We returned to the Cornerstone Rescue Mission today, but this time with our entire group as they had plenty of areas we could get involved in. Our team was split into 5 groups, one of which went to “Dear Ones”, the Rescue Mission’s child care, to help with the children, another team worked with landscaping and building in this area, another to the “Mission” where they were able to lead worship and chapel for the families in need coming for lunch, the fourth worked with landscaping and planting flowers among the Rescue Mission Apartments, and the last group helped to organize and maintain the Thrift Store.
We were honored to learn all of what Cornerstone has done in it’s 30 years of existence and to do what we could in our short time there.
Here’s some testimonies…
It was around 10:30 when Jeff called Bill while he was up in a tree doing yard work for the Corner Stone mission outreach. Jeff asked him if he would give the message at the Lunch at the chapel which was going to happen in half an hour. At that point Bill was looking like a lumberjack with all the dirt and sawdust in his hair but he agreed and started brainstorming about what he felt the Lord was calling him to speak about. When he got to the chapel he found that there were only two people there besides his fellow HSE students. So Bill started to think that maybe God was leading him to speak to his classmates instead of the people at the mission, and he began to look for new verses for a message. After the worship Bill is called outside to the cafeteria and there is 30 people eating, Bill now had his audience and the time had come for him to give the message God put in his heart.
“It was just a lesson in faithfulness and preparedness. I like to lead from behind but God keeps pushing me to the front and giving me these opportunities. As often as I run from them, he makes it so I don’t know about them until the last minute so I can’t run from the opportunities that may scare me. It’s ok because that’s just how I learn! I released my necessity for God to give me foresight and just have faith that God will lead me and work through me as I prepare myself. I ran for so long from being a leader but you’re going to have to step out on your own or God will push you out. I feel like now I’m prepared to come into a season where I’m finally grounded enough for a leadership role.” -Bill
“We were at the Rescue Mission during lunch time. I was in the staff lounge and a gentleman came in and sat down across from me. Normally I would sit quietly but because we’re learning how to reach out even when it’s uncomfortable, I asked him his name. God developed a conversation that lasted the rest of lunch. He shared about a lot of back and feet pain that he struggles with to this day. He had actually been living at the Mission for the past couple years, but over the past month he’s taken more responsibility so they asked him to be on staff.
I wish we didn’t have time constraints of having to leave, but it felt very one on one even with all the people that were in the room. It was time to go but I didn’t want to because He had talked a couple times about God, not in detail, but said that God had gotten him through things. Now it was time to go, so I seized the moment and said, ‘Chuck, could I pray for you?’ and he said yes. It was really sweet even though I wished we had more time.
When we were leaving, he walked out to our van and said, ‘by the way, I didn’t get your name’. We hadn’t talked much about me; we didn’t need to. God is growing all of us to start with the little things and step out of our comfort zones. It was significant to Chuck that someone took the time during lunch to talk to him. Who knows how long he has gone without that.” -Jan
