Prayer and Worship Night

Friday 9/28
7:30-9:30pm
ACC, Carey Building (Lighthouse)

Official Cornerstone Kick-Off!

Friday 9/21
7:30-9:30pm
7901 Osborne

Potluck at Alex's!

Friday 9/14
7:30-9:30pm
8426 Alvin High, 78729

Yay for our new Core Team: Priscilla Ho, Ti Le, and Geoff Prewett!

Health Fair

Saturday 9/8
9am-1pm
ACC Taylor Gym

Pictures: http://public.fotki.com/andyedlee/2007/community-service

ACC English Congregation Picnic

Monday 9/3
11am-2pm
Hyde Park Quarries, 11600 N Mopac
Cost: $5 (includes food, drink, and activities)

Please email acc.cornerstone@gmail.com if you have not received the Evite. Thanks!

Thanks for a great year :) We'll start up the new Cornerstone year in a couple weeks. (ACC Prayer Requests and Life Journal readings will continue to be updated each week.)

**If you have not joined our new Google email list, please do so. Email us at acc.cornerstone@gmail.com if you have any questions!

End-of-the-Year Pool Party/BBQ

Saturday 8/11
5:00pm
The Marquis at Ladera Vista Clubhouse
Bring: $3, meat/sides, swimsuit if you want to swim

Worship/Prayer with Andy's SG!

Friday 8/3
7:30-9:30pm
ACC, Carey Building (Lighthouse)

Volunteering with the ARCH

Saturday 7/28
5:45-8:00pm (meet at ACC in front of Morrison at 5pm to carpool)
500 E. 7th St, 78701 (Northeast corner of 7th and Neches)

Message and Fellowship: Recap/Feedback

Friday 7/20
7:30-9:30pm
ACC, Carey Building (Lighthouse)

Post-fellowship: Eddie's House!

Geoff's Notes:
- Cornerstone vision and theme verse
- "Living as God intended: loving God, loving each other, loving the world"
- Read Matt 22:37-40
- Loving God
- what is love?
- (agapao) cherish, affection based on admiration, hold dear.
- how does God love?
- Hos 3:1, Zeph 3:17: Cherishes us
- Eph 5:25-32.
- v29: provides for us, cares for us
- v26-27: unbreaking our character
- v25: died for us
- v31: uniting us with Himself
- similarity: seeking our good, not His
- God is showing us what love is
- how do we love God?
- Same way: cherish Him, give to Him
- Same way: cherish Him, give to Him
- cherish: delighting in God for who He is (not what He does for us)
- a good example is cherishing God is David:
Ps 23, 103, 63 (your love better than life)
- what can we give?
- time: pursuing God
- service
- gifts
- worship
- touch (a little unsure here. Example of Billy Graham who touched
an untouchable caste on one of his crusades)
- the most we can give is our lives
- greatest commandment

- Loving each other
- If the Law and the Prophets hang on loving God and loving each other,
then the Law must be directions on how to do that.
- we should have God's character in all things, and if He relates to
us always unselfishly loving and delighting in us, that is how we should
relate to each other.
- How? Enjoying one another, giving to each other
- Just enjoying each other's company: meals, social events, etc.
- caring for each other
- St. Francis of Assissi's prayer: "grant that I may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be
loved as to love"
- paraphrase "grant that I may not so much seek to be satisfied
as to care for others"
- Encouraging each other to have God's character:
- talk about spiritual things
- being real with each other: transparency
- conflict: dealing with each other's sin, forgiving each other

- Loving the world
- Jesus said this is how all men will know that we are his disciples, that
you love one another
- Showing God's character outside the church
- Being an ambassador for the infinitely Good God
- God repeatedly talks about caring for the widows and orphans, and the poor
- Demonstrating God's unselfish love

- Conclusion
- Robert E. Lee: When asked at the end of his life to bless a baby,
he told the mother "teach him to deny himself"

Message and Fellowship: Sin

Friday 7/13
7:30-9:30pm
ACC Carey Building (Lighthouse)

