Leaders News

The Lord is doing a great work in the leaders of Cornerstone here in Isabela. Gently, the Lord is laying foundations that would keep the ministry going, and growing. That the work that God started here will remain even when we will not be around. It's a lot of work and loads of meetings, but "the joy of the Lord is our strength".

What a joy to see new and younger leaders being trained, prepared for a greater harvest. It is also great to share a good food, and really enjoy the fellowship.

Posted by: Winston

News: Cornerstone Echague

Cornerstone Echague Update

At this moment, the ministry in Echague is 8 months old. We’ve been struggling for the past 2 months, due to the summer vacation. Praise the Lord, vacation is over, so all the people are back.

The growth of the church is very slow, and really a hard work. Until now, I’m a one man band. But praise God we are moving on forward. We are now looking for a better place of worship, that we a can utilize for training and discipleship. This will cost us, but we trust God.

We do have 3 cell groups at the moment, with a total number of 55 individual. Only 30 % are attending the Sunday service, for most of them are away during weekends. We are now praying and planning for a midweek service for the students.

Thank you for your prayers and support to us. Please continue to pray for us, that God will provide a place of worship, and new leaders to be train.

Posted by: Winston

ROPE EDUCATIONAL ASSISTANCE BENEFICIARIES...SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND THE "BAGONG HIMIG"

Cornerstone Church Naggasican conducted last June 5, 2010 (Saturday) the distribution of school supplies to 20 High School students and 30 Elementary pupils, all Educational Beneficiaries of ROPE Foundation in coordination with CCN. The fund for the Educational Assistance Program for school year 2009 -2010 has a remaining balance/savings which was used to buy school supplies for the beneficiaries for this school year 2010-2011. It was very timely as classes starts on June 7, 2010. Apart from the beneficiaries, we were able to give extra school supplies also to other children, about 10 of them, who are not yet accommodated by the program but on the waiting list in case some beneficiaries will graduate from school. All the children and young people as well as their parents were very delighted and blessed. They extend their heartfelt and deepest thanks to ROPE Foundation.

The Naggasican children's choir, which shall be composed of the Educational Assistance and Daily Feeding Program beneficiaries with ages 6 to 13 was also organized by Ptr. Danny and Sis. Jane Mangadap together with Ptr. Teresa Liday. With its name " BAGONG HIMIG" or "NEW HYMN", the objectives of the choir is to train the children of Naggasican to sing for the Lord and use their talent to give glory to God and to give them opportunities to sing in the different schools (Public and private), government agencies, different private institutions and even in other towns and municipalities during Christmas and in different affairs and occasions. Once fully trained, we also look forward to having a simple concert of these children and young people in the future. Whatever love gifts or funds that they will received or raised shall be their funds and will be intended for their future needs, be it personal, for education or for their family. This is for their welfare. Sis. Jane, who had been a member of a choir during her high school and college days and even in her work before being the Chorale Coordinator of the Santiago City Government Employees Association (SACGEA) Chorale Ensemble, will start practicing the "Bagong Himig" on July 2010 with the help of some of her musician friends.

Please help us pray for the ROPE Foundation that has been helping and supporting the poor and indigent children and young people of Naggasican. Pray also for the victory of Jesus Christ in the lives of these children and young people of the "Bagong Himig" Cornerstone Naggasican Children's Choir.

ALL GLORY BELONGS TO JESUS!

MAKING JESUS FAMOUS!

Posted by:

Ptr. Danny

BEHIND COLD STEEL BARS

I can still vividly remember when I was about 17 years old, I was often involved in a gang war, because I was then a very delinquent, crooked and rebellious youth. No day in my life before that I was not involved in any trouble or mess. The last gang war that I was involved in was the worse that I went to Nueva Ecija to hide because I know I will be put into jail. Policemen were really hunting for me. After a few years of cooling off, I went back to Santiago City and joined my cousin Micky, Ptr. Danny, the Mangadap brothers, Daniel Benjamin, John Thomas and Dan Andrew and Micko, son of Bro. Henry, in learning Aikido. It was then that Ptr. Danny shared to me the Word of God and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour. From then on, my life was changed. I have that hunger for the Word of God and holy fear came into my heart not to sin or do things against the will of God.

