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.

Cowboys vs Broncos...

It's been a little while since I have taken the time to post. I am breaking my silence with some incredibly exciting news. I will be at the Dallas Cowboys vs Denver Broncos preseason game tonight. How is this possible you ask? It's easy....I serve the greatest church filled with the greatest people in the world. One of my dearest deacons purchased tickets for me and my associate pastor for tonight's game. Everyone here knows of my great love for the soon-to-be superbowl champion Cowboys. My good friend and deacon was kind enough to bless me with the gift of tickets. I know....it's only preseason....the good players will not play....but I'll be there cheering them on anyway.

Deacon Retreat...

Every year we take some time for our Deacons at Cornerstone to retreat for a time of personal recommitment and spiritual renewal. It's one of my favorite events each year and I feel like it sets the pace for where our church is going. For several years we would retreat to the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park. We would rent a vacation home for the weekend and our times together were always wonderful experiences of fellowship and prayer. As our size has grown we have had to move into larger facilities to accomodate the additional deacons that we have been bringing along. For the second year in a row, we traveled to Larkspur to stay at our Colorado Baptist owned camp--The Ponderosa. It's not quite as nice as the digs that we enjoyed at the YMCA but it fits our budget much better.

This year's retreat was primarily a series of brief Bible studies focusing on the person and the work of a deacon. Much time was devoted to personal and corporate prayer and we attempted to prayerfully make application of what was being revealed from the Scriptures. Let me share a brief outline of what we experienced.

Friday Night: 7pm--Personal Prayer, 7:30pm--A Deacon's Character (1 Timothy 3), 8:00pm--A Deacon's Growth, 8:30pm--Personal Prayer, 9:00pm--A Deacon's Power (Acts 8:4-13), 9:30pm--A Deacon's Commitment (Acts 6:8-7:60). The commitment session was held around a camp fire where we received communion together. The idea was for each of us to embrace the courage and love of Stephen in becoming willing to die for our Lord and for the people that He has given us to serve. We finished up with a study on the Parable of the Talents that led us to begin viewing the people of Cornerstone as treasures (talents) that God has given us to care for and to grow.

Saturday: 8:30--Personal Prayer, 9:00--A Deacon's Message (Acts 8:25-40), 9:30--A Deacon's Koinonia, 10:00--A Deacon's CARE, 10:30--Selection of Family CARE Groups. This is the time when our Deacon's personally and prayerfully select the families that they will be caring for throughout the year. 1:00--A Deacon's Vision. We finished up at 2:00 clock by heading down to the 40 foot climbing tower where several made it up the cargo net and bravely came back down on the zip line.

We had some powerful experiences of prayer during the weekend and I think that we all came back with a passion to faithfully care for the families that God has brought to Cornerstone. Our Deacons are tasked with the responsibility of providing CARE for the families that they select. CARE is an acronym that stands for C-haplain, A-ccountability, R-esources, and E-ncouragement. These are the bottom-line services that our Deacons provide. We consider Deacons to be the primary guardians of the fellowship (unity) of our church. During the time that we provide for response in each of our worship services, I often have several of our Deacons join me at the front of the worship center to receive those who are making decisions and to pray for those who would come forward for prayer. Cornerstone has one of the best Deacon ministries of any church that I have ever been a part of. These men are truly my partners in ministry.