Deal or No Deal?

Yup ... that wonderful TV show is here as well!

And it is taking the Philippines by storm. Even little Lydia & Josiah are hooked! So on Sunday, our Cornerstone Christmas Party had a DOND feel about it. We had a great crowd there from our Cornerstone Churches and everyone was so excited. There were over 400 adults and 350 kids there and it is good to see everyone mix and mingle so well. It is wonderful for people from our smaller and newer church plants to experience the bigger family and be part of the bigger picture. Our family is growing!

Cristina and the worship gang led us praise & worship and we sang a song I haven't heard for ages - 'Great is the Lord'. It was so brill to sing that song again - especially the line "And Lord I want to thank you for the works you've done in our lives'. Brought me back to the youth meetings in Fraserburgh quite a while ago! By the way, it is OK to sing older songs in churches; God doesn't mind as long as the words don't trip off our tongue but resounds from our hearts.

We had a drama from the youth entitled 'Real Me' and then all our Pastors sang a song as the people came and gave their offerings (miracle that they gave anything really!!)

Then we had Deal or No Deal ... and what a show it was! Jimmar (the computer guy who is just absolutely ablaze for the Lord) designed a Cornerstone DOND computer program - graphics, music, bankers offer ... the lot! It was amazing. We randomly picked someone out of the audience and Winston was our host. He had trained the Cornerstone DOND girls (see them below) how to do their dance and it looked so professional with their cardboard suitcases and Christmas hats.

Well, the congregation loved it! They really got involved and made some racket! The first lady won P750. I was the 'banker' and also the one who donated the prizes. So I didn't lose too much. Top prize was P3000 so I couldn't complain.

After a worship song (had to re-focus quickly!!!) I preached about 'Deal or No Deal. There are many times in the Bible when people were faced with DOND situations ... and how they responded changed their lives, their destiny and even the future of their nation. I pointed our some areas that I really feel God is challenging us at Cornerstone for 2008:

Compassion
Compromise
Prayer
Commitment
Temptation
Finances
Anointing
Reputation

After every point I gave a 'Cornerstone Challenge for 2008' and simply said "Deal ... or no deal?"

Many responded to the challenge. I told the people that they didn't need to come out to the front but before I could even get the words out of my mouth three guys came rushing out and started weeping and crying out to the Lord at the altar. Many responded for salvation. A great sense of God's presence AND purpose.

We all ate lunch together by church groups. Good old Henry had cooked 350 meals for the kids and 100 meals for the Young Soldiers and visitors. What a guy. What a day!

In the afternoon we had many games and songs. We did DOND again ... and this time the person randomly chosen by Mary was Severo (the officer from a few blogs ago). Guess what? He won the top prize ... P3000. A paradox moment for me ... I was delighted for Severo, but sorry for myself!!!! Joke. It was worth every Peso just to see all our Cornerstone family so happy, excited and animated as they urged Severo to say "No Deal!' It worked. You can see the incredible moment on our YouTube site.

I went to bed a happy - if poorer - man. It is great, as a leader, to go bed on a Sunday night knowing that the people whom you lead have been blessed, challenged, encouraged ... and are happy!

Hope to catch up with more blogs over the weekend. If I blog, will you email your friends, leaders and family and ask them to check out our Sefton blog?

Deal ... or no deal?