Jennifer and I started serving in Youth Ministry way back in 1996. We’ve talked about the many changes in society and in ministry over the last seventeen years, and I wanted to share some of the lessons we have learned. Quite frankly, the way we do ministry must change if we want to be effective. The methods can and should be adapted to the youth we are trying to reach, while the message must stay the same. I see many churches that are still trying to use methods that were effective in the 80′s and the 90′s (and some even from the 50′s)  and they don’t understand why they are struggling reaching the youth of today.

Many of the changes can be traced to the shift in the millennial generation towards postmodernism. We have witnessed the changing attitudes of teenagers, and there is a difference in how they think. The internet has given today’s youth a gateway to the rest of the world. No longer are teens in rural areas sheltered from the influence of society and culture. Some of the changes are good, and some concern me. Teens are no longer content to be entertained. They want to make a difference. But they are also not as concerned with truth as found in the Bible. What I want to see is a return to a youth ministry model that teaches, equips, and empowers students to have a solid Gospel-centered worldview. We have been blessed at Cornerstone to see a majority of our youth stand firm in their faith after high school. Here are some of the reasons why.

Here are Five Shifts That Need to Take Place in Youth Ministry

Shift from an Event to a Movement

We used to have the mentality that if you plan it, they will come. We had great evangelistic events with free prizes, crazy games, and fun activities, and the youth would show up and bring their friends. Over the years, the youth were not as excited when we planned events. What we quickly learned is that youth want to be empowered, not entertained. When you give them permission to do great things for God, they do it! Today’s youth want to make a difference, but it is our job to point them in the right direction, help them discover their gifts, and model for them how to serve, teach, and reach their friends. When a movement starts, youth will be drawn to your ministry and the events become secondary. You can still have events, but they aren’t your primary source of outreach and evangelism. I think one of the reasons so many youth leave the church after graduation is they were simply attending a youth group, instead of being part of a movement of teenagers serving Christ.

Shift from Inviting to Sending

The goal of youth ministry is not how many people you can get to attend your meeting. This is a difficult truth for many churches to understand. Your success is simply not based on the number in attendance. We must learn to change the scorecard of success. What if our success as a youth ministry was based on how many students we send out as missionaries to their schools and community? What if our success was based on the number of students who learn how to reach their friends and then disciple them? Instead of a ministry built around the personality of the youth pastor, we need a ministry based around the power of Christ.

Shift from Separate to Integrated

I’m tired of seeing a church within a church. For many churches, it is easier to create a separate church within their church just for youth. They have separate Sunday morning services, they have separate opportunities to serve, and even separate mission trips. In essence, the youth are told they can only be part of the larger church when they grow up. I see this as a huge problem with why youth leave the church. Don’t create a consumer mentality within youth ministry where everything is centered around catering to their comfort. I believe that the youth are not the church of tomorrow, they are the church of today! Let’s give them opportunity to serve and make a difference now. At Cornerstone, we don’t have a separate service because our teens are serving with the adults. They are teaching in children’s ministry, they are playing in the worship band, and they are helping with technology.They are part of a larger church, so that when they graduate, nothing really changes. They are already integrated within the church.

Shift from Reaching to Making

We all want to see students saved, so the importance of evangelism cannot be diminished. But our goal should be far more than just to get a student to repeat a prayer and join the church. If that is the end goal, you will just move on to the next student as soon as they accept Christ. It is great to see a renewed focus on making disciples within the church in America. Discipleship is investing, mentoring, and spending time with them, helping them learn and grow, so the focus is not just on the activity, it’s on the relationship. Our students will be challenged by a culture that is becoming more hostile to Christianity, and the only way they will stand firm, is if they have been given a solid foundation. The Great Commission calls us to make disciples, not converts, so let’s emphasize the importance of discipleship, and not just evangelism. This is the hardest step, but it’s also where leaders are formed.

Shift from Informing to Equipping

As a teacher, I like to share information. I like to read and I like to pass on lessons that I learn. While that can be a good thing, the goal in youth ministry is not just the transfer of information. Gaining knowledge is important, but what are your students going to do with what they learn. We want to give students the tools and opportunities they need to change the world. So in addition to teaching, we give them opportunities to serve. We provide real life opportunities to engage their community and share the Gospel and the love of Christ. Currently, our youth meet for four to six weeks working through a teaching series. After that, they spend a week doing some type of service within our community or church. And they finish with a night of worship to process what they are learning. It’s not a perfect system, but we are seeing our youth grow and continue to serve after they graduate high school.

