Where In The World Is…..?

Dan Jensen has been a part of the Cornerstone community for the last few years.  Helping out in student and music ministry areas (and the best

Pepsi driver around), Dan left last fall to head to Briercrest College in Caronport.

Right now though, Dan is on his way to Africa.  Kenya, to be specific, with a group of Briercrest students from across North America.  As a representative of Cornerstone Church while he’s there, we thought it might be cool to give you a heads up on where he’s going, what he’ll be up to, and how you can be praying for him and the team.  Here’s the main gist of what they schedule is in Dan’s words:

“The opportunities we have are amazing and the schedule is full.  We will be doing a number of campaigns in four or five communities (preaching, speaking, singing, praying – basically being ready to do whatever we are asked to do).  We will be visiting and ministering in 2 AIDs orphanages, and we will be ministering to widows and orphans in the village.  We’ll also be helping to lay a foundation for an orphanage home in Kisumu that will give up to 32 kids a home, and help establish a poultry farm to help the locals.  We will be helping to build 10 water springs and 2 wells in strategic locations in remote villages.  We also have the privilege of leading meetings at the University of Kisumu.  All of this is done with the local church, and all of it in just under four weeks.”

Busy schedule for sure, and part of Dan’s spiritual family, we want to invite you to be praying alongside and for Dan and the team.  Not totally sure who Dan is?  No problem!  God will make sure the dots get connected

Here’s the longform itinerary in case you’re curious what they will be up to each day:

July 24-26: Travel

July 28: University Event in Kisumu

July 29-Aug 1: Bunyore Campaign

Aug 2: Building fresh water springs/wells

Aug 3: Ministry to Operation Joseph kids and familes (AIDS ministry)

Aug 4: Orphanage ministry in Kakamega

Aug 6-8: Maseno and Kisumu Campaigns

Aug 9-11: Boyani Revival Service

Aug 12-13: Laying foundation for orphanage ministry

Aug 16-19: Wrap up and return home.

Lead Pastor’s Blog II.IX

I want to follow up the message from Sunday July 18 with some thoughts that may help those who were there or even challenge those who were not in attendance. If you missed that Sunday you may want to listen to the podcast once it’s up on our website.

The thrust of the message was that we are called by our very relational God to serve Him. When God showed up on Moses’ job site in Exodus 3 He was coming to call Moses into service. Each and every one of us who dare to call ourselves Christians are called to serve. As I pondered the message on Sunday afternoon I wondered why I would not serve God. Why would I deliberately choose to not serve this incredible God who has done so much for me? Every day of my life I am the beneficiary of His abundant grace. Every day there are new opportunities for me to grow in my understanding of what He has in store for me as I walk with Him. Every day it is a privilege to serve this indescribable God. Why would I not serve Him?

The truth is the evangelical church in North America has an abundance of people who make that choice each day. They choose not to serve. Now the reasons are many. It may be that some feel too stressed or too busy. It may be that some feel inadequate. I have heard the old standby of I did my time indicating that currently their job is simply to take up a spot in the service on Sunday morning. I have been given the line that I’m attending university so I can’t serve. There are many more excuses given as to why people choose not to serve. Honestly though there are very few excuses that hold any water when we talk about serving God.

Maybe we have the wrong vision when it comes to serving. Maybe we think in terms of holding some kind of position in a church like an elder or youth sponsor or Sunday School teacher. We look at the positions and conclude they are outside of our individual skill sets hence we don’t or can’t serve.

When I talk about serving I am thinking of a big picture idea not a small picture idea. I am thinking of those who indeed hold actual positions of service but also those who make coffee or set up chairs or pick up people for church. The list of possible service ideas is only limited by our creativity. People serve through their financial giving or through praying. People serve by visiting shut-ins or those in the hospital. People serve by tutoring students who struggle with school or taking food supplies to those struggling with financial issues. Really people serve when they are in the business of meeting needs. God called Moses to meet a need….lead the nation. They had been in bondage to Egypt and now God was about to answer their cries for freedom but a leader is needed. Moses is called into service.

