Tag Archive - mission

Food Drop 2012, etc.

December 8, 2011 in Church with 0 Comments

I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Jesus’ birthday than by serving others in our community! I think He is pleased and honored to watch his followers offer mercy, compassion and kindness in a way that shines a bright light into the darkness of our world.

I’m excited to be a part of a church that loves sharing Christ by filling a box (or boxes) full of food and feeding families right here in East Alabama who will be struggling in the first part of the new year. I love watching people carrying these boxes into the worship space with a big smile on their face. Then there is always the question – “how many do we have so far??”. As of right now we probably have around 170 filled boxes in the worship space and around 800 boxes that have been taken but not yet returned to the church. We would really like to have 1,000 boxes in the worship space by Christmas Eve (hint, hint!). My family and I are working on putting ours together this week. Also, remember we will have the little gift boxes available again this Sunday with the card you can send to someone if you would like to put together a box of food in their honor. For more information on the food boxes, go to Food Drop 2012.

There just seems to be a lot of “buzz” and energy within our church right now as we are filling boxes, wrapping gifts for free and preparing for the launch of our new site in February! I just want to say “thank you!!” I really appreciate the way we are all responding to God’s calling on our church as we exponentially impact the people around us for the sake of the Gospel.

Rusty

An Example of Living out the Mission of the Church

March 7, 2011 in Church with 0 Comments

Our Pastor of Connections, Josh Agerton, recently posted a great story on his blog called Living the Mission. I thought it really needs to be retold as much as possible. It’s about making Jesus real to people. So, here you go…

Living the Mission

So last night Leslie told me that Ms. Mary, the custodian where she works – Wrights Mill Road Elementary – came to her and said, “I need to talk to you about your church – Cornerstone.” Leslie’s first thought – “Oh no – what’s going on? What happened”. A little later in the day Ms. Mary came to Leslie and began to tell her story. Tears streamed from her eyes as she said, “Some people from your church came to my house last Saturday to help me.” She went on to explain how they stepped into her life simply to offer some help around her home on North Gay Street. They put on a new front porch, cleaned up the overgrown yard and told her they would be back in two weeks to keep their work going. She was completely blown away by this act of love and told Leslie how “I’ve never had anyone do anything like this for me before in my life.”

So after talking to a few more people I pieced together more of the story. Turns out it was a Small Group from Cornerstone that showed up at Ms. Mary’s house. They had been talking in their group about how they could go beyond themselves and serve the community in some way – specifically desiring to do something nobody else was doing. A few calls and connections were made that led them to meeting Ms. Mary – a hard working woman accustomed to helping others but doing little for herself. They asked her what her wish list was for her home and began to prioritize some projects starting with the front porch that was falling apart.

Amazing story here isn’t it. But what I love about this was the initiative that was taken on their own. It wasn’t directed by a church program or blessed by a staff person. It was just a normal expression of people following Jesus and giving their lives away for the sake of another. You could say that these people are living out the mission of Cornerstone – Leading People to Know and Serve Jesus.

I wonder what could happen in this community and our world if this kind of stuff became the new normal for small groups at Cornerstone? It’s definitely a picture of the church at its best and I pray that we see more of this among us in the future.

Leading the Man2Man Group Today

January 20, 2009 in Faith with 2 Comments

I had the great opportunity of leading the guys at our Man2Man gathering this morning. I love sharing with these men who are seeking the Lord with their whole heart. I am blessed by them. Anyway, I talked about something that I have previously blogged about. It’s a principle that John Ortberg brings to light in his book “Overcoming Your Shadow Mission”.  Our shadow mission is “a pattern of thought and action based on temptations and our own selfishness that lead us to betray our deepest values. The result: regret and guilt.”

Man2Man

Often it’s not something that’s 180 degrees from who we are and what we’re pursuing, it’s more like 5 or 10 degrees of the mark. It’s pursuing religion instead of Jesus, spending all our time with hobbies in the name of “stress relief” knowing it takes time away from family or serving God, seeking approval from people, seeking fame and recognition, etc. etc. Everybody has one – what’s yours?

To pursue this shadow mission is to waste precious time. You and I were created for something far greater, bigger and more important than some unimportant selfish quest. It’s like when Mordecai tells Esther “who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?”. What about you and me? Who knows that who we are, what we do, our passions and gifts and resources were given to us for such a time as this. God needs us for this time in which we live.

Just a thought.