What would you add to the list? What are you seeing in Youth Ministry Today?

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How did I miss this? Back in February, LibreOffice 4 added the ability to import Microsoft Publisher files, even on a Mac. This is huge for me. I have years and years of youth ministry and church resources created in Publisher that I haven’t been able to access on my Mac. If you haven’t heard of LibreOffice, it spun off from OpenOffice and is a great free Office Suite.

LibreOffice is a comprehensive, professional-quality productivity suite that you can download and install for free. There is a large base of satisfied LibreOffice users worldwide, and it is available in more than 30 languages and for all major operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and GNU/Linux (Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, Suse, …).

Check out http://www.libreoffice.org/features/ for a full listing of features.

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For the last few years, I have taken part in the Chick-fil-A Leadercast. A unique group of leaders have come together to host this simulcast in our own community. We have a great cross-section of church leaders, educational leaders, and business leaders coming together to learn leadership lessons. This year, it’s on May 10th and will be held at the Crossroads Institute in Galax. For more information and to buy tickets, please visit the Crossroads website. This is a great event, and we have a great time together. Check out the video below for a sample of what you will see.

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First Step

Starting out, I created my blog on blogger.com. It was free and it introduced me to the world of blogging. It worked great, but I quickly outgrew it and decided to switch to WordPress. If you are starting out and only want to blog, I would now recommend you go with the free WordPress.com. If you decide to go with a self-hosted WordPress.org account, you will need your own hosting account. That leads me to the second step.

Second Step

I setup a Bluehost account for my blog and several other websites I managed. I paid around $4.95 per month at the time for a shared hosting account, and it worked fine for over a year for me. But I started noticing my websites were loading slowly, and I encountered CPU throttling for using too many resources from Bluehost, so I realized I needed to take the next step.

Third Step

After much research, I decided to open a reseller account at Site5. I decided on going with their Cloud Reseller Hosting for $50 per month due to their high reviews and reputation for good customer support and uptime. I’ve been with Site5 for over a year and have used their customer support several times. I have been impressed with their company and would highly recommend them. I’m now up to hosting around 15 WordPress sites, and I have been reaching my resource limits for my hosting account. So I decided to take the next step. I wasn’t impressed by the VPS (Virtual Private Server) accounts that Site5 offered, so I started my research again for a new host.

Fourth Step

Last week, I created a new account with Knownhost.com. They offer a high degree of customization. I went with a Managed VPS account. VPS accounts allow you to easily upgrade or downgrade the resources for your site. So as I add more sites, or if my sites start receiving more traffic, I can add memory or disk space to my account as needed. VPS really allows you to grow and expand. I customized my account with the WHM/Cpanel and a Litespeed webserver with APC Opcode caching and I couldn’t be happier. My sites are loading much faster and I still have room to add additional sites. I have much more control of my hosting now and I’m not paying much more than I did with reseller hosting from Site5. VPS hosting can be a little overwhelming if you don’t have experience in linux or website configuration, but Knownhost does a great job of managing the complicated parts for you.

Conclusion

The four steps listed took place over seven years, so this has not been a speedy process. I don’t know what my next step is, but with VPS hosting, I should have a lot of room to grow.

What do you use to host your sites? Feel free to add any comments or suggestions.

Update: Check out this link for a great infographic about the different types of hosting.

note: All links in this post are advertiser free. No affiliate links will be permitted in the comments.

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The Sermon on the Mount is probably the best-known, but least understood and least followed, of all the teachings of Jesus. It is challenging and yet refreshing. We all are called to live differently from the world around us. As citizens of the Kingdom, we represent the King. That means our conduct, our character, and our heart should be different. This week at Cornerstone, I will be starting a 12-week series on The Sermon on the Mount.

I tried to find good graphics for the series, but I couldn’t find what I wanted. I finally decided to make my own. I got design inspiration from a church in Winston-Salem, and then came up with a title and video opener for our series. I’m calling the series Flipped, because Jesus uses this sermon to turn everything upside down. Here’s our opening video.

If you want to find out how I created the video, keep reading.

I’ve shared before (here and here) about making videos using Apple Keynote. I seriously thought about purchasing Apple Motion for this project, but I decided that it would require too much time to get up to speed. Keynote is Apple’s alternative to Powerpoint, and it has a lot of power under the hood. This entire video took 2 hours start to finish. I liked the color scheme on this video, so I loaded up a screenshot into an empty slide in keynote and found the color values (I love the color inspect tool built into Apple’s color palette)  The rest of the video is simply based on transitions and entrance effects. It took a little tweaking to get the timings right, but I was pleased with the result.

