They were in a meeting together and the one man wore a button down collared shirt. The other man wore a faded tee shirt. One man wore jeans that had a hole in them by design. The other man wore jeans that had holes in them because they were worn. One man had well made shoes that matched his wardrobe. The other man had running shoes that had seen too many miles. When they were leaving to finish their respective days the one man put on his leather jacket and the other man slipped on a well-worn winter jacket.

One man walks to a lot of his destinations as he shares a vehicle with his wife. The other man drives in his newer model car and his wife drives in her own car. One man has a staff that works for him and the other man has a few co-workers working with him. One man has a curiosity about the inner city in which he lives. The other man has a passion for the people of the inner city in which he lives.

One man’s hands will touch drugs, puke, homeless people, weapons, dirt, empty bottles and backpacks in any given day. The other man’s hands will touch a laptop, iphone, ipad, books, bibles, office furniture and a personal coffee thermos on any given day.

One man’s hands will touch people in such a way as to be the hands and feet of Jesus. The other man will talk about the need to be the hands and feet of Jesus. One man will look into the face of one person at a time and tell them they are valuable and loved by God no matter what their circumstances might be. The other man will look at hundreds of people and remind them that because God loves them they need to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those who don’t know that God loves them.

One man’s heart is broken by the brokenness he sees in the people he serves. The other man’s heart is broken by the hardness of the hearts of many of the people he serves. One man touches the poor day by day. The other man reads about the poor once in a while. One man knows the poor by name. The other man knows the rich by name. One man stops and has a conversation with the poorly dressed person on the street. The other man walks around and avoids the poorly dressed person on the street. One man fights for the welfare of the disadvantaged. The other man fights to keep what he already has.

One man read Matthew 25:40 and had no problems because he was doing good to the least of these. (“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”) The other man read those same words and shuddered wondering how he could explain the words in such a way so that they would not apply to him.

Two men living two lives in the same city serving the same God. Something has got to change. We must stop looking at the people who are actually serving the poor as the weird, oddballs who have a strange calling. We must come to recognize that God “calls” each and every one of us who dare to call ourselves followers of Christ to serve those less fortunate than ourselves.

These days as I look into my own spiritual mirror I do not like the image I see of myself. I do not like the image of the church I see. Something has got to change……in me. What about in you? I came across this prayer recently. Will you pray it with me? “Here we stand, Lord. Purify us. Here we kneel Lord, we lift you up. Here we lay, our faces down. Wreck us, Lord. And do a mighty work.”

May God do a mighty work in me…and in you.

I know for some people it is a painful time of year due to losses of a relational nature. I will not try to solve or even identify with those realities which I by the grace of God have not had to deal with. Depression is another real factor at this time of year. It seems that this season of “Good News of Great Joy” is not experienced right across the board. The calendar turns to December and some people slide into a funk which cannot be cured by mere words or a hug. I honestly feel for these people.

However, for countless others Christmas presents an annual challenge. For Christians it presents the challenge of celebrating the birth of our Saviour without losing our minds. These weeks leading up to Christmas can be among the busiest of the entire year. The shopping and baking and churching (we will just throw in a new verb here) and hosting and traveling and working, well you get the picture. There is a lot of stuff going on. This year it gets even more complicated because Christmas actually arrives on a Sunday. The nerve of Jesus to have His birthday celebration on a Sunday.

As a general rule we, the Christians, carve a few hours (one or two) out of our hectic weekly schedules to worship Jesus on a Sunday. Actually new statistics tell us that even the most regular and committed followers of Jesus have an average attendance rate of 1.8 Sundays per month. In light of that we are carving out of our month a few hours to worship Jesus but I don’t want to get sidetracked with these details. So, Sunday rolls around and we attend the church of our choice a couple of times a month. In other words we fit Jesus in a couple of times a month. Now I can hear some of us saying I don’t have to go to church to serve or worship Jesus. My answer is both yes and no to that statement. If church was the only place I could worship Jesus then that would leave me with a once a week at best opportunity. Obviously I can worship Jesus outside of church. In fact I better be worshipping Jesus when I’m not in church or else something is amiss. However I am clearly called in the scriptures to assemble myself with other believers for the express purpose of worshipping as well as serving God.  So yes I can worship without being in a church but I better be in a church regularly to worship as well.  It is not either/or situation.  It is a both/and situation.