Post-Fellowship: Alex's House or Austin Tidbits (http://www.austintidbits.com/)

Brief Notes (if anyone has more, please add a comment!)
She talked about her life growing up (being abused starting when she was 2 or 3 and entering the adult entertainment industry also at an early age), and then about finding God and being redeemed. It wasn't a smooth ride immediately afterwards (she returned to the adult entertainment lifestyle during her first year as a Christian), but eventually God blessed her with a steady job doing accounting work with a mom/pop store. And now she's co-founded New Song Ministry, helping women leave the adult entertainment industry by providing Bible studies, practical training, and grace-filled compassion. She's used her previous experiences and relationships with managers of clubs all across Texas to start her ministry and has even been asked to start a Sunday morning worship service at the Yellow Rose for dancers all across Austin. Seriously, praise God.

One thing she said that stuck out to me was "A sin is a sin is a sin". Oftentimes, I think I'm not as bad as other people - but God views all sins as sin. Afterwards, our discussion group talked about how to be vulnerable with people around us so that we can encourage each other as we deal with sin - not an easy thing to do, but we agreed it's way necessary to be intentional about it. I'm praying for us as a church and fellowship to keep growing in this area of grace and vulnerability - both with our fellow Cstoners/ACCers and with the people around us (our friends and our Austin community) :)

Food Social with Annie's SG!

Friday 7/6
7:00pm Bring your dinner and hang out!
8:30pm Ice Cream, etc provided by Annie's Small Group!

@ Jamie and Debbie's House
13529 Albania Way, 78729

Message and Fellowship: Love Languages

Friday 6/29
7:30-9:30pm
ACC Portable

Post-Fellowship: Winston's House

The Five Love Languages

Pastor Gaylord

There’s also “The Five Love Languages for Singles”!

My Big Fat Greek Wedding clip

-aunt shows the boyfriend love through food – but he’s a vegetarian.. so she decides to cook him lamb

If you don’t understand someone’s love language, they may not be able to experience your love.

Without love, life can become exceedingly bleak.

Most singles understand more about computers than about love because they’ve spent more time studying computers. (paraphrased quotation from The Five Love Languages for Singles by Gary Chapman)

I John 4:7-11

Let us love one another, love is from God… God is love… sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins… (people see God through us).

We all have a mother tongue.

Can learn different dialects of Chinese – saying something in one dialect can be misinterpreted in another dialect. Can’t be understood.

Nice in a foreign country to hear someone speaking your mother tongue.

The main point isn’t to figure out our own love language so people can love us better. We need to figure out how to love others.

Our families’ way of loving (or not loving) has shaped us immensely – but by God’s grace, we can still grow in this area.

The Five Love Languages

- Words of Affirmation (appreciation, encouragement, call attention to progress, acknowledge person’s perspective, may seem like just a passing statement to you, can help person overcome insecurities)

- Gifts (doesn’t have to be expensive/bought/regular, challenging for some who like to save money, e.g. this is Tina’s dad’s love language)

- Acts of Service (done out of love not obligation, Jesus washing disciples’ feet, e.g. PG’s mom came to help after Silas’ birth but misinterpreted, communication was needed to clarify)

- Quality Time (more than mere proximity, focus all energy on friend/spouse, e.g. this is Tina’s love language, she likes word games so PG can show love by playing Text Twist with her)

- Physical Touch (Peylin’s favorite! :P, important to show love/appreciation in Bolivia, just because you didn’t grow up with affectionate parents it doesn’t mean you don’t yearn for it now – or don’t need it now, there are appropriate ways of showing this form of love with guys/girls)

-many dialects of each of these

Even if these don’t come naturally, you can learn – need to be intentional about learning and putting them into practice.

Discovering Your Primary Love Language (75% of people give love the same way they receive it)

- Observe your own behavior (what do you say to people, what do you do naturally, ask someone else to observe)

- Observe what you request of others (“I haven’t had a good hug in 2 weeks”, “They always criticize me. I wish they would just acknowledge something I did right”, “I have this project – can you help me with it?”)