Finally, I exported the slideshow as a quicktime movie. For detailed instructions on how to do this, check out this link. To add the music, I loaded this into Garageband as a movie project, and added one of the built-in sound clips. The sound clip isn’t my favorite, but I didn’t want to spend any additional time looking for another one. I tend to be a perfectionist and sometimes it is hard for me to realize that it is “good enough.”  Overall, I’m really pleased with the result.  I’m looking forward to a great series based on a great passage of Scripture.

If you want to see how I managed the timings and transitions, you can download the original Keynote file. Leave me a comment if you have any questions.

I have also included the title slide and background slide as well.

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First, read their blog post about how to migrate to Feedly. Second, sign up for their service. It will automatically import your Google Reader Subscriptions.  And finally, you can switch to the Titles View if you want it to appear more like Google Reader. Feedly also has great mobile apps for your phone or iPad. The best part is that Feedly will continue working after Google shuts down Google Reader.

After a week of using it, I can honestly say that I like it better than Google Reader. Sometimes, it takes a surprise to move us out of a rut and try something new. That’s true in technology and in faith. Feedly is fast, and their iPhone and iPad apps work great. The ability to quickly swipe through posts is a real time saver. Their user-interface is also clean, sleek, and contemporary.

If you want to stay connected to FaithEngineer and you aren’t currently using Google Reader, you can subscribe to my RSS Feed using Feedly or you can even subscribe to my posts by Email. 

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For the last two years, our church has partnered with Water Missions International to participate in Water Sunday. It has been a great opportunity to bring awareness to a global crisis. Throughout this past year I have been inspired by one of our Cornerstone Kids. Mia was troubled last year as she heard about the lack of clean water. So she decided to do something about it. Here is a video of her story.

Water Missions International is doing a great job around the world. They understand the roots of poverty and they use community development and involvement to solve the problem. If you are a pastor, I would encourage you to consider holding a Water Sunday at your church.

 “What if the American Church came together and said ‘We want to end this crisis?’” Water Sunday is an initiative of Water Missions International, inspiring a movement within The Church to respond to the global water crisis. Together, we can be the solution. Water Sunday is the start.

Every day is a disaster, as nearly 884 million people lack access to safe water, and nearly 2.6 billion people do not have adequate sanitation.Since 2001, Water Missions International has responded to the world’s largest natural disasters and daily tackles the world’s single biggest cause of illness – lack of safe water and adequate sanitation (U.N. Report, 2005) by providing safe water to more than two million people in 49 countries.

Global Impact of Insufficient/Unsafe Water & Sanitation

• Some one billion people—one-seventh of the world’s population—do not have access to safe water. (WHO, 2010)
• Lack of safe water and adequate sanitation is the world’s single biggest cause of illness (U.N. Report, 2005) . . . and often the major cause of death following a natural disaster (based on Water Missions International’s experience).
• More than 5,000 children die every day worldwide from diseases caused by unsafe water and poor sanitation. (UNICEF, Progress for Children, 2006)
• Waterborne diseases cause the death of more than 1.5 million children each year. (UNWater.org, 2010)
• It is estimated that over 2.5 billion people globally live without adequate sanitation.. (UNWater.org, 2010)
• Half the hospital beds in the world are filled with people who are sick with water-borne illnesses. (UNEP.org, 2010)
• One dollar invested in water supply and sanitation can provide an economic return of up to 34 times, depending on the region. (U.N. Report, 2005)
• “We shall not finally defeat AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, or any of the other infectious diseases that plague the developing world until we have also won the battle for safe drinking water, sanitation and basic health care.” (U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 2001)

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I’m excited about a new miniseries premiering on the History Channel this weekend. Christians have long complained about the content of movies and tv, and we now have the opportunity to show our support to a series based on the Bible.

The Bible is a ten-hour, five-week, miniseries created and produced by husband and wife team, Roma Downey (Touched By an Angel) and Mark Burnett (The Voice, Survivor, Shark Tank, Celebrity Apprentice). Beginning on March 3, 2013, for two hours each Sunday night, viewers will see some of the best-known stories from the Bible, from Noah’s Ark and the Exodus to Jesus’ birth & the disciples. The final episode of The Bible TV miniseries will air on Easter Sunday and will feature the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.