Back to Christmas falling on December 25th.  Is it possible to honestly, strategically, intentionally and passionately worship Jesus on December 25th this year without attending a church service?  The answer is yes.  But what is the problem with bundling up the family and making the trek to church after you open the gifts?  What better day to explain to the children that not only do we say this is the birthday of Jesus but we actually make Him the focus of the day by attending church?  I know you have to get the kids ready and they want to play with their gifts and there are (big) meals to prepare and well the list could go on.  Honestly, what is Christmas about?  Is about the gifts?  Is it about the food?  Is it about your family?  Nothing wrong with any of those things/people but Christmas is about Jesus.

Here is where I think we can see what we do with Jesus throughout much of our year…we fit Him in where we can.  We fit Him in if we have time.  We fit Him in where we think He fits.  In the book of Luke we see Jesus chatting with a few people who wanted to follow Him but they had some questions.  In Luke 9:49ff we read, “He said to another man, ‘Follow me’.  But the man replied, ‘First let me go and bury my father.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’  Still another one said, ‘I will follow you Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.’  Jesus replied, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’”

Here is the deal with Jesus, He doesn’t fit into our lives.  Either He is the focus or He is nothing.  Either we serve Him or we don’t.  Either He is the center of our life or He isn’t.  Jesus does not accept second place.  Jesus does not accept a minor role in our lives.  Read the gospels and you find people deciding this was too much.  They walked away.  They decided that they would not follow Him because He was asking too much.  Jesus has not changed.

He doesn’t fit into our lives.  He must be our life…even at Christmas.

My personal journey in this area has now been years in the making. As I look back over my life I see God at work in sometime subtle ways and sometimes blatant ways opening my eyes to the state of our world. It has been a steady progression of Him grabbing ahold of my heart on these issues and not letting me go. At times I am thankful and at times I wish I could go back to my “I didn’t know” stage of life. God does not seem the least bit interested in letting me go back. It is clear to me that this is a jorney forward not backward.

In November of 2010 our Friday morning men’s breakfast heard from Rick Langlais of Hands On Ministries which for now I look back on as the impetus to move us as a church forward into the arena of poverty awareness. We were confronted with the reality of abuse, poverty, lack of education, generational problems and prostitution right here in our own backyard of Saskatoon. We were not dealing with social issues on the back side of the globe we were now aware of incredible needs a few blocks from our own church.

I believe this information of a local nature has awakened many of us. The truth of scripture from Matthew 25 in the story of the sheep and the goats took on a new application…a personal application. We began asking ourselves, “what am I doing to help the least of these?” So let’s review what has transpired in the past months understanding it has been less than a year since Rick spoke at our church which I’ll use as our starting point.

1. We started a monthly grocery collection to help the inner city of Saskatoon. The church has responded very well to this initiative.
2. We had a traning session on volunteering in the inner city and now a significant number of people from Cornerstone now help out at various agencies in our downtown core.
3. We have hosted a couple of different ministries which then gave us the opportunity to begin sponsoring children in developing parts of our world. For some this was a new venture while others were already engaged in this support ministry.
4. We assisted the local ministry of Habitat for Humanity this summer by providing meals and snacks every Wednesday through July and August.
5. Lynette Sawatsky has started a children’s choir for kids at one of our inner city schools. She has the blessing of the school principal and the choir happens during school hours.
6. A small group of young men from our church responded to the urgent call for men to help build a wall around a children’s village in Haiti with Haiti Arise.
7. I have been making contacts with various ministries that deal with the very real issue of Human Trafficking in our world. My hope is to host a conference in 2012 on this issue.
8. I met with Dr. Cory Neudorf, Saskatoon’s Chief Medical Health Officer, to discuss poverty related issues in Saskatoon after hearing him speak at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast.
9. I met with Jordon Cooper of the Salvation Army after reading several of his articles in the Star Phoenix newspaper regarding the local sex trade and its accompanying issues.
10. I have a long distance phone conversation lined up October 17th with Commissioner Christine MacMillan who is the Director of The Salvation Army International Social Justice Commission. I will be speaking with her about the issue of Human Trafficking.

This is not a complete list at all. I hear stories from time to time of ways in which people from within our church are taking the hope of Christ and engaging our world. Each one of us can play a part. As was stated in our church bulletin recently, “If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito.”

You can make a difference and we are making a difference. Keep it up. The cause is worth it and eternity is at stake.

In Zechariah 7:9&10 it says, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor.’” One writer referred to this group as the quartet of the vulnerable. I like that phrase because it helps me be focused. If this is the people God is concerned about then it needs to be the people we are concerned about. Nehemiah was miffed that his people not only weren’t concerned they were in fact the oppressors of this group.

