Lead Pastor’s Blog

I love my city. Saskatoon is just such a beautiful city situated in the middle of the prairies. Our entire province has been blessed by economic success in the midst of a world-wide recession. However for all the good that we can see in our city I believe we have a Nehemiah type problem.

All summer long we will be diving into this relatively short book called Nehemiah. It is essentially the story of one man who loved his home town but discovered there was a significant problem. The city walls were in ruins and the city itself had been devastated. He assesses the situation and then by God’s grace and strength goes to work rebuilding the walls of the city.

I love my city but I believe the ethical, moral and spiritual walls of our city are broken down. Let me share some of what I know to be true of our city.

We have over 250 girls under the age of 16 who work our streets as prostitutes. Let’s be clear about a couple of things right now. When I say, “work our streets” I mean they are forced there by someone else. It could be a pimp or even a relative but they are not there willingly. Secondly, when I say, “work our streets” what I mean is that there are grown men who rape these girls each and every day of the week because there is no such thing under Canadian Law as consensual sex under the age of 16. I have been told that Saskatoon has become an international destination for businessmen looking for under-age prostitutes.

Dr. Cory Neudorf who is our city’s Chief Medical Health Officer has told our staff that he is aware of girls as young as 9 who have been diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases here in our city. Our ethical, moral and spiritual walls are broken down.

Our city has locations called “break-houses”. What happens in these houses is devastating. Young transient girls under the age of 16 are picked up off our streets by gangs and taken to a break-house. There they are strapped down to a bed where they will be injected with drugs every several hours around the clock for one week. At the end of that week they will do whatever they are asked to do in order to get the next “fix” their little body is now addicted to. There is a brokenness in our city.

In October we have invited Dr. Cory Neudorf to come to Cornerstone and share some of his research findings on the disparity between the rich and poor here in our city of bridges. He will explain some of the health problems of our city’s poor and his findings will shock us.

There is a racisim within our city in regards to many of our own poor. There are racist attitudes when people discover the sexual sickness of our city. One person observed that most of the under-age girls working our streets come from a First Nations background as if that excuses the horror they experience on our streets. One local mission worker was sharing at a church event the abuse many of the girls experience on our streets. A man came up to him afterward and asked, “didn’t you say these girls were First Nations?” The answer was yes but what difference does that make? The man commented, “Aren’t they used to it?” I ask you what eleven year old girl ever gets “used to” being sexually abused? There is a brokenness in our city. That question was asked by a Christian man. Do we really think that Jesus doesn’t care?

I am looking for a Nehemiah for our city. I am looking for someone who will assess our city and announce the walls are broken down. The ethical, moral and spiritual walls have collapsed and evil runs free. I was at a ministerial meeting recently and I listened but no one mentioned the poor of our city. No one talked about justice or even injustice. We talked about “church stuff”. Nehemiah was not heard weeping for our city. I attended a political function a few months ago. I listened and they mentioned the poor but in a very nice sanitized kind of way. It sounded like we had a real handle on the problem. No one mentioned what our newspaper recently said when it carried the truth that prostitution is a 24 hour a day issue here in our city. If you swing by 33rd and Idylwyld at 8am young girls are ready to service clients who are on their way to work in the morning.

I am looking for a Nehemiah who will lead us to weep over the condition of our city. A Nehemiah who will stand up and announce free condoms and needles do not solve the problems of our core neighbourhoods. I want to hear the voice of the prophet Micah reminding believers here in our city that “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Today I add my voice to the voice of both the ancient prophets and the contemporary prophets. God is watching. He calls us to be a just people. He calls us to defend the weak. He calls us to action.

This summer we will be challenged by this man Nehemiah. We will be forced to examine our own response to our own city. Nehemiah is coming and the status quo will not do. The walls are broken down.

The first thing Nehemiah did was weep over the condition of his beloved Jerusalem when he heard the news. Right now a little girl is tied to a bed and an abuser is standing over her injecting her little veins with drugs so that she will be the next prostitute here in our city. Picture a 9 to 14 year old girl that you personally know strapped to a bed.  Picture her getting a needle stuck in her veins.  Maybe she is your daughter or granddaughter.   Truth is this girl is someone’s daughter.  Are you weeping yet?

