Cornerstone Social: Board Game Blowout!

When: Fri Aug 28th, 7:30pm

Where: ACC Carey Bldg, downstairs

Anyone up for Cranium? Nertz? Trivial Pursuit? Come play with us this Friday downstairs in Carey. Bring your favorite board games, card games, and friends! Snacks will be provided.

Summer Sharing: What did you do this summer?

When: Fri Aug 21st, 7:30pm

Where: ACC Carey Bldg, upstairs

So what have you been up to?

Did you go on a trip this summer? Did you make a new friend? Did you start a new hobby? or picked up an old one? Did God teach you something? Did He show you something unexpected? Did you start a different stage in life? Did you hit a home run? Did you hit 5? Did something happen that you will never forget?

Let's take some time as a community to share (very informally) about what's been going on in each of our lives and be encouraged by each other's stories.

Also, don't forget about the survey!

Please take some time to share your opinions with us by Friday, August 21st, 2009.

2009 Cornerstone Survey

[ACC Cornerstone] Showing This Friday...Faith Like Potatoes

When: Fri Aug 14th, 7:30 - 10:00pm (movie beings at 7:35pm)

Where: ACC Carey Bldg, upstairs

Here's the thing about potatoes. You plant them, and cover them with dirt, then pray like mad for rain. With most crops, you can see what you're going to eat—the fruit of your labors, so to speak. But potatoes incubate in the ground, silent and mostly unseen, while you hope for harvest. Only a farmer-turned-evangelist would know how apt a metaphor potatoes are for a life of faith in Christ Jesus.

Join us as we watch this movie based on the true story of a South African farmer and discuss its metaphor of potatoes compared to our own lives. Movie snacks will be provided!

Recap: New Faces, New Phases

Last Friday, we met the new Cornerstone core team and learned some interesting facts about them. If you weren't able to join us, make sure to ask Wender about raw whale bacon. Later in the evening, Uncle Leo, from the Master Planning Committee, shared with us about the three new building phases to expand ACC.

Please pray together with the church for:

- God's guidance on the Building Plan and next steps

- Congregation common vision and unity as well as involvement

- Building Fund re-start of initial goal of $500K

SURVEY TIME!

Please take some time to share your opinions with us by Friday, August 21st, 2009.

2009 Cornerstone Survey

New Faces, New Phases

When: Fri Aug 7th, 7:30pm

Where: ACC Carey Bldg, upstairs

Come this Friday to meet the new faces on the Cornerstone core team! And maybe learn a little something you never knew about us and each other as we play a few games.

We will also have the privilege of having Uncle Leo Yeung of the Master Planning Committee come share with us about the next phases in ACC's building expansion. God has really blessed us with a growing church, so what does that mean for the ACC community? for Cornerstone?

A Divine Longing (for the Cornerstone Community)

This past Friday, Pastor Walton spoke about what is a healthy, God-centered community and lead us in a discussion about God’s purpose for Cornerstone.

Reflection: How important are relationships really? How important are they to Christians? How important are they to God?

God Really Loves Relationships
God shows us the importance of relationships to Him in several different ways:

• In His Word: the Bible is story after story of people’s relationships with each other and with God
• In His action: God sent Jesus down to earth so that we can have a restored relationship with Him
• In His Being: God as the Holy Trinity (God, Son, and the Holy Spirit) shows that even before there were any people, there was already a community. In fact, our desire for relationships reflects that very community

What is a Healthy Community?
God uses imperfect people to build His community. If you are here (in Cornerstone), then God has a gift in you that He wants used in this community.

God calls every community to:
1. Love One Another
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. – John 13:34-35

In Cornerstone, we have the opportunity to show outsiders looking in about God’s love. Through faith we know that our hearts are in good hands (God’s hands), and this knowledge releases us to take risks to love other people. In this society, there is so much stress about “taking care of #1,” but we don’t need to worry about that because God will always be there to take care of us. In fact, God calls us to love lavishly, to give our hearts away like Christ did:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

2. Come Together in Complete Unity
May they be brought to completely unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. – John 17:23

What is the purpose that God has called us (Cornerstone) to do? Once we are able to identify this, then we can have the beginnings of unity.

Elements of a community that comes together in unity:

• Are we praying for each other and for our purpose together? If our purpose is not covered in prayer, then it just becomes a human effort.
• What do we talk about when we are together? Do we share about what God is doing in our lives?

The Spiritual Ecosystem
Consists of: Mission, God’s Presence, God’s Word, Spiritual Relationships. These are the larger purposes.

Vehicles: Worship Service, Special Events, Retreats, Discovery Groups, Small Groups, Fellowships, Mission Events, Discipleship. Each one has a different focus to ultimately achieve the larger purposes.

Cornerstone has a role in this spiritual ecosystem.