Preaching in church is a unique experience. Some weeks it can be extremely draining and some weeks it is extremely invigorating. Yesterday was one of the draining weeks. I really felt like I struggled through the message. By the time I got home I was pretty frustrated and down. But I know that I can’t dwell on weeks that everything doesn’t just click. I will continue to press on, knowing that I’m not perfect and knowing that God will use messages that may not be the best. It was such a crazy week that I really didn’t have time to slow down and mentally prepare for my message. I had the studying part down, and I had all my notes, but I do need to take time to just meditate and listen to what God wants me to say and do. I always take comfort from Paul’s words in Philippians 3:12-14

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

We had two incredible opportunities to let people know about our church this weekend. On Friday, the Cornerstone Kids Ministry hosted a lemonade stand in front of Wal-Mart. They raised over $540 to give to the local tri-area pregnancy resource center. Kids helping unborn kids. It was awesome to see our kids from church raising money and talking with people as they went by. But we also had the added benefit from being featured on the local Christian radio station SpiritFM. We were able to share about our church on a radio station that is heard in over 3 states and has a huge listening area. What excited me most was the opportunity to talk with numerous families and individuals that stopped by the stand. Although Cornerstone has been in existence for a couple of years now, we are still relatively unknown in our area. I hope that is about to change.

The second opportunity was our Summer Blockbuster Kick-Off at our church land. We had games and big inflatables and free hot dogs and face painting and sand art and we just let the kids have a great time playing. We were able to register over 60 kids for our week-long summer blockbuster. It was great because we saw several families from our community stop by. We have spent the last two youth meetings canvassing our community by passing out fliers about the summer blockbuster and about our church. We really want to be a huge part of the community that God has put us in. Even now, as we are planning how to develop the 18 acres that God has entrusted to us, we are trying to decide how to best make the land available and usable to the community.

Two great opportunities for people to see the church actually be the church. I read that nearly 95% of the average church’s ministries are for its members alone. For Cornerstone, that is not going to happen. We are committed to reaching out to our community and world for Christ. In Acts 4:20 it says the apostles “couldn’t stop speaking about what they saw and heard” I hope that describes us as a church. That we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen God do.