In our world we have all four of these particular groups that Zechariah mentions. What that means for us is that we need to seek where it is God is leading us to be involved on their behalf. How does God want us to assist the widows, the orphans, the aliens (immigrants) and the poor? Maybe for you it will be something local like helping out at a foodbank or Salvation Army or some place  like a soup kitchen. At Cornerstone we have 7 young men who have felt the call to go and help Haiti Arise build a wall around their Children’s Village in Grand Goave.   They will leave us in mid-October and come back different people. You see when we step out and interact with the quartet of the vulnerable God does something within us. He begins that important process of changing us from the inside out. He begins to take our hearts and shape them into hearts that look like His heart. Is there anything more satisfying than to have our hearts become more like God’s heart?

Many at Cornerstone have been giving to one of our local ministries as each month we take up a food collection. Lately I have noticed the donation amounts getting bigger. This is one way to be involved, one way to engage the quartet of the vulnerable as well as one way to see that you can make a difference. I have heard other stories of people just engaging their own neighbours in a way that says they get it. They understand God calls us to help those in need and quietly people at Cornerstone are doing it. Some of you have other ways that you want to help. One way of being involved is not more important than another way. It is just important that we get involved.

In the days ahead we will be bringing you more information about a Children’s Choir someone is looking at starting in the inner city. That may be a way for you to be involved using the gifts God has given to you. Others may want to help directly with the girls working our streets. Listen for updates on ways in which you can play a part. We have a few things simmering on the burner that we are waiting for the right time to announce.

Everyone has to do something but no one can do everything. if you continue reading in chapter 7 of Zechariah it says that the people would not listen and the people made their hearts hard. We read these words in verse 12, “So the Lord Almighty was very angry.” God got mad when His people would not listen. Are we listening to the voice of God through the scriptures these days? Are we hearing how much He cares for the quartet of the vulnerable and do we long for our hearts to be the same as His? I came across this quote from Frederick Buechner: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I want to exist right there don’t you? Knowing that I am exactly where God has called me to be and by being there my joy and the world’s deep hunger engage.

I cannot tell you with words how deep this is running in my soul these days. I cannot find the words to explain that God will not let me go. He keeps pointing out people and books and statistics and ministries and opportunities that are only connected by the quartet of the vulnerable. Words fail me as I try to motivate the church to embrace this call from God. This urging deep down inside of me will not go away, it will not subside, it just keeps burning. This past Sunday I went home and wondered if I should apologize for how strongly I put the need in front of my church. I struggled with the joy of sharing God’s Word and the sadness of knowing many still have not responded. I wrestled with how much is enough or have I gone over the top with my concern for the quartet of the vulnerable. I just don’t hear enough voices crying out on their behalf so I still hear God telling me to say it again so I typed this blog.

The title: On Sunday when I rather loudly stated that we are going to stay the course, we are going to walk this road and if people don’t like it then they can find another church to attend….the congregation applauded.

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?

Last night, as my wife and I were watching TV, our program was interrupted with the breaking news bulletin that “Osama bin Laden is dead”.

Without doubt, bin Laden was a wicked man who did much evil.  I would even agree that the US military had the right to use deadly force to stop this man…which is exactly what they did.

So before I explain what’s bothering me, I have to clarify a few things.  I’m not bothered that bin Laden is dead.  I’m even somewhat relieved (although I’m also realistic enough to realize that there are most likely others who will gladly step into his shoes, and I doubt that terrorism against “the west” died with bin Laden).  I’m not bothered with how bin Laden met his death.  He lived by the sword, and he died by the sword.

I am bothered, however, by the video that I saw on the news last night.  This video portrayed Americans celebrating in the street that bin Laden is dead.  So why does this bother me so much?  Watch this video now.  My question is this…how is it any better for Americans to celebrate the death of the wicked bin Laden any better than Muslims celebrating the deaths of “the wicked infidel”?  Breath a sigh of relief?  Absolutely!  Celebrate death?  CELEBRATE??? I have to say that the idea that we celebrate death makes us little better than those that we fight against.

Perhaps I’m not bothered so much by the fact that Americans are celebrating a man’s death, but that I realize in myself that I’m not entirely innocent myself.  Being a Canadian, I suppose that I can take a step back from the 9/11 attacks and bin Laden’s part in them (although I am still horrified by this senseless act of terrorism), but when I think of other historical events, I can think of a few other wicked people whom I suspect I would have celebrated the deaths of had I been alive at the time…Hitler for example…

I’m bothered by this celebration of death that I see in others…but even more so that I see in myself.  Christ said in Matthew 5:44  “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”  In fact, in light of the fact that the people of Jerusalem, to large extent, rejected Christ.  He could have considered them his enemies, yet when Christ prophesied Jerusalem’s destruction (Lk 19:41-44), he did not celebrate, but he wept over the city.