- Listen to your complaints (what gets you really upset, similar to above)

If you want to see change happen for people, love them in their language.

Friendships either grow or decline – to strengthen your friendship, apply these love languages.

Singles in service.

To figure out your ministry, what is your natural way of receiving love? Use it in service. If your love language is quality time, figure out how you can spend quality time with people around you. Ask God to show you people’s love languages so you can be Christ to them – like co-workers. Speak love to special friends – single moms, special needs children, etc.

Don’t force your love language on someone else. Take the time to figure out their language.

Questions/Comments

Andy: It helps to know how others communicate love even if it’s not your primary mode – so that way you can mentally understand and appreciate it.

Wei: Question/clarification about singles in service. (Sorry, I didn’t get the answer :P)

Peylin: Blessing in the workplace. How can you tell what your co-workers’ love languages are? Pray, ask God to show you. Observe their actions in meetings, their responses to the boss’ words, how they step up to help.

Cornerstoners’ Love Languages :)

Words of Affirmation (for these people, it may be tough to hear words of criticism)

Eddie C

Andy L

Marilyn L

Faya P

Pastor Gaylord

Quality Time

Chris W

Tim K

Judith C

Sharon T

Priscilla H

Peylin F

Geoff P

Fred H

Winston W

Acts of Service

Moses C

Johnson C

Physical Touch

Ricky T

Wei L

Volunteering with the Group-Formerly-Known-As-Peylin's!

Saturday 6/23
Meet at church at 9:30am
(main parking lot by Morrison, Taylor gym, Portable)

Message and Fellowship: Support System

Friday 6/15
7:30-9:30pm
Ricky and Sharon's House
12517 Sir Christophers Cove

Support Systems - A Healing Community
June 15, 2007

in the mid-19th century, the world "individualism" didn't even exist (The Connecting Church)

1. Why do we need a support system?

Hillary Clinton - it takes a village

BRAINSTORM
-to provide accountability
-in case we fall or have hard times (encourage)
-to provide different perspectives, shared experiences
-take care of menial tasks (provide meal, etc so someone can focus on more important)
-handhold through the fog

Band of Brothers - interviews with actual men
-when the fighting was the worst, it was the guy next to him in the hole who helped him make the sacrifice, take that chance - his brothers, would give his life so they would live
-something about being involved in a crisis, have to rely on the people around you

Examples of people in the Bible who stood by one another during the hard times, during the fearful times, during times of uncertainty. But also through times of victory and exultation.

BRAINSTORM
-David and Jonathan
-Moses and Aaron (Moses had to keep arms up in order for the Israelites to win the battle, Aaron had to help him-Exodus 17:8-15; both Moses and Aaron had to go together to talk with Pharaoh, Aaron provided stability and comfort)


2. What does it look like?

We all have an instinctive, visceral understanding of what a support system looks like.

-created for community, people to love and love us in return

Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

-there are certain things we desire in our friendships, our friends desire the same thing from us
-have to unlearn certain things about how to have healthy friendships

What are you looking for when you are in need?

BRAINSTORM
-to be listened to
-a massage (Sean :P)
-someone to help with the little things (like food)
-to be understood (try to understand), not playing devil's advocate, to be your ally (there's a time for speaking truth.. but maybe later)
-someone genuine who truly wants to be there, not rushed; not because they have to
-like Job's friends, there for him, dust on heads
-trust, lack of judgment, know you won't be thought of differently, won't tell someone else, safe
-will carry that burden for you for a while, come alongside for a time, share burden

Andy's Brainstorms:
- listens
- understands (or tries to)
- doesn't judge (unlike Job's friends)
- can offer healing (in many different forms, come away refreshed)
- someone to pray with you
- points you to our Hope
- gives perspective
- loves you, accepts you, won't turn on you


