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Archive for the ‘Second Saturday’ Category

Extreme Team Party

Posted in Local Missions, Second Saturday, tagged , , , , , , , on November 15, 2012| Leave a Comment »

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Simon has been leading the Extreme Team since Second Saturdays started back in 2009 at Cornerstone. I was a year into being on the Mission board and the concept was to send teams out into the community to volunteer for a few hours on a Saturday. Even though Simon no longer attends there, he has always kept the Extreme Team going. He always has project and sends out Facebook invites to get some of us to help. I love his heart for the local community. Tonight he had a gathering for those of us that have helped out over the past year. But we pulled a surprise on him and honored him for his leadership to the Extreme Team. He was humbled of course. It was a fun night of food and fellowship and I look forward to many more opportunities to serve in 2013.

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The Vet

Posted in God Story, Local Missions, Second Saturday, tagged , , , , on August 11, 2012| Leave a Comment »

A bunch of us have been helping out a veteran who had a pacemaker put in and has just been put on dialysis. Our friend  John Maxwell lives in a pretty run down house in Chandler that needs a lot of work. Some of us went in a month ago and cleaned up his yard so he could avoid city fees. After he was put on dialysis, we found out that he was sleeping on a pretty crappy bed. So my friend Simon organized an online donation link for many of us to donate to get him a bed. The money came in within hours and by the end of the week, John had a new bed to lay in as he received his treatments. Today a bunch of us spent time doing electrical work and patching up holes in his house. Afterwards, he took us all to lunch at Rosati’s.

As awesome as all of this is, the cool part of the story is John’s son. He has been taking care of his dad and we found out he is a practicing Buddhist priest. Through all this serving, we have made a connection with. He has been allowing us to pray for him and his dad and really enjoys being around all of us. My prayer is that we can be a shining light to him and that he sees Jesus in all of us.

The new bed

John keeps this next to him for inspiration

Working on John’s house

John’s room

Simon – A humble servant

At Rosati’s – the guy with the beard is John’s son

John’s cane

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Extreme Team

Posted in Second Saturday, tagged , , , on July 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Today I joined the Extreme team for Second Saturday and helped them clean up a yard of weeds of an old veteran that was having surgery. Our miracle team did an amazing job of cleaning things up in his backyard as he was facing fines from the city. The cool thing was that his son was watching the place for him and he is a Buddhist priest. We were able to pray for him and his father afterwards.

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Blessings of Serving

Posted in Second Saturday, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Today I helped moved a friend and her husband to a new home with a group of people from Cornerstone for Second Saturday. It was great to get out and be a light in the community and to fellowship with some wonderful people. Just hearing Debbie’s story of how God brought her and husband back together after years of both of them struggling to be single parents on their own was encouraging. And now God has blessed them both with a new home to do life together in. I also enjoyed hearing the many stories of the group around me and how God is working all over the place in people’s lives. We had this amazing prayer session afterwards in which we prayed for people and blessed the new home. I love how a simple day of serving turns into a day in which we saw God glorified in people’s stories.

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Central Arizona Shelter Services

Posted in Local Missions, Second Saturday, tagged , , on January 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Cornerstone visited a new site for Second Saturday – Central Arizona Shelter Services. Last week during our homeless outreach with Liberty House, we donated lots of clothes to CASS. Christin, the boys and I rode on the van to CASS and they had us sort out clothes and supplies. CASS is Arizona’s largest shelter and supportive service center for homeless individuals, serving an average of 5,000 men, women and children annually. They not only provide for their needs, but have programs to help them to become self-sufficient and get them back into society.

From their website:

CASS was founded in 1984 in response to a need for an agency to operate an emergency shelter for the homeless in downtown Phoenix. It is the largest shelter and service center for homeless people in Arizona, serving 6,000 men, women, and children annually.
CASS has two facilities. The main facility in downtown Phoenix serves 400 homeless men and women. Vista Colina Emergency Family Shelter, is a 30 unit apartment complex in Sunnyslope that houses homeless families with children. Both operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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Posted in Local Missions, Second Saturday, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 9, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Sleeping area at the Watkins Homeless Shelter

Sleeping area at the Watkins Homeless Shelter

Had an amazing Second Saturday yesterday. I normally take a team to Liberty House, but today I got to go to the Watkins Overflow Shelter. Twelve us headed out to Phoenix. Watkins is an emergency shelter that is currently housing a hundred women and about forty families. We spent the first part of the day sorting out clothing that was donated. Then we got to spend some time playing games like bingo and doing crafts with the kids. These women and families are really going through some tough stuff.  Getting a chance to play a small part in bringing a little joy to their day was an amazing experience for all of us.

Playing Bingo

Playing Bingo

Candace Cameron and her husband Val Bure were the guest speakers at Friend Day today. We got to go back to two of the homeless shelters that we visited yesterday and bring them to Friend Day. We filled up both vans and brought them to church. Then we fed them lunch after service. It was awesome to see the joy on their faces.

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Cecil Walker's Second Saturday video

Posted in Second Saturday, tagged , , on June 14, 2008| Leave a Comment »

My friend Cecil Walker joined us for Second Saturday and made a video of his experiences. Check it out!

