This year we will host Andrew Beaty as our guest speaker. Andrew is married, has 6 kids, was a missionary to high school students and currently works at the Baby Fold in Normal. He is passionate about seeing young people live a life of fullness!

Come for a great time of worship, teaching, The Game and our annual kick-off tradition!

Need to know how to get to the retreat?
Here’s a map. It is highly advisable to print this out!

View Larger Map

Here’s a list of what to bring:
• Sleeping bag/blankets
• Pillow
• Bible
• Notebook
• Pen or pencil
• Fun stuff (games, balls, Frisbees)
• Warm clothes
• Clothes for The Game
• Toiletries
• Towel
• Checkbook (or cash) if you haven’t paid yet
• Cash for soda/water (bottled)
• Extra blankets for bonfire
• Extra socks (because its always good to have extra socks—just in case!)

This semester we will be walking through the Seven Deadly Sins as a combined Home Group. My hope is that this challenges you to live in a radical way this year.

Pastor Mike

Hey Mike,
After much prayer, I decided my passion and heart was with the forgotten seniors at the nursing home. I used the $10 to buy daises for 10 patients at McLean County Nursing Home. I added $7 of my own and it was well worth it because they looked so beautiful. Two residents in particular were speechless with gratitude and joy that a stranger would want them to feel better. I added a note that said, “Remember, God is always with you,” to each bundle of daises. Even though this wasn’t an evangelistic endeavor, I felt called to do God’s will as it is in Heaven in this way.

I received $10. I bought pizza for my coworkers so they did not have to leave the store to go get food on this cold snowy day. I have loved loving my coworkers this year and thought it would be a nice kind of last memory/going away present from me to them my last week at that store. I look forward to keeping in touch with them and hanging out with them whenever I can. I have pretty much always been able to talk about my faith with them and love hearing some of their stories as well. I thought the $10 would be a nice way to put a drop in the bucket as Drage that they would see yet another way in which a righteous, or at least trying, man treats others.

Hey Mike
i took an envelope there was 5 in it. I used it last Wednesday to take a girl i just met through a friend climbing and i invited her to home group. you’ll get to meet her on Tuesday. she is a believer but her church is slightly sleepy and fuel was to big for her. I think she will fit in great in our home group i really want to make her feel included and loved on Tuesday!
see you then!

Hello Mike Here’s my story,

So I right before I took an envelope I already knew what God wanted me to do. And I already knew that the dollar amount was going to be 5 dollars. I don’t know how I knew this, I just did. For the last 2 years I’ve been building into my friend [somebody]. I was his RA my soph. year and I have been friends with him since then. He’s come to a lot of different things that we here at cornerstone have done, but I’ve never asked him about his spiritual beliefs, nor have I shared mine.

So after hearing the challenge I knew that God wanted me to meet with [somebody] and dialogue about spiritual things. So when I got home I opened up my envelope I saw it was 5 dollars. I knew that I had to meet with [somebody]. I called him and asked him if he wanted to get some dinner.

I took him out for dinner and spent a bit more than 5 bucks but it was well worth it. During our conversation I asked him, “hey, you know that I’m a spiritual guy, but I’ve never asked you what you believe. Do you have any spiritual beliefs?” We started a good dialogue about all sorts of things. He has a very common view among college students that all religions are good, and that there is really no way to know for sure. I shared with him my spiritual journey and also gave some insight into some questions about God’s will and Free will, and other things.

On our way home we dialogued some more and I asked him the question, “What if the Christian God really does exist…What would that mean for you? What would have to convince you that he exists?, or what has convinced you into believing that he doesn’t exist?” He said, “that’s a good question?”

[His] beliefs were very much in the line with the idea that people believe what they believe not because it is true, but because it allows them to do the things they want to do. I wasn’t able to lead him to Christ but we did begin to open up some of his flawed belief structures, and caused him to think about things he rarely thinks about. I really care about him and I hope that one day he can open his heart enough to accept Christ.

Thank you Mike for offering this challenge to me. This really was a beautiful way to see our lives as stewards of God’s money, not our own. This also helped in giving me a kick in the butt to reach out to my friend whom has been on my heart for a long time.

I did take an envelope and I donated $20 the money to the Irving family that recently lost their house, I attached a note and let them know we would be praying for them.

mike
i did indeed take an envelope and it had 10 dollars in it. I used the money half of the money this last tuesday to buy my roomate dinner at our homegroup family dinner. I really am feeling pulled towards her and she is going through some rough stuff right now. I thought that using this money to take her out and treat her to dinner would be awesome and since there was opportunity to bring her around community it was even better… and now she is coming to Large Group on friday too!!!!!!! With the other five dollars, sometime next week [someone] and i will be getting together next week sometime to talk and I may spend it on her somehow…

I’m planning on taking my nephew out to lunch on Friday with the hope seeing God do something. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Mike,
I had picked an envelope with $10. I used it to buy dinner for an unbelieving friend who just had a baby.

