prayer
JESUS 45: THE RESTORATION OF THE LOST
BE STILL AND BEHOLD THE NEW
IT’S 5:30 A.M. I AM READY FOR OUR FIRST JESUS 45 MEETING ON THURSDAY!
THREE WAVES
GOD IS DOING SOMETHING BIG!
Our little church in Winchendon MA is experiencing a powerful work of God. It is a prayer movement the likes of which I have never seen in the 45 years I have been involved with the church.
It is something I knew was coming. I have been telling our community that there was coming a day when God would call us together and we would need to pray because the needs would be too big for us to handle on our own.
Since January I have watched a growing desire for MORE of the Spirit of God in our congregation.
We held twenty one days of fasting and prayer in January in partnership with The Worship Room House of Prayer in Winchendon. They offered and I encouraged three hours a day of prayer seven days a week for the 21 days! It was an amazing time.
From that time to this our Sunday services have seen an increase in faith. There has been one financial miracle, one supernatural healing, one baptism in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues and several of our members have made the decision to move toward the next steps of full time ministry.
There has also been a deepening desire for and call to prayer. The Worship Room House of Prayer has now made a decision to permanently increase to seven days a week raising the number of prayer meetings they hold weekly to 21. Cornerstone Church has started what we call JESUS 45. Two mornings a week we meet at 6 A.M. to pray for 45 minutes. The last two weeks we have had just under 30 people meeting for the Tuesday meeting!
These meetings are coming at just the right time. Our town is facing some pretty big needs just now. Our local paper reported that the town is facing a $4,000,000.00 shortfall for FY 26. What are we going to do?
WE ARE GOING TO PRAY!!!!
GOD IS DOING SOMETHING BIG!!!!
DIGGING DEEPER DEVOTIONAL FEB. 8, 2025
DIGGING DEEPER DEVOTIONAL FEB. 7, 2025
DIGGING DEEPER DEVOTIONAL FEB. 3, 2025
HERE IT IS!
A few weeks ago, I told you I was beginning to put together THE CONGREGATIONAL SENTENCE FOR 2025 (AND AS IT TURNS OUT 2026).
Well I have worked through the process of: consolidating all the prophetic words from sabbatical 2024, boiling the down to seven major themes, writing the first draft of the congregational sentence, coaching around it, rewriting it, sending it to our staff and board for comment, and rewriting it again. Here for public release is what we at Cornerstone have come up with for our guiding congregational sentence for 2025 and 2026.
Cornerstone Congregational Sentence 2025- 2026.
SLOGAN: AWAKENED…EMPOWERED BY LOVE TO TRANSFORM…
SENTENCE: “Awakened by God’s love and empowered by that love, we will transform our communities.”
EXPLANATION: In 2025 we are going to foster an environment where our church is awakened to a deeper awareness of God’s love. This will lead us to spend more and more time with Him, whether through reading His Word, seeking Him in prayer, or helping those in need within the wider community by using the gifts that God has given us.
We will experience freedom, connection, support, and empowerment through our encounters with God. We will be a shining light in the region, radiating His supernatural power, healing and hope. As we reach those in need, we will spread the message of Jesus, and create a lasting, positive difference in the communities we serve.
CONNECTION
This week has been about two things: prayer and connection.
I guess it could be argued that this week was really about one thing, because prayer is really about connection with God…SO…. this week has been about one thing….CONNECTION.
I guess if I had to boil my job description down to one word, CONNECTION, could be one of the words that I would choose to describe the job of pastor or minister. There are other words of course: FAITH, LOVE, COMPASSION…but CONNECTION is a good strong doing word for this job. As a Pastor I connect. I Connect myself with God. I connect other people with God. I connect God with people. I connect people with other people….CONNECT….CONNECT…..CONNECT.
In this world of ever dividing priorities I sometimes feel like this work of connection is a dying art, maybe even a losing battle. As our society polarizes more and more with each passing day, I am becoming more clear that the work of pastors is to help our communities see that the need for connection, with God and each other, has not changed or lessened. The things that divide us must be moved out of the way.
With some of the issues that lie before us as communities, I don’t have any idea how to begin to move the division out of the way and bring connection back, but my not knowing how to do the work does not change the fact, that is the job. I suppose, if I could do it by myself I wouldn’t need faith or God.
As I sit in meetings with town officials trying to figure out how to alleviate poverty and pain and prejudice, as I sit in visitations with people struggling to work through relational disintegration or chronic pain and illness, I am very aware that the answers aren’t mine to bring. The answers for many of these things lie with God alone and come only through His redemptive power. We are not alone in our trouble, there is a God who loves us and who wants to be invited to the bargaining table of our lives to add His wisdom to the conversations we are having.
That said He needs the invitation.
He says in Revelation 3:20, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.”
As I do my job I am listening constantly for God’s knock and I am watching continually to see who is answering the door.
Notes From the Vicarage 