Who knew Mimi was allergic to gladiolas? Not Michael! They looked beautiful on the dining room table, and when Michael had to “get rid of them,” there had to be another alternative than the garbage. Then the idea struck like lightning. Why not give them to Debra, the Jewish woman who recently moved in next door…So Michael and Mimi, flowers in hand, went to their neighbors. Debra and her husband, Richard, answered the door and were presented with an unexpected gift, to which they said, “Please, come in.” For two missionaries, these are welcome words!…For the next one and a half hours, some of the conversation was about “where are you from,” “do you have any children,” etc. Then it turned spiritual, where Michael shared with Richard about how the Jewish Scriptures, from beginning to end, flow toward the coming of one Jewish Messiah who will both suffer then return and judge the living and the dead, and will bring God’s glory to the ends of the earth.

Michael and Mimi Finesilver are missionaries that Cornerstone supports. They are Messianic Jews reaching out to the Jewish community in southern Florida. I read this story in their newsletter last week, and I was highly encouraged and excited about this simple story they shared. The Finesilvers continue and share about how Richard and Debra are not yet believers, but that they invited the Finesilvers to return and continue their conversation.

I wanted to share this story because it’s this kind of swift, other people focused, servant-hearted attitude that I hope I learn and continue to have with my own neighbors. Flowers, that the Scriptures say will wither and pass away, turned into a conversation that has eternal implications.

Please continue to pray for Michael and Mimi Finesilver as they seek to lead people to know and serve Jesus in their community.

Perhaps you’ve heard of Second Saturday and you’re not really sure what it is. Second Saturday is what we refer to as on-ramp for joining Cornerstone in its mission to “Lead people to know and serve Jesus.” This is an opportunity for anyone really, not just members, to take four hours on the second Saturday of each month and engage in serving our community.

The Big House in Opelika, AL

In March, we began a partnership with a local organization called “The Big House.” The Big House’s mission is, “Connecting the needs of foster families with the generosity of our local community through the love of Jesus Christ.” I love that. They exists to be a bridge. It reminds of what Rusty often says, “We as Cornerstone exist to be a bridge, connecting lost people to the love of Jesus Christ.” Some of the focused needs that the Big House meets are providing a clothes closet for foster care families, providing mentoring/tutoring for foster children and some future goals will be hosting day camps in the summer and holding classes like dance and piano.

In March we were able to focus on cleaning up around the interior and exterior of their new facilities and begin construction on built in shelving for their clothes closet. It was very encouraging to see so many people dive into working, even on a rainy Saturday morning. We already have plans to continue working on the Big House in April and I’m looking forward to the opportunities this will offer beyond just four hours on a Saturday as we partner in serving foster families in our area.

Community Buzz

Want to see more photos from Second Saturday?  Cornerstone has it’s own social networking site created just for you.  Just create an account over at http://www.communitybuzz.org to see more and be a part of the fun.

This weekend, we have four projects available. One team of people will be working with ARM and a local family to do some minor repair work on a home. One team of people will continue working with the Lee County Humane Society that we have partnered with for the past few First Saturday events. And two teams will partner with a couple of our local elementary schools, Dean Road and Carey Woods, to do some light landscape work.

I can’t tell you what a great response we’ve had and how thankful our local schools were as we partnered with them through One Prayer Auburn. We want to continue to serve our schools as a thank you for their commitment to this community through education.

If you’re able to come, we’d love to have you as a part of this weekend. We’ll gather at the church at 8:00 am and leave no later than 8:30 am to head to each project and finish up around 12 noon. We do not provide childcare for this event, but there is usually something for everyone to do. In fact this is a great opportunity to demonstrate service to and with our children. If you are coming and know you’d like to help us out with one of the local schools, we would ask that you bring any lawn tools that you might be able to such as rakes, clippers, shovels or wheelbarrows (gloves).

If you want more information on this weekend, I’d love to talk to you about it. You can e-mail me at brian@cornerstonebuzz.org or call the church.

I will be leaving this Thursday at 10 am for Tanzania! We will fly to Houston then Amsterdam and the Kilamajaro. From there we will take a ten hour bus ride into the “bush.” They haven’t told me the exact names of the villages we will be working in are yet. While we are there, we will be setting up a medical tent that will serve as a triage. This will turn into somewhat of  an assembly line process. (ex. people will see a doctor, then will be sent to the makeshift pharmacy, and then they will go into an evangelism room) I will personally be in charge of the evangelism room (every other day) as well as keeping kids occupied while their parents are in the medical tent. We will also be doing a door to door walk everyday to get people in the village to come out to the Jesus film that we will be showing at night. While at the Jesus film, we are there to pass out pamphlets and pray over the people in that particular area.
Thanks for all of your support and prayers. I am so blessed to have a church family like Cornerstone!
Love you guys!
Ashley

I hope that you will join me in praying for Ashley over the next several weeks as she presses the gospel forward in Tanzania.

The mission is not too broad and yet its not too specifc either. We’re not wandering around in the dark doing random things. We know that we are focused on leading people to know and serve Jesus. But, our mission is not so specific that it can’t be contextualized for every person. My journey of knowing and serving Jesus is going to look different than my frind Micah’s journey. And Micah’s journey is going to look differnt than Amy’s, and so on and so forth. I find beauty in this idea that we’re all moving forward together, in unity, and yet we all look so different. A tapestry weaved together.

This is what Paul writes to the Corinthians in chapter 12 of the first letter we have:

12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. ¹³For we were all baptized by^[c] one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

¹⁴Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. ¹⁵If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. ¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²²On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

I’m loving being a part of the body of believers that meets at Cornerstone. I’m thankful that we have so many people who are committed to going on this journey with us of leading people to know and serve Jesus.