Psalm 4

This interesting project came out of a Psalms class I took at seminary. Its common in the song writing the church has done to draw inspiration from the inspired poetry of the Psalms. Typically this is done by focusing on small sections of a psalm, taking a verse or two, and writing a song out of it. Anytime a song is directly inspired by scripture is a great thing, but sometimes when we just take one thought out of a psalm, we end up missing the overall point. Usually a psalm has a lot to say about what the writer was going through at that particular time, and it isn’t based on one thought. You can see the change in the writer as they bring whatever they are struggling with to God. The psalm writers continually make a powerful choice to worship through their circumstances. I wanted to set an entire psalm to music to help me better understand how that change happens.

I was surprised at the impact this simple little excercise had on me. In the process of working with the song, I found that the words of scripture became alive. It wasn’t just like writing any other song. I found myself beginning to meditate on the words of God. While I recorded this song last summer, even now I can recall these words wherever I go. It actually inspired me to set a few more psalms to music.

So here Psalm 4. Put it in your ipod and see if you can memorize this scripture, or even to sit and meditate through it.

Listen here below or click here to download

Lead Pastor Blog I.III

I just finished reading in Andy Stanley’s book, “Visioneering” and he talked about Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem. The city was in a sorry mess but good old Nehemiah had this vision to do something about it. The problem was he already had a job working for the king who’s predessors had actually contributed to the disaster that Jerusalem was in. The other problem was that the king was not known for his compassion.

What startled me as I read this account was the observation Stanley made about the prayer of Nehemiah. He observed that Nehemiah did not pray for God to rebuild the walls. No, he prayed for an opportunity to go and rebuild the walls himself. So often we pray for God to do something that we perhaps should/could be doing ourselves.

When I review the vision for Cornerstone that truth comes home hard. In order for the vision to be accomplished we need to pray but we also need to be ready to play our part. Each one of us who call Cornerstone home will have a role in accomplishing the vision. Each one of us are crucial to the vision itself. My concern is that we may have this wait and see approach. I’ll just wait and see if anything happens with this vision for Cornerstone. The more of us who have that approach the less that we will accomplish.

Instead we need to respond with the approach of, “What can I do to help in fulfilling the vision we have for Cornerstone?” The more of us who take that approach the more that will be accomplished and we will truly function as a team. Each team is made of of individuals who have a role to play on that particular team. You are part of the team and therefore you have a role to play.

My challenge to you is to pray the prayer of Nehemiah,. Lord provide me an opportunity to be involved in fulfilling the vision we have for Cornerstone. Lord open doors for me to get the work done.

The vision becomes so much more exciting when we put ourselves right in the middle of the action. Lord use me.

Responding to the kids “BIG” questions

Well our answer time on the kids big questions went very well but I have to admit that for most of the questions our main answer was “we don’t really know the answer”.  And truly the kids seemed mostly satisfied with that answer!

However we did give any information we do have regarding their questions.  We talked about what the bible says about heaven but that we don’t really know where it is!  Russ came and shared that some people believe Jesus does love the devil and others believe not and so again we don’t really know.

We encouraged the kids in their questioning and that asking God, going to the bible for answers is the best thing to do.  So we directed them to the bible for questions regarding sin, names of Jesus, the place where Jesus died etc.

We we most definitely will do it again next year!  In fact we have decided the leave the question box up permanently.  We want kids to have a faith that is their own, we want to encourage them to go to Jesus for answers and to keep asking him questions because then they keep talking to him too!

Jessica

Adult classes update…

I just wanted to make people aware that Carols class “That the world may know” will continue until April 5.

Walters class “Forgiveness” will be starting April 19 and continuing until May 31 (no class on May 17)

Mark it on your calenders you won’t want to miss either class!

Our adult classes are Sunday mornings at 9:30am in the Mayfair Room.

Lead Pastor Blog I.II

Two weeks ago I shared with our church family my vision for Cornerstone. I am excited by the fact that after two weeks of mulling it over I would not change a thing about that vision. I have enjoyed the number of comments I have received since that time. Some were just quick notes to affirm the vison while others were more lengthy responses to the vision.

I have been reminding the staff that we are in the midst of a process, a journey. The first hard part was listening to God, church leaders, staff and other thoughtful individuals while trying to see the vision. The easy part was communicating the vision to the body. The next hard part is the work of being relentless in regards to fulfilling the vision.

