Best Man Fail

tomorrow I will preside over two weddings.... one of them at the beach. So here's to you Jeff, Angie, Doug and Adel.... May your best man truly be the best.

Hope Center Tecolostote

Video presentation of our team's week in Teco.

Let's Get Ready to Ramble!!!!

No offense to Boxing Announcer Michael Buffer but there is so much going on that this blog is going to be a bit of a ramble.  keep up if you can....

1. God is doing some amazing things at Cornerstone.  Last weekend we had a record Sunday attendance, save Easter and Christmas.  Somebody asked what we did to get everyone there.  I said, nothing it was a God thing.  It is His church and He has decided that it is time for us to grow to the next level.  Now we just have to make some adjustments...
2. Speaking of Adjustments, I cannot wait to move over to the other building.  We have brand spanking new chairs and 3 times as much space to fill up in all three services.  No kidding, our church could run 1,000 in the space we will have....Let's fill it up!
3.  Today I have to go to the store for some toiletry items.... this is not usually news, but it is for our Missions trip to Nicaragua.  We have 8 people from our church leaving this Sunday afternoon and will spend a week doing construction on the Hope Center in Teco!  You can see the progress made by previous groups, and we will be doing all kinds of stuff.  I will be taking part in a baptism, I am guessing my part will be to distract the crocodiles, a la Steve Erwin, and then preaching via translator on Wednesday night.  Seriously pray for me to not screw that up!  I plan on telling my buddy Paul to let me speak in English, and for him to just preach in Spanish.
4. Speaking of World Hope, tonight we are going to a celebration dinner at First Baptist Orlando, celebrating all that God has done this past year through World Hope.  I am so glad that we have a strategic Missions Partner like Hope.  I don't know any missionaries who balance Evangelism and Ministry like them.  Jesus served people AND preached the gospel.  To do one and not the other is inadequate.
5. I will be meeting today with Gabe to work on some stuff for our upcoming message series Kaleo.  It is going to be awesome, and I want to kick this one up a notch.
6. It has been 1 month since Ward came along side and started working with us in our small groups.  God has given him a vision to make our church the most biblically literate church in the world, and I believe that Ward believes God will do it!  We are working with our small group leaders on Wednesday nights and are looking forward to getting everybody excited and engaged.
7.  This Sunday will be my last message from Gideon.  I am going to miss that dude! He has taught me a lot about myself and how God wants to use me and how to find His plan for me.  This weekend we will see that God want's us to do MORE with less.  Prolly a good message for 2009!
8. Let's put the recess back in recession!  I am tired of all the complaining!  Let's enjoy the downturn seriously!  I remember when the lights went out as a kid and we "GOT' to use candles!  That was a blast.  Just cause we have less, does not mean we have to pout!  Let's kick up the creativity and put recess back in recession!
9. Just got word from Paul in Nicaragua, that as soon as our team leaves, a surgical team will arrive from Canada.  I am not a Dr. but I can do my part by building an examination room.  That is teamwork!
10.  BTW for any of you who skip church when I skip town, I will not miss a weekend service, and I will know if you are not there!  More so, you will miss out our presentation on the 7th and 8th if you are not there, and I may not post pictures here simply out of spite!  Don't miss!
11. Giving was great in January!  We took a step forward this year, and set an aggressive budget.  Each week we need $5,000 to come in so that we can continue growing forward.  I told someone the other day that February will be the test for the rest of the year.  Moving into the larger room requires that everybody get on board and share the load.
12.  I don't know a time when I have been more hopeful about what God is doing in our church.  We do not have another "growth barrier" until we hit 400 in attendance and I can't wait to get to the foot of that mountain. Let's enjoy the journey!

Sarcastics Anonymous

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.