On Bended Knees...

To the most wonderful creation of God, ....YOU!

The Lord gave us this burden right after our "love month" activity dubbed as "Dakilang Pagmamahal" last february 19, 2010. We are going to give our holy week vacation for the work of the Lord. Instead to having picnics and other similar activities, we are planning to conduct these activities during the holy week:

April 1, 2010 :
whole day leadership training on evangelism (goal: 50+ leaders of the church - youth, men and women's ministries and all willing members will attend). they will be taught how to share the message of God's love, forgiveness and salvation to all people especially to the unbelievers. In the evening, we will have our "commitment night" with the theme "here am I, send me..." (Isaiah 6:8).

April 2, 2010 :
the leaders agreed to have the "seven last words of the Lord Jesus Christ". We are going to choose among us or invite other speakers to speak on the Lord's seven last words. this will be a whole day activity. In the evening, we are going to show the "The Public Life of Jesus" Film of the Campus Crusade for Christ (tagalog version). we are going to invite our loved ones (not yet saved) and those who are willing to attend especially those who have not yet given their lives to the Lord.



Please pray for these needs:

• success of the two-day activities (preparation, promotion, etc.)
• provision of bibles for the trainees (evangelism training) especially for our youth members (who don't have enough money) to buy; our church' budget cannot provide such needs at the moment;
• food for the two day activities; the leaders will shoulder some but i know these won't be enough especially now that we are experiencing el niño.

I am very sure, the Lord will provide all our needs. please pray also that many will be used by the Lord during the conduct of these activities. pray that many people will come and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord on the evening of 02 April, 2010. We know that this will have an eternal significance not only for us who will be used by God, but to those who will be touched by the Lord and receive Him as their personal Savior and Lord. We as Christians should always be involved in the "blessing business" for God's glory.


I Corinthians 15:58!

Thank you and may the Lord bless you a thousand-fold!

posted by:

Ptr. Alexander F. Ritua

THE HARVEST IS GREAT

Cornerstone Church Naggasican celebrated its 4th Year Anniversary with the theme "The Harvest is Great..." last March 21, 2010 with two Sunday services, morning and evening.

We were privileged to have Ptr. Jonathan Winter as our speaker in the morning service. He spoke about "Stinking Thinking". In the evening service, we were more than privileged to have Rev. Dave Russon, the Director of the AoG world Mission as our speaker. He talked about the lame man who received a miracle from the Lord through the apostles Peter and John.

We were so blessed to have that night Bro. David Strachan and Mr. Roger Gatioan who shared their life testimonies that truly have encouraged all the brethren of Cornerstone Church. Highlight of the program also was the praying over of the Cornerstone Church Naggasican leaders and deacons who are presently undergoing a six (6) months discipleship training. This is in preparation for their church planting in barangay Nabbuan of Santiago City and barangay Arabiat and Sta. Ana of Echague, Isabela.

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We greatly appreciate all those who were present during the night service and who joined us in the celebration, Rev. Dave Russon and wife Madelene Russon, Mark and Mary Ritchie and family, David and Grace Strachan, Ptr. Jonathan Winter, Bro. Matthew Kerr, all the Cornerstone Church Pastors and brethren, the Senior Citizens of Santiago City, the Cornerstone Church Main Music Band who led the praise and worship, the Theatre For Christ Naggasican and all the Naggasican children, young people and adults.

God is so gracious! Foods and snacks overflowed during the affair. Thanks to Mr. Roger Gatioan, Congressman Giorgidi Aggabao, David and Grace Strachan and Mayor Amy S. Navarro for the overflowing snacks and ice cream. Praise the Lord!

Posted by:

Jane Mangadap

FLIP FLOPS FOR CORNERSTONE CHURCH

A kind hearted sponsor from the UK sent a lovegift to buy flipflops for the indigent and poor children, young people and even the jail prisoners being reached out by the Cornerstone Group of Churches in the Philippines, Inc.

365 pairs of slippers with different sizes and colors were bought by the CGCPI Staff and given to all the Cornerstone churches for distribution as follows:

Cornerstone Church Main/Ilagan - 50

Cornerstone Church Naggasican - 50

Cornerstone Church San Isidro/St. James/Sta. Monica - 50

Cornerstone Church Ramon - 24

Cornerstone Church Salvador - 20

Cornerstone Church Naguillian/Cauayan - 20

Cornerstone Church Pangal - 30

Cornerstone Church Echague - 10

Cornerstone Church Sinili - 20

Santiago Assembly of God Church Calaocan - 5

Diffun Outreach - 31

BJMP Santiago - 30

BJMP San Mateo - 15

Food for Thought c/o Bro. Henry - 10

What a joy it is to see these children, young people and inmates so excited and happy to received the flipflops.

