This Morning at Cornerstone is our Missions Fall Celebration.  It promises to be a wonderful time with worship, special music form our Vietnamese fellowship and a time for us to take steps of faith that will impact our world through giving, praying and going.

One of the highlights will be our friend Dick Brogden from a countryin North Africa who will challenge us and make us understand that our world is still in great need of the message of truth that only Jesus gives.

Some of you may not be aware of the story of how our Dick's life and Cornerstone's became interwoven by God's plan, but it is a story of the power of partnership.  Back in the year 2000, we had just completed our second sanctuary on this property here on Annapolis rd.  It was a step of great faith, the largest we had ever taken up to that point and we were celebrating God's goodness to us while at the same time asking God for supernatural provision to help us to pay off the building and move forward with God's work in and through us.  On a Wednesday night in the early part of that year we had this young missionary speak to us on a Wednesday eve.   The crowd was not large but it was a night when God was attempting to move us forward and asking us to listen and follow His voice.  Sometimes one of the last things that churches will do when they are going through a building program or trying to pay off a building is to look beyond their own walls to the world, but that night with God great grace we were able to see a wider view of the world.

Dick shared about his heart for this country in northern Africa and for the Muslim people there unreached yet wanting to know real truth.  At that time seven years ago Dick and his team was attempting to blaze new ways of reaching this difficult but needy people.   He challenged us as he spoke about a vision for a tea house for Muslim women who could come to a safe place and begin their journey towards truth.  Also of a dream to build a center for people who could come and learn English and open a way for Muslims to interact with believers and in turn find truth. And about an idea to have a school that would teach Muslim children in a way that expresses God's love and mercy and that would in turn open the door for families to investigate the claims of Jesus.

That night some seven years ago was challenging to say the least. Right after the service the members of our church leadership at that time met and felt moved by God to make the biggest single pledge we had ever made up to that time.  Even during difficult moments as we were asking God for miracles we pledged to give 100,000 dollars as the lord provided in the next year.  It was a night I will never forget because it was a night of a beginning of a powerful partnership that changed the course of two areas one here in Maryland and one in a North African nation.

Over the next months God did miracle after miracle and eight months later we completely paid off that Pledge and Dick was able to move forward with some of these dreams.  Eighteen months after that Wednesday night encounter we paid off the mortgage on our new facility. Which open the door over the last five years for us to grow and touch more lives here in Maryland but also allowed us to more than double our missions giving to reach people lost and hurting around the world.    Since that time the vision that God gave Dick has also grown into a remarkable ministry to Muslim people that is literally affecting that nation and surrounding nations with hope, truth and life.  Dick will be sharing more about that this morning during our celebration so you may want to listen to the sermon on line to find out more.

God believes in the Power of Partnership. No one and no church is meant to go it alone and do their own thing.  We are meant to partner together in a way that will bring glory to God and advance the Kingdom of God in ways that will overwhelm us all and touch the world. 

Now, seven years later we are in the midst of challenges after just getting into our new sanctuary in April and here again Dick is here with us, what does God have planned for us as we reach the world, what is the Lord's next step for partnership and what is God's plan for us as we move forward by His Grace?  What we must do is obey His voice follow His heart and respond in ways that will enable us to partner with Dick and others in ways that will change the course of eternity for the world. 

Next installment:  The Power of Giving!