T-Minus 18 Days to Nicaragua

2009 is off to a hot start, and it is hard to believe that our team will be leaving for Nicaragua in just 18 days.  We will be working with World Hope to construct some pavilions to be used by Missionary Paul Heier and National Pastors who will rotate Discipleship and Medical teams based out of  the city of Teco.  Another exciting announcement is that God has brought Ward Hodges to base his World Hope ministry out of Cornerstone.  Ward's ministry with us was announced last Sunday during our Annual Vision Meeting, and his position will be to strengthen the small groups and missions ministries of our church.  This trip will no doubt be the first of many trips that our church will take with World Hope around the world.  Ward and His wife Amy have a wonderful baby boy named Ethan.

Weekend Reflections

• I believe our set up team rocks, except that Michael Brown parked the trailer crooked.
• We had a bunch of people come to the Saturday version of the Vision Meeting
• The band rocked, and something about a kazoo 
• The band named themselves 23B after an illustration in Ward's sermon a few week's ago.
• It was cool to see Saturday nights turn 1 year old...
• I knew it was a great start when I got to church a few minutes early to see volunteers already at work.
• I got to spend a few extra minutes in prayer in the truck.
• People were early for worship, which is rare in FL, I guess they were excited.
• We had to put out extra seats out in the early service, welcome back snowbirds!
• Enjoyed preaching about Jonathan and his armor bearer.  Let's go pick a fight!
• Had a blast in the Vision Meeting sharing what God has done in our midst during 2008.
• We saw 40% growth last year, and are desperate to do it all over again.
• We set some BIG HARRY AUDACIOUS GOALS
• We introduced Ward Hodges joining the team to help us kick Small Groups up a notch.
• We challenged everyone to join the TEAM, and they responded.
  
• The last service was literally packed to the wall, we again ran out of chairs.
• I can't wait to break out the new chairs on February 21st
• 3 of our people ran in the Disney marathon.... but did not miss church, I love Saturdays!
• There was a ton of teenagers at church, Seth and Christy are knocking it out of the park!
• First time guests came up after the service asking where they can get involved, I love that!
• Crashed on the couch after services with a holy hangover!  Watched football...and Jack Bauer!

Big Vision

This Sunday we will be sharing a BIG vision that God has laid on our hearts for 2009.  I am so excited to be able to share some things that have been in the works for several months and to announce some goals that our leadership feels God has set before us.  The size of our vision still pales in comparison to the greatness of our God and we will enjoy the process as much as we enjoy the results.  We will spend some time reflecting on 2008 where God brought us the most dramatic growth that our church has ever seen and we anticipate the same for 2009!   I cannot reveal anything to you yet, so make plans to be in your place this Sunday at 9:30 as we have our annual vision meeting.

Together in Christ,
Joel

Christmas Weekend... behind the curtain

I just got done looking over the spreadsheet for this weekend's attendance and as you probably know we are totally freaked out about attendance.  The space is so limited that we have asked parents of the kids in the performance to only attend one showing and have set up a separate reception/lounge for them during the other performances.  As of right now the Saturday night services is leading the way with many of our most faithful, giving the prime time slots to our guests.  The funny thing about this and it happened this way 2 years ago is that we were left with a room full of strangers during the late service on Sunday.  Nobody knew anybody, and I left thinking that they must think this is the most unfriendly church ever.  It was like throwing a party and only inviting friends who are not acquainted and then leaving the party yourself.  Ultimately God is in control, and we will trust Him with that...  I am excited to see what God does and I look forward to dress rehearsal tomorrow afternoon and seeing the kids don their new t-shirts.  I wonder if many we realize the number of hours of hard practice that everyone has put into making this event one to remember..... I know God has been keeping track, and as pastor of this church I am grateful to everyone who has been working so hard.  Now, let's enjoy!