I then regularly attend the Sunday services at Cornerstone Church with the Mangadap brothers and later on, I was able to usher my mother and sisters at Cornerstone Church also. My hunger for the Word of God became so intense and passionate that I had that desire to study at Sefton Bible Training Center. I thanked the Lord for touching the heart of Pastor Mark Ritchie for sponsoring my studies at the Bible School. Right after graduating from the SBTC, I became so active in Cornerstone Church as Associate Pastor at Cornerstone Church Naggasican and at the same assisting Bro. Mel Bareng in the Jail (BJMP) Ministry. When Bro. Mel and his family finally settled in Australia last 2009, the BJMP Ministry was turned over to me by our Senior Pastor, Rev. Mark Ritchie. Since then, BJMP has been part of my life and it is a great honor and privilege for me to minister to the prisoners. It is a great joy to see the prisoners being saved and spiritually free behind cold steel bars.

The BJMP or Bureau of Jail Management and Penology is located at Batal, one of the villages of Santiago City, being passed by when you go to Naggasican village. It is about two (2) kilometers away from Sefton Village.

When I came to know the Lord, six of my gang friends were put into jail with different cases. As I write this post, two are still at BJMP. I am so thankful that I have known our Lord Jesus Christ and I was seized by our Lord from darkness. If not, I would be one of those lingering behind cold steel bars of the BJMP. God is so good!

At present, BJMP has 300 prisoners with different cases like drug pushers, drug users, murderers, thieves, rapists, members of the New People’s Army ( Communist group), gun ban violators and other criminal offenses. If many are really crime offenders, there are also some who are innocent but cannot get out of jail because of the very slow progress of their cases. Justice in the Philippines is so slow and sluggish. There are also some prisoners who are not visited by their families and relatives because they are not aware that they are in prison and most often, these prisoners are the ones that are demoralize and dampen.

Cornerstone Church has a regular activity and service at BJMP every Saturday morning. Now, the prisoners themselves are in charge of the service program, in leading the opening and closing prayers, praise and worship (they already have a worship band) and even in sharing God’s Word. Many are gifted in teaching and preaching but the problem is they are being adjudged just because they are prisoners. God really is moving so amazingly in their lives!

Whatever offerings or collections we have in the service are being saved and used in buying basic necessities or needs of the prisoners like bath soaps, toothpastes, laundry soaps, shampoos and other important needs like sending text messages or mailing letters to their relatives, medicines of those who are sick, purchase of bibles for distribution to the inmates and others.

I am so blessed because aside from my sister Mildred, we have a new member of the team who is helping us in the Jail Ministry, Ptr. Rodel Hadloc of Urdaneta, Pangasinan. Ptr. Rodel is once a prisoner of the BJMP. He was apprehended before because of possession of unlicensed gun. He was so ashame, afraid, depressed, frightened, terrified (name it all) when he was imprisoned because he is already a Pastor during that time. It was such a long story. Nevertheless, he was already freed and he promised to the Lord that he will help me and Ptr. Danny in our ministry at Naggasican and in the Jail Ministry as well. At present, he was designated by Ptr. Danny to be in-charge of one of the three (3) church planting that we have started at Nabbuan, Arabiat and Sta. Ana, Echague. He was specifically assigned at Sta. Ana, Echague with my brother, Joseph Manio. Praise God that Ptr. Rodel is very energetic and always on the go for the Lord. The first Sunday service was held at Sta. Ana last June 5, 2010.

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR OUR JAIL MINISTRY AND

FOR OUR WHOLE TEAM!

GLORY TO GOD!

Posted by:

Ptr. August Manio

FOREVER BLESSED!!!

It has been 21 days since we arrived from the UK. Our apology if we were not able to post immediately at the blog about our great adventures and unforgettable experiences in the UK and about the amazing things that the Lord has done in the lives of the Filipino fishermen in Peterhead and Fraserburgh.

