Annual Meeting 2012

, hey, Kathy Dane. can you come up here real quick? If you could turn around so everyone can see your t-shirt. This is from like 19 years ago.

At Cornerstone 18. I haven't been here. OK, and still in good shape. Good job, Kathleen.

well, at this time we're going to officially start our, annual meeting, the business part of it, and so we cannot do that without the chairman of the elder board. So Kumi, why don't you come? Let's welcome him. Wow, I got a picture.

How do I switch that off? I don't want them looking at that the whole time. Seriously, he's, OK, I am calling this annual meeting to order. So be in order, and I'm going to open this up with prayer, so let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you that you are a sovereign God, a God of full control. And that we can rely on you and that you care for us. Just pray that you would be with us this evening in this meeting that we would be able to communicate, all that you've put on our hearts. And that the congregation would feel loved by you.

And cared for So, we just ask your blessing and our time together. We thank you for it in Jesus' name. Amen. at this time, I would like to recognize the elder of the meeting, which is the elder, the elder, the secretary of the meeting, which is the secretary of the elder board, which is Mr.

Carlos Cuellar, that is our secretary this evening. And also, I'd like to recognize our tellers who will be counting you as you exercise tonight, Mike Martinez, Jaap Van Barcel, and Aaron Varela. So at this time we're going to do two things at once because we value your time. We're going to have you raise your hand and have the tellers count you, and we're going to have the reading of the 2011 minutes by Mr.

Carlos Cuellar. So Carlos, if you can come up, so if you guys could exercise, if you get tired, then just raise the other hand, but don't, none of this, none of this, only, only one, only one at a time, OK. Right, OK, right. Oh, I'm sorry.

Members, please raise your hand. Members only, please raise your hand. Voting members, you have to be 18 years or older to be voting tonight. All right.

I gotta read this while keeping my hand up. All right, I'm gonna just quickly, I think I can do this before they do the count, but we're gonna go through the minutes real quick from January or from June's meeting. The meeting was called to order by Paul Kumamoto. The opening prayer was given by Bill Payne.

there was a recognition of the secretary and the, the quorum. I was appointed and recognized, or the teller, sorry, and then we determined the quorum. Opening remarks and message were from Milton Vincent. we, oversaw or discussed the voting for the 2011 and 2012 officers of Elder and Deacon.

And that was led by Paul Komodo. Missions report was given by Mike Berry. Care Group report by Carlos Limtiaco, the financial update by Alvin Davis. Children's ministry update was given by myself, as well as the facilities, update, and we had a motion for adjournment and closing prayer by Paul Kumamoto.

That's it. All right. OK, we have an Iwana joke. this is gonna be Wednesday night, so for you youth that are here, you're gonna have to laugh again Wednesday night.

But, these two people were driving in the country and, and they realized they were lost. And so they had to pull over finally and, and the, the wife actually convinced the husband to finally pull over and let's ask this farmer how to get to where we need to get to. So they stopped and asked, hey, sir, can you really help us out here?, we need to get to the center of town, to City Hall, and is there any way you can give us directions there? Oh, sure.

I'll give you directions. So you go up the street and when you see the, the 3rd mailbox, you turn right and then you go over there and go over the hill and when you see the milk store, you take a left and he kept going on, gave them several directions and so these people say, OK, thanks, I think I got it. And so they drove off and they did all the directions. And about a half an hour later they looked around and they go, wait a minute.

We're back where we started. And they saw the farmer again. They stopped and they go, Hey, these directions you gave us ended up right back here. And he said, Yeah, I want to make sure you could follow directions before I gave you the real directions.

So. It has something to do with God's will that we're studying Wednesday night. Are we good? oh, come on.

OK. OK, relax now, stretch a little bit. We might have to raise them up again. So, We're good, and the quorum is.

108, 108. OK. Thank you guys for participating. Excellent job.

you stretch out in the morning, you might feel that a little bit, so. and remember the rules. The rules for moving when you raise your hand, you're recognized to make a motion. You must state your name for the help of the person up here.

State your name and then the secretary can record your name that you made a motion. So at this time I will accept a motion to accept the 2011 minutes as read by our secretary. You got to move or we're going to be here forever. Kathy Dane moves.

Do we have a 2nd. Jenny Swenson, you're supposed to say her name. Jenny Swenson seconds. Are there any further questions or discussion?

All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion is carried.

OK, at this time we're going to have our pastor come up with his report on the 2011 and also the aspects of vision for 2012. Well, why don't we start tonight as we normally do our, annual meetings, with our church's mission statement. You can say it together with me. We exist to glorify God by experiencing the gospel in all of its fullness, exalting the Lord through worship, edifying the saints through mutual ministry, and evangelizing the world through outreach.

That is what we are all about. This morning, we focused in particular on the first aspect of our, church's mission and that is to experience the gospel in all of its fullness. it is our desire to, experience all of the fullness of God, not just some of it, but all of it that God makes available to, we saw this morning that if we are going to be a church body that lives up to its destiny to be a manifestation of the fullness of God, then we must realize that fullness in God is a choice.

We must stop looking to other things for the fullness that only God can give us.

We need to be willing. To stand before, kneel before, gather together with all that we are, all that we have, our whole church and all the ways that we're accustomed to doing things and all that is precious to us, to stand before this God. And break forth upon us, and we are surrendered to and we will accept whatever the ensuing flood might do to us as a church and as individuals. We also talked a bit this morning how that our pastors, the elders here at Cornerstone must do their job.

Of equipping the people of God for the work of ministry and that every member of this church without exception needs to be engaged in the work of the ministry, embracing the ministry that God has given to them, ministering to the body and also representing the church and ministry to. The lost. Well, we also saw this morning that part of the fullness that we enjoy as a church is a fullness that comes to us in the form of souls, people who, are saved or who know the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God brings.

To us in whom is Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God, spiritual gifts, wisdom and insight, along with whatever their narrative is in the Gospel, as it now becomes woven together with ours here at Cornerstone, our church becomes deeper into the fullness of God with every soul that God brings our way.

This past year, we rejoice in those who chose to become members of Cornerstone, and I'll read their names and their in no particular order of spirituality. Jonathan Park, Darren and Porsche Maynard, Jeremiah Pepsis, Jason Wy, Sarah Daway, Matt and Jessica Hooks, Lindsay Kimball, Who, by the way, I have to say is the first, person that I, was there at her birth, not when she was actually born, but I visited her in the hospital when she was born. First person that I've seen that.

who has become a member of Cornerstone.

So. Oh. That's special. Also, Ada Fisher, Michelle Murphy, David and Grace Huber, Gordon and Jill Bornes, Brian and Chris Kearns, Brooke Vincent.

Actually, I was there at her birth too, so. Luke Wallace and Mario and Kelly Lamon and Rod Olmstead, and we just rejoice in these precious men and women that God has led to become a part of this, church body. Well, we saw this morning, 5 things that we need to do if we want to go deeper as a church and the experience of the fullness of God. I want to add a 6th item to that in terms of what we must do if we as a church want to experience God's fullness, and that is that we must be nimble in handling the problems that fullness creates.

when a church experiences the fullness of God, and we actually have testimony to this in the New Testament, it creates challenges and difficulties. It creates problems, but these are very good problems to have. Just one example is Jesus. He told the disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat after not catching anything, and so they obeyed the Lord Jesus.

and what resulted was, it says in Luke chapter 5, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets were breaking. Their nets were just fine before they did what Jesus told them to do. And so they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they were sinking. And so they're having a problem here.

Their nets are in the process of tearing. They are not strong enough to bring in the hall that Jesus has provided for them, so they have to team up in a way that they would not have had to have done if the hall was not so great. And even when they hauled it in, the boats were. about the sink, they were taking on water as a result of the fullness of what Christ had provided for them.

Unless you think this is just some great fish story, Jesus said, Let me tell you what, I'm going to make you fishers of men. This is a metaphor, a metaphor of a greater fullness that is to come in your future as leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ, and you're going to have your hands full and your nets are going to break. And you're going to have to team up with each other in a way that you're learning how to do right now in order to accommodate the fullness that I'm going to be bringing your way.

Another example is in the book of, of Acts.

actually, I got ahead of myself here. another example is in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 6, it says, while the disciples were increasing in number, so the church is growing exponentially. And as a result of that, it says a complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving of that should be food, not, well, good food is what they were, were serving. But you think about this, the church was growing, things were going great, and God is bringing His fullness their way.