So my question is this:  should we not be weeping over bin Laden’s lost soul, rather than celebrate his death?

Guys who know what to do when the weather is spectacular. Guys who can read slippery conditions and aren’t distracted by six other things, people or issues happening in their vehicle. Guys who can drive in the snow when conditions demand it. Guys who know when to pass and when to follow. Guys who aren’t too old and who definitely are not too young. Guys who aren’t on the road trying to impress anyone. They are not in some life and death hurry to get to where they are going. These are the guys I want to share my lane of traffic with around the city of Saskatoon. I think I’ll approach city council with the idea. I suspect there would be protests if that idea actually passed. There would be a plethora of special interest groups trying to get their own lane of traffic. It would be madness and chaos all because I just want a lane for guys like me.

The more I thought about that the more I saw the church. How many of us attend church with the idea that our church would be better if there were more people like us? If there were more people like us we could agree on things like music or time of service or length of service. We could agree on what to wear or what not to wear (no ties at my church!) We could agree on what translation of the Bible is the right translation. We could agree on what programs we would offer or not offer. We could agree on what kind of coffee to serve of if coffee should be served at all. We could agree on who should go and help the poor and who can stay home. We could agree on drums or no drums, on acoustic or electirc guitar, piano or organ. We could agree on how loud the music should be.   We could agree on who should share their faith and who doesn’t have to.  We could agree on how much money to give and how much to keep.

But church is not made up of people who are all like me. Now it is possible that some of you reading this are saying to yourself, “Thank goodness there aren’t more people like you at our church.” The church is designed by God so that there would be different personalities in attendance. Just check out the disciples. This group was diverse. Who wants a church full of Peters? A bunch of people all trying to talk at the same time is what you would get with that. What about a church full of Thomas type personalities. Doubting everything and believing very little about anything if there wasn’t absolute tangible proof. What would get accomplished in that church?

Today we, at Cornerstone, have a variety of personalities making this church their home. That is not bad. In fact it is good. It teaches us to get along with each other. It teaches us that none of us are always right all the time. It teaches us that we have to learn how to work with people who do not think, act or behave like us but still call Jesus their saviour. It teaches us that God has this incredible ability to take a diverse group of people and make them into a cohesive unit that works together to bring Him glory. We have people here who have no church background but now Cornerstone is their church. Some of you were almost born here and you have attended ever since your mom brought you in as a newborn. Some come from a liberal background. Some come from an ultra-conservative background. Some were Baptists or Alliance or MB or even Pentecostal but now you are with us, here at Cornerstone, learning to walk with God.  The call of God is for us to do this together.  There is no place in scripture where it says we can be a follower of God all by ourselves.  Nope, God calls us to do this in a community called the church.

That is the challenge before us on a continual basis.  We must walk toether.  We must show the world that although we are very different we have the same Lord.  We must model a love for each other that attracts the world.  We must avoid division on the basis of personal wants or opinions.  We must surrender to our Lord fully understanding that the work He is doing in the lives of others may not look exactly like the work He is doing in my life.  There is no church where everyone thinks, acts and behaves like me.  Thank the good Lord for that but now go walk with those you are called to walk with in this journey called faith.  It is what God has designed.

Me?  I’m going to work on my proposal to city council for a lane of traffic for middle-aged guys who know how to drive!

Today, 2011, child slavery is alive and well in Haiti. This is the story that stands out for me on this trip. So many things do not change in this poor country. The devastation is still prevalent everywhere you look but like much in the spiritual realm if you have eyes to see you can see God’s grace at work in this country as well. I am hoping to meet Rene tonight as Marc thinks he may be at the church service. Rene’s slave parents allow him to go to church and they consented to him starting school as long as Marc and Lisa pay for it.

A few other things that I will bring home with me are the following…they still worship God with such unashamed joy. Last Saturday as I sat on the raised platform waiting for my cue to speak I looked out at the sea of faces. Remember why I am here. These people have been through a year from hell. Many of them have lost loved ones, homes and any sense of security but when the worship starts they light up. I sat there thinking they have no reason to smile but a 100 reasons to be angry, disappointed, frustrated or desperate as well as a host of other negative emotions. But the truth is they smile as they worship God. They smile, they dance, they laugh and they sing. Perhaps this more than any other thing is what I long for our North American church to grasp. I want us to rediscover the true honest joy that can happen when we worship God. I want our faces to reflect a joy that comes deep from within knowing that the best thing we have is Jesus.