Our flight from London to Abu Dhabi took us 7 ½ hours, then, we stopped over at Abu Dhabi airport for about 6 hours. From Abu Dhabi to Manila, it took us another 8 1/2 hours of flight and as soon as we got out of the airport, we proceeded directly to the Victory Bus Station, waited for 3 hours for the bus and finally travel by ground for 12 hours. 12 hours travel and not the usual 8 hours because there were so many road repairs starting from Dalton Pass of Nueva Vizcaya up to Cordon, Isabela (whew! because of the election! You’re right Ptr. Steve!).Oh what a long and weary travel! We left London on the morning of the 18^th of May and reached Santiago City at 7am on the 20th. But praise the Lord ! we were able to catch up with the Despedida (Farewell) Party of the Kerr family (Matthew, Claire, Madeline and Ariella). We thought we were fine then and can go back to work immediately on the following day, but for the next days and about more than a week, it was terrible. We have a jetlag and were hard up in adjusting to the time zone difference. We cannot help but sleep at daytime and awake during night time. After recovering from jetlag, we again find it hard how to start at work and ministry. What shall we do first was the big question. But finally, we’re back to normal although our mind is still left in Scotland.

The ministry work we had with the Filipino fishermen, the happy and unforgettable time and experiences we had with our Scottish friends, the beautiful sceneries (Balmoral Castle, Duthie Park, Scott Monument, Edinburgh Castle, Sheffield, Chatsworth House, Biblical Garden, Baxter, Myrus Golf Driving Range, Gardenstown, Pennan, & Crovie, Gamrie, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, House of Parliament, Downing St, Green Park, London Bridge, London Eye, etc.) and new things that we have seen in Scotland, Shetland (thanks Neil & Linda) and England (thanks George & Jane), the wonderful and memorable fellowships we had with the Filipinos and Scottish brethren and friends in Peterhead and Fraserburgh, the links we had established with different pastors, leaders and members of AOG churches, the different delicious meals and desserts (fish and chips, mints and tatties, Cullen skink, hoggies, lamb’s kidney, fresh cows milk, Scottish tea, the famous Scotland ice cream, etc.), the friendship, warm and hospitality of the Scottish, the cold weather…all these still fresh in our minds and embedded in our hearts, will forever be treasured and cherished for the rest of our lives.

We truly thanked the Lord for DAVIDand GRACE STRACHAN who blessed us tremendously by sponsoring our trip to the UK, warmly accommodated us in their home, spent a lot of time to us even if they are so busy at work, and have arranged all our schedules making every day in our stay in UK very fruitful, productive and memorable. To David and Grace, we once again extend our heartfelt and deepest thanks to you, for all the things that you have done, for the love, understanding, patience and everything! You are a great couple! You have a great family! We now know why the Lord is blessing you so much…because you are a blessing to many people, especially to the Filipino fishermen who are working so hard in your country and sacrificing being away from their family. You show them love. You give them joy. You offer themfriendship. They find comfort in your presence and feel no stranger in your place. They feel at home every time they’re with you.

To all those who are reading this post, we request for your prayers for the ministry of David and Grace Strachan to the Filipino fishermen that it will grow, expand and be fruitful indeed. Through this ministry, many souls are being saved, not only Filipinos but other fishermen with different nationalities as well. Pray for the couple’s strength and vigor. Pray for God’s protection to their family and business as well and provision to all their needs.

Since we arrived from the UK, we never stopped praying for all the Filipino fishermen who accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour. Let us pray that they may continue to be nurtured and grow spiritually. Let us pray for George Power, the Superintendent of the Fishermen Mission, who like David and Grace, also has a burden for the spiritual growth of the Filipino Fishermen. Let us pray for Dad Davey, Eddie, Alec and James Reid and others who are helping the Strachans in making follow-ups to what God has started with these saved Filipino fishermen.

We thanked Mark and Mary. If they haven’t obeyed the Lord, we will never experience all these things. It is because of their humility and obedience to the Lord why we are also here serving the Lord. They have been always around to give us all the encouragements and support to our children, our family and the ministry. Mark and Mary, you are great!