And as a byproduct of that, There were gaps that formed in their ministry structure. There were people that were being overlooked. The problem was not being addressed, and a complaint arose on the part of Hellenistic Jews against the native Hebrews. And so even some of the old, maybe attitudes between the Hellenistic Jews and the native Hebrews begins to come out that was associated with their old way of life before Christ.

And so this stuff begins to surface and the problems are created as a result of The fullness that God is bringing their way, and it forced the apostles to come together to have a council and to set up a different ministry structure in order to accommodate this fullness that God had brought to them. And so we need to be ready and nimble and flexible. And expecting problems to occur as God brings His fullness to us and ready to address those as they come. And so what we're going to do a little bit over the next few minutes is just review.

A little of what we have done over the years to accommodate God's fullness and to make room for more, and I'm speaking of His fullness in terms of, in the form of his people that he is bringing to us. I showed you part of this graphic this morning. I wanted to look at it in a little greater detail. If, you'll notice that we, our records go back to 1988, at least that I could find this week.

It was in December of 1994 that we moved to this facility and that gave us breathing room so that we could grow. In 1998, we hired Mike Berry, and it was in 2002 that we went to two services, because we saw the need for that because this auditorium, just given who was attending one service was not sufficient. so we went to two services. In 2005, we hired, Carlos Limtiaco, established our care group ministry, which multiplied opportunities for ministry every Sunday evening.

let's see, our, our two service format was 8:15, was our first service, and what we did here in 2008 is we bumped it back a full 15 minutes to where our first service started at 8:30 rather than 8:15. We thought that would make a radical difference. It didn't. In 200 and let's see, in 2009, we reconfigured Sunday school and that helped considerably, as I'll show you in just a moment.

2010, we hired Carlos Cuellar and it was in 2011, this year, in April of this year that we moved our first service, service time back to 9 o'clock, shortened the two services, a little bit, had the first one start at 9 and the second one start at 10:45. And to show you a little bit of the struggle that we've had in terms of addressing the, just accommodating the people that are coming to us on Sundays, you'll notice here from 2002, that's when we went to two services. These tick marks right here, below the tick mark represents, those who were coming to the first service and above the tick mark represents those who were coming to the second service.

And as you can see, basically from here 2002 to 2008 we had essentially a 20% of our people coming to first service and 80% coming to the second service and so we had a ton of room in the first service, but our second service was was full to where we were having Sundays where people could not find a seat.

So in 2009 we reconfigured Sunday school and you could see the difference that that makes. it pretty much put us in the first service somewhere around 35% and the second service was around 65%. And lo and behold this year when We moved the first service to 9 o'clock. Look at the difference.

We are right at around 47% on average of our people are attending during the first service and 53% in the second. That's about as close to 50/50 as we're probably going to be able to get. But in making those adjustments, what it has done. Is it has allowed us, a little more breathing room, To continue growing and accommodating the fullness that God is bringing to us.

Another thing that we have been doing over the last few years in terms of managing the fullness that God is bringing to us is leadership development. if, if God is bringing his sheep to us, they need to be properly led and properly equipped. And with our men's ministry, our passion is to develop every man to be a pastor of his household and to resource him in any way that we can. And then among those men that are doing well and pastoring their household, Those are the guys that we'll pick out and say we would like for this man to serve as a pastor or an elder over the Cornerstone body.

We've had weekly men's leadership meetings over the last couple of years just investing in the care group leaders and the helpers and other ministry leaders and potential leaders. The goal of all of this ultimately is to make progress towards developing. future elders, so we've been busy about the task of just trying to see what God is bringing to us and also dreaming about, if God has been doing what He's been doing over the last few years, the trajectory of that, if that continues, we want to be ready for that and be thinking about being ready for that now rather than waiting until that fullness comes to then scurry and begin thinking about it and planning then.

Another thing we've been doing is researching all available facility options, and here to tell us a little bit about that is Mr.

Carlos Cuellar. So why don't you come? Let's welcome him. Thank you.

Well, I just want to share a little bit about what's going on on the facility front, And just bring you guys up to speed, with what we've been doing this last year. Milton, the chart that Milton put together, by the way, let's, recognize Milton's graphic design abilities. He's become a master of Of PowerPoint and other, other programs. we have a, a multi-talented senior pastor.

but, I just wanted to make a point about that chart. You obviously saw it going in the right direction, that's up. not every church has a chart like that. there are some churches that, due to different circumstances, various circumstances, their chart is actually going down.

but we're very blessed with the problem that we have. It's a very good thing, to be growing, that the fact that God is sending us people. Our way and that he's growing this, this church family. but I just want to highlight a few of the problems.

You've obviously seen a little bit of the history that Milton gave just about what we've tried to do to remedy our facility issues and try to maximize our opportunities at this, at this present facility, but we still have a problem, and it's broken down into a couple of areas. Number one, We still have a sanctuary space problem in the sense that we're we're nearing and at times have exceeded the capacity of this sanctuary in services and so long term we just cannot continue to grow in this present sanctuary the way that it's configured.

also, just on a, on a weekly basis here on Sundays we have an ongoing classroom facility issue. Right now we have our high school group which is growing and they're meeting in a in a very small back room.

We have our children's ministry configured in in what is really not the ideal breakdown in age group. That's because we've had to squeeze them into one less classroom. so we have, we have some serious needs. We, we could probably offer even more equipping school options for you guys to train and equip and resource you, but we can't do that because we don't have additional classroom space.

And so, we're feeling that, on a weekly basis on Sundays, as well as just parking and restroom, needs. We know that we're very limited in restrooms, and I don't know if that's ever hindered you horribly, but, you can, we can share stories later. Anyway, but. But we do, that is a problem.

but anyway, I wanna, I wanna let that, a year ago, obviously, the elders have been on a journey with regard to facilities for a long time. but we invited others, to help us along, in that journey, and I just want to take a moment to recognize our facility search committee. These are men who have given, a lot of time and energy and effort and used, the, the gifts that God has given them to, to help us, to be a big help. I did not get a minor in facilities at seminary.

I didn't take those electives. I don't know what I was thinking, but it's probably because they weren't there. But, but we have men here in our body who are very gifted beyond what I will ever understand or know about facilities, finances, Real estate, other things, that have been an invaluable help to us. but some of the key guys this last year they've been a help are Angelo, Jonathan Angelo, Tomaselli, Jonathan Jones, Gordon Burns, and Phil Orr.

And if you guys are here tonight, could you just stand for a second? I just want to recognize these men. I really look up to these guys. They've been a tremendous help to not only myself but to the whole elder board and, and to you guys as a church body.

what we've been doing this last year is we've been, exploring several options that I'm gonna go over in just a second. We could divide them up into two options. One is a short term, short term options, and then the long-term options. But basically, we've come to a conclusion as a, as a committee that status quo is not an option.

And what by that is staying here at Lyndon and doing absolutely nothing, is not what we can do. God is adding to our number. and we just cannot afford to do nothing. And so we need to be proactive.

We, we have been doing that, throughout the year in our meetings, in our strategizings, and our prayer, and just trying to think through what, what can we do? Where, where might the Lord lead us, in the future. And so I'm gonna just go over a couple of quick short-term options. What we've realized is that in any of these long-term options that we're exploring, and we're exploring a few of them.

we're really looking at a window of probably 12 to 24 months to even get to somewhere, that would be a next step, what you would call a next step. And so what we want to do is we want to, in the short term again because we can't afford to do nothing here at Linden Street, what we want to do is maximize this facility. For to just get the most use and continue to grow here as much as we can. we've, we've tried to do that actually since 2005 in various ways, and, and Milton expressed a few of those, but we've also, spent a lot of money in constructing a modular that we were hoping to get access to several years ago and, we, we've, we've been, we've run into some snags in God's providence.

but, but what we've wanted to do is we've wanted to in the next 12 to 24 months refocus on that modular and hopefully gain occupancy so as to create some additional growth and the only way to do that, as we've shared with you in the past, I think in the last meeting and maybe even the one before that was we need to attack what the city's asking us to do, and that's build ADA compliant restrooms and a path of travel to those restrooms and to the new facility that we've already, that we've already completed in the back here, and so.

We, we've, as a facility search committee, we've, endeavored to do that. what we did is we basically re-approached EFC in our discussions as elders, and with the help of the committee strategizing on this. And, if you recall, EFC, the reason that we cannot occupy the modular is because EFC hasn't completed theirs, where the restrooms actually were going to be located, and that's obviously in God's providence.

we hold no ill will for that or we're not angry about that, but it's just the way that it is. but EFC. Been very gracious and recently expressed a willingness to try to make and do something to help that situation out, and what they've done is they've been willing to entertain the possibility of contributing to the building and construction of those bathrooms for us so that we no longer have to bear that burden financially. And so we're in discussions as we speak with them with that as our objective, and they would basically cover the costs of doing the restroom.

