Happy Birthday To Us!

Sorry for the lack of blogs this week. Been a touch manic. I was meant to go to a Leadership Conference in Palawan on Sunday but because of Mary's 'break' I decided it was far better to stay put and help out my family. Good decision! We are in Hong Kong right now enjoying a week's family holiday.

The extra couple of days were a blessing because it gave us time to tackle our newsletter. Sometimes it is so hard to do the 'extras' when you are busy with Sefton life. The constant heat just sucks the life and strength out of you and by night time very often we feel exhausted.

But .. let me tell you about our wonderful Cornerstone 3rd Anniversary last Sunday. First, I must say that the team of Pastors and leaders God has given us at Cornerstone did a magnificent job on Sunday. There was so much to prepare ... but they did it.

The fist part of the day was our Church Service. All of our six churches were there ... a great 'family time'. There were over 1000 people there - including over 500 kids! I think Pastor Jun and his team will need a week to recover!

The Praise & Worship team looked great in their new outfits - light brown for the musicians and white for the backing singers. And Cristina and her team brought us right into the presence of God. We are so blessed. The congregation were blessed (ahem) as all the Pastors sang a song during the offering. Well, we are meant to make a joyful noise .... we were happy, but it was a noise!

The guest speaker was a lovely man of God called Rick Zachary. He was over for a month in Singapore speaking at their Bible School. Pastor Yang invited him to come and speak at our Anniversary and he willingly came. He was a true gentleman. A great man to have in our home ... our kids loved him! He is married with two grown up sons and four grand kids - he is the youngest and most handsome granda I have ever met!

He is involved in a tremendous ministry. In the early days of hos ministry he was a missionary in Haiti and also in Nigeria. After 7 years he went back to Baton Rouge to help his pastor build up the church there - Bethany Prayer Center pastored by Larry Stockhill. Rick was missions director for 14 years and travelled all over the world. Bethany is now one of the best churches in the USA - in terms of prayer, cell church and missions.

Five years ago God gave rick a vision of reaching the nations of South Asia. So every year for the next 20 years his goal is to plant a church in a major city in Asia. So far they have planted four - including Sri Lanka, Pakistan & Nepal. He wants to raise up central/model churches that will plant churches in the villages around where they are. Great vision.

Anyway, we were so blessed to have Rick minister - both to the leaders on Saturday night and at our Anniversary on Sunday morning. He spoke about Vision on Sunday and gave us 7 steps to Living in Vision. At the end, he gave an altar call for 1st time commitments to Christ... and 50 people gave their hearts to the Lord (see picture at start)! Hallelujah! Fifty new believers around Santiago!

Jimmar, our new Christian & computer specialist made a 'Cornerstone So Far' video presentation (it took him 35 hours to make!). It was amazing! Three years ago we started with eight people in Pastor Marlou's garage ... and look how the Lord has blessed us! I gave a presentation about our future Vision ... but it wasn't near as flashy as Jimmar's effort!

We ate lunch and then enjoyed part 2 - songs & dramas! What a great time. Many of the church departments had songs and every church also had to sing a 'special number'. We had a Raffle ... but don't worry it was not for lottery money but for books and bibles! What joy as they received their gifts. After this we had part 3 - games and sports.


What a day! What a celebration! What a God we serve. As a Pastor, there are some nights you go to bed absolutely contended, happy and delighted at what God has done. Sunday was such a day for me.

Thank you for your prayers for Cornerstone. Please pray that at our 4th Anniversary there will still be 50 disciples who have been serving the Lord for a whole year ....

Selah.

P.s. - I just discovered that our youth leader at Santiago - Daben - has started a blog also. I looked at it ... pretty good! I need to speak to him about his English grammar - the use of full stops, sentences and actual paragraphs! - but you can feel his heart as he writes. Check it out for his view on our Anniversary and more news ..... www.ccsgenerations.blogspot.com

The Beauty of a Tranformed Life

Last Saturday at 9am we had another Cornerstone baptismal service here at Sefton. We had eleven people follow the Lord through the waters of baptism. It is always a lovely time when we come together, worship and watch our friends enjoy being obedient to the Lord.

Nine young people from Naga were baptized … and Pastor Danny was so delighted! Pastor August has now left Bible School and is the Assistant / Youth Pastor at Naga and he is making a big difference. Some of the testimonies of these kids are heartbreaking. Below is a picture of Pastor Danny praying with a wee 11 year old boy who is going through a difficult time. Two years ago his dad just suddenly left the family home and has never contacted them again. And every week Wilfredo comes to the front of the church to pray that his dad would be safe and will come home again. He loves his dad. Wilfredo was also baptized on Saturday... please pray for him and his family.

God is doing a great work through Danny and his team in a very poor area of Santiago. Many have given their lives to the Lord and the great thing is that now the husbands of our lady members are giving their hearts to the Lord! Last Sunday they had over fifty attend our church - 40 adults & young people and 15 kids. God is going to turn that place from a place of shame to a place of honour!

There were a couple from Santiago who were baptized – Jimmar & Marie ‘Che’ Gutieres. Their story is a testimony to the grace of God. They were both Roman Catholics but they were never happy and were spiritually seeking for the Lord. It got to a stage where Che wasn’t really attending any more.

I met Jimmar (right) a year ago when we were trying to get my brother David’s broadband working. Jimmar is a computer expert and works for a local Computer company. I asked him to church and shared about the Lord, but it was not the right time.

Last Christmas they went on vacation to Manila and they found out that Che’s mum lived next door to a Pastor. Her mother went to the Cornerstone Church in Manila and gave her life to the lord. So when Che went to Manila they went to Cornerstone Novaliches, pastored by my friend Fred Abad. They loved it!

We came back from Scotland in January and I just could not get my Mac configured to the web. Jimmar came and the fist thing he asked was “Do you know any Cornerstone Church here in Santiago?” Not only did I know one … I pastored one!

So that week they came to Cornerstone with their wee boy Raj. Two weeks later they gave their lives to the Lord and the change in their lives is wonderful to see. They are radiant and so hungry for God. They are so responsive and desperate for more of God. Jimmar is so keen to help us with all our I.T. in the church and Che is now playing guitar in our Sunday services - as well as joining us in our Hospital & Prison ministries! Pastor Winston took them through baptismal classes and on Saturday they were both baptized. On Sunday, Jimmar was baptized in the Holy Spirit! Unbelievable. So amazing.

The unforced rhythms of grace …..

Selah

p.s. - This is my 100th blog!!!!!

p.p.s - Have you signed our Guestbook yet? C'mon, it will only take 2 mins!