Scotland indeed is a very beautiful and blessed country. The people are very warm and caring. We will never forget everybody who sacrificed their time and money just to give us the best treat, pleasure and enjoyment in the world.

MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS YOU ALL A HUNDREDFOLDS!

Posted by:

Ptr. Danny - Jane

"NO KIDS MINISTRY IN THE CHURCH, NO FUTURE OF THE CHURCH"

Children ministry in the Church is very important because the children will take the place of the young people and the young people will take the ministry of the adults when they are with the Lord. Therefore, every local church must establish a kids' ministry.

Last week, from June 3 to 5, we conducted a Daily Vacation Bible School (DVBS) at Ramon Cornerstone Church and there were 35 kids who attended the DVBS. After the two and a half days of various activities like playing games, conducting workshop, memorizing verses, singing and others, the children got so excited that is why at the end of the DBVS, the children gave their lives to Jesus Christ. Praise God for that!

FIRST SUNDAY SERVICE HELD AT STA. ANA, ECHAGUE....START OF A NEW CORNERSTONE CHURCH!

A crusade was held at Sta. Ana, Echague last April 28, 2010 as part of the goal and vision of Cornerstone Church Naggasican to plant

three (3) churches before the year ends.

Last Sunday, June 6, 2010, was a day of God's victory and prompt achievement of the goal and realization of the vision to plant a church. Upon request of the brethren at Sta. Ana, Echague, the first Sunday service was held at 6pm at the backyard of Joseph and Josie Manio's house at Sta. Ana. A team of leaders from Cornerstone Church Naggasican, Ptr. Danny Mangadap, Ptr. August Manio, Ptr. Rodel Hadloc, Jane Mangadap, Jimboy Aguilar, Nelly Oquialda, Joseph and Josie Manio, and Rose and Jennyrose Linglingon, went to the place to start the Sunday service. 17 children, 14 young people and 10 adult attended the first service. Ptr. Danny Mangadap shared his life testimony and preached about having a new vision, new heart and new step of faith (Isaiah 43:18-19).

GLORY TO GOD! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR PRAYERS!

IT IS ALL ABOUT JESUS!

Posted by:

Ptr. Danny Mangadap

We conducted our Vacation Bible School 2010 in our church May 6 to 9, 2010. Our Theme was “God Made Our Wonderful World”.

The Junior Class

The Primary Class

The Beginners Class

Our Teachers and assistant teachers

Sis Maureen, our friend from Cornerstone Singapore, came to our church last April 25, 2010. During the service she spoke to us about the coming revival and the sign is the physical early rain. The congregation prayed to ask for the rain then after the church service an hour and half , a heavy rain came that lasted almost an hour. Praise God!

Last April 4, 2010 we celebrated our easter Sunday service under Dalibubon bridge 5 o’clock in the morning. We had baptism, swimming, picnic and lots of fun!