The Cornerstone Group of Churches in the Philippines deeply and sincerely extend their thanks and appreciation to the sponsor from UK. We do not know who you are but our Almighty God knows you and have seen your good deeds and love for His people.

"May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge."

Ruth 2:12

CALAOCAN SANTIAGO ASSEMBLY OF GOD

Calaocan Santiago Assembly of God is inspired again!

Calaocan Santiago Assembly of God was again visited by two energetic and inspiring pastors from Cornerstone Church respectively this month. First was Pst. Danny who talked about family - how to keep our family close to God and how to make our family members closer to each other especially the husband and wife, how to keep their relationship with the blessings of the Lord! Wow, so exciting! especially to the unmarried attendees that Sunday! We indeed learned a lot from the teachings of Pst. Danny and we were more inspired because of the presence of Pst. Danny's wife- Pst. Jane ,who assisted him in his talked. The service became more amazing when they sung together the song- "We will serve the Lord." They were truly an epitome of true and dedicated followers of God.

Pst. August's visit in our Church also inspired everyone especially the youth because of his life's testimony. God had really worked in his life. He was changed totally from a gangster to a pastor! How great really God is! Really amazing! How we wish we could be like them in the future.

Eating together...growing together...
Calaocan Santiago Assembly of God had eating fellowships every Saturday or Sunday. Last Sunday night we had it in our church sponsored by Pst. Ariel and his beloved wife Sis. Jane. It was really a very exciting fellowship and we felt the presence of the Lord. Everyone had lots of fun, lots of talks with our members, but most of all, everyone enjoyed the yummy foods...ohhh delicious! We are looking forward for more days like this! Praise God for all of these blessings.

Thanks to someone from U.K.
Slippers of different sizes and colors were given to the children in Calaocan that made them happy. This was donated by a good hearted person from U.K. This made a great mark to the minds of the children to be givers as well and share happines to the less fortunate ones.
Thanks a lot to our good hearted sponsor from U.K.

Pst. Ariel Molina

Senior Pastor Cornerstone Church Calaocan

Sefton Village Christian School - An Introduction

Hello Everyone, I thought I would attach this leaflet to give an overview of the exciting work of the school here. As before just click on the image to enlarge.

Ariella's 3rd Birthday

You just know she has had fun when she comes home looking like this!!

Ariella was only 3 weeks old when we left our home in Shetland to start the process of coming out to Sefton Village. We then spent 3 months in Northern Ireland and a month in England before we arrived in our new Philippine Home. And for Ariella home is exactly what this place is, she has never been in the UK since she was 5 months old and so apart from appearance, in every way is more Filipina than British. She speaks small sentences in English but tells huge stories in Tagalog. She loves playing with the children at "The Helga" and would spend every moment there if she could. She chooses rice over potatoes every time, much to her fathers dismay, and she just really enjoys life at Sefton Village. So it is hard for us as her parents knowing that we will be leaving in 2 months and all the changes that will mean for both girls. We are so grateful for the time we have had here, it has been truly an amazing experience.

As it was Ariella's birthday yesterday it has caused me to think about the lives of my daughters and how precious children are. Please pray for our children today and all the changes that lie ahead. We know that God is in control but we also know that prayer makes a difference.

It was also Freddie's birthday from the Children's Home yesterday, so it was cake all round... and all over many faces too!

I also want to take this opportunity to thank my aunt Myla who co-ordinated a Co-Op bag packing fund raiser in Shetland for the Children's Home last week. Thank you also to all the Shetland people who gave over £1000 in the event. What an amazing contribution to the work out here. We all appreciate it so much.

Matthew Kerr.

Our Kids Church ... God's Champions!

Kids’ Ministry is all about leading children to know God in a personal way; empowering them to influence others and share their faith in Jesus Christ; challenging them to be disciple and to make disciples; and encouraging them to serve in their community, school and church.