And the path of travel and what what it would be done, the way it would be done is in a possible exchange where we would front that money but then get reimbursed through rent reduction over the next 12 to 24 months and our lease with them so we get our money back and ultimately AFC would bear that burden and would be gracious to do that towards us. and then the short term, we could, theoretically get 12 to 24, maybe even 36 months, however, however long we're here to get use of our modular.

So, there's several, advantages for us, with occupying the modular. Number one, we get to have it without making an additional capital expense, and we want to be sensitive to what you guys have already contributed and done, to make the modular happen, but also it really helps us in our short term to grow to about 100 to maybe 200 people, and the way we do that is we could move our high school group and even an equipping school, additional equipping school class over there.

we could have dual service overflow in the fellowship hall, maybe seat about 75 people. So now you're talking about an additional 150 seats that have been created for sanctuary seating. Our junior high and children's ministry can expand and take up other classrooms that would be available for the first time, and then we can even expand downstairs with the Spanish ministry again and things like that. So there's just a lot of potential if we just had access to this modular, and I think Jonathan Jones and the rest of the committee who have been hard at work in making that happen.

and we may be very close to that. we'll obviously keep you posted as we go along in the next few weeks, in our discussions with EFC, but we've, we've, we've, looked at costs and other things and we're trying to put as much on the table for them so that they can move forward in relighting this project and the city can as well, and we can actually enjoy the modular that God has given us. So that's the short term. Again, this is just a short term option because it only gives us a little bit of breathing room, loosens the collar, if you will, as we continue to look for what is our ultimate home and where is the Lord leading us long term.

And so the facility committee has been looking at that as well. They've been hard at work in looking at some long term options that I want to walk you through and there's about 4 or 5 of them, sorry. the first is that we might stay at Linden Street and purchase the campus. We did, we spent a lot of time last year, approaching EFC on this, and at this point, basically I just have to report to you that those options don't seem to be on the table.

If you recall, we had two proposals in our last meeting that we shared that we would be taking the EFC. One was just basically asking if we could purchase the property from them, and they weren't open to that and remain close to that idea at this time. The second option was a long term lease option tied to some co-ownership. So if we could maybe purchase the corner property where the house is at the top of the Lynden here, maybe we could own a piece of the property and then begin to invest in the property or maybe even build something in that corner.

Well, that, as, if you've been observing that corner, has been renovated and is now a source of Income for FC and that's great for them, but that has obviously closed that door for us in terms of these options so you can see that staying at Lynden and purchasing the campus or even a long term strategy for co-ownership right now is pretty much a closed option. We explored that for a long time last year. The second option is to stay at Linden Street and Church Plant, and we've tossed that around various points as an elder board.

and what it would look like is probably like a peel off where we basically take several families and maybe somewhere around 100 people plus and strategically relocate part of Cornerstone that would solve our facility needs and that it would reduce the number that are here at this campus and it would create a church plant elsewhere, but it would definitely require some funds that we don't currently have.

And so even this option, even though it would be an inexpensive option, it still require funds. And, but there's still some questions with regard to even this option and why we should do that. Church planning is definitely on our radar for those of you who might be wondering, it's something that we want to do and have a heart for. the question is when, when should we do that?

And we're not sure that our current size and resource capacity to empower that, that move would be the best at this point. So, but we're sensitive to that, and that's definitely a possible option. There's a third option. And that's to leave Lindon Street and go mobile, become a mobile church.

we were a mobile church at one point before we came here to this facility. Cornerstone met as a mobile church, and so the elders are just wondering, is that a step backwards or forwards, and what, what would that mean in terms of our future? And is it really a long-term, a sustainable long-term option? Or is it more of a stepping stone to something that that we'd see beyond that?

So we're not sure at this point, but that as well, just like the church plan would require funds and when you talk about we've done all the research as a committee on the mobile church option and we've discovered that it's probably above $100,000 of investment for just equipment. in addition to increased facility costs, so again you're beginning to see, and I'm going to just conclude at the end, that you're beginning to see a pattern that right now we don't have the resources in any of these options.

Our options are either closed or they're closed specifically because we don't have the funds to make it happen. There's a 4th.

long term option that the facility committee and the elders have been considering, and that's to leave Lindon Street and lease property. as a committee, we spent some time looking at adjacent property, including the, the warehouses that are right next door to us, to our west. right here off of Nikkiy Way, one came available at one point and then it was leased, quickly thereafter. and we had looked at it but, just didn't, weren't able to move on it for various reasons and just weren't, weren't sure, we weren't sure if that was what we should do, but that has since rented and so those, those options at this point are closed.

the, the corner building may become available in the in the near future, but again, to purchase something like that, you're, you're talking about almost 3/4 of a million dollars. So, again, even if those were available right now to purchase or, or to lease, would require again increased facility costs that, that we're wondering if we can handle at this point. we have, we've obviously in the past looked at other leasing other options in, in other areas, but we're very sensitive to just trying to look close to our present location, just given it a strategic nature in, in closeness to us and it's its central location, as well as its outreach opportunities.

and the last one that we've spent time on this year is, to leave Linden Street and purchase a property, and we've spent some time looking at one particular property that I'll share with you a little bit about, and that's just a property right here on University, just one city block to our southwest.

1575 University is the property. If you can see the map here, you've got our, our current facility up in the top right corner and then the bottom left corner, just one city block over to the, to the southwest there is this, facility that we've been looking at. it used to be the, Callaway Motorsports, facility, and it's about 4.25 acres with a 25,000 square foot building on it. You can see a closer image there, as it fronts university.

Mike likes it because it's right next to Los Albertos. And he can get You get that much closer to his taco run. But, Just to give you an idea of the size of the building, we currently lease from EFC about roughly 16,000 square feet here at this present facility. So this one building at the front of the property is 25,000 square feet.

There's plenty of room to expand. You can see the back of it, just plenty of parking. That's, that's an issue. This is an amazing and very unique property because there's just nothing you're going to find in this area, even on University, this size in this market with with that frontage and potential.

So there's a lot of advantages to. this building, you can see some of the pictures. There's the front of it. It's got like an Art Deco front and then just a huge, basically huge empty space that's totally configurable inside.

so, several advantages, location, obviously, we're in the same area, just a block, city block away. we can, we can stay central to, to where people come from, as well as just be strategic in our outreach to UCR and other places that we're, we're wanting to expand to. the size, obviously, just speaks for itself, just in uniqueness and just the ability to expand our vision. this is a place that we could go and definitely do some, some major visioning and dreaming about what Cornerstone could become, So, and then obviously the, the one advantage when you're owning like this is sole ownership, we've coexisted on this facility with another church, but for the first time in a long time, we'd be able to have complete control over our facility.

So those are some of the advantages of this current property. Here's the, there's two possibilities of this property, a possible lease to purchase option. the property is valued somewhere in the neighborhood of about 3 million to 3.5 million, but, but you're talking again. I just want to point some numbers out to you just to show you that ultimately this option is closed at this time financially just because of where we are, in, in our, in our building fund, in our funds and resources, but you're to just even lease this property with or without an option to purchase it, we're talking somewhere in the ballpark of about a million plus in tenant improvements just to get the building ready for us to occupy.

And take it over and transform it into a, a church. and then you're, if we were, were to purchase, in the near future, like between 2 to 2 to 5 years from now, you're talking about, over half a million that would need to be raised just for the down payment. So we're already in the ballpark of almost $2 million just to even make a move on this. The purchase would be similar.

The down payment would be higher because if we were leasing it, part of our rent payment would go to rent equity. We might be even getting as much as 50% of our rent going towards the future purchase of the property. So I point all this out just to show you there's great potential around us, but a lot of this. Requires some giving and, and just some raising of funds and capital on, on our part as a church.

So, the facility committee, I just want to commend them. They've, they've given a year of hard work and just constant effort and energy. They have served you and, and the leadership in doing this, and what they've concluded is the following. Number one, status quo is not an option.

We can't afford to do nothing, and that's obvious, I think, to all of us. The short term focus needs to be getting that modular and these restrooms completed. We're well on our way to trying to execute that. And maybe be in in the next few months if we can, if the Lord would open that door, and we need to be praying for that to happen.

