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Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage, Part 1

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Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage

 

Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage launched this last Sunday at Bedfordview, a DVD course that will run every Sunday evening until 19 August. The first week was highly enjoyable and it certainly lived up to its name!

The food was great and the facilities were kitted out nicely, with each couple given a little corner of their own to snuggle up with each other. Mark Gungor, the host of the series, delved into The Tale of Two Brains and humorously highlighted the differences between how men and women think.

The great thing about the series is that it isn’t an intense marriage course that will have you delving in constant introspection and cause you to be frustrated as you try and navigate your way through another formula for marriage that promises to make everything perfect and wonderful. Rather, it helps us take a lighter view of things so we don’t try and aim for an idealistic (and unreachable) perfection but rather just enjoy this wonderful thing called marriage – and enjoy each other.

You can still come through for the rest of the course and it’s highly recommended. The cost is R200 per couple which includes some great snacks for each of the evenings and a romantic dinner on the last evening. It’s also a great opportunity to pay and invite friends to a marriage series that’s for everyone. Please let us know in advance, however, so that catering can be sorted out – call 011-616-4073 or register here.

Note: There is childcare for ages 3 and up.

Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage
Dates: Sunday evenings of 29 July, 5 August, 12 August, 19 August
Time: 6:00pm
Cost: R200 per couple for all the evenings. Cost includes snacks and a romantic dinner for the last evening.
Where: Cornerstone Church Bedfordview –  Benard Road East, Bedfordview, Johannesburg
Info: Email info@www.cornerstonechurch.co.za or call 011-616-4073

Register: You can register for this event in the following ways:
• At the info desk at Cornerstone Church Bedfordview and paying in cash.
• By filling out the form here and sending your EFT payment confirmation to info@www.cornerstonechurch.co.za

All-Sites Celebration: Uptown Shows Us Up (Again!)

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by Ryan Strydom

 

We were once again all shown-up by Uptown when it comes to busting the moves at last night’s All-Sites Celebration, with the Uptown guys giving us all a good lesson in partying!

It was a brilliant time together as we celebrated the amazing things God has been doing in Cornerstone and the fantastic promises He has for us as we look forward. After a wonderful time of singing and dancing, we prayed into the new areas we believe God is opening up for us – Yeoville and Rosebank. For both of these areas we’re trusting to see venues open up and sites firmly established.

Prayers also went towards seeing all the sites – not just Bedfordview – develop into resource centres as leaders are raised up and sent to plant churches and pioneer for God. We’re a church in the city and that is becoming a greater reality. All-Sites Celebration is a time when we really begin to feel that reality coming through and I was grateful for an evening of connecting with Cornerstone guys from all over Jozi.

Mandela Day: Elated to Help the Klopper Guys

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by Mpho Ntuli

It was a real privilege helping out the guys from the Klopper Friday Club on Mandela Day and giving their venue some much-needed attention!

We got there in the morning and noted the big job ahead – there were broken windows, cracking paint, dirty and broken light-fittings, dirty curtains, and much more. So we got to work, stripping everything, coating the main hall, sorting out the kitchen and the passages, cleaning the carpets, fixing the windows, taking care of the paint… the list continues.

Throughout the day a number of people stopped by to do their 67 minutes in the spirit of Mandela Day. Some of the guys from hArt (another Ukwakha Isizwe project) also arrived to do their bit. By 3:30pm the change in the building was fantastic. It was really awesome doing this for the Klopper guys and the Life Team were sweaty and tired but elated!

Some photos will be posted tomorrow.

Marcus and Glenn in New Zealand: Report-Back

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by Glenn van Rooyen
 

 

It’s honestly a privilege to be part of the work that Jesus is doing in another nation. We spent time with a number of churches and leaders over the two weeks that Marcus and I were in New Zealand, being part of what they are doing and encouraging them.

After a twenty-seven hour flight to Auckland, Marcus and I journeyed with Bruce and Josh Benge to Hamilton (about an hour south). There we had the privilege of joining their prayer meeting and connecting with the Horsham Downs community church.

For the two days that followed, we had the joy of being with a son of Cornerstone church, Cliff Cherry. Cliff has transitioned the leadership of a church and these couple of days were certainly part of God’s timing as Cliff talked us through some of the transitional steps that were soon to be announced to the church in Havlock North – these included a change of name and a new site in the city. It was an exciting time as the church completely embraced this change and rose to take hold of the inheritance our King has for them.

Next was a six hour drive up through some amazing scenery to EQUIP New Zealand in Auckland. We met many leaders and spent a fair amount of time with the leaders from Faith City, Mike and Alison Nicholas; and Gateway, Andrew and Emma Bergh. (We were hosted so well wherever we went!)

