Archive by Author

Engaging Our Community

June 8, 2011 in Church Related with 0 Comments

At Cornerstone, we really have a passion for reaching out to our community. This past Sunday, we invited several local ministries to come and share about the work they are doing in the community. We shared about the story of Nehemiah and his process for developing a vision to make a difference and then we ended the service by issuing a challenge for everyone to find their passion in service. We want everyone to find their ministry either within the church or within the community and start sharing the love of Christ.

Here are just a few of the ministries and organizations that were either present or that shared materials with us. God’s Pit Crew, Willing Partners, Free Medical Clinic of the Twin Counties, Praisin’ in the Park/Hallelujah Luau, SOBER House, Tri-Area Pregnancy Resource Center, Feed by Seed, CROSS Ministries, Lean on Me Ministries, The Hope House, P.U.S.H. Ministries, Twin County Hospice, Mt. Valley Hospice, Waddell Nursing Home, Golden Living Center, Twin County Regional Healthcare, BackPack Buddies, and more!

I’m excited about introducing these ministries to our church. God is so much bigger than one church in one community. Let’s work together to advance the Kingdom. Here’s the video from our first service.

 

Life Keeps Getting Better

June 4, 2011 in Family with 0 Comments

Yesterday was our 16th wedding anniversary. Jennifer is an amazing women, and I feel like our marriage just keeps getting better. As a pastor, unfortunately I hear about many problems in marriages, so I know that we have something very special and unique.

Great marriages don’t happen by accident. You must be committed to keeping your marriage strong. We have to fight to keep our marriage on the right path. We’ve spent a lot of time reading books together, going to marriage groups together, and praying together. Here are a few keys to our marriage.

Prayer

Don’t underestimate the power of prayer. If you start to disagree or have a time of intense fellowship, take the time to pray together. Prayer puts our focus where it needs to be.

Communication

This is a given. If you want a great marriage, then you can’t hold back. You have to share what you are feeling, and the only way you can really do that is through ….

Trust

When you trust each other, you can share anything.  Intimacy happens when we truly know and trust each other, and there is no fear of rejection. Trust takes time, and it must be earned, but it is imperative that you build that trust early in your marriage.

Commitment

Your priorities must be in order. Strong marriages take commitment. A commitment to do whatever it takes to keep the marriage strong. I believe that marriage takes precedence over your children. I am not saying that you neglect your role as parents, but the best gift you can give your children is for them to see a strong marriage. I see way too many child-centered homes in today’s society. Children leave, spouses stay!

Time

The old saying that quality is better than quantity simply isn’t true. Make time for your spouse. Go on dates, pray together, have fun together, go on long walks on the beach, be spontaneous, revisit some of your old hangouts, just spend time together. If you don’t plan in advance, it won’t happen because you will have busy schedules.

Vision

Do you have purpose in life? Do you have something that you and your spouse are both passionate about? For us, knowing that God has a calling on our lives is huge. We can get through hectic and crazy times when we know we are doing God’s will.

Passion

I’ll keep it PG, but let me just say that it can get better with age :-)

 

What would you add to the list? What are the ingredients to a strong and lasting marriage?

Update to the iPad YouVersion app

May 25, 2011 in Technology with 5 Comments

We have a growing number of people who are bringing iPads to church to use for taking notes and for following along with the sermon.  YouVersion is the most popular mobile Bible app that works on multiple devices.  We have used a feature called YouVersion Live to share our sermon notes every week. Unfortunately, the iPad app didn’t include the capability to pull up the Live notes until today.

On the YouVersion blog today, they announced a big update bringing audio Bibles and YouVersion Live to the iPad. Just update from the app store and you’ll be ready to go. I love the fact that YouVersion continues to improve and innovate, and they do it all for free. Such a great Kingdom mindset.

If you want to download YouVersion, just go to www.mycornerstone.org/Bible from your mobile device to get the correct version.