Our “Kids Service” is not about baby sitting, but, it’s all about equipping children to become Champions for Jesus. Our goal is to make difference in the lives of the kids and to help them allow God to mould them to be who God wants them to be and reach their maximum potentials for the glory of God.
Our Vision: "Impacting kids' lives to influence others of all generation"

WHAT’S IN OUR KIDS’ CHURCH? Every kid in Cornerstone Church Santiago is excited to attend our Kids’ Service every Sunday and even on weekdays they are waiting for the next Sunday to come and are all excited to be on Kids’ Service again. We formed groups for ushering, worship team, and a group that are responsible in counting the offerings. Our kids have been given responsibilities such as welcoming other kids, leading praise & worship in the kids' church and counting the tithes and offering (Yes! we are encouraging our kids to give their tithes & offerings) and they are the ones that opens and closes in prayer.

The teachers' duty is to give schedules, preach the word, encourage the kids to give their best to God and pray for the kids. After giving such responsibility to our kids they have not taken Sunday services lightly. We have heard parents said that their child does not want to miss out Sunday.

Here is our team in the kids' church: Lydia Mary Ritchie, Hannah Mae Javier, Elijah Marc Javier, Kristene Ozea Colobong, Bea Hadassah Javier, Madeline Kerr, Iverson Babaran, and Remon John Colobong

Teachers: Leizel Flores, Normene June Colobong, Rosemarie Silva, Wilcelly Kimayong

Please include us in your prayer that we could impact our kids in a way that they will rise up as a generation that are totally sold out to God and for them to bring change to our city and nation.

Thank you very much....

Posted by: Leizel Flores
Kids' Church Coordinator

Stryper - Honestly (Live)

Honestly, I believe in you
Do you trust in me
Patiently, I will stand by you
I will stand beside you faithfully

And through the years
I will be a friend
For always and forever

Call on me and I'll be there for you
I'm a friend who always will be true
And I love you can't you see
That I can say I love you honestly

Call on me and I'll be there for you
I'm a friend who always will be true
And I love you can't you see
That I love you honestly
I will never betray your trust in me
And I love you can't you see
That I can say I love you honestly

I KNOW THAT THIS IS FOR A NUMBER OF PEOPLE THIS WEEKEND! GOD IS THERE FOR YOU ... HONESTLY!

Pastor Mark Ritchie

Mark & Co ...

Well, it's MARCH! Can you believe it ... I can't!

This is an ultra busy month for me, my family and all at Sefton Village. So many things happening at so many levels! I can hardly keep up with myself! Anyway, instead of droning on I will just write the upcoming plans below so you all know what's happening.

Friday March 12th - David & Grace Strachan visit
Monday March 15th - Jonathan & Renalyn Winters - new missionaries at Sefton - arrive to stay!
Tuesday March 16th - Dave & Madeline Russon visit
March 16th - 18th - AoG Regional Conference and Elections here at Sefton
Friday March 19th - 3rd CREW Training night with Dave Russon
Sunday March 21st - Cornerstone Nagassican's 4th Anniversary with Dave Russon
Wednesday March 24th - Fly to Manila
Thursday March 25th - Fly to UK

March 26th - April 2nd - Ritchie Family Holiday

Here are the confirmed dates of churches we will visit and rough idea of where we will be:

April 3&4 - Speaking at Easter Weekend Services at Fraserburgh AoG

Monday April 5th - Monday April 12th - Wick with Mary's family

Tuesday April 13th - Saturday April 17th - Central Belt of Scotland
Sunday April 18th - Whitburn AoG in morning

Monday April 19th - Saturday April 24th - NE Scotland
Sunday April 25th - New Hope Peterhead in morning

Monday April 26th - Thursday April 29th - NE Scotland
Sunday May 2nd - Harvest Church Hamilton in morning
Sunday May 2nd - Larbert Pentecostal Church in the evening

Tuesday 4th - Thursday 6th - AoG Leadership Conference (Mark only - Mary in Fraserburgh)
Saturday 8th & Sunday 9th (am) - Bridge Church Bolton

Monday 10th - Friday 15th - Wick

Sunday 16th - Fraserburgh Community Church in morning
Sunday May 16th - Emmanuel Church, Fraserburgh at night

Monday May 17th - Fly back to the Philippines!

We are still waiting for a few churches to get back to us but we will keep you updated. We would love to see you at one of the churches if you can make it! The main focus of our trip is to set up 'Friends of Sefton Village' - to develop a foundation of people who love God and love Sefton and who will be willing to become our partners in raising awareness and raising some finances for this wonderful place. Exciting stuff!