Each and every one of us are the same as Moses in that we are called into service. It is just simply a matter of figuring out what and where God wants us to serve because He DOES want us to serve. I will speaking about this again in September when we will be having a minsitry trade fair offering all kinds of opportunities for people to get involved. As I said on Sunday I want to raise the bar when it comes to serving at Cornerstone. I want us to see and buy into the idea that it is both a privilege as well as a responsibility to serve God. We are going to establish a culture where people see serving as a natural part of our church DNA as opposed to some kind of added chore if I attend this church. We are in the process of developing a small group minsitry whereby you can attend and discover what your spiritual gifts, abilities and interests are so as to help you make wise choices when it comes to serving.

Serving is not some kind of spiritual punishment. Serving is God’s way of allowing us to engage His plan for the world. Serving is a privilege that leads to joyful satisfaction understanding I am doing what God pre-wired me to do.

As we raise the bar we will also be raising the sense of expectation about how God will use us in accomplishing His purposes. You can’t read the scriptures and find people who regretted serving God. It is just the most fantastic concept that God would allow me the honour of serving Him. There is more to come on this topic but I feel a bit better now. Have you discovered the joy of serving?

My Perogative?

Everybody’s talking all this stuff about me //
Now now why don’t they just let me live //
Oh oh oh i don’t need permission  //
Make my own decisions oh //
That’s my prerogative

-Bobby Brown, “My Perogative”, released 1988

I love road trips.

Hours in the car with friends or family can* be a wonderful thing.  Miles of road (err, kilometres?) can lead to all kinds of wonderful converstation, and insights.  Waaay to many nibs and chips, bladders that are ready to explode hours from the nearest bathroom, uncomfortable sleeping positions, license plate and headlight games, jokes that get funnier and and funnier the longer you’re in the vehicle together, and music.  Lots and lots of tunes…

… unless of course your ipod cable doesn’t work.

And you’re literally in the middle of nowhere.

Over the school winter break Melissa and I took a bunch of students to Invermere, BC to go snowboarding at Panorama Mountain (eat your heart out, Table.)  And it was just after rosetown that our radio signal faded away, and my vehicle was stuck with nothing.  Just the dial numbers screaming by as the seek button did absolutely nothing.  Of course, no one carries CDs anymore.  I offered to sing, but that didn’t get much response, so we chatted as we meandered our way through the fog towards Calgary.

By the time we we’re rolling in to Kindersly, the discussion of whether to just bite the bullet and pay gas station prices for a CD no one would agree on had started.  And was then forgotten after we left Tim Horton’s.  Shoot.

By Hanna we we’re desperate. WE. NEED. MUSIC.  After much discussion, and a thorough mathmatical evaluation of CD length we settled on two choices: Classic Rock GOLD dual album, and to their eternal credit as wise, musically savvy adolescents, Classic 80’s HITS GOLD.

Axel F may never be this popular again.

A few hours of (finally!) tunes later, we came across the Bobby Brown song, My Perogative.  First came the shock that it wasn’t an original Britney Spears song.  Then came the discussion around the lyrics.

We’ve been talking and teaching on relationships, sex, temptation, and a biblical understanding of purity, and holiness at SNR HI for the last month and the song captured the polarity of the hearts attitudes we can have.  Who makes the calls?  Can we really do whatever we want? Should we have the right to do whatever we want, regardless of what other people think?

And then came the really tough questions… I wonder if too often, we take the Bobby Brown approach

to our relationship with Christ?  Jesus, I want to follow you, but I also want to keep living my life the way I want, and I want control of who makes the decisions, and I have veto power.  Jesus, I want you to lead, but not if I don’t like the direction you’re leading.  Jesus I want to follow, but not if it’s going to cost something I want to hang on to.  Living a personal theology of “My Perogative” goes far beyond just choices of sex and dating.  Do we try and regulate God that way?

I once read that we tend to live as though we are giving God control of our own little kingdoms, but that there are still our kingdoms, whereas God’s desire is that we give up our little independent states and join him as a servants in HIS Kingdom.  He’s not interested in a shared power partnership.  He call us to give him complete control.

1 Cor 6 flies in the face of Bobby’s classic tune:

“Everything is permissible for me”—but not everything is beneficial. … You are not your own; ²⁰you were bought at a price. (v.2, 19b and 20).

And so, with Bobby Brown turned down so we could talk, in the middle of the badlands of Alberta, high on licorice and energy drinks, a bunch of high school students wrestled honestly with the authority of God in their lives.  How a submission to THE King flies counter-intuitive to our cultures self-sufficient, independent mentality.

