Climbing the Mountain of God This Weekend!

Friday begins one of my favorite weekends of the year--our deacons' retreat.

This is an unusual year to say the least. We have successfully transformed the way that we do deacon ministry to build on the many individuals in our church who are phenomenal caregivers yet would not qualify to be deacons for whatever reason. At the same time that we are decentralizing the way that we care for our members at Cornerstone, we are also attempting to build the strongest possible team of pastors and deacons. Cornerstone is blessed to have many of both available. I say all of that to share that we will begin this new process of CARE (chaplaincy, accountability, resources, encouragement) with the smallest number of deacons that we have had in eight years. We also begin with the largest number of pastors that we have ever had.

We begin on Friday morning with eighteen holes of golf at Mountain Vista. I intend to surprise everyone and finish slightly above last place. Friday afternoon at 3:00, we will head up to Estes Park where we have a cabin awaiting us.

The primary goal of the retreat is for our deacons to identify the primary caregivers that they will lead throughout the coming year. We're looking for five characteristics in these caregivers: #1--The deacon must already be in relationship with them, #2--They must be sacrificial servants, #3--They must be spiritually mature, #4--They must be filled with grace, and #5--They must have a shepherd's heart. These caregivers will in turn select 5-6 families that they will provide CARE for over the next twelve months under their individual deacon's guidance. We will accomplish some other things on the retreat to make it worthwhile including: prayer, training, fun, and unity.

I am very excited to spend some time with these men. In fact, I may not sleep well tonight--I'm that excited! Look for glory on our faces when we return on Saturday afternoon.