Looking Ahead

It is amazing to me that 2008 has already come and for the most part gone.  I don't want to rush into 2009, with the best days of 2008 still to come, but it is impossible not to be overwhelmed by all the excitement that lies in January of next year.  This month as we have been planning and preparing for the big move to the new auditorium, we are excited to see God working out every detail to His purposes.  We have placed the order for 200 new chairs and the money is in for all but 62 at the time of this post.  We look forward to seeing the people that God is going to sit in those chairs as He continues to use our church to reach this community with the good news of Christ.  The stage is being set for Cornerstone to reach new heights in 2009, as we continue to lift up Christ here in Four Corners.  Here are a few things to look forward to...

This Sunday
If you have been at Cornerstone for any amount of time you know that every weekend is a special event for us.  Our teams have been working hard to put together a service that will usher you into the presence of God and lead you to worship and know Him more than you have before.  We will be going in depth on the angels' announcement of "Good Tidings of Great Joy."


Christmas Weekend Services - December 20th & 21st.
We are planning the biggest Christmas event in our church's history and want you to invite your friends, family and neighbors to come and enjoy Christmas through the eyes of a child.  The program will include drama, music, sign language and even a performance by our new children's puppet team.  There will be three shows in all and we strongly ask that you attend only one show in order for there to be enough room.

December 27 &  28 - Ward Hodges
Our resident missions representative Ward Hodges will be coming to speak for us.  Ward is our representative with World Hope and as we prepare for our first ever missions trip to Nicaragua, Ward will share with us some of the amazing things God is doing through Hope.

January 3 & 4 - Gio Llerena - Major League Baseball Chaplin
I am excited to tell you that my good friend and Tampa Bay Ray Chaplin Gio Llerena will be with us.  Gio has a very special ministry to the players and staff of major league baseball and as the Rays are coming off their best season ever he will share with us the importance of teamwork and keeping our eyes on Christ.

January 10 & 11 - Annual Vision Meeting
Every year we set aside one Sunday to reorient ourselves to the vision God has given us as a church.  We will celebrate the victories of 2008 and look ahead to where we see God taking us in 2009.  This Sunday will amaze you, I promise.

January 18th - The Big Move
We are combining all three of our services on the 18th in order to celebrate our big move to the middle school auditorium.  Not only will our seating capacity triple, but every aspect of our church will take a giant leap forward.  If you regularly come on Saturday, nights we are asking that you find someone to switch shifts with you for this very special day.  We will follow the service with a dinner.

February 1 - Missions Trip to Nicaragua
We have a team from our church leaving just after the 10:45 worship service to head to Nicaragua for 7 days to work with World Hope to build outposts for the mission.  We will be having special dedication services this day as we commit to spreading hope to Nicaragua.

Get Jesus out of your yard and into your home!

Okay, here comes a rant, so be warned.  All over people are putting statues of baby Jesus all over their yards.  People I never see leaving for church on Sunday mornings have spent literally hours constructing a lean to in their front lawn to display a plastic Jesus.  I even read this morning how more people are installing surveillance cameras to catch "baby Jesus thieves" who like to collect lawn ornaments and such.  Now I am not a big fan of the  way that Santa and his shelf-elfs have taken over Christmas, and I do think the atheists need another season to claim as their own, but really, get Jesus out of your yard already!  Jesus did not come to this earth to lay in the manger for 2,000+ years.  Why do we insist on celebrating His birthday as if he was still a newborn.  I mean, I don't celebrate my wife's birthday by dressing her like a newborn and sticking her outside in the cold all night.  The advent of God coming to this earth is what we should be celebrating, not his birth, not the fact that he was a cute baby.  My Christmas wish is that all who want to celebrate Christ's mass (leaving heaven) would go to the Lord's house to actually spend some time with Him.  God forbid that we waste time getting plastic Jesus out of the attic, just to leave him out of our homes.

Who Am I Casting Crowns

Welcome Snowbirds!