The other experience I take from this is the hunger of their leaders to know more. As I taught my seminars on leadership they scribbled down notes like there was no tomorrow. They are hungry to learn. They are hungry to grow. They know change is necessary and they are looking to be equipped to lead that change. It is humbling to be asked to equip leaders and humbling to see their appreciation in being equipped. I need a fresh touch from God in regards to that kind of hunger.

Staying at Haiti Arise really is like staying at an oasis in the midst of a sea of desperation. If I never left the compound I would soon forget how desperate the need is outside these walls. A brief walk through the community quickly puts things in perspective. We walk past a home where three women of various ages sit around an open fire with blank looks on their faces. One of them holds a baby but there is no sense of motherly joy in her face. Her eyes are sunken and her shoulders slumped in a defeated kind of way. This is the Haiti all around these walls. At the next stop a little kid of about 3 or 4 comes up with a shirt on and nothing else. He wants to touch the white man. Soon 5 or 6 of his friends or brothers, who knows, join us for a few steps. They ask for money which Marc has already told us not to give. We keep going but you wonder what is on the table for those kids tonight. A little further and some kids are tormenting an older women and she picks up a rock to throw at them but then drops the rock when she sees us. I was kind of hoping she would chuck it at the little trouble makers.

Place after place along our walk you see people sitting around open fires talking, some laughing but a whole lot of nothing going on. They have no jobs and precious little hope. I think to myself as we walk I am walking beside the man who is trying to give them hope. We tour the property where Marc hopes to put a school, large church and children’s village. It is a dream right now but I want to dream with him that we as a church can help make a difference in this land. There is something powerful about dreams. There is something that draws you to a man who has a dream.  In a country with so little is it not the least we can do to help their dreams become reality?

I encourage you to start praying now for our team that is coming here in February. I would love to come back with them but that is not going to happen. For now I look forward to chatting with them before they leave and then hearing all about it when they get back.

God is at work in Haiti if you have eyes to see. God is at work in Saskatoon if you have eyes to see. Ask God to open all our eyes to see what He is doing and then be part of the dream of changing our world.

The essence of the story is that Jesus is saying whatever we did or did not do to “the least of these” we did or did not do to Him. To the hungry we gave food, to the thirsty we gave water, to those needing clothes we clothed them and to those sick or in prison we helped them or we did nothing.

Throughout this year we have been reminded at various times and in various ways about this passage which leads me to believe it is a message God wants Cornerstone to hear.

On the second Sunday of Advent this year God met us at church in a startling fashion. He drew our attention to the needs in our own city. Not Toronto or Vancouver but Saskatoon. The way that happened was through Hands On Ministries down on 20th. We had Rick Langlais come and share at our Friday morning men’s breakfast. We left disturbed with the news of what is happening within our own city. We discovered that we have over 250 prostitutes under 16 working our streets. These are under age children so as Rick said let’s call it what it is….these girls are being raped.

It was a sobering, disturbing Sunday because we were talking about the coming of the Messiah. It should be nice and Christmas-like but the truth is Jesus came to change lives. He did not come so we could have church. He did not come to make us comfortable. He did not come so we could be nice. He came to change our hearts and to give us a message to share.

Early on Monday morning a group of men met at a local restaurant to answer…what’s next? Here is what the plan is. 1. Rick Langlais will speak at Cornerstone this Sunday December 12th. 2. We will have an orientation session with police and Rick to train us how to work in that part of our city. We will announce the date once we have it arranged. 3. We want a team of people to commit to praying. This is a spiritual battle. We need to address it spiritually in prayer. 4. We will be putting together a small team to give leadership to this area of our church. 5. This Sunday and every month in 2011 on the second Sunday we will gather dry goods/groceries to give to Hands On for the work they do with children. If you go back and look over those action plan steps all of us can be involved somewhere.

Let’s start this Sunday by bringing groceries and listening to Rick. Be prepared to be challenged. Rick is blunt.

God is at work. There are a host of stories I could share already about the work God is doing. I told our men this morning if we get into this we aren’t doing it short-term. We either commit or we don’t do it at all. Remember the vision…Cornerstone will be a church that changes the world by the grace of God. This is the kind of stuff that changes the world. Are you ready? Pray.

Russ – Parable of The Society of Picking Apples from Lorn Gieck on Vimeo.