Let me restate what I shared on that Sunday. The vision is to impact or to change the world in which we live. The way we will carry that out will be seen in four specific ways. We will be a church who will unashamedly target men. There is a lot of research out there as well as just some simple observations that would cause us to see that the church has ignored men and men have ignored the church. We will be strategic in our approach to attracting men. Now let me be clear, this is not about some form of male domination. The church has in the past been guilty of allowing men to get away with behavior that was not close to being Christlike. Let me also say that it is not about communicating male superiority in any way. The church needs both men and women to be whole. The truth is that once a man starts attending church the statistics tell us that the rest of the family generally follows along. We believe that in targeting men we will be part of the solution to building stronger families in our society and with that we will be changing our world.

Next we will be open to the prodigals within our community. People get burned by the church and leave. People make decisions that church is not for them and they leave. People fall into sinful lifestyles and leave the church.  There are a 1000 differnt reasons why people stop attending church but God never gives up on them. We want to be the kind of place that when they decide to check it our again they are warmly and favorably received. No lectures or finger pointing. Just open arms that let them know we can start back on the journey at this church where they welcome the prodigal home with excitement.  We will point them to the Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The third part is we want to surprise the seekers with this basic truth: God is quite fond of you. In fact God loves you. Again, there is no condemnation or spiritual superiority just an open invitation to come and join us on this life journey.   We want their walls of hesitancy to fall down quickly.  Whatever negative preconcieved ideas they have we will surprise them with a positive message: God loves you.

Lastly but no less important we will be a church that meets practical needs in our world. Two weeks ago we said goodbye to a group of people from our church who were heading down to New Orlenas to help with the reconstruction of houses in the that city. That is meeting practical needs. This past Sunday we heard from a lady who is helping out at a local crisis pregnancy centre. That is meeting practical needs. I was stoked by both those different and yet practical ministry stories. During Lent we are raising money to repair broken down water wells in Haiti which is again a practical ministry. When you allow a viilage to have access to fresh water you have changed their world.

There are things happening right now that are part and parcel of this vision. There are other aspects which will be more long term. We will be relentless. You will hear from me and read in this space from time to time more about our vision. This vision will be the driving force behind every aspect of our church ministry.

I would love to hear back from some of those who have yet to comment on our vision. I am excited about the vision as well as the staff and lay leaders who are excited about it. We will continue to rally around this call from God.

Be blessed!

Easter 09

Easter 2009 at Cornerstone Church

A week of intimate reflection and joyful celebration on the event that changed the world!

April 5, Palm Sunday 6:30pm
A time of worship to start off the week.  With special guest speaker Tim Braun.

April 10, Good Friday 11:00am
A readers theatre drama acount of the journey to the cross.

April 12, Easter Sunday 11:00am
The hope of Easter realized as we celebrate ressurection of Jesus.

Lent Challenge

Lent is a time that we are encouraged to give something up to help us remember the sacrifice that Jesus made on our behalf.  This year our challenge is to raise $20 000.

The first $10 000 will go towards a water project in Haiti.  Organizations have previously built water wells for safe drinking that have over time fallen into disrepair.  This money will go towards two goals: repairing wells, and training the Haitian people to maintain their wells.

Jodi Mohney, the Program Director from Living Water International writes:

“In Haiti you will be doing pump repairs which is wonderful. You will be able to bring water to THREE communities that have not had clean water in years but we can restore their clean water through repairing broken pumps. It is really exciting. Not only will you be bringing them clean water but also the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our national team is made up of pastors we have trained to repair these wells so they can begin to build relationships in the communities. It’s pretty cool!”

The second $10 000 will help out with the ministry of Cornerstone Church as we are in the process of raising funds to replace our main auditorium sound system.  After 18 years the current system has served us well, yet we want to broaden our ability to minister through wise use of new technologies.

For more information on the water project in Haiti go to onedollarwater.com.
For more information on the church sound system go to cornerstone-church.ca.

MARCH IS VOLUNTEER APPRECIATION MONTH!!

This month we just want to take time to appreciate our full time volunteers.  Take time to send them a note, buy them a gift card, invite them over for dinner…. be creative!!

Also, on March 15 after the 2nd service we are having a pizza lunch for all the full time volunteers.  Sign up and come for free pizza if you volunteer on a regular basis!

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PUT TIME IN WEEKLY TO SERVE AT CORNERSTONE CHURCH!

Forgiveness – Upcoming Adult Class

Forgiveness – Forgiving the Difficult Transgressions

This class will study the steps involved in forgiving those hurts that are more serious and more difficult to forgive.  We will investigate the true meaning of forgiveness and “eradicate” some myths around the act of forgiving.  The process of forgiveness, and it is a process,  begins with a decision; an act of the will based on Jesus’ command to do so.  We choose to forgive because it is the right thing to do even though  we may not “feel like it”.

Because this class is a short series people attending are encouraged to attend all sessions if at all possible.

Walter

This class starts Sunday March 22 at 9:30am in the Mayfair Room