From Comfort Zone to Courage Zone

And the Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward (Exodus 14:15). To go forward is not easy. God is asking Moses and Israel to get out to their comfort zone. This is what I've learned,that God is asking us to move forward..."to get out of our comfort zone."
Actually this year, God is asking us to step on faith. I mean to add another service at the Church. For me that is a hard thing, 'coz we have already two services every sunday (Morning and evening service). I enjoyed the services at the church and so happy that many people are attending at the church. So when God is asking us to add another service, I tell you the truth, I'm afraid. I'm afraid that maybe only few people are attending. But what i've learned is that, we need to obey God and to trust Him. That's why we launch our new sunday service and I saw the favor of the Lord, many people are attending at the church, many new faces, many new friends, many new brothers and sisters in Christ. Halleluiah.
Second, is Cell groups and prayer meeting. Many time we tried to have a strong and dynamic cell group but we failed. We tried again, but again and again we "Failed." Until we almost surrender. That's why I and my wife, devoted ourselves to pray and fast and gave a challenge to our workers to pray and fast with us. We launch again the overnight prayer meeting but this is very different. Before our overnight prayer meeting is once a month but now is weekly. I said to the workers, "we need to pay the price" that's why we decided to have a weekly overnight prayer meeting and praise the Lord God is really moving in our midst, the overnight meeting is so great, we have many visitations from the Lord, visions, revelations, prophecy and refresh. And thru this the Lord spoke to us to re-open the Cell groups. So before we open the cell groups, I and my wife begun to reseach about the cell groups, reads many books about cell groups, and ask some believers about cell groups. So when we understand about the principles of the cell groups, we shared our vision to our workers. First to young people and young adults, second to mens and third is to womens. We started to share the cell vision last January 2010. After we shared the vision, we started to trained the potential cell group leaders. After the training, five (5) of them begun to open their cell groups. And from february to may 2010 we opened eight (8) strong, alive, growing, and powerful cell groups. Many are being saved and we started to trained the new believers. And this month we will open again another three cell groups. And the good news is, we are prapairing about seven potential cell group leaders to open cell groups by the third quarter (July-September) of this year.Twenty cell groups by the end of this year is POSSIBLE!!! I believe that within five years we will be able to open one hundred (100) cell groups by the grace of the Lord.
Third is our new Building. A couple of years ago, after the sunday night service, a ten (10) year old girl went to me and she is crying and said to me, "Pst. Marlou forgive me 'coz I did not tell to you what the Lord is saying to you!" I said to her, "What is the Lord saying to me?" She said, "The Lord said, 'Marlou be prepared I will give the thousand members that I've promise to you (I did not tell to this girl what the Lord said to me about the thousand members, but the Lord revealed to this young girl) and I will give you a place, a beautiful church building (she describe to me the building that she saw in a dream. The amazing thing is, it is exactly the same building that we are buying now. Halleluiah)." After two years, the Lord is fulfilling what He has promise to us. So pls, brothers and sisters in Christ continue to pray for us. Selah

“For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us” (2 Cor 1:20 NASB)

By: Marlou Javier

CREW TRAINING

The CREW Training, which was moved from May 28, 2010 to June 4, 2010, was astonishingly different because of three things. First, it was held for the first time at the Cornerstone Church Santiago Main. Second, we had an eating fellowship in celebration of Ptr. Mark's 41st birthday an hour earlier before the training. Third, the message was so powerful, significant and sensible for the Cornerstone Church leadership - the STRATEGIES OF WAR.

The Cornerstone Church Office (CGCPI Headquarter) at the main church was ransacked by a thief (or maybe thieves) two nights before we had our CREW training. The flat screen monitor of the office's computer, keyboard and mouse were stolen and all the other doors (main hall, kitchen, kids room) showed signs of attempt to forcibly open. This incident caused discouragement to the leadership staff but nevertheless, this never hindered the celebration of Ptr. Mark's birthday and the CREW training on the following day.

Praise the Lord! We had a simple celebration of Ptr. Mark's birthday before the CREW training. All the leaders and staff brought meals and menus to share. The highlight of the celebration was the showing of video clippings of birthday greetings from Ptr. Mark's family, close friends and associates in the UK, particularly from Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Rotherham. This was absolutely a big surprise for Ptr. Mark. When my wife, Jane, and I went to the UK, we both have planned to take secretly video birthday greetings from Ptr. Mark's family and friends, which we intend to show on his 41st birthday celebration to surprise him. Praise God the video was smoothly done and shown to the delight of Ptr. Mark and the CREWs even if it was just prepared by Jane and my sons, Daniel, John and Dandan the night before the CREW training. We hope to post this video on the blog this week.

After the eating fellowship, all the pastors prayed for Ptr. Mark, then, we proceeded to the CREW training with Ptr. Mark as the speaker. He spoke about the BRITISH ARMY STRATEGIES OF WAR. To win a war, we must know who we are fighting. We must know our enemy. We can overcome our enemy by THE BLOOD OF JESUS, PRAYER, PRAISE, THE WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY and by wearing THE FULL ARMOUR OF GOD.

