let you know if my investigation turns anything up.
Our postcards are hitting mailboxes today announcing the launch of our new Saturday Worship Service. Unfortunately, my mailbox came up short. It is always a little troubling when you send out 17,000 cards and your only measure of their actually arriving does not arrive! Well, Pastor Gabe sends regards that his was safe, and my good friend Skip down at the Barber Shop proudly has his displayed by his chair so I guess we are good. Also the phone has begun to ring with people seeking directions. Saturday is fast becoming my favorite worship service. (Please don't tell the Sunday crowd!)
Everything is going great and all of a sudden, out of nowhere you hit a wall. I can't convey how often this happens in church life, or even life in general. But one thing that I have learned is that all walls have doors. Even the Great Wall of China has gates as the cloud terrace gate pictured here. The goal of every wall encounter is to find the door. Some doors will be open and others closed. I personally recommend trying the open ones first, but then again, what is a door, but simply a wall with a key shaped door. Don't let the walls stop you today. find your way to the door and keep on.
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