We want a return on the investment that you have made in that modular, and we want to see it used to expand in the short term what God is doing here. As far as the long term options, I think the conclusion is pretty clear. Number one, we need to be praying for. All of these options, and number 2, we need to raise funds.

All of these options, even if we, even if the door was open for any of these, they wouldn't be for us because we don't have the funds in place to act on them. So even if we knew with 100% clear vision, God spoke to us in an audible voice said go to university, we just can't do that right now because we have no money and we need to, we need to begin to raise that. So with that, I'm going to let Milton come back and he's going to actually expand on those two things, both our need to be praying.

And our need to be raising funds.

So thank you. there are 22 ways that We can look at things that I find myself looking at things as a pastor. One is we look at the list of options that, Carlos has just reviewed and it's like, well, which of those is the way that the Lord wants us to go. Even if for a moment though, we set aside all of those options and not even think about them, and all we did was look at our present situation.

And the trajectory of fullness in terms of souls that God is bringing to us, if that's all we looked at. We're realizing as pastors and shepherds that something has to give. And like Carlos said, status quo is not an option. Staying here, status quo is not an option.

Perhaps staying here and some big alteration of the campus here might be an option, but we're not comfortable spending any money to make significant alterations to a campus that we don't own. We want to be, faithful with, with the money that you graciously and generously give, and that's a burden that we as elders have felt for, for many months and even years as we have looked into the future. We want to be good shepherds and shepherds go ahead of the sheep, and they're thinking about things a year or two in advance and wanting to make sure that there is a place for, the sheep.

to gather together and, and to worship the Lord and minister to, to one another.

And so, we stand before you tonight and we confess to you our ignorance. And our weakness. Our mental weakness and being able to assess which direction the Lord would have us to go. What we do know is that if God does continue to bless as he has done, Something needs, to happen.

I had the blessing back in April of 2011 of speaking at a conference in Minneapolis and I stayed over with the permission of the elders that Sunday to attend Bethlehem Baptist Church, the church that John Piper. pastors and, and I just, my assignment from them was to just look at and observe anything I can and because we were thinking about all these kinds of things and looking for direction and I, I sit down in the service and John Piper gets up and said, I was planning on preaching from the Gospel of John this morning, but in the middle of the week, I just felt led to set that sermon aside and I just want to talk to you.

this morning on, the directions that God wants us to go as a church, and I want to confess to you that we don't know. but he then made a statement that has stuck with me since.

He says, when godly leaders don't know what to do, they know what to do about not knowing what to do. They pray, and by the way, he prayed. I got to meet him after the service, and, he prayed for you as a congregation, just joining with us in our situation as I explained it to him. So this brother, has, made request on our behalf regarding the very things that we're talking about, tonight.

And so God has used this to do a work of sanctification in us as elders. We have talked and talked and talked and researched and gone round and round and thought we were making progress, and then something put a hitch in our step, and we end up over where we were 6 months ago and going down that road only to end up again. With a feeling of, of ignorance and lostness in terms of what the Lord wants us to do, and all of that has been redemptive. Ignorance can be redemptive, because it has brought us to the Lord.

We have prayed as elders in recent months more than we have ever prayed. And the times of prayer that we have together are becoming increasingly sweet, and that is a passion and an enjoyment that our burden has been to pass on to the congregation and that is, basically the primary reason why for the winter seminar this year, we, We talked about the subject of prayer, just laying a groundwork for us as a congregation growing in this matter of prayer, praying, as we should. And we learned about, what praying as we should at least involves coming to God and confessing with Paul that we don't know how to pray as we should, and then asking the Lord to teach us to pray.

because prayer is not just us pouring out our heart to God, it's letting God pour his heart into us and just saying, God, right now, I don't even know how to pray.

Can you teach me how to pray right now in the next several minutes, and then we try to pray in a way that is responsive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. and so we talked about all of that and developed that along with other things on the subject of prayer. tonight we want to let that one of the ways that we want to execute some of the things that we have learned, we obviously want to apply what we have learned in our homes, in our marriages, and, in our care groups and in all the venues where we come together, as brothers and sisters in Christ, but one of the particular ways that we want to implement what we have learned is to have over the next few months, I don't know what else to call it, so we're just calling it praying as we should nights.

And, this will be the Sunday evening of February the 12th, which is two weeks from, tonight, it'll be here in this auditorium, and then the last Sunday evening of February, the last Sunday evening of March, and the last Sunday evening of April, we as elders are asking you to join us here in this building for a season of, corporate, prayer.

And we're going to have a microphone set up here and you're welcome as the spirit leads to come up and, And pray. And again, what we're going to do during this time is publicly confess to God that we don't know in and of ourselves how to pray as we should. we need direction from the Lord, and we'll only get that by praying, but we're not even sure how to go about praying for the direction that we need from him. And then asking God to gather as a congregation to teach us to pray even during the time that we're assembled together on that Sunday evening and then just as a congregation, essentially just letting the Spirit lead in the time of prayer and we seek to Pray responsibly to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

And as we're praying, and as we're listening to our brothers and sisters praying, we are attuned to what is being prayed, and we're searching for the heart of God inside of what is being prayed, seeking to discern his heart and his plan for Cornerstone. I have twice shared with you what Charles Spurgeon said about this praying, and let me read a part of this again. He says, our prayers are indicators of the movement of the wheels of Providence, believing supplications are forecasts of the future.

He who prayeth in faith is like the seer or the prophet of old.

He sees that which is to be. Prayer prompted by the Holy Spirit is the footfall of the divine decree, and we saw that footfall means the sound of approaching footsteps. So as we pray in the Spirit, our desire is that we might catch the sound. Sounds of the approaching footsteps of whatever it is that God has planned and the future for Cornerstone.

We believe that whatever it is that God wants us to do going forward from here, we will discern that together as a church body in the context. of corporate prayer. During this time of these times of prayer, we're gonna be seeking the Lord, we're gonna be looking at God and giving voice to what we see. We're gonna be rehearsing in prayer, God's story and our place in it.

We're gonna be seeking to not, we're not just asking God to look upon us and look upon our circumstances. In prayer, we're gonna seek to look at our circums Stances through God's eyes. What do we look like to Him and what do our circumstances look like to Him? We want to see that.

We also publicly in all humility, want to corporately confess as Jehoshaphat did in 2 Chronicles 20:12, our weakness and our ignorance. We want to confess sin and in the context of prayer. We don't want to just speak, we want to listen to God, and we want to worship Him in the hopes that while we worship God, And spend time in his presence, God might look upon us with grace and favor and choose to give us direction that we need. Like he did for Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah, and like he did for the church in Antioch, the spirit had told Paul and Saul and Barnabas to go on a missionary journey, and apparently they notified the leadership of the Antioch Church, the spirit's telling us to go, but we don't want to go until the spirit tells you to let us go.

And so the leadership of the church, the entire church essentially is assembled together. And it says while they were worshiping, this is the word we get our English word liturgy from, while they're doing the liturgy, doing the worshiping before the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me, Barnabas and Saul, for the work to which I have past tense already called them. I've told them, and now I'm telling you, and where were they when they heard that direction?

They were in prayer and they were worshiping the Lord.

And God directed them in that context. So even in our night of prayer, part of what we'll do is we'll sing, we'll intersperse songs, and as the Spirit leads, those who will be leading worship will be singing our prayers, to, the Lord also and just asking God to do a great work of leading us. Now, one of the tricky things about asking God for direction is sometimes we come to God saying, God, we need direction on what to do with facility. And God's looking at us saying, well, actually, that's not your primary need right now.

There's some other things that you need to hear, and that may be what happens. He may fall silent on something we're wanting him to speak on and begin directing us and impressing us and challenging us in other ways that actually need to be addressed before we can deal with the issue. Issues that maybe we thought initially were more important. So we want to be open to that.

We're not going to put God in a box and say you have to give us direction on what to do as far as moving from here or it has to be connected to facility. We want to open ourselves up to God, to whatever it is that he wants. To deal with us about. And when we pray together, we, we're gonna, we're gonna do the daring thing and stand before this God and ask Him to break out in fullness upon us.

So, I know for me, I'm going to be fasting on that day, not to try to impress God, but I just want, When I got a full stomach, it's hard to focus on, on things sometimes, and I, I want to be totally, just clear headed and sensitive to the spirit working in me, and I want to be clear headed and clear spirited to where when you're praying, I'm discerning the heart of God inside of your prayers and I'd ask you to join. in, in considering even fasting for, for that day that the Lord would lead you to do so.

we want to be ready for whatever it is that God has us to do. We saw a few months ago in our annual meeting how when God was encouraging the people of Israel before they left Egypt to celebrate the Passover, he says, I want you to celebrate the Passover, but he says, you shall eat it in this manner with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand.