Mike,
Using this money proved to be a challenge from the beginning. At first, I was unsure of who to build into. Evangelism hasn’t been on my mind much since getting married. (I understand now why Paul might have urged Christians to stay single.) I settled on a co-worker. From the beginning, we had one of those relationships where we clicked immediately and both agreed we should get together, but hanging out never came to fruition

until…

I asked her out for a date at the Coffeehouse; we were both stoked. I planned to buy her goods, but she beat me to the punch! We waxed on spirituality and religion, our letdowns of post-graduation life the workforce, and daydreamed about some really rad future plans. After learning her past I figured the best way I could share Jesus was to love her through my actions.

A few weeks later we got together on a Sunday morning. I brought over breakfast and we worked on our respective art projects while talking. It was really chill and a wonderful time. I can tell her respect for me is growing, despite her primary alarms about me being a Christian. I hope to keep investing in her.

Hey Mike,

I received 5 dollars in my envelope. I used the money to help treat my life group, that I am trying to get started again, to lunch. I am praying that Ross and I can continue to be an influence on [somebody] and [somebody], and even on each other. Thanks for all the encouragement.

Hey Mike-
Just thought I would update you on the Envelope situation. I recieved 10 dollars in my envelope, and I took a friend out to dinner with it last night. She is a friend who is not a Christian to my understanding, but has been introduced to the things of God and has come to a handful of Cornerstone events, but who is not a ‘regular’. She has not been really built in to by many of the women in Cornerstone, and I have been wanting to get together with her for some time now, so finally we went out to dinner.
I think that it went pretty well, and we got to know each other a little better, and we talked about some cool things as far as moral boundaries go and her thoughts on Cornerstone and Christians and such, so that was cool. We did not get as deep into some areas as I had hoped, but I think the door was definitely opened a little bit wider as far as more opportunities and discussions to come.

Hey Mike!

After much praying, I have decided to use the seed money to support Kaitlin Tris with her mission trip to Africa this summer. There was $20 in the envelope and thought that this might be a good start to her support raising. I was talking to Kaitlin earlier today and one of her worries is that she will not be able to raise enough money to go. I will pray that the financial issue will not hold her back from going and that God will use her over there to help build up His name. Thank you for the chance to help a sister!

I want to let everyone know that the Spring 2008 calendar is coming together, and you can (as always) view it over on our calendar page.

Enjoy.

Here’s the text for the Google-impaired:

• Find your way to Main Street in Bloogmington/Normal and head North.
• Merge onto I-39 North and drive approx. 13 miles to exit #14
• Turn right off of the exit and head towards El Paso.
• Turn left at the stoplight and head North on 251
• Turn right onto CR-1600N
• Approx. 1.8 miles east is the barn. It will be the 2^nd house on the right.

Here’s a map to the Fall Retreat. It is highly advisable to print this out!

View Larger Map

• Sleeping bag/blankets
• Pillow
• Bible
• Notebook
• Pen or pencil
• Fun stuff (games, balls, Frisbees)
• Warm clothes
• Clothes for The Game
• Toiletries
• Towel
• Checkbook (or cash) if you haven’t paid yet
• Cash for soda/water (bottled)
• Extra blankets for bonfire
• Extra socks (because its always good to have extra socks—just in case!)

I’ve added a new page to the sidebar: Cornerstone’s Calendar. Now you can see what’s going on with our church in a way that’s subscribe-able. Gotta love Google.

We received this note yesterday that we are passing on to you. You can also check out NLCF’s website at www.NLCF.net:

I want to thank many of you for your care, concern and prayers in regard to the Virginia Tech tragedy. Many of you have called or e-mailed me to share your concern. Please pray for our sister church at Virginia Tech, that God would allow them to have a ministry of presence during this difficult time. Pray that God would give them wisdom to minister to all the students at Tech and those who live in Blacksburg.

Also, Jim Pace, one of the pastor’s of New Life Campus Fellowship, our sister church in Virginia was asked to be on Larry King tonight 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Western. Please pray for Jim. Pray that God will give him the words that will minister to people.

Right now I am in Washington D.C. I just talked with Jim Pace moments ago and will be keeping up with what is happening in Blacksburg through him and others. As I learn more information from people at Virginia Tech, I will do my best to give periodic updates on my blog in regard to this tragedy. Feel free to go there to find out how you might know how to pray more wisely.

www.jrwoodward.net

Jim has asked me to mention that over the next couple of days the best thing we can do is pray. He and a couple of others have been overwhelmed with calls. Jim prefers people wait a couple of days before him to to give condolences.

Thanks for your prayers. God works through prayer.

JR