Visit http://thebibleminiseries.com for more information

I have watched several movie clips, and read multiple reviews from pastors. My hope and prayer is that this series will bring the Bible to life in a new and exciting way, and that it will encourage people to open up God’s Word. The producers have stated “As with any dramatization, some stories and timelines were altered to create a moving story that fit the 10 hour time frame.” However, they have also consulted numerous pastors and Christian leaders to ensure that the message of the Bible remains intact. I plan on setting my DVR since I am typically busy on Sunday nights, but I’m really looking forward to this movie event. Help spread the word, and use this as a discussion starter with your friends and colleagues.

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One of my missionary friends suggested this book to me last year, and this seemed like the perfect time to read it. We ordered several copies of When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . and Yourself for those on our benevolence team, and we plan on discussing this over the next few weeks. This is a great book on how we do local relief and international missions. It highlighted many of the things we are doing right, and it definitely shows areas where we need improvement.

The basis of the book is determining the appropriate response for those in crisis. The author shares ”A helpful first step in thinking about working with the poor in any context is to discern whether the situation calls for relief, rehabilitation, or development.” The book then works through the Biblical basis for each, and gives practical advice and training on how to do each effectively. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to make a difference with people in need. It is not a call to do less or spend less, but the book challenges us to do the hard work of rehabilitation and development. Honestly, this is not easy. It is messy, and it is hard work. But if we truly want to help people who are in need, we cannot hurt them by helping them.

This book also spends a considerable amount of time talking about short-term mission trips. It encouraged me to see that much of the work we are doing oversees is truly helping. In Nicaragua, we are working on training pastors who minister to their own communities, and we have helped with a model farm that trains people in how they can provide for their families. This type of development is needed, and my hope is that this book will encourage people to do more for missions, not less.

Have you ever done anything to hurt poor people? Most of you would probably answer no to this question, but the reality is that you may have done considerable harm to poor people in the very process of trying to help them. The federal government made this mistake for decades. Well-intentioned welfare programs penalized work, undermined families, and created dependence. The government hurt the very people it was trying to help. Unfortunately, the same is true for many Christian ministries today. By focusing on symptoms rather than on the underlying disease, we are often hurting the very people we are trying to help. Surprisingly, we are also hurting ourselves in the process. As followers of Jesus Christ, we simply must do better. (from the foreword by Dr. John Perkins)
But this book does not stall in the sphere of the theological and theoretical. It moves wonderfully from timeless truth to contemporary application. As you read, you won’t just learn about problems in the world; you will discover how poverty in the world can actually be addressed. … For all of these reasons (and more), this book is virtually required reading for everyone in our church who is intentionally engaging the poor here and around the world. I cannot recommend it highly enough for anyone who is passionate about spreading and showing the love of Christ to the “least of these.” (from the foreword by David Platt)

Quotes from the book

• The task of God’s people is rooted in Christ’s mission. Simply stated, Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom in word and in deed, so the church must do the same. And as we have seen, Jesus particularly delighted in spreading the good news among the hurting, the weak, and the poor. Hence, it is not surprising that throughout history God’s people have been commanded to follow their King’s footsteps into places of brokenness.
• Poor people typically talk in terms of shame, inferiority, powerlessness, humiliation, fear, hopelessness, depression, social isolation, and voicelessness. North American audiences tend to emphasize a lack of material things such as food, money, clean water, medicine, housing, etc. As will be discussed further below, this mismatch between many outsiders’ perceptions of poverty and the perceptions of poor people themselves can have devastating consequences for poverty-alleviation efforts.
• Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings.
• one of the biggest problems in many poverty-alleviation efforts is that their design and implementation exacerbates the poverty of being of the economically rich—their god-complexes—and the poverty of being of the economically poor—their feelings of inferiority and shame.
• Poverty is rooted in broken relationships, so the solution to poverty is rooted in the power of Jesus’ death and resurrection to put all things into right relationship again.
• Poverty alleviation is the ministry of reconciliation: moving people closer to glorifying God by living in right relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the rest of creation.
• One of the biggest mistakes that North American churches make—by far—is in applying relief in situations in which rehabilitation or development is the appropriate intervention.
• Do not do things for people that they can do for themselves.
• Many North American churches and ministries are reconsidering the approaches they have been taking toward the materially poor. Many are realizing that they have been applying “relief” inappropriately and want to shift toward “development” in their work at home and abroad.
• Development is fundamentally a messy process that ultimately depends on the reconciling work of Jesus Christ (Col. 1:19–20) and the power of the Holy Spirit.