Just in case you needed a reminder of why you live in FL.  Enjoy!  I look forward to seeing you at church this weekend, and yes flip flops will be in order for Saturday Night Service!

The Church Advances as the World Retreats

One of the things that is obvious in almost every segment of society is the new value of security against global economic collapse.  The papers and news channels are full of stories of layoffs and pullbacks and every church I know of is bracing for this coming economic earthquake.  I have to tell you frankly that churches cutting back right now really ticks me off.  I know that the economy is crashing, and that people who tithe will have less to give, but our trust is not in the offering plate.  Right now, as the ways of the world display their lack of ability to meet the real needs of people, the church needs to advance.  It has been our message for years that people not put their trust in temporary physical things of this world, and to store up for themselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not corrupt, and markets do not fall.  Now is the time when many churches, rather than pulling back, need to move forward.  I am not suggesting that they blow the bank account, but the church of Christ is the medic that runs against the flow of the retreating army to meet the real needs of people who have been wounded on the front line.  Here are some things that we can do:

1. Teach "Koinonia" Fellowship - The church exists to meet the needs of the body.  This is the time when the people can come together an meet one another's needs.
2. Show Some Love - Benevolent giving should increase to meet the felt needs of the community with the hopes that they will realize their true need for Christ.
3. Preach Heaven - We are not of this world, and in fact we were created for eternity.  Preach about the need to know we have a home in heaven and how this world will not satisfy.
4. Teach People How to Live by Faith - They are ready to listen.
5. Missions - Recession in America means going to basic cable.  Show them the rest of the world.


Cornerstone, we refuse to run.  This economic downturn and fear of recession means that church becomes more important than ever in our community.  I believe that much of the numerical growth we have seen in the last month is due to people returning to God, and we as a church must and will be ready.  We will not retreat just because the rest of the world is, in fact we will advance.  I believe that these may be dark days for our generation, but our community has never needed the church and its message of salvation through Christ more.  We need all hands on deck as we move forward. 

WoW!

I was listening to a good friend, Paul Heier, speak recently and he said his favorite word of worship was "wow." Wow, is a word you say when words escape you or they can do little to express how amazed you are.  In worship it is a response to catching a glimpse of how Great our God is and sensing for a moment how much he does love us.

Right now we are experiencing a "wow" moment in the life of Cornerstone.  In the past few weeks God has been blessing our church and records are falling by the wayside.  What is amazing is that all the growth indicators show that we are just beginning a new stage of growth as a church.  Attendance last weekend was up to 222 from 202 the week before.  A jump of 20 in weekend attendance is not much, but compared to our October average of 175 we are excited to see 50 more people worshiping with us each week.  What is awesome is that small group attendance is the fastest growing indicator on the list.  We are excited to see new small groups forming and it is our goal for everyone to find a group.

Here is what this means for us as a church.  
1. We must all adjust.
     - We are maxing out the 10:45 service so that means come earlier and sit up front filling every available chair.
     - Some of you can make the switch to attend on Saturday night or to the 8:15 making extra room at 10:45.
     - The room will continue to be crowded until we can move to the other auditorium in January.
     - Things will be changing in 2009.  As the church matures, our body will develop and change. Always for the better!

2. We must all go deeper.
     - Everybody needs to belong to a small group.
     - As the church gets bigger, it MUST get smaller.
     - Authentic relationships do not happen in rows.
     - Church is designed for fellowship and that takes place in small group.

3. We must all pray.
     - No question, what is going on has its source in God.
     - This is not a result of anything we have done, but what God has decided to do in and through us.
     - As the church becomes larger and more complex, we need to rely on Him even more for guidance and strength.

4. We must all step up.
     - This is what we prayed for in our 2008 elevate campaign.
     - We must continue to elevate our giving and our serving.
     - Existing ministries are being taxed more and more and now more than ever we could use some help.
     - If you are not volunteering, we need your help in every ministry are within the church.