I love road trips.

________________________

* I say “can” because I am fully aware that too many hours in the vehicle with a brother or little sister who is annoying you is excruciating, and behind forced to walk a kilometre down the highway with the family vehicle trailing behind with the flashers on like some bizzare

Terry Fox run is not super fun, and neither is having to do laps around the gas station because I won’t stop pestering my brothers.  So road trips weren’t always fun.  But hey, they are what you make of them!

Operation WalMart

Last Thursday CSM (Cornerstone Student Ministry) high school students teamed up with students from Lakeview Church, Elim Tabernacle, and Corner to launch a full assault on the Stonebridge Wal-Mart and Dollarama.  Over 100 students showed up with cash in hand to partner up in groups in order to build shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  Acting as a jump off point from the Hope Lives series that we’ve been working through, the night provided students with an immediate and tangible way to impact the lives of others, offering hope to those in need.

After cramming into vehicles and driving across town, CSM split up into teams and cruised through the aisles.  It’s alway fun to see the confused looks on the faces of store employees when an army of 16year old walk in and start filling shopping carts (especially when it’s 16 year old boys buying supplies for a 3 year old girl).

Once the shopping was done, students met up with Lakeview and Elim at Lakeview to put boxes together, and then spend some time breaking into groups–2 students from each church–to spend time praying over the boxes, and for the young kids who would be pening them up in the next few months.

One of the great gifts of student ministry is watching students live beyond themselves, and be led by the Holy Spirit in what they do.  The excitement, energy, and joy that explodes out of young adults when they buy in to doing something for others is a contagious reminder that we too should have the same joy of heart when we have opportunity to reach beyond our day to day grind.

At the end of the night, 66 shoeboxes we’re shipped off with love and care, from students who are actively working out what it means to Love God, Love People, and Change the World.

Persecution Awareness Month

In November we’ve been highlighting the persecuted church around the world, and there are some real ways to get informed and actively involved through the internet.  Here are a few links to get you started:

www.PrisonerAlert.com Users can impact the world for the cost of postage and printing a letter off their printer.  Features (usually) one new prisoner a month.   There are over 100,000 people world-wide, who have signed up to receive regular monthly updates from this site, and who have agreed to pray for and write to the people whose profiles we present.   Letters are composed in the language of the recipient, right on the site.   We were told never to expect the release of a prisoner through our efforts.   However, after running this site for about five years, and featuring roughly 60 prisoners, 18 of them have been released, and most of the rest report better treatment at the hands of their captors.   This is a ministry of The Voice of the Martyrs  — US.

www.BiblesUnbound.com An opportunity to participate in shipping of New Testaments into restricted nations.   For users outside of the US, participation is by means of the “virtual operation” option only.   In the US, families, youth groups and others count it a great privilege to pack these Bibles, preparing them for shipment into the restricted country, where they are then dropped into the local mail system, so that they arrive at their final destination with a local postmark.    There’s a video on the site, that explains the process.   This is another VOM-US ministry.

If this leads you to get involved, we’d love to hear from you.  Just post a comment on this post and let people know about your experience.

Blanket/Quilters Wanted

A creative MCCS constituent, Linda Doell, is looking for volunteers to work with her in a quilting program with female patients at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon. Volunteers are needed once or twice a week for a few hours at a time. For more info, contact Linda Doell

Teen Challenge Needs

Teen Challenge is looking for some of the following. If you can help out with any of these, please email

• Shaving cream & disposable razors
• Men’s socks & underwear
• Belts
• Treadmill
• Meat: beef, pork, turkey, fish
• STAFF POSTIONS: duty staff, as well as volunteers for afternoon/evening duties
• VOLUNTEERS for renovations

Get Involved

Here at the church we offer a full range of activities to help people grow in faith toward God.

These include Sunday gatherings such as worship services, Bible classes for all ages, nursery and children’s church.

Throughout the week there are activities for children, junior high students, high school students and young adults.

Add to that the various opportunities in music, drama, seniors ministries, home groups, mission trips, church leadership etc, and there seems to be a place of service and growth for everyone in the church family.

Check out The Trek, a compilation of the service opportunities at Cornerstone.
Download The Trek.

Please call the church office at 931-4949 or email us at cornerstone@sasktel.net for specific information on how you can get involved.