An Interview with the Authors

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We are currently in the middle of a five week series on marriage at Cornerstone. Over the 17+ years that Jennifer and I have been married, we have found that reading books together has really strengthened and helped our marriage. We’ve read quite a few and I wanted to share the ones that stand out in my memory. There are several newer books on marriage that I want to read, so hopefully we will continue to grow and learn as read together.

• 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts - This book by Dr. Gary Chapman is a must read. Dr. Chapman is the Sr. Associate Pastor at Calvary Baptist in Winston-Salem. Jennifer and I were members there when we lived in Winston-Salem, and Dr. Chapman is a great teacher. This book really helps you learn to how to understand your spouse and communicate love with them effectively.
•  Love, Sex, and Happily Ever After: Preparing for a Marriage That Goes the Distance - This is a book that is in its 2nd printing. The first print was titled “Going All the Way”  I’ve used this book in pre-marriage counseling for several years. It is a contemporary book that addresses issues like cohabitation, sex before marriage, and the importance of seeking God together.
•  Kid CEO: How to Keep Your Children From Running Your Life - This book really helped us when our children were young. As parents our job is to teach and train our children how to leave. That may seem counter-cultural, but we are doing our children a disservice when we make them the center of the universe. This is a book that many parents need to read, because a strong marriage is dependent on right priorities.
• Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs – This entire book is built around Ephesians 5:33. This really helped us realize how our disagreements escalate, and how to break the crazy cycle of conflict. It’s another must-read for couples.
• Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy - This book looks at marriage from a Biblical perspective. Marriage can help develop the character of Christ in us, and our goal is not to be happy. Happiness is a byproduct of Holiness.

What books have made a difference in your marriage? Leave a comment and give me suggestions on what to read next!

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So true. I would love to see a little more creativity in worship music today.

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Now for the frustrating part. You have to get in line and wait before you can start using it. They are using a reservation system to slowly roll out invitations for the app. You can see from the image, I still have some time to wait. This is how they describe the app.

We redesigned the inbox to make email light, fast, and mobile-friendly. Quickly swipe messages to your archive or trash. Scan an entire conversation at once with chat-like organization. Snooze emails until later with the tap of a button.

It’s a whole new inbox.

The best way to understand it is to see it in action. I’ll let you know how it truly works once I get to the front of the line.

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Check it out at PlanningCenterResources.com and request a beta invite. It’s free until July 1, and they also have a free plan to manage only two rooms. This would work great to handle a community room or fellowship hall.

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Now, most of us use the internet everyday. We have more computing power in our phones than entire supercomputers twenty years ago. We have wireless broadband internet, and the internet has expanded world wide. Where will the next twenty years take us? Can we even begin to imagine what new technologies will look like in twenty years? I admit that I am somewhat of a technophile, but I am constantly amazed at how life has changed. Now we have a wealth of information immediately available, but we also deal with internet addiction problems, and many are addicted to online services, online porn, and even Facebook.

Do you remember the first time you logged in and “browsed” the internet? Think about how your life has changed. Is it for the better?

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Alfred

Alfred is a search app that allows you to quickly search for any file on your mac. But it also goes far beyond a search tool and serves as a powerful application launcher. I started with the free version and quickly updated to the Powerpack version to add even more functionality. The powerpack version has a great iTunes miniplayer, contact viewer, global hotkeys, and clipboard history viewer. Visit www.alfredapp.com for more information.

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The first part of the book reveals a very personal and insightful look at Andy’s relationship with his father, Pastor Charles Stanley of Atlanta’s First Baptist Church. The book reveals the reasons behind Andy’s departure from his father’s church and the start of Northpoint. I found this to be the most interesting part of the book as he shared a very personal glimpse into his own relational struggles. The book then transitions into presenting a case for Northpoint’s mission, vision, and strategy which Andy shares as the following:

OUR MISSION … to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. OUR STRATEGY … to create churches where people are encouraged and equipped to pursue intimacy with God, community with insiders, and influence with outsiders.

The book concludes with a section on Spiritual formation and their strategy that centers around five faith catalysts: Practical Teaching, Private Disciplines, Personal Ministry, Providential Relationships, and Pivotal Circumstances. I found this to be both a simple and profound section that really provided a good understanding of how people grow in their faith.