The Story – A Great Way to Share Your Faith

May 23, 2011 in Church Related with 0 Comments

Most Gospel tracts seem stuck in the 70′s, but The Story is not only relevant to our culture today, it is based on solid theological ground. The Story is a 12-page, visual-narrative of the Gospel, designed for the unbeliever, and it can be purchased as a booklet or embedded on a website. You can see it on our church website at www.mycornerstone.org/salvation

I love the emphasis on the whole story of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and it helps you share your story in light of God’s bigger plan for humanity. I plan on doing evangelism training this summer using The Story, and I really think their training material is perfect for use in many different settings in a church. I could see this being used in small groups, Sunday School, Sunday morning sermon series, or even special evangelism training seminars. If you are looking for a good resource to train people to share their faith, then I would definitely suggest you take a look at this.

Here is a video with more information about The Story. You can also click the booklet on the left to view The Story online.

A great way to share your product or service

May 20, 2011 in Technology with 1 Comment

Over the past few years here on the blog, I have made friends with a number of people in the church technology field. Since a number of you read the blog, I wanted to make you aware of a new advertising bundle with Beacon Ad Network. Beacon does a great job of connecting the leading Christian websites with trusted Christian advertisers. And here is a great way to share your product or service with a large number of readers.

This week, they launched a Creative Tech Bundle, which is a group of websites in the church technology field. You can advertise across all of the websites with one simple purchase. They included FaithEngineer as part of this bundle, so this is a great way to reach a very specific audience. They also included one of my favorite church technology websites, ChurchMag.  Here’s some more information about the bundle.

This bundle features an array of Christian bloggers writing about technology, creativity, and faith. Many of them are less well-known writers, but don’t be fooled, the sites on this list have devoted followings that actively interact on their sites. Click here to read more.

Taking a Break from Social Media

May 18, 2011 in Technology with 0 Comments

This past Sunday at Cornerstone I shared from Romans 12:2 about getting God’s best for our lives. It happens when we surrender our best to him. God’s best isn’t about health, wealth, or prosperity for us, it’s about us walking and living life with the guidance and direction of the God who created us and who loves us. I left everyone with a pretty big challenge at the end of the service. If we really want to hear God clearly, then what do we need to clear out of the way. I challenged everyone to take a media fast for at least 3 days just to listen to God’s still small voice. This world pulls us hard away from the God we serve, so it’s good to truly let God transform the way we think by turning off all the distractions.

The response I got after church was amazing. I heard a lot of excuses and a lot of reasons why people couldn’t really let go of everything. I also had several people ask me to let them know what they could and couldn’t do. Why am I not surprised that most people would rather have a list of what they can and can’t do. We are drawn to rules and regulations because it is easier that way. We don’t have to think about what we should do and shouldn’t do when we have a list pre-made for us. I think that is why legalism still is popular in churches today. But I wanted the media fast to be personal for each person who was listening. What is causing distractions in your life? Whatever it is, get rid of it and simply listen to God.

As for me, I’ve enjoyed disconnecting from Facebook, Twitter, TV, and Google Reader for a few days. I’ve even left my blog alone for the most part, although I did want to share this update. I really want to make a “technology fast” part of my monthly routine. I don’t think I even realized how much time it was stealing each day. Since Sunday, I have played more with my kids and had a lot more free time to read and study and relax. We are called to be separate from this world we live in, and slowing down and taking a break from all the noise in our lives helps us stay connected to Christ who gives us the strength to stand firm in this crazy world.

Hosting a Simulcast

May 10, 2011 in Audio/Video with 0 Comments

Over the past few years, our church has hosted several simulcast events and we’ve learned what works well and we’ve also learned what not to do. We’ve hosted internet simulcasts with Beth Moore, Dave Ramsey, and Priscila Shirer, and we’ve hosted satellite simulcasts using the now defunct CCN.tv satellite service.  Last week, we were able to offer our help with a local simulcast of the Chick-fil-A Leadercast. Here are a few things we have learned.

Take Advantage of the Testing Times

Multiple testing times have been made available for each simulcast we have hosted. Don’t overlook these times. Their purpose is two-fold, it helps them make sure they have the back-end systems in place to handle the bandwidth requirements, and it helps you to make sure that your equipment is functioning properly. You also want to test with the exact same equipment that you will use on the day of the event. Eliminate as many variables as possible. For example, we always turn off our wireless internet access so we don’t have to worry about someone using all our bandwidth on their iPad or laptop.