3. How does it happen:

How to develop a support system?
develop = grows over time

BRAINSTORM
-find people you can trust (hard to build, easy to trust)
-find people with similar occupation, life stage, experience - easier to empathize
-have to sacrifice, become vulnerable, leap of faith (goes hand in hand with trust)
-develop closer relationship, can't just stay at surface level, won't dump on someone you don't know, don't have a deeper relationship with; be intentional, take time, be flexible, be willing to experience things with people
-be approachable (drop the shield, force field), be available
-leaders model more public vulnerability
-be willing to ask for help

Andy's Brainstorms
- not avoid crisis or pain (hard to feel need for this kind of support system until in a time of crisis, crisis draws people together; used to think life was meant to be without hardships; now believes that pain is inevitable, draws us closer to God and to each other; Andy's sharing about personal crisis, able to build deep friendships with Wed night prayer meeting)
- willingness to be vulnerable
- acknowledge your brokenness & sinfulness
- willingness to give as well as receive (understand it's a 2-way street; like Walton who came 2x/week to be with, pray with Andy)
- be involved with people (don't know you need them until you really do)
- takes steps to deepen your relationships


How to be a part of one?

BRAINSTORM
-know what your gifts are and actively try to bless people with them; know "gifts" of experience, give out of them
-showing up, being there, 100% success requires showing up
-join an already established group, or form your own - group of similar needs; be vulnerable about your experiences, pains

Andy's Brainstorms
- love, love, love (only way for a person to move out of themselves and really touch another person's life)
- no ulterior motives (do we really love people w/ no strings attached?)
- get to know each other (how do you know what to say, when to you know to say it - no secret, no formula; won't know w/ blank slate, no context; with context, relationship plus Spirit's leading, will know; won't always say the right thing - but will know it's grounded in love)
- be a part of one another's lives
- volunteer your life (took a lot of guts for P-Walton to ask if Andy would get together; Andy could've said no)
- take the initiative (e.g. Pastor Walton)
- work on personal wholeness (two ticks and no dog- don't want to suck the life out of each other, no life source -> co-dependent; our "dog" is God, our life source; else just spiral down together)


**Are we available to love and make a difference?

Community, Fellowship = place to make a difference

- to heal the broken
- to bring hope to the hopeless
- to show grace to those in need

have to want to love


Discussion Questions:
Do you have a support system? If so, who comprises that group?

What do you struggle with the most in developing that community?

How can you improve in being a part of that community for someone else?

Worship/Prayer with Moses' Small Group!

Friday 6/8
7:30-9:30pm
ACC, Carey Building (Lighthouse)

Message and Fellowship: Career

Friday 6/1
7:30-9:30pm
ACC Portable

Post-Fellowship: Andy and Maril's, 7901 Osborne

Notes: Career (part-Andy, part-Maril)

God doesn’t reveal the whole map, just one step at a time

God started leading Walton one step at a time to Missions

How does God want us to think about our work?

How do I begin to intentionally and practically honor God?

What do you think of when you hear the word “work”?

- the curse, ew, tough, keeps from doing what I want to do, stress, money, pays bills, mowing the lawn, blessing, labor, toil, pain, hard, busy, pressure, lay-offs

What do you think is the opposite of work?

- Play, rest, life, vacation, leisure, freedom

Myths about work:

- God is not interested

- Work is just a means to get money

- It’s not as spiritual as other jobs

- It’s just a curse

Genesis 2: work was given to Adam before the curse

The curse: work will be much harder

Work can be a real blessing

How does God look at work?

Joseph has sequence to what he eats: saves good for last

We look at work that way.. just to keep us from doing the things we want to do

Ordained by God:

- Not a curse in itself

- Part of God’s plan for provision

- A sense of God’s calling

- Has great opportunities (for spiritual growth, to serve people, to worship and honor God, etc.)

- Intended as a blessing (not everyone can work)

6 Realities towards Integration

“Fourth ????” book

Most people have fragmented lives

Different friends, different behavior, different words, etc.