I am delighted to inform you all that Danny and Jane Mangadap's Visa application for a visit to the UK was successful! So they will be coming to UK from April 15th -May 18th 2010. They will be staying with David and Grace Strachan in Peterhead and we are working on a plan for their itinerary right now. Danny is my co-Senior Leader at Cornerstone and Jane is our Administrator for Cornerstone an Sefton Village. They are a wonderful couple who are sold out for the Lord!

That's about all my news for now. As you can see ..,it's gonna be a busy time for us as a family. Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to come home. It's not so easy as many think and the enemy can have a real go at these vulnerable times. Keep us in prayer!

By next month I should have some really brilliant news for you -I can't share it right now until things are finalised. The vision is coming to pass and it is even beyond my expectations! We are in a battle ... in the last week it has been attack after attack. We had to fire three members of staff, my tooth cracked and fell out and yesterday a motorbike banged into the back of my car! Coincidences? The enemy is trying to discourage us ... but THE JOY OF THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH!

Keep praying and believing ... I will put a one of my favourite songs on our blog. It's called 'Honestly' by a Christian Group called Stryper (remember them!)

Enjoy the weekend!

Mark

Kerr Family Newsletter

Below is the latest newsletter from the Kerr family. Double click to enlarge pages.

Sefton Village Christian School - Elementary Department

Big Day Out.

The Elementary Department recently had their annual educational field trip, and it was some day! 5 buses were hired and fully loaded by 7:30am with children and parents and teachers.

First Stop - A local Radio Station where some of the children were given the opportunity to sing the school song "I am a Promise". After that we continues north to Ilagan, which is about 90 minutes drive from Sefton Village where our second stop was the Coca Cola factory for a tour of the works. Unfortunately the tour had been vastly reduced from that which had been advertised but free cokes all round more than made up for that.

Third and final stop was the Ilagan Sactuary were the children were all taken for a tour through the large Victoria Caves and got to see some of the local wildlife such as Crocodiles, lizards and monkeys, before having a picnic lunch and causing absolute bedlam cooling off in the natural spring water pools.

Everyone went home exhausted but happy!

School Building Project.

Phase 2 of the building project is progressing well and should hopefully be ready for opening day in June. As you can see in the photos below it is now fully roofed, the walls are plastered, the floors have been laid and the ceilings are currently under construction. We are all very excited because as we are sure you will agree it is looking really good. Thank you to everyone who has raised money for this project, we appreciate it so much. We still have Phase 3 to build which will give us our final 2 classrooms and also we need to finish off Phase 1 which is still has a number of outstanding items to complete including plastering the back wall and painting all the internal walls and ceilings. So please continue to fund raise and pray for this work.

The above photo was taken this morning during the daily flag raising ceremony, which is always followed by a short work out to some worship music. Flag raising is at 7:30 am so it is an early start by British standards, and while Grade's 1 & 2 finish classes at 3:15pm, Grade 3 stay till 4pm! As you can see above the playground looks more like a building site with very little grass, no play equipment and piles of stones and soil everywhere. As Part of Phase 2 we hope to transform the external ground areas and make them more child friendly.

We really praise God for this school, it is such a blessing to so many people. Thank you for being part of it.

Cornerstone Church Echague, Pangal Norte, Echague, Isabela

The present crisis increases our hunger and thirst for God and leads the church to deepen its roots on God’s Word. The Lord is leading us to seek Him more with all our hearts.

The present drought of our nation does not affect us much because we only plant our crops during rainy season our rice lands in Pangal are not irrigated. God is good because our members were able to pay their debts used as capital from their minimal amount of harvest. To sustain their needs during summer season, one or two from every household will go to other places and look for a job as maid, babysitter, and etc.

Include us in our prayer as we are starting four cell group after localize street pastor every Sunday afternoon.

My parents came and visit our church sunday celebration and Birthday of James Xan last February 14, 2010

Our Guest Speaker was my Uncle and Father of Faith Rev. Andres Rebucal (Former Assistant District Superintendent of NELDC)

The Highlights of the Celebration was the Renewal of Vows of our married couples of the Church.

We enjoy this sunday celebration full of love and sense of belongingness to the Church. We really felt the presence of God in a manner that we are ONE FAMILY.

Glory to God!


Posted by:
Ptr. James Aquino

MISSION IS A TEAM WORK

WILLIAM CAREY, the great missionary of India, said to a body of people, “I will go down if you will hold the ropes.” It's a great idea. It's a great mental picture. “I'll go into the caves, I'll go into the places where you will never go, but you must hold the ropes. I'll go down if you'll hold on. I'll go if you are holding fast, holding tight.”