For one of our satellite events, we had done all the testing and everything was working great, up until the day of the event. Someone at our church ran a Windows Update on the main projection computer that was feeding the projectors. So when it came time for the event to start, I immediately had a blue screen of death staring back at me. One of the updates had not installed properly and was causing the computer to crash with the video capture software. We had to do a system restore on the computer that took about 10 minutes to complete. So that leads to the next point …

Have a Backup Plan

Have a backup computer in place! Have a backup source for your internet. Have a backup projector. Try to think through everything that can go wrong and then come up with a plan for how to handle it. Another great idea is to have someone available that can jump up and speak to the audience in case of technical difficulties. If there is a problem, plan for group activities that everyone can participate in or have a DVD that you can play while the problems are fixed. And if you have problems, you better know how to …

Know How to Contact Support

Write down the phone numbers, emails, and any other ways to contact the simulcast provider in case of emergency. I think LifeWay does the best job with this. They have a livechat where you can interact with support during the event. You can quickly find out if other people are having any problems. Twitter is another great way to monitor what is happening with the other simulcast sites. Setup a twitter search with the event hashtag and keep a close eye on the updates.

During the recent Chick-fil-A Leadercast, we ran into some very significant problems with support. Our account was locked out 20 minutes before the start of the event, presumably because we had logged in from a 2nd test computer. When we called tech support, their number was disconnected due to the high call volume. The live-stream started late so we couldn’t tell if it was working until the event actually started with the first video. And they didn’t respond immediately to emails. In the end, it all worked out, but it made for a stressful time of trying to contact them via phone and email and find out what was happening. So that brings me to the last point …

Don’t Panic When You Have a Problem

Keep your cool. The audience will feed off of the attitude of the event organizers. If you are calm and collected during any technical difficulties, then they will be much more patient. During almost every single event we have hosted, there have been times when we have lost the signal. Sometimes, it’s only for a few seconds, and sometimes it has been for a period of several minutes. Don’t panic, find out what has happened and take the steps to fix the problem. Typically, the problems we have had have been caused by the event host having difficulties. When that happens, there is really nothing you can do except wait and pray.

For the Chick-fil-A Leadercast, we had numerous problems early in the event with the live stream pausing and buffering. Thankfully we were watching twitter and saw that it was a widespread problem. We stopped the stream for about 10 minutes while they worked out the problems on their end, and we were able to jump back in when things started working again. We had prize giveaways and activities planned, so most people didn’t mind that we had the problems. Chick-fil-A did the right thing by acknowledging they had problems (although they really downplayed how widespread the problems were) and they provided an online link to the videos to everyone who attended. They took responsibility and they provided a solution, which made the event a success even in light of the problems we faced.

For our church, we want to be a resource to our community. We have the technology capability to host events like these and we really believe strongly in building the Kingdom. So if there is any way we can help build up other churches and strengthen our community, then we want to take the lead in making that happen. Simulcasts are one way we can do just that.

Have you settled?

May 9, 2011 in Church Related with 0 Comments

Yesterday at Cornerstone, I shared about Abraham’s journey of Faith in Genesis 12-22. We can learn from Abraham about the importance of obedience and the power of grace. He was far from perfect, but yet God was patient with him. As Abraham faced each test, we see his faith increase and we see him learn to trust God.

But what saddens me about his story is what happens in Genesis 11:31-32 with his father Terah. Here’s the passage for you to read.

31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

Terah left his homeland with his family on his way to the land of Canaan. But he stopped, he waited, he settled down. And he ended up dying in a pagan city named Haran instead of Canaan. For us, the lesson is clear. When we quit listening to God, it becomes easy to settle for less than His best. I’m afraid that far too many of God’s people end up in a place that God never intended. They become comfortable, they settle down, and they quit taking risks and stepping out in faith to follow Christ. My prayer is that we will never become so comfortable that we quit listening and following God’s voice.

Page 10 of 116« First...«89101112»203040...Last »