Mostly because it’s easier to fit in

Fragmentation can cause a lot of stress b/c we are not able to be who we are – we have to worry about what crowd we’re in

Not able to be unified, consistent person

Fragmented priorities

1,2,3^rd priorities are God and everything else gets woven in

1. Devotion – not about what we do, but why we do it; so important because without it we’ll be susceptible to the distractions of the world (1 John – if you love God, you’ll obey Him); we go to Him because we need Him; because we want to see and hear Him in our lives; need to look past the artificial priorities we’ve set up; overscheduling can often become the enemy of God’s leading; listen for the opportunities God puts in our lives

2. Calling – reminds us there’s something bigger than just living out our lives, getting our paycheck; why do you do what you do in your job today? – perspective determines purpose in our lives (teacher getting paycheck v. teacher helping kids), best to see it from God’s point of view; calling gives a job its spiritual power; whatever job you do, if this is where God has led you, that makes it holy – do I feel a sense of calling with where I am?; Bob Chin’s calling to work with Asian-Americans in Austin helps him adapt his career to follow this leading (staying in Austin, etc); 40-50 hours/168 hours per week is a big chunk of time; might feel too young to think about purpose in life, but it’s never too late – you never know how much time you have left; work isn’t just a means to source your life until you find that great purpose; need to ask God to show us what he wants us to do, what kind of work – have to put all the chips out on the table, can’t hold anything back (e.g. as long as I can live in Texas) – distorts the communication between God and us – needs to be “whatever You ask”, “where You might take me”; often think God will make us do scary things if we lay it all out – but God merged Walton’s passions and skills to allow him to do great things; calling may change with season in life – continue to live with God in the present so He can lead you

3. Integrity

- Do the right thing, not cutting corners

- Ex. Merck – distributed drugs to poor who weren’t able to pay for it b/c the founder stressed the importance of helping the people v. profits

4. Stewardship

- all money on loan from God, who loves me so much

- easy to become self-centered and proud, spend MY money on things that I want

5. Rest

- not the opposite of work, but part of the rhythm of our work (God worked 6 days, rested on 7^th – made in image of God, He set an example for us)

- Sabbath made for man, not man for the Sabbath

- As a fellowship, how can we encourage each other to enjoy the Sabbath and rest?

6. Growing Influence

- need to appropriately define boundaries of evangelism at work, some use relational evangelism as an excuse – don’t take the necessary steps to share God

- need to be intentional – not to step over the line – but to at least go up to that line

- e.g. Joe wants to start up Life Journal Bible study at his school, Walton needs to be willing to ask if that’s OK, what the boundaries are

Balancing Time – build in margins

- allow you to see God work in your lives, and respond

- plan time for yourself, leave time in the margins so people will feel free to talk with you, ask you to do things with them; if others feel you’re too busy, won’t be able to fit them in, maybe you are; leave room to be spontaneous

Andy’s q: Do I need a specific calling to what I’m specifically doing?

Walton’s background coding as an engineer allows him to connect with people in his neighborhood now

Geoff’s experience in Japan with missionaries – the missionaries had to do lots of stuff that wasn’t directly spiritual (cleaning the church, etc); they built relationships through those menial things

Edison’s q: Does God want us to be passionate about what we’re doing work-wise?

Some people are just trying to survive

Need to see the overall purpose of why I’m doing this; else large chunk of your life is disassociated from serving God

Do all for the Lord

Break for Memorial Day Weekend

Enjoy the time off Friday and Saturday... BUT come help serve lunch on Sunday with the rest of the English congregation! :)

Sunday 5/27
12:00pm noon
ACC, Morrison Kitchen

Thanks!!

Message and Fellowship: Interview with Bono

Friday 5/18
7:30-9:30pm
ACC Portable

Volunteering with Winston's Small Group!

Capital Area Food Bank Sort-a-thon with "Stamp Out Hunger"
Saturday, 5/12
Meet at 3pm, ACC Portable
(Volunteer 4-7pm)

Find pictures at http://public.fotki.com/andyedlee/2007/cornerstone/capital-area-food-bank/