Haiti Trip February 2012

 

If you are interested to going to Haiti in February 2012 please complete an application form and give it to Loretta Penner, Pastor Russ or Brad Banman.  The application forms are at the Mission Bulletin board or you can contact Loretta. We are able to send 10 – 15 people and we would like to confirm the people going by September 2011.

ONLINE Plan to Protect training!

**FOR VOLUNTEERS FROM CORNERSTONE CHURCH IN CHILDREN’S & YOUTH MINISTRY ONLY!

Thank you for your continued commitment to the protection of our children and youth.

As part of our protection plan we require annual training for abuse prevention.

We are pleased to offer on-line Winning Kids Inc. Plan to Protect training which you can do at your convenience.

PLEASE CONTACT JESSICA if you you want to take advantage of this online option and then you will not be required to attend a training session in the fall!

email: jessica@cornerstone-church.ca

CD Review – Be Lifted High

There’s something about a worship album that is recorded during an actual worship event.  There’s an energy in the room that is infectious and that is very difficult to capture in the studio.  Maybe its because it never quite gets as polished as a studio album, and thus we get a little more of an immediate glimpse at the artistic heart of the worship leaders and the musicians.  One album I recently came across in this live recording category is Be Lifted High, put out by Bethel Church in Redding California.  There is a lot of really excellent songs on this collection, combined with really engaging performances.  You Are Good opens the album with a great tone of excited celebration with an emphasis on trusting hope in God’s goodness.  It’s a song co-written by Jeremy Riddle, and much of this project is anchored by his song writing.  Riddle has been emerging as a worship song writer to watch and its great to see him very active in this project.  He also contributes One Thing Remains, which is one of my favorite tracks and Furious, in which he writes a forcefully passionate picture of divine love that avoids the mushy romantic overtones, and presents God’s love in a way that a guy can really identify with.  Other standouts include God I Look to You, which communicates this very intimate focus on God and a commitment to trusting in him, and I Will Exalt which is sung by Canada’s own Amanda Falk.

If I have any criticisms its that as whole these are response songs, excellent response songs, but response songs nonetheless.  To use them in worship they really need to be accompanied with songs that have a little more Biblical meat to them, or they need to be used very intentionally with scripture.  Even for personal worship at home, to get the most out of these songs, I’d really recommend that one spend some time in God’s word rather than just letting the mind wander with inspirational thoughts.  These song writers wrote some great songs in response to what God was doing in their church and in their lives.  We don’t always get that context from a casual listen.  We should be very careful that we don’t pull songs out of context, and instead find ways in which we can apply them to the things God is teaching us in our hearts and lives as well.  To be honest its not so much a criticism on the album, but more of a reflection on how we should be more intentional in our worship.  This is really great material.

Overall there is so much to like about this album, and its packaged in such a way that the music and the art don’t distract from the heart.  It reminds me a lot of the spirit in early Vineyard worship music (if anyone can remember that far back).  The songs are simply crafted and readily accessible for the church to sing.  Any worship team should be able to play these songs.  These songs were written for the church, and we may find a few of these songs making their way into our worship.

Lorn Gieck
Associate Pastor of Music & Arts

Sask. summers

After having some holiday time it got me thinking about Saskatchewan summers.  They are quite short and so often people disappear off to the lake, holidays, family time etc.  However, I realized how quickly and easy it is to forget God.  I can honestly admit that I have had times on holidays where my bible seems to collect dust more than it gets read.  It’s easy to forget this discipline when you are wrapped up in travel and family activities.  Sure as I sat on a beautiful calm quiet lake I thought of God as I admired the beauty of his creation.  But I realized that I had not opened my bible in a couple days.  So promptly I went and grabbed it out of my camping bag and read my bible and prayed as I enjoyed his creation.

I encourage you to keep Christ in your summer.  There are amazing small portable bibles (or you can download a version for your phone, ipad, playbook etc.)  Family is important yes, but Christ should be more so.  Don’t come back in the fall empty but filled.  Reading our bibles and spending time with God should not just be something we do in the winter when we are sitting around more.  Christ needs to be a part of our lives at all times, no matter what the season.