It is hard to believe that it is already November. Thanksgiving will be here soon, and then everyone’s focus turns to Christmas. I wanted to share a quick update as we finish the year.
2015 has been a great year for Cornerstone. Both our children’s and youth ministries continue to grow, and we have had a record number of baptisms this year. So far, 31 people have celebrated new life in Christ through baptism. Our membership has grown to 130 people who have joined with the church in supporting our mission and vision as they are being cared for by Elder Team.
We have also continued serving our community in numerous ways. Our service team has been busy helping people move and building wheelchair ramps for those in need. Our community meal feeds hundreds each month. People from our Cornerstone family are also serving in various ministries all over the Twin Counties. God has been faithful and we are truly blessed as a church.
With the year coming to a close, I want to encourage you to think about how you can support the ministry of the church through tithes and offerings. While our attendance is up this year by almost 20 people, our giving is slightly down. We need a strong November and December to meet our budget goal for the year. Giving typically picks up in November and December, and we need everyone’s support to continue our current levels of ministries, both inside the church and in our community. We have worked to keep our ministry expenses down, but currently, we are about $20,000 (1 month) behind in our giving in order to meet the budget.
You can give on Sunday morning through placing your tithes and offerings in the collection box, you can mail any gifts to PO Box 757, Galax, VA 24333, or you can give online at cornerstone.fedesign.net/give. Automated Online Giving is available, and it is a great way to be faithful in giving. It is setup online using your bank account information, and you can choose how often you would like to give. We truly appreciate your support of our ministry here at Cornerstone. We work hard to make sure we are being good managers to everything God has entrusted to our care.
Finally, mark Sunday evening, November 22nd on your calendar. We have a churchwide prayer meeting scheduled that night from 6:30-7:30pm. The Elder Team is excited to share with you our vision for the future of Cornerstone. This has been a multi-year process as we have studied and prayed and sought God’s direction for our church. We will meet together as one large group, and then break up into smaller prayer groups led by the elders of Cornerstone. We will also share our plans for the end of the year Christmas offering. We hope you can join us for this important meeting.