I want you, when it's time, when I give you direction and say go and move in this direction, I want you ready to go. I want you to be patient and wait for me, but when your patience is rewarded and I tell you to go, I don't want to wait for you. I want you to be ready to move in response to my leading. That brings us to the issue of funds.

because one of the things that we have realized is that as we've looked at all of these options, at times, even some of the people we've dealt with who are giving us information on these options, they're like, and what are you doing actually considering this? This really isn't even an option. You don't have the funds to even be in the game. regarding some of these things, we've just realized that all of these options, every door is closed as long as we lack the capital, to even be on the playing field with regard to some of these options.

we've observed, and I'm expressing this from the elders, that these options that Carlos went over all require capital that we do not presently have. Until we have more capital on hand, all of these doors are closed to us. Our desire as elders is to establish a fund that will help us to begin to grow our capital to the point where options that are now closed to us become open. We want to be in a position of financial readiness to follow the Lord however he leads us to address our present and future growth.

partly in response to just the request and the urging of some in our body who would like to give to some effort like this, and partly just as the result of us as elders processing and praying over these things over a period of months and even years, we want to let that today the elders have established what we're calling a capital growth fund. And all of the monies that are given to this fund will go toward our effort to accommodate present and future growth. When we talk about growth, we're talking about accommodating numerical growth.

We're talking about ministry growth, the growth and expansion of our ministry here and even around the world.

We're including in this the growth of the length of the arm of our outreach. In this community and around the world. and or towards executing a facility plan for Cornerstone's future as the Lord directs. And trust me on this, we as elders are not expecting God to direct us apart from you as a congregation.

our policy as elders since the founding of Cornerstone is to only do things unanimously. We only do things and move ahead if every elder is unanimous. And we want to arrive at whatever it is that the Lord has for us in community, not only as elders, but with you, the congregation, in a context of prayer and seeking the Lord. Whatever decision we arrive at, whatever shape it takes, it'll be shaped and arrived at in community with this congregation.

And I got a text. after the, Meeting began tonight, that some dear people in our church body who are very committed. To the ministry of this church have tonight donated $200,000 to this fund. And the trust That such generosity, Displays Is something that we as elders never want to take for granted, and we do not want to violate.

The trust of God's people. Christ died for every one of you, and He shed His blood for every one of you. You are that precious to Him. And what I hear from the Lord every day in recent months and even during the night is, you'd better be faithful in leading my people.

And you had better not lead them wrongly. Or lead them astray. Pray for us as elders that we will be faithful. To lead You and to follow the Lord's direction.

In a way that 10 years from now we will be able to look back on. Without any significant regrets and know that we did right by the Lord, we did right by his precious people. we, we covet your prayers. For that.

So, beginning tonight and in the coming weeks, as the Lord leads you, you are welcome to give as a designated gift to this Capital Growth Fund, and this is one of the things that we'll actually be looking at as a part of the bigger picture and determining maybe how the Lord is perhaps, directing. And so, if, if God is leading you to give to this, we would encourage you to do so in, in his timing. And we'll see what the Lord does. What impresses me the most is that we must be faithful.

We as elders must be faithful, and every member of our congregation, we all need to examine ourselves and ask, am I bringing my A game every day to the cause of Christ? Am I bringing my A game for the benefit of this church body, for my brothers and sisters for whom Christ died? This church is by destiny the fullness of God. And am I contributing to that fullness, or do I take away from it or stifle other people's experience of that fullness?

Paul, just real quick, think about it. He, he dreamed of going to Rome. He told the Roman Christians, often I have planned to come to you, and I've been prevented. I've I've wanted to get to Rome and I believe God wants me there, but I've been prevented from doing so.

Well, he ended up getting to Rome, but not the way that he would have anticipated. He ended up getting arrested. And was in prison for a while and then appealed to Caesar and then he's on a ship heading to Rome and so great, I'm heading to Rome now. My dream is going to be fulfilled, but then a violent storm at sea occurs and the ship is run aground on the island.

Of Malta, I believe. And so Paul's plan to get to Rome has once again been thwarted, but nonetheless, he's there on the shore and everyone's wet and cold and we need to start a fire and so Paul says, I'll pick up some sticks and help. But while he's picking up sticks, a viper comes out of the pile of sticks and bites him, and everyone, the natives look at him and say, OK, he escaped the vengeance of the sea and the justice of God, but now justice has caught up with him, and he's going to die here in a moment or two and get his just due.

Paul shakes it off, doesn't die.

They're like, Whoa, we were wrong. He must be a god. And before long people on the island were bringing, people to, to him, and he was healing them. Word spread and, and Publius, the governor of the island, his father was sick and he calls for Paul to come to him and Paul, is faithful to, OK, I guess God wants me to heal his father, and so he does so.

And Paul is healing all who end up coming to him. On the island and a few months go by and a ship comes by that can take them to Rome and it says that when it was time to set sail, it says when we were setting sail, they, the people of the island, supplied us with all we needed. Teaching us a profound lesson that whatever our future is, we will discover it inside of faithfulness to our present duties. We will discover it in the context of prayer.

We will discover it in the context of faithfulness to our present duties. May God give us the grace. To be faithful and to grow in faithfulness of ministry in all areas of our church life here at Cornerstone. Speaking of faithfulness and ministry, Carlos Slimtiaco, our pastor of care groups, is going to come and give us an update on what's happening with our care group ministry.

I just want to begin by saying that, I've just been extremely encouraged personally with the care group ministry, for a number of reasons. I would like to, to just, offer thankfulness to the Lord for those who do serve as care group leaders in this body. just to, The leaders and their wives are just a great blessing and anytime I get together with a leader and begin to speak to the leader and whatnot, there's just this, there is this theme, that there's this thread that runs true as it relates to our care group leaders and, and that is that I know that they love the people in the groups.

There is no question.

that the leaders love, they care for, are concerned about the people in their groups. They are praying for those in their groups, and as an extension of the pastoral ministry, I think we are blessed as a church that God has given to us such great leaders. I thank the Lord for the leaders of this church. I would also, on behalf of the leadership, on behalf of the care group leaders, like to express much appreciation for those of you in this body.

Who are faithfully participating in the ministry of care groups here. We have a very high percentage of people that do faithfully participate, and there is much that is taking place. In our last care group leadership meeting just a couple of weeks ago, we took some time to just share some of the things that were happening in our care groups, and, and we were just so, Encouraged to hear from other leaders of the types of things that God's people, in these care groups are doing by way of ministry, one to another.

And I would, I would say that on behalf of the leaders, leaders, I would just like to express a thank, just a huge thank you to you guys because in large measure, you, you are the ones who helped to make CARE Group what CARE.

Group is. So, again, just thank you guys. We appreciate you guys and we're just so thankful to the Lord for the ways in which you guys minister. oftentimes, some of this ministry happens without the, the, the leader of the care group having anything to do with it.

And I've experienced that on two occasions, even within the last month, on, on two separate occasions. You all know about how I about knocked my eye out of its socket. on the other side of that, the care group just stepped up to the plate and without me having any responsibility whatsoever there, they just, what I just knocked my eye out and the people in my care group said, let's bring Mills to the Limtiaco family. One of the things that impressed me in particular was that there was a single man in my care group who on New Year's Eve, came to my house and he brought just this lovely dinner, and in connection to the dinner, he brought two bottles of sparkling apple cider so that my family could celebrate New Year's Eve together.

And he also delivered to us this package of, of poppers, I think is what they called, where you pull the string and Stuff comes shooting out. he, he knows that we've got 4 kids and a family and he just wanted to bless. That's just one small example. I could tell you of another care group where the care group basically gave to a couple who was in need a car, a van, that type of stuff is the type of stuff that is happening.

And again, thank you to you guys. As far as 2011, just looking back over the last, year. Jonathan Jones came on. Jonathan and Julie Jones came on as CARE Group leaders, and so we were able to launch a new care group, and we're just very excited about this man.

He's a huge blessing to this body, and we just appreciate him and his wife and what they bring to the table as far as the CARE Group ministry. We have a total now of 11 care groups with, with about 25 to 30 people per group. That would include Children, some might be a little smaller in number, but there are those that make up for that by being a little bit larger in number. And so if you multiply the 30 by 11, that's 330, if you round down to about 300, that's, that's 75+% of the people here actively participating in care groups.