EQUIP times are such breakthrough moments. They are times when God speaks, when He clarifies things and when our King reminds us of the spiritual season we’re in. During one of the sessions, Allison Nicholas reminded us that the spiritual season we are in dictates the way we are to move forward. Every church has to hear what God is saying to them to be successful.

God personalised the conference for me, even though we were in a corporate setting and far away from home. Here are some thoughts that impacted me:

  • The Gospel is the power that changes lives – nothing else!
  • We must make time for intimacy with our King.
  • Marcus – God looks at “me” and sees nations open up.
  • Marcus – The gospel is the power of God, not social programs, they are only tools.
  • Paul Zanardo – we are to model faithfulness, passion, integrity, adventure, forgiveness.
  • Mike Hanchett felt strongly that we have three to five years to open up and set our youth up. They are busting for a purpose, a reason to give their lives to.
  • God has given us all a ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5: 18-20)
  • Mike Nicholas – An honest look at life across the globe is that change is everywhere – in some cases, so much so that people are struggling with the shock of it. (New ways to communicate, rapid change in knowledge.) We cannot afford to walk in any other way than with the Holy Spirit.
  • Mike Nicholas – The key to the presence of God in our own life is to obey and do His will. Many people struggle with unbelief and even though they see manifestations and changed lives, people are still not sure. (God, help us in our unbelief.) The antidote to unbelief is to GO and do his will. You cannot separate the Kingdom of God from the will of God.

With watching the Fathers team up, lead and encourage strongly, while relatively young, front-footed guys link arms and intentionally take new ground, my heart has been stirred and I can only fall on my knees and thank our King that he loves us so much. No matter what nation we are a part of, Jesus calls us to partner with him.

Wednesday Night Life Bedfordview

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Wednesday Night Life Bedfordview

Acts Chapter 2 gives us a great snapshot into the life of the early church. We read about what they did, how they responded to what was happening and how God blessed their community. It is one of the clearest pictures we have from scripture of what was involved in early church life.

With the start of term 3, we are launching Wednesday Night Life. We read in Acts 2:42 that the early church devoted themselves to four things: the apostles teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer. At Wednesday Night Life, that’s exactly what we do. Every Wednesday, we start with prayer before sharing a meal together, after which we get some good, solid Bible teaching. Each of these aspects is vital both to the individual and to the body of believers.

This term’s teaching will focus on the value of Lifegroups – or as the Bible puts it, meeting together in each other’s homes. We’re putting formal Lifegroup meetings on hold for the duration of term 3 to make room for everyone in the church to attend this important Bible study.

Join us on Wednesdays as we spend time with God and each other – striving to see his Kingdom come in our lives and the life of the Church. Those with kids needn’t worry, there will be childcare available.

Wednesday Night Life Bedfordview
Launch: Wednesday, 1 August
Time: 6:00pm – 8:30pm
Where: Cornerstone Church Bedfordview

Childcare will be available

The Exchange and The Power of Dreams

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by Ryan Strydom

This last Friday’s Exchange had Bill Taylor share on the “Power of Dreams,” an encouraging morning as Bill enriched the group with his testimony and saw how God had given him dreams that God had brought to reality.

Bill is the CEO of a large and award-winning company in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. He has also been quite involved in mission / apostolic work and the local church, in addition to serving on the Board of Zambia Project, a grouping that conducts social justice projects into Zambia and plants churches.

Bill shared how, from a very young age, he used to dream of being a business person. He included a couple of humorous life stories that also taught him a lot – such as, when he was eight years old, a truck carrying watermelons had an accident near his house and he took he bashed up watermelons and made them into juice, so that he could sell the juice to the neighbourhood. It was a huge failure, but it taught him that you need to have a product of value.

Also, it taught him that you need to sell to a market that has money, as he grew up in a neighbourhood that was in most respects quite poor. Bill linked this into how, as Christians, we shouldn’t be ashamed of making a profit – it’s what we do with the profit that matters, not the desire to make a profit.

Profit comes with hard work, something Bill has had a lot of experience in. A lot of Christians aim to have a balanced lifestyle and many times this means they shun hard work. But Bill says he has struggled to find a Christian that can really define what a balanced life looks like. So while rest is important, so is work, and Christians shouldn’t be afraid to work hard.

It’s been a journey for Bill and his wife on the way to where they are now. Bill even shared how, for six months at one stage, all they really were able to eat were Koo beans and two-day old bread from the baker close by (who his wife managed to make a deal with). It’s encouraging to see that God eventually brings us out of these kinds of situations and at the same time those kinds of situations can bear tremendous fruit. It’s difficult to see that when we’re in them, but we’re not in them forever!

Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage

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Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage

 

Every Sunday evening from 29 July to 19 August, Cornerstone will be running Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage – a humorous DVD series that challenges the way we think about marriage, our spouses and ourselves; and reminds us that marriage can indeed always be better.

Many of us have approached marriage in the wrong way – expecting perfection from our spouses and from marriage itself. Here’s what the Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage website says about this topic:

“Ever walk past a mirror and are shocked or mortified by what you see? Your hair standing up in a weird way, your slip showing, your fly open, egg stuck in your teeth? Mirrors can be real lifesavers. Had it not been for that mirror, you may have gone the entire day looking ridiculous.

“Marriage is a mirror. By living so closely with another human being, you start to get a picture of what you really look like. You start to see where you need to adjust and change. This is why marriage is so effective at making people’s lives more rich and productive—if they adjust to the needed changes.

“Unfortunately, many expect marriage to be something that makes them look better, not something that reveals where they don’t look so good. Additionally, rather than see where we need to change, we opt to project our own negative images on our spouses and point out where they need to change: She is so irritating….he is such a lazy slob….I don’t want to act this way, but she brings out the worst in me.”

Read more at the Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage website.

It’s going to be a great series with plenty of laughs as Mark Gungor, the host of the series, in a tongue-in-cheek way talks about the differences between men and women and the way we approach marriage incorrectly.

Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage
Dates: Sunday evenings of 29 July, 5 August, 12 August, 19 August
Time: 6:00pm
Cost: R200 per couple for all the evenings. Cost includes snacks and a romantic dinner for the last evening.
Where: Cornerstone Church Bedfordview –  Benard Road East, Bedfordview, Johannesburg
Info: Email info@www.cornerstonechurch.co.za or call 011-616-4073
Register: You can register for this event in the following ways:
• At the info desk at Cornerstone Church Bedfordview and paying in cash.
• By filling out the form below and sending your EFT payment confirmation to info@www.cornerstonechurch.co.za

NOTE: There will be childcare for ages 3 and up.

Blanket Drive Report Back

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The blanket drive at Caffiain coffee shop in Queens Street received 380 donations. A team from Cornerstone went out to Rosedeep Informal Settlement on Sunday morning, 2 June, to distribute the blankets. Hennie Cronje had the opportunity to address the community to explain our who we were and why we were there. The names and telephone numbers of those who received a blanket were taken down so that we can follow up on them. Our hope is to build strong relationships with the people in the community of Rosedeep, so that we can serve them in whatever way possible.

Key Women Report Back – Deborah

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by Justine Engelbrecht

Key Women 7th June 2012

Judges 4 – Deborah

Thanks Claire for an incredibly powerful teaching on Deborah. I believe each one of us took home something valuable.

Deborah was an amazing women who teaches us that God is both faithful and redemptive. She was a warrior, she was not afraid, she loved the Lord and she was courageous. She teaches us that, as women, it is time to let the “motherly-ness” in us RISE UP!

Deborah called herself the Mother of Israel (Judges 5:7). She heard God, she loved God and she loved the people. Her faith allowed her to lead Barak and 10,000 to the battleground. She was confident that the Lord would deliver Israel out of the Canaanite Depression.

Deborah teaches us that God wants us to hear Him. She feared and had reverence for the Lord. God is faithful by nature and He delights when we put our trust in Him. Trust God – God loves to prove faithful. He likes it when we ask for BIG things, and He delights in giving us the desires of our hearts.

It is time for us as women to:

  • Be Available
  • Activate our faith
  • Initiate a response to the call
  • Be Empowered by the Spirit
  • Walk in the Spirit
  • Trust God
  • Execute His commands

Find Confidence in the fact that God has called me to be who I am. “Be Still and Know that I am God”. God IS FAITHFUL AND RELENTLESS.

Deborah knew God was Faithful, Do you?

Finding Your Factor X – Casper Versluis

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Friday, 1 June 2012

Casper Versluis is a young businessman in the church. He is a partner in three Wimpy franchises in the Gauteng area. In addition to this he took on the responsibility of leading Cornerstone’s Life Team last year.

This year he returned to the business world and has joined the Exchange team. At the latest Exchange breakfast he shared on “Finding Your Factor X”. He started by telling us that there are two purposes to finding our factor X – God’s glory and extending His Kingdom. Casper then gave us five areas in which we need to take responsibility for our Factor X:

  1. Identifying our gifts and abilities.
  2. Understanding the urgency with which these gifts are to be used.
  3. Recognising the privilege of our gifts and talents.
  4. Using them with excellence.
  5. Knowing that we have and use these by God’s grace alone.

Casper finished off with an encouragement to all that we have gifts and abilities and God is waiting for us to use them for His glory.