THERE ARE THREE THINGS INVOLVED IN THE MISSION. FIRST THE TARGET UNREACHED GROUP OF PEOPLE, SECOND THE ONE WHO's WILLING TO GO DOWN AND REACHED THEM WHICH IS THE MISSIONARY AND THE ONE WHO IS HOLDING THE ROPE WHICH IS THE SENDING MISSION AGENCY OR SUPPORTER.

I'm so blessed with the topic of Ptr. Mark During the Crew Training last March ,05, 2010 about “Walking in the Holy Spirit” because I discovered the role of the Holy Spirit in the mission. We need the anointing, power, guidance, and gift of the Holy Spirit.

CCN Intercessors: “On the Move…”

By the grace and mercy of the Lord, the church intercessors and prayer warriors of Cornerstone Church Naggasican has been faithful and committed in having daily dawn watch praying, among other things in the past, for our nation’s eight (8) pillars of society, the nation of Israel, the Churches in the Philippines, UK, Singapore, Africa and Asia, the unity of the body of Christ and the Sefton Ministries. Because of this, more brethren has joined the daily prayer watch. Children at their very young age are now reading the Bible and praying, according to their parents who are attending the daily prayer watch.

Recently, even unbelievers are requesting to have prayer meetings right at their place of residence outside the church. Glory to God! We believe that as we continue to pray, there will be clusters of prayer movements within Naggasican and the fire of revival in prayer will soon be birthed out leading to the 24/7 united prayer movement of all Cornerstone Group of Churches in the Philippines. That’s our dream and we believe nothing can hinder God’s plan! We know that the enemy within and without is not very happy about this, so please continue to include us in your prayers as we PUSH (Pray Until Something Happens) through the forces of darkness for the advancement of the kingdom of Light in Naggasican, Santiago City, Philippines.

We would like to invite you also to come and attend to our Cornerstone Church Naggasican 4th Anniversary celebration of God’s faithfulness to be held at Sefton Fire Center on the 21st of March 2010, 6:00 PM with Rev. Dave Russon, AOG World Mission Director, as our guest speaker.

ALL GLORY BELONGS TO GOD ALONE!

Posted by: Ptr. Danny

Changed Life

Jeric Uy

(Preaching the Good news to his cousins)

Jeric and his cousins

This a picture taken in our baptismal service:

Me and Mam mary (Pst. Mark's mother) baptized Jeric Uy.

Praise the Lord! Cornerstone Ilagan is now 4 months old. Great is the Lord who has done great things in Ilagan. We have heard so many testimonies from our brethren in Cornerstone Ilagan nevertheless; I would like to tell an outstanding testimony from one of the young people there.

My wife has a nephew named Jeric Uy. On our mission in Ilagan (Oct. 2009), I saw this young man smoking with his friends and I even heard him swearing. I invited him to our meetings during the weeklong mission but, he was not interested at all. So he never turned up in meetings. However, some of my wife’s nephews and nieces persisted on inviting him. Eventually, he showed up in our Friday meetings and not on Sundays. After a month of attending the Friday meetings, he now attends every Sunday.

3 weeks ago, we heard him testify that he was set free from vices. He also began to pray and fast. One thing more, preached to his cousins on their youth service. My wife asked him how did he begin a relationship with Christ. He told that he came to a point in his life that he felt that his life has no direction; he felt that he is alone and nobody trusted him including his father and mother. He told that he was desperate to see change in his life and he recognized that he had sinned. So he prayed this prayer:

“Lord, I know I have sinned and have done many sin. Forgive me of all my sins. Lord, change me because I want to be changed. I know you are the only one that can help me.”

My wife and I knew he’s been changed by God. We see a different young man now. Now, Jeric is witnessing to his father and friends. Pray with us that he will continue in his walk with God and that God’s fire continue to burn brighter in his life so that he could influence his generation.

Marlou B. Javier

KERR FAMILY VISITED CORNERSTONE CHURCH SINILI

The Kerr family visited Cornerstone Church Sinili. Bro. Matthew Kerr inspired and encouraged us to treasure our relationship with God because the Lord gave everything to restore our relationship with the Father God in heaven.

He shared about a precious pearl found out by a merchant. The merchant sold everything he has just to buy the precious pearl. We are God's precious pearls. Jesus gave up everything for you and for me.

Fellowship meal after the church service. Thank you Lord!

posted by:jun fernando