And so that is a huge blessing. 5 men are at the beginning stages right now of working through the leadership curriculum. And, as of recent, the leaders have been challenged regarding the value of prayer and its implementation in care groups. That was basically the last discussion we had in the last care group leadership meeting that we had.

And so, as far as 2012 is concerned, some of the things that we are looking forward to, we want to see our folks grow in the area of prayer as it relates to our care group ministry. And, I'm, I'm, I'm expecting I'm anticipating that just in connection with the things that are going on in this church, the December seminar, and what we're about to undergo as far as some of these evening prayer services, and even in terms of some of the prayers that have been prayed in various care groups, and I can speak on behalf of my own care group.

There seems to be, I was talking to another brother just the other day, there seems to be this, this spirit, this spirit of prayer that is overcoming, overcoming us, and I've detected it over the last 6 months or so. And I'm just very excited to see us as a congregation grow together in prayer, and I am especially excited to see how God causes us as we gather.

Gathered together in care groups to experience prayer together and to grow in our love and our passion for the Lord together and for one another together as well. So, I'm very excited about what I believe the Lord wants to do as it relates to prayer within the context of our care group ministry. Our current leaders under the instruction of Milton Vincent primarily, are working Through curriculum related to gospel-centered counseling and just being at those meetings and hearing Milton teach us, it just feels like we're under the tutelage of a master, and those of us leaders are just very blessed to hear him present to us the gospel and how it relates to life.

It's just been a great blessing.

I would fully anticipate that to have an effect on our overall ministry as well. We are thinking through some practical ways in which outreach and evangelism might intersect our care group ministry. We know that this hasn't been a strong suit and this is something that we are wanting to address and we're in the process of praying and thinking that one through. And we would anticipate, though we don't know with certainty, it's as the Lord leads and it's as the Lord provides, but if the Lord is to cause, if it causes the church to grow numerically, that would mean that we will need more care groups, and so we are anticipating having an additional two or three guys, two or three leaders and their wives in place to lead as we get into the next ministry year come September or so.

So, that's the report. Thank you guys. You guys are just a, just a blessing. Thank you.

I just want to take a moment to share a little bit about our missions. those of you that have been around for a while or if you're brand new, just to give you an idea of our philosophy of missions and our mission vision fund, back in 2000, we began to develop, a mission's vision that basically involves trying to send out missionaries from our own congregation at as high a support as we can possibly, like 50%. And, as opposed to just, giving a few missionaries a little bit of money and having 20 or 30 on our, books, trying to send people out that we, we own and can support and really rally around as a congregation.

Vernon Anderson, our former organist, passed away, went to be with the Lord.

He left $175,000 that we moved into our mission vision fund. And the elders decided in the year 2000 to start moving money over into that fund with the anticipation of sending out our own missionary family or missionary, at least 50% supported. in 2008, we sent out Steve and Jenny McCullough, approximately 50% of their support, $2250 per month goes to the McCullough's, and we have regular contact with them and really consider them staff members by extension. and then two years ago we began supporting Vince and Kim Green with the prospect of increasing their support over a period of 5 years.

We're currently supporting them at $750 a month. So we started with $175 plus there were a lot of ends that came into that account. Right now we have $16,000 left. In our mission vision fund, which is a positive that shows how much we've been able to put towards missions as we've been building that fund and trying to get people out to the field full time.

We've also had the opportunity to do a lot of short term missions trips over the years and have been able to pick up significant portions of the cost for people to travel around the world. And the big idea of our missions trips has been to go and serve missionaries that we currently support. And that hasn't been exclusively what we've done, but in, in most of the cases, like starting in 2003 with Team Albania, we went to, to go minister in Albania, to the Lay family, and just had a great time out there.

2004 was Team Utah to minister to the Whitworths.

in 2005, it was Team India to minister to the, the Stevens. In 2005, all the way through 2011, the Paynes have spearheaded ministry in Uganda. Team New Zealand went out to minister some IFCA churches, with the, under the leadership of Pastor Carlos, and, in 2007, we were able to go down to Peru and minister to the, the Lossings, Team Alaska, Shirley Morgan in 2008. Arizona, we went and ministered to Juanita Fike in Arizona.

Team Atlanta, we were able to go minister to the Browns and the McCulloughs. And then this last year, Team Mexico, we were able to go and, and build a new connection with Baja Bible and also a women's shelter and an orphanage. this orphanage led by Luis and Ai. Salinas, their ministry New Generations Ministries is a connection that we are hoping to continue and also we had Team Asia where I had the opportunity to go to the Philippines, which, which is where we're sending the Greens, and get a view of their ministry on that field and also go to Hong Kong while I was out there to see one of our missionaries, the Parrots.

prospective missionary service teams in 2012. we're looking at the possibility of doing another Team Philippines trip, with the Greens to go out there and do some teaching and ministry to the poor and the children, and also Team Mexico to maintain our relationship with, Baja Bible and, and then also the, orphanage there, New Generations. If you're interested in these particular trips this year, you can contact myself. the Team Uganda, there's a possibility that there may be a team going in 2013.

You can contact Bill Payne. And we're also open to other opportunities if there are other people that are interested in leading trips who've gone on trips before. If you've got an idea, we're really about due to get back to Albania. It's been, believe it or not, almost 10 years, and so I'd love to see another trip to Albania to be to bless the lays.

And then every year we also have the opportunity to support individuals that are going with other para church ministries or colleges if you are interested or if you. Going to be going on a trip, we really would encourage you to let us know and talk to your care group leader, talk to your elders, and ask your care group and leaders to be praying with you about that trip. We prefer that people hit us up early rather than just, hey, I've decided this is what I'm doing. Would you like to give me cash to come and ask me, ask for prayer.

Here's what I'm praying about doing. Please pray with me and help me make this decision within the context of community, and then Always excited to help folks in these endeavors. Prayer needs, please be praying for the Greens as we're really hoping to see them get to the Philippines as soon as possible. Vince is trying to finish up his dissertation and they're still not quite at 50% support.

So please be praying. If you're, if you're looking for a missionary to support, we highly would commend the Greens to you and the ministry that they're going to be doing, trying to train local pastors in a third world country., or a developing country, within the 1040 window. also be praying for 2012 Team Mexico. We would like to see these Mexico trips happen more than just once a year.

We'd love to see 23, or more trips happen and really develop an uncle-aunt relationship with these boys, down there just on the other side of the border. And, the ongoing work in Uganda that the pains have spearheaded, and please be praying for future missionaries within our congregation. We have elementary school kids, high school kids, college young people that the Lord will be calling to the mission field and so be, please be praying for them as the Lord raises them up. If you'd like to go to Mexico this summer or if you'd like to seek support any other trip, please seek, talk to myself and, for an application and, and I'll be glad to talk with you and pray with you.

And that is our mission's report. All right. Well, good evening, everyone. I'll probably need that laptop later.

Well, let's talk about finances and, as we've talked about before, the lifeblood resource of ministry here. We don't like to talk about numbers just for the sake of numbers, but, the, we want to emphasize the fact that they're part of our vision. They, they help make our vision possible and as I always like to do, I start out by recognizing those that serve, that I have the pleasure of serving with and our. Finance ministry team.

You can see the list there with Bill Payne and Paul Kumamoto helping as committee members here, the finance committee signing checks, week to week and just helping with the oversight of finances. the accounting team members, and then key servants will be Britt Kimball overseeing our accounting, accounting team. He's our accounting team. Coordinator and also chief servant, right hand guy, Pearl Aquino, our church bookkeeper, and also Eve who helps us out with our technology, keeps our computers running and QuickBooks running, which is a program that we use to track all of our finances.

And so I'm gonna ask all of you guys to stand up. Britt's going to lead the way for me, all of our finance ministry team so that we can recognize and thank. Appreciate your service and there's a dual purpose in that, we, we definitely want to say thank you to those that serve, but the other purpose is, it's a part of our, our, the structure to make sure that we are careful stewards of the funds that you give, that, that all of us give to Cornerstone Fellowship Bible Church and so by having everyone sign, it's also a stand, it's also a visual of one of the Primary things that you can do in a church to ensure the security of funds and that's what's called separation of duties.

I don't do everything.

I'm not involved in everything. I know how to do everything, but it's very important that more than one person is participating in this in this ministry and so hopefully we've accomplished that and said thank you at the same time. Well, moving. On, let's talk about some recent giving trends, just looking at how the money is is moving.