This is a book I would recommend to any church planter or pastor. I feel that it doesn’t glamorize church planting or Northpoint, but it gives a true glimpse into the hardship of starting a church and keeping a church focused on the vision and mission.

Great Quotes From the Book

• I think every church should be a church irreligious people love to attend. Why? Because the church is the local expression of the presence of Jesus. We are his body. And since people who were nothing like Jesus liked Jesus, people who are nothing like Jesus should like us as well.
• All my critics are religious people. (It may be the only thing I have in common with Jesus.)
• …healthy local churches can be, and should be, both deep and wide. It’s not either/ or. It’s both/ and. Local churches should be characterized by deep roots and wide reaches. Churches should be theologically sound and culturally relevant. We should be bold in our proclamation and winsome in our approach. In the Gospels we find in Jesus the embodiment of both. As his body, we should be as well.
• In the beginning, the church was a gloriously messy movement with a laser-focused message and a global mission.
• One of the fundamental realities of organizational life is that systems fossilize with time. The church is no exception.
• An ekklesia was simply a gathering or an assembly of people called out for a specific purpose. Ekklesia never referred to a specific place, only a specific gathering.
• Are we moving or simply meeting? Are we making a measurable difference in our local communities or simply conducting services? Are we organized around a mission or are we organized around an antiquated ministry model inherited from a previous generation? Are we allocating resources as if Jesus is the hope of the world or are the squeaky wheels of church culture driving our budgeting decisions? Are we ekklesia or have we settled for kirche.
• We are not mistakers in need of correction. We are sinners in need of a Savior. We need more than a second chance. We need a second birth.
• Policies and white papers don’t work well in a church that commits to embrace the mess created by grace and truth. It’s virtually impossible to be consistent or fair when grace and truth become driving forces in a local congregation.
• We walk toward the messes.
• our messages and lesson preparations are not complete until we know what we want our audiences to do with what they are about to hear. To grow our congregants’ faith, we must preach and teach for life change.
• Pastors, preachers, and teachers who are not gifted in the area of leadership default to management. Best-case scenario, they take what’s handed to them and nurture it, protect it, defend it, and in some cases, improve it. Worst-case scenario, they focus on pastoring, preaching, and teaching, and delegate key leadership decisions to committees.
• If our church suddenly ceased to exist, would our community miss us? If so, why? What value do we bring to our community? How do people outside our church view our church?

The post Book Review: Deep & Wide appeared first on FaithEngineer.

I’ve enjoyed a great week at home and at church. Last Sunday we wrapped up our Christmas Mystery sermon series. On Monday we celebrated the Lord’s Supper as a family at Cornerstone, and the rest of the week has centered around celebrating the birth of Christ with plenty of food and family.

We’ve started a new tradition at Cornerstone to take up a love offering on the Sunday before Christmas for a local ministry. Last year, we were able to bless our local Free Medical Clinic with a large financial gift, and this year we chose to support the S.O.B.E.R. House, which is a ministry that we have worked closely with the last few years. Our special offering totaled $9431 last week! And Cornerstone matched the amount and was able to present a check for $20,000 to this special ministry. I love that our church is radically generous. Cornerstone has been quick to support other churches and ministries, and I believe that is one reason we have been so blessed this year.

I was able to step back this week and slow down. One of our elders preached this morning, and I was able to serve and volunteer in other areas of the church. I ran the sound board for our first service and I taught a Children’s class during the second service. It’s great to step back from preaching and just observe and help. I’m excited about all the ministry that happens each week that I don’t even know about! I truly believe that great things are ahead for our church in 2013!

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This is a video of a Christmas poem written by John Piper. It is a story of what could have happened with the Innkeeper and his family. It is a powerful story of hope in the midst of sorrow and pain. The book is available from Amazon, or a free PDF file can be downloaded from the Desiring God website. My prayer is that you have a blessed Christmas. Remember that in Christ, you will reign forevermore.

Only two weeks from his crucifixion, Jesus has stopped in Bethlehem. He has returned to visit someone important—the innkeeper who made a place for Mary and Joseph the night he was born. But His greater purpose in coming is to pay a debt. What did it cost to house the Son of God?

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Many are searching for meaning, truth, and hope, but we live in a distorted and broken world. The hope we need can only be found in Jesus Christ. He wants to know you and be known by you, to love you and be loved by you. Your search is over. Watch this video to find out more.

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