As leaders, we must be disciplined amidst conflict, need time to re-evaluate, re-strengthen, re-group and rest, must be able to encourage and sacrifice for each other, must have an offensive action, must have the element of surprise, must maintain confidence and morale, must have good administration and communication, must have cooperation and must be flexible to change.

As we go on our journey as Cornerstone Church, we need to be like the "Men of Issachar" - 1 Chron 12:1-2,22-23

ALL GLORY BELONGS TO GOD FOR THE SUCCESS OF THE CREW TRAINING!

Posted by:

Ptr. Danny Mangadap

Kerrs Land in Northern Ireland

Hello to all our friends in the Philippines and in the UK.

It seems like ages ago we left Sefton but we have only just arrived in Northern Ireland after 2 weeks of travelling and visiting, and things are still very busy as we begin to settle into our new home. So I am afraid this blog will have no photos, because I am not yet that organized. But I just wanted to let everyone know that we have finally arrived and we are all well.

It has been really good to visit different friends and family that we have not seen in years and our girls are especially delighted to play with their Irish cousins.

We have all been through and are still going through so much change, it will take us a while to process it all. Perhaps we shouldn't be but we are so amazed at Gods promises of faithfulness coming true. They really never fail! We want to thank God now because he has provided for us in ways we never imagined. From the small things to the big things, even to giving us a house to live in and a car, both through people we don't even know!

Madeleine starts school on Monday and Matthew will begin looking for work, we will hopefully get internet connection in our home next week and will give another update then (with photos).

We miss all our friends in Sefton very much. Thank you for special times and great memories.

Floods upon the Dry Ground

Hi folks ... we're home!

After 7 weeks in freezing cold Arctic UK, we are back in beautiful Philippines. It feels as if we have stepped from the freezer into the oven but we are glad to say that the searing temperatures we came back to a fortnight ago have dropped. In fact, we have had the first rain for 6 months here in Santiago and all of a sudden the horrible yellow dusty colour of our grass has turned lush green.

It made me realise that we need constant spiritual refreshing in our lives.

It is so easy to become dry and arid ... so easy to let the 'cares of this world' take away the life of God in us. When we are dry and brittle it is not a good sight and is certainly not pleasing to the eye. When we go through difficult times - wilderness times - our attitude and our spirit can often be negative and so lethargic.

But what a difference the rain makes. All of a sudden the yellow becomes green, the short becomes lush and the dead becomes alive. New life. New shoots. New energy. Sefton Village has become a paradise again ... all because of 3 days of rain! Wow. What a thought.

No matter how dry we are of how difficult a time we are having or how long we are in the wilderness for ... there is always refreshing with God! he can always supply a drink of cool water. He can always pull us through and pick us up. He can always shower us with good things. No matter how hard it gets ... we have a God who can bring us to places of rest and refreshing. Check out Psalm 23 and see how blessed we really are:

He is my shepherd
I will not live in want
He MAKES ME lie down
Where? In green, lush pastures ... places of plenty, much food and safety
He leads me beside quiet waters
He restores my soul. Again. Again. And Again.
He guides me in his ways
We need not fear death ... for He is with us
His rod to comfort us
His staff will lead us
He prepares a table for me.
Where? right slap bang in the middle of mine enemies!
And they cannot scare me, touch me or harm me!
Why? Because he anoints us with His spirit
Our cup of blessing constantly overflows!
Goodness and Mercy will CHASE after me ...
EVERY DAY that I live
And when it's all over here ...
it's just beginning in heaven
For I will dwell in His house ... forever

So whoever you are - a Filipino trying to make it through life, a Pastor trying to lead the church in the ways of God, a housewife in UK bringing up a family, a businessman in Singapore trying to survive recession ... let me tell you the great news today. Maybe you feel that life is yellow, arid, dry and dusty - but if you will stop for a while and reach out to God, his rain and refreshing is only a prayer away. No need just to survive ... you can thrive!

Listen to the promise of the Lord in Isaiah 44:3 (NLT)

For I will pour out water to quench your thirst and to irrigate your parched fields. And I will pour out my Spirit on your descendants, And my blessing on your children.

A few showers will change your life!

Pastor Mark Ritchie