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Recap

Posted in Life Group, Second Saturday, Students, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on May 12, 2008| Leave a Comment »

A pretty God-filled week for me. God continues to reassure me in all I do. He blesses me so much with my Bible studies and the people he puts in my life. He continues to provide for me.
I had a fun week with the boys. Its been great having things back to normal with them. We saw Iron Man. I’m a huge sucker for summer action movies. Its fun when you have boys to go see them. They are wrapping up school and I’m now in the process of planning out my summer with them. We have lots of camping trips and California trips in the works.
We started to read Daniel in my men’s group. Its been great so far. I love reading about the faith that Daniel and his companions have in God. So encouraging. We have it made when it comes to persecution for our faith compared to back then. Pastor Royce gave a message on spiritual warefare the next night. It was an amazing message. I am sad that the Mine is ending for a break soon. I started a study on Discovering God’s Will in my Lifegroup. I’m very excited for it! Then I heard a message from Ron Habermas the following night. Probably one of the top Christian theologians of our time.
I did some volunteer work at Liberty House Saturday for our Second Saturday event. I love the heart of the people that come out for this. Crossroads Youth Intervention is such an amazing ministry. They take in intercity kids from the surrounding neighborhood (very dark and violent) and give them a safe place to hang out. They tutor them and share the love of Jesus at the same time. They even take them on camping trips over the summer as well. My good friend Mike Bhatti has been doing amaing stuff there as an intern.
I took my mom out for breakfast Sunday morning for mother’s day. My mom has been good to me. She lets me vent when I need to and helps me finanially during tough times when I need it. She has helped a lot in helping me raise my kids when I need a night off. She kept me in church as a child. It was that planted seed that brought me back to Christ recently. I appreciate her.
World Vision was at the church later that day. I’m a huge supporter of them. World Vision is making a difference in the world. I have been supporting their ministry in Uganda for some time. My heart goes out to the people who work for them and what God is doing in the world through them.
My very good friend Rob got baptized Sunday as well. Love that guy. A man who admits his struggles and just has a heart and passion for Christ. He got baptized with his sister. Just an all around encouraging moment for me.
I started a new group outside of church for some men at church that afternoon. Its just a purity group for men who have been through divorce. My hope is that some of these guys will take their situations and become better men of God through it. I had a good turn out for it and I look forward to meeting these guys every month.
That evening was my last Sunday teaching 4th grade Sunday school. I’ve been blessed to do that for 2 years now. It was the first ministry I signed up for after turning my life over to Christ. I will miss those kids. I am apppreciative of the staff for believing in me and allowing me to do that. It has given me the passion to share the word to others.
I capped off my long attending Praxis church that evening. I’m really loving that church. I leave spiritually filled everytime. Pastor Justin is so passionate about the word. We just finished a series on 1 John. A pretty straight forward message to Christians on the Christian walk. I’m considering taking them up on their leadership program this summer.
So that’s what is up with me right now. Counseling sessions with da ex and da boyz this week. Praying to God that was right decsion on my part. But for the most part just going to relax and enjoy my week some friends. Hit me up…

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The Local Community

Posted in Local Missions, Second Saturday, tagged , , , , on March 8, 2008| Leave a Comment »

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16

I’m really excited to see how Second Saturday is shaping up at the church. We have a core group of people that have showed up for everyone one of these. And we are still averaging just over 120 people that come to serve the community at 8am on a Saturday morning. I love that Marty McIntyre played “God of this City” (a song Chris Tomlin adopted from a band from Belfast) before we left. That is really what this is all about. God is present here in this city, yet there is so much more to be done. Great things are being done with this group of people.

After Second Saturday, we put on another Gospel and Grocery event for the hispanic community. As some of you know, I have been involved with this event for some time. I have a huge heart for the hispanic community. I’ve become good friends with Pastor Abel and his wife Cecy from Iglesia Vida. They are doing amazing things with their church.

My love will always be with internantional missions. Yet it is so important to reach out to those in the surrounding neighborhoods. I am so thankful for being part of a church that recognizes this and is obeying God in serving our community.

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Mission – Minded

Posted in Local Missions, Second Saturday, tagged , , , , on January 12, 2008| Leave a Comment »

Great Commission –  Gospel of Matthew 28:16-20:

Then the  eleven disiples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of age.”(NIV)

Popular verse. We see it all the time in church. Yet many Christians struggle with this. Maybe because they don’t feel its one of their spiritual gifts. Yet it was one of Jesus’ last commands. I’m not being judgemental because I struggled with it for most of my walk. That is until I went on my first mission’s trip and really saw the need to spred the gospel to the unreachable. Not just to other countries, but to the local community as well.

So Cornerstone has started a new ministry called Second Saturday. Basically members that are willing to serve come to the church on the second Saturday of every month and we take them out to serve the local community for a few hours. We provide the transportation and locations. I think its an amazing direction for our church. I have been wanting to see our church reach out more to the surrounding community. We had over a hundred people show up for the first one. And even more of a blessing was that a quarter of them were high school kids. I think this will eventually become a pretty amazing event for Conerstone and will really mature the hearts of the members of our church.

For me.. this was my first assignment on the mission board. I drove one of the vans full of high school kids. We had a great day serving others. I was presented this opportunity to be on the mission board last month and I really feel God calling me to this. I really struggled last year because I had three missions trip that I signed up for fall through. I didn’t understand because I am so willing to go. But maybe God has a different direction and plan for me. This position will mature my faith. I am excited for this year as I see God really shaping and defining his will for me.

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