It’s that time of the year again! Every December, the Cornerstone staff gets together for a Christmas party. This year we met in the main auditorium since the group has gotten too large for other places. We had such a great time. The food was excellent and Pastor Steve sang with Alvin and the Chipmunks. We also played a game. We competed in teams to see who could make the best Christmas-related photographs. Here are some impressions of that evening.
A1 Closet Refashioned
In the Zone Children’s Ministry, we have restructured our entire ministry so we can become more intentional in the things that truly matter in the eternal sense. We have broken down our team to focus on Relations and Program. I fall under program (Elementary Program to be exact) and will work on developing our spiritual content of our program on both of our campuses. My focus is to look long and hard with open eyes at what is working and what is not. What matters and what is just fluff or habit. I feel God is at work in this move and is blazing a trail in effective ministry to Kids.
Spearheading the Elementary program also means I inherit lots and lots of task and materials. My first task has been to reorganize a walk-in closet and get it ready so I can keep things organized enough prepare our various Elementary programs.
A1 Closet Before
A1 (Let’s just say “in transition”)
A1 Closet After
Good ol’ Charleston!
Pete was able to join some of the Brentwood team last week and head to South Carolina for a Multi-Site Church conference. It was an amazing trip and as always it’s taking days for him to download all of his thoughts and notes and start the expedition from notes to application. Check out some snapshots from the trip!
As we took off from SFO I looked outside the window and had a view of my hometown of Livermore!
Then moments later I had a perfect view of our new home in Brentwood/Discovery Bay!
On our long flight over the Country, Delta (yes… unfortunately not Untied ) had a cool trivia game on the little TV’s. Check out what place I was in! (It didn’t last long…)
We were in the greater Charleston area pretty much the whole time, but it did not disappoint. The downtown looked like it had come right out of the 1800’s with just a fresh coat of paint.
We went to the shrimp Boatin’ area of town and enjoyed some waterside dinning.
The Conference went great and I came away very encouraged and ready to return to my Children’s team with some new energy.
This is what they served as one of the break time snacks! “Shrimp and Grits” Only in the South………..
The BW team Pooped on the way home…
Hartland ’08
This year Bree and I both headed to Hartland Christian Camp with 80 elementary kids! It was a great week of effective ministry… but let me to you, when you spend that much time, with that many kids… Let’s just say that I just might grow gray hair before I lose it!
The boys and I got the Big one!
VBS 2008!
We just finished up an intense VBS (Vacation Bible School) at Cornerstone. We transported just under 40 kids from Brentwood to Livermore each day all week long and we had a great time! VBS was a huge success with many kids (500) hearing about Jesus and who is really is! It was great.
It’s Official
Well, its official, I am in a new Job! It has been unbelievably perfect for me. I have been really enjoying it to say the least. I really feel I have been placed in a great position for my specific talents and strengths. I am in a nutshell a developer. By title I am the Children’s Ministry Coordinator – Brentwood Campus. My job is to manage the transfer process of Children’s Ministry in from the Livermore campus to the Brentwood campus. I get to be hands on with Kids, of course, but really my job is to disciple and nurture the Volunteers and staff that are truly the hands and feet of the ministry. I also have the unique job of evaluating the process of fulfilling the concept of the multi-site church. The idea of one Church in two (or multiple) locations. The challenge to transfer the DNA and Bone structure, yet allowing each campus to have the appearance and feel (Flesh so to speak) of its own. Making it tailor fit to its location, demographics, and congregation. So, for me this has been the gem of my job. I just love being a researcher and developer. Know in a worldly way this can easily be taken to an unhealthy place, so another element that I am personally finding is the importance of my personal closeness to Christ. I have felt the fleshy pull to take the ministry in a different directions or “my direction” without consulting with my Lord and praying over EVERYTHING I/we do! It can be tainted SO easily. So, I have been praying for my walk and dependence to the Lord for His guidance and directions. Please be praying for me in this. What is incredible and I know is a God sent, is the fact that in the last week the church leadership has found the Campus Director at large for Brentwood! And by design and not by coincidence at all, it just so happens to be my mentor! Dave Shields! He is the missionary from Africa that Bree and I lived with for two months. They have come home after 6 years and are now on staff at Cornerstone. He is now the director in Brentwood! It is amazing because he is the most prayerful man I have ever met. He lives his life completely dependant on the Lord. It will be a privilege to serve with him!
With the Full time job in Brentwood came a move! Bree and I found (after a long search) a perfect living situation! We are renting rooms out of a beautiful home in a gated community surrounded by picturesque lakes. So for now I am living in both places and Bree is in Livermore. After the wedding we will both be Full-time Brentwood residence. It is more then I could have ever imagined. I expected a 12 x 12 box apartment during this time, (heck, who knows that can still be in immediate future) But for now, we live in a very comfortable, roomy, home. This is the owner’s investment home and are seldom there, the rent is very good, and they are only asking for half the PG&E! They are paying water/TV/WiFi/garbage. Sounds too good to be true! I still can’t believe it, but I have been living there for a month now, and it has been awesome; Great people.
pete'n'bree 