The money that you're giving is moving through the church and what that picture might look like. This is a compilation of all the funds of the church, Agape building missions, vision, and general fund, and you can see we made a nice recovery in 2011 and, ultimately as we celebrate. Here the past year we're ultimately celebrating what God has done and it's also a reminder of biblical economics. these types of numbers are not possible if it were not for God who provides and also express thankfulness to us as a congregation.

We're a family together in our faithfulness and giving because these numbers would not be possible if we did not give. At the same time. So we're thankful to the Lord for His provision and we're thankful to you as, on behalf of the elders, thankful to you as, as a member of Cornerstone for your faithfulness and continuing to see our, complete, vision funded the way it was and just in talking over this afternoon even earlier with Bill Payne, Bill reminded me of a very important thing to celebrate and that is, it's hard to, it's hard to put this into words, but, the bottom line is, is that a lot of church annual meetings, especially over the last couple of years, have not been this cause for celebration, and so, without dwelling on the negative of that, the positive of it is we do have a lot to celebrate that that our bar chart looks this way.

we also, when we looked at our 2011 vision, we present this just to remind that, the, the full picture of how we fund the vision here at Cornerstone, one is giving to the general fund, the other is giving to designated funds as the guys have, so eloquently spoken of here in the last few minutes, and then the other is spending of reserves, as you might recall, the last three years we have been, bringing Carlos Cuellar's hiring, the compensation part, the financial part of his hiring onto our general fund in increments or in stages.

And so, over the last two years we've been doing that and we've been funding that from the reserves and and so, so those are our three funding sources. Let's look at the Agape Fund real quick. didn't really have that much said about that in our. Presentations here, but just some of the things that we were able to accomplish this year as a congregation.

We sent relief to Japan after the earthquake and tsunami earlier in the year. We were able to help people with housing and utilities, car repairs, ACTI Uganda. Hopefully we'll be able to provide you with some pictures of that ministry in Uganda and it's a long explanation, but just to help some of the people in Uganda. With micro loans, so that they can, become self-sustaining and also share the gospel with them through that ministry.

we help with adoption. there's a young lady here named Mia, whom we all had the pleasure of helping, bring home to Mike and Pearl Aquino as well as several other families, the Ben Chadlers and, and I hate to get into naming names because I always forget someone, so I apologize if that's not my intent. we also were able to help with the San Berardino Pregnancy Resource Center, crisis counseling, gifts for Jesus this year. Offering of almost $6000 came in.

We sent $7500 to help support the Whitworths in in Utah. And so you can see with the graphic there which is also included in the financial packet where we began, what came in over $41,000 under $42,000 went out and we still had a healthy balance at the end of. December to continue funding that vision. the building fund, very exciting things happened there.

you can see, as, we started off the year in the red, recovering from the resources that we invested in the modular there, but we had very, very strong giving. Thank you to those of you who remembered the, the building fund in your giving over 2011. Over $27,500 came in. we were able to end the year in the black, which is a huge praise to the Lord.

that Negative expense there for for the accounting detailed types is we had a reimbursement come in from EFC for a joint venture that we did for air conditioning in the in the nursery. So that's why that's a negative expense which is actually a positive number. Missions Vision Fund, Mike talked about it a lot, where we sent teams to this year. There's, there's a numerical as part of that presentation.

We began to balance what came in over the year, what our expenses. were and what the ending balance was, so $20,000 over $20,500 was invested in missions work in expanding the kingdom beyond our local region here we sent people not only across the country but across the world. Let's talk about the general fund a little bit. our giving was just a phenomenal praise and something that we really celebrate over last year.

Over $618,000 came in and compared to the production. Projection that we had a modest growth in our giving and so we were way, way above our projection and projections can be deceptive Bill mentioned that when we were talking as well today and so we don't want to dwell on that too much but as we're planning, as we're praying at our elders retreats which is in November of the year, we have to have something in mind, some, some figure in mind that we're trying to base our decisions off of and so that's the projection that we That we used and we were hopeful that the Lord would bring that in.

Our entire vision for the Vision Fund, for the general fund, was based on the Lord bringing that in and look how much more he was able to bless us with. This is a familiar graph, the one that you see in the bulletin every month that just details the budget, where we are in our offerings and our expenses for the year.

This is the one for the entire year which was actually in January's early January bulletin, but you can see. That our expenses came in lower, which that's that's always something that you want to ask why, because our vision is to to expand. We want the resources that we set aside for ministry. We want to go out and so it's not necessarily like our budgets at home where if our expenses are low, that's that's a great thing, but we accomplished much of what we set out to do in 2011 and our expenses just happened to come in.

A Little bit lower than what we anticipated, just taking a little bit more, deeper look at our general fund. We, we do have some additional spending. the, the right hand column is, the, funds that were, taken out of reserve, to, help fund the 25% of Carlos Cuellar's compensation package and then we have a little bit of spending, out of what is a FEMA account, account that we've had for a number of years. It's, it's on the financial, document, the packet.

that and that money was used to purchase equipment for the kitchen, so new, new refrigerators, stoves, and then the general fund direct spending just, just to report that, we, we, we were able to purchase a thank you gift for the Janofsky's to thank Kevin for and and Jackie for their, their service and ministry to us in 2011 when when Kevin stepped aside from the altar board, and then the other 573. Just more accounting. We had some checks that were lost that needed to be replaced and so we did that directly from the general fund checks from 2010.

So just an accounting thing, just a graphic to show what our combined spending was in the general fund just because we show combined spending for the other funds as well.

So over $613,000 was spent out of our general fund, combination of budgeted and off budget items. And here's a reserve comparison which is a great little graphic to just to see the Lord's faithfulness and how our reserves have stayed up even as we've gone through this economic downturn. The Lord has continued to provide you. We have continued to give and so we're financially strong and I'll refer back to this number, not necessarily to this graph, later in the presentation as we talk about.

The vision for 2012, but, we, based on that projected number that we worked with as elders last November, we thought that we would, we would end the year at about $78,000 just under $79,000 in our reserve, and lo and behold, we're well over $130,000. And again, we're thankful for that because we even learned this year, I think Pastor Mike had Opportunity to speak with the leadership of another local church and when Mike shared with them what our reserves were in our general fund, they were, they were taken aback because they don't have such strong reserves and so it's just something to be thankful for and resources that we may need to put the work here we don't know.

We'll see how the Lord uses us, but how he leads us, but it's nice to know that those funds are there. so, with that in mind, I will, entertain questions and while I do that, you guys have been sitting a long time.

I'm a baseball player. It's time for a 7th inning stretch. So why don't you go ahead and stand up, stretch your legs. If you need a financial packet, we do still have some, several hard copies if you want to just maybe stay standing up and we'll get those distributed for you and the questions don't, as far as 2011, don't have to be restricted to finances.

I think anything that's been presented from any of the guys, we could throw it open for that as well. We do want to keep our eyes on the clock though, so. Won't take too many of those. Let me grab my computer.

Yes, sir. Get out of the bottle. Take. Yeah, we'll have to make up some words for that, huh?

Take me out to the annual meeting or something like that. I'll let you write that, Brian. You can write that jingle. Justin, do you need a packet or do you have a question?

OK, question. Go ahead. OK, Justin's, question is, what is the difference between the existing building fund and the capital growth fund?. Let's see, I'll take my best shot at it.

Milton's smiling at me. I guess the word that comes to my mind is flexibility. We don't know where the Lord's going to lead us. That's a good question, Jonathan.

There's a possibility that they would be merged, but there's some technical issues that need to be dealt with, and, so I, I probably would rather deal with those and just, it's not a big secret, but the folks who gave to the building fund, if we were, let's say, to use that for a different person, a purpose, building fund usually means you're building something. let's say for example, the Lord leads us to plan a church and stay here. technically we would need to go back to the folks who gave to the building fund and make sure that they are OK with, repurposing those funds.

So it's, it's more of a technical thing, but, as far as the capital growth fund, it gives us.

Yeah, heavy, heavy, trust, a heavy responsibility, but the flexibility that we feel like we need. We, we need to start saving now, but we don't know exactly what we're going to be using that for. So hopefully that answers your question. I'm sure Pastor Milton can do a much better job.

Michelle in the balcony. Did I say that? Oh, OK. Any question, Michelle?

Approximately total about 1000. OK. Yeah. Correct.

Correct. building, You also meets the requirement Get off the Pro. So. Thank you.

So we, we're basically in the process of supplying them the information that they need to bring back to their leadership and their congregation in order to make that decision and move forward. and it most likely will affect our lease and, and the repayment of those funds as we probably most likely put those, those funds up initially upfront, to get it done. There may be some combination of EFC contributing. We have to talk all that out, but what it will look like, Is getting them done immediately, as soon as possible so we can get occupancy.

And then if we put in any of that capital, we'll get that reimbursed, through rent reduction. there's a chance, again, like I just said that EFC will front some of that money, on their own as well. But I want to make it clear that in the end, they will have paid for the project. You, you will not have put in another, To do that.

That's our goal. Any other questions? OK, remember the rules, remember the rules on making a motion, but I'll accept a motion to accept the financial report for 2011 as given. Lyle Kim Kimball moves 2nd.

Cindy Ben Chandler seconds. Any further questions or discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed?

The motion is carried. All right, we're moving on to 2012 and vision for 2012. Again, here's the, the full picture of what our spending, it looks like at least at this point anyway, spending from the general fund giving, the Agape Fund continuing to, expand the vision for Mercy, through the Agape Fund, the Building Fund, and the Mission's Vision Fund as far as, like Mike just said. as far as the general fund is concerned, and that's a key thing that we'll be presenting and, and making a motion here in a second is, here are some of the key considerations that the elders took into account as we have been discussing the vision for 2012 when it comes to our day to day operations through the the general fund.

recent giving. The last quarter of 2011 was very influential in our decisions. The reserve balance, the fact that our reserve balance stayed above 100,000 and is healthy. We also had to take into account that the economy seems to be stabilizing, but it's an uneven stabilization and.

so those are just some of the things that we took into consideration during our discussion. one of our, our, our premium, or primary. Emphasis as we begin our discussions, as we begin prayer, each one of our our years whenever we're doing our budget planning is we want to be fair in our compensation to our staff. We feel like that's a biblical mandate and we work very hard at that and so it's something that we always take into consideration and then the expansion of vision as has been said before.

some of the key line item changes in the budget there which you have in the packet, is as Milton mentioned earlier in his presentation, Pastor Carlos' compensation is now included 100% on the general fund budget. that's probably, probably a good 30 to 40% of the overall increases just moving that from reserves on the budget. we had health and dental premium increases and and the finance committee. After much discussion and prayer, decided that we wanted to absorb the full cost of that on the budget, and you may recall last year we passed some of the cost on to the staff.

The staff wanted to do that. They wanted to absorb some of the costs, and we also changed the plan and So they absorb more costs not only through reduction in their salary to cover additional premiums but also by changing the plan so that their co-payments went up and so we wanted to keep that in mind and so we're covering the cost increases for 2012. Ministry vision was adjusted. I guess, amended our process.

We, edited it a little bit and, try to make it a little more thorough as we interacted with the ministry leaders this year and, something that is a personal goal of mine as a treasurer for 2012 is to, see that, that process get filled out and so, and, and also become more consistent and so, for those of us, those of you in the audience that That our ministry leaders hold me accountable throughout the year and the rest of the elders as well, the elders in oversight to continue this discussion about vision so that one of the one of the benefits will be that whenever we do talk about budget for 2013 or whatever that period of time may be in the future, it's not such a crunch.

We want to try to get away from the crunch time and make it more. A smooth process. We'll see how we can get.

It's it's a good goal to have facility lease increase and just it's time to renegotiate our lease with with EFC and they've asked us for an increase and the elders agreed to that. And so that's a part of the change in the budget as well. And then we were able to increase the take that next step in increasing the Greens' mission support. the number there that's to the far right.

The biggest highlight is the number for the year 643-205, $37,830 6.2% above 2011 budget, as I mentioned, almost 40% of that is just moving from reserves on. Budget, so it's not new money from that perspective. It's just now going to be showing up on a monthly basis, but it's also less above what our actual giving was in 2011 and so we feel good about that. And, just last comment I'll make before we open up for questions just as far as, just the fact that our, our reserve is at the level it is really, I think, gives all of us as elders some confidence about our budget for for 2020.

It's a sizable increase, but I just thought of it this way that if our giving stayed level or even if it dropped a little bit, we would still have a very healthy reserve fund going into 2013. And so anyway, that's it, and I'll open it for any questions about the 2012 budget. And as always, feel free to come up and see me afterwards. I say this every year, but, no one in this room is happier than I am that Alvin is the treasurer because I used to have to do that, and I, I was not technologically savvy enough and it got handed to me, these sheets of paper that I had to do it on and it would take hours just writing it all out.

So thank you, Alvin, for being the treasurer for Cornerstone. And at this time, I will accept a motion to affirm the 2012 financial plan. It is constitutionally is not required of us as elders to have congregation approval of this, but we present this to you, and we always want to know the Lord's direction through our, our people. And so we want to know if you would affirm this with us.

So at this time, I'll accept the motion to affirm the What, oh, bread? Ma? Brian Q moves. Do we have a second?

Dave Huber seconds. Any further questions or discussion? All those in favor say aye. Aye.

Any opposed? OK, that affirmation is approved. And now at this time I will approve accept a motion to recess our meeting until May. Would somebody like to move that?

John Gator moves that. Do we have a second? Jenny Swenson, you're supposed to say her name. Jenny Swenson seconds that.

Any further questions or discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? Motion is carried.

All right, Bill Payne will come up and close some prayer. OK, let's go ahead and pray. Lord, thank you just for the, the things that we've, seen tonight. Lord, your grace is just so apparent and how you're moving among your people.

And Lord, as we plan and think about a new year, I know my heart just, trusts, in your love for your people, not in our wisdom. but Lord, you love this church, you love the people of this church. And Lord, we just pray that over these next, few months of prayer that you would direct us, in answering some of the key questions that we have. Lord, thank you for all you've done tonight.

I thank you for the things that you're doing. We just ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. it's at this time that we have a special presentation, so.

OK, I'd like to ask the Vincent family to come on up here, please. Kids also, Donna, is Donna in here? Come on up here, guys. we wanted to express our appreciation for your ministry to us for the last 20 years.

Thank you for being willing to hear God's call on your lives and for investing yourselves in the ministry here at Cornerstone. Your impact on our lives has been profound, and God will continue to use it through the years. Brooke, Brandon, Benjamin, and Brianna, thank you for growing up with us. We know that being a pastor's kid is not always the easiest life.

The time that your parents have had to invest in others sometimes takes them away from you, so thank you for sacrificing, sacrificing for us all. Donna, thank you for being willing to be a pastor's wife. Thank you for the millions of things you do behind the scenes to support your husband. Thank you for the time you've invested, leading the Christmas program in those early years, for teaching Sunday school, and I don't know if this, but it was in one of your Sunday school classes that my daughter was convicted of her need for Jesus.

being part of our homeschool group, homeschool group at Cornerstone and your help in the women's ministry. Your investment has made an eternal difference, and we thank God for you. Milton, thank you for being sensitive to the Lord and hearing and responding to his call in your life. Thank you for the many late nights working on the final touches to your sermons.

Thank you for never preaching at us something that you didn't want to do yourself. Thank you for sharing your life with us, your experiences, and the things that God has taught you. Thank you for taking us all on your journey into the gospel. Your investment, your preaching investment will last throughout eternity.

I want to close with a quote from DL Moody. He said that there is no use trying to do church work without love. A doctor, a lawyer may do good work without love, but God's work can never be done without love. So the Vincent family, thank you for loving us for 20 years.

At this time, we'd like to present a gift to Donna and Milton to celebrate their ministry to, to us here at Cornerstone. but this gift does come with a few contingencies. you're going to get a gift from us and you're to use it, for the purpose that it's given. You're not allowed to use this on any car repairs, house repairs, tuition.

Weddings Or even a gift to the Capital Growth Fund that is not allowed out of this gift to you. So please, accept this gift with Cornerstone's deepest gratitude. Mike with his printing skills, printed this nice little, thank you for your love to the, to, the certificate is awarded to Milton and Donna Vincent. we have, the congregation has given to this, and if you were unable to give today, we are accepting gifts to this up through February 12th, that you can give to Alvin, but don't, please do not give that in the regular offering, but give it to Alvin separately.

but it's to Milton and Donna so far we have $1500 for a vacation fund, and, the elders have agreed to give you an extra week of vacation time for this year. So we're gonna have a closing song and afterwards, you are all invited to the fellowship hall to continue our celebration with a feast of lasagna, which is Milton's favorite meal. And there will be a, a microphone there available for you to share any fond memories that you have of Milton and Donna's impact on your lives at that time in the fellowship hall.

So worship team, come on up.