Capstone Church

We are excited to have our missionary partners from Haiti – Keith and Cindy Lashbrook- with us this week at the Gathering.  The Lashbrooks are stateside for family vacation and various speaking engagements. Keith called and asked if he could come share what God has been doing since the quake and personally tell our Capstone Family thank you for your support.  You will not want to miss the opportunity to meet and hear from the Lashbrooks.

For those who are interested joining us on our Mission Trip back to Haiti we will be having an informational meeting with the Lashbrooks.  We will be sharing specific information about the trips.  If you would like to learn more about our July 21 through July 28 trip please plans to stay for this meeting.

Capstone has begun the long term mission of “hope for Haiti”.  This week we have seen thousands of dollars come into Capstone for the Haitian people.  The idea of hope for Haiti is continue to give hope to the hopeless.  That hope comes not only through giving, but the greatest hope comes in the Salavation from Jesus Christ.

Phase 2 of “hope for Haiti” will be collecting supplies to ship down to the Haiti in the upcoming months. The first shipping container will be leaving Miami Feb 1.  Head to and send your family/friends to Capstone Church Website to download the needs list.

Here are some encouraging words this morning from Keith Lashbrook in Haiti.  This was what the first service after this biblical sized disaster hit.  The Lord is working already in the lives of those in Port de Paix in which the Lashbrooks have been ministering to the past 13 years:

And speaking of church, as Andy and I got together this morning to talk about moving the church outside because of the damage to the church building, he thought we’d be OK and said, “Keith I’m not going to. We’re going to go in and worship our God.” He said that we were even going to continue to run the generator during church service because we were going to “be a light to our community.” We had well over 300 people in our 40×60 church this morning. During worship I went up and talked to pastor because we had a phone call from one of the officials here in town asking us if we can help buy fuel for buses to go to Port-au-Prince and get more refugees. Because we are totally out of cash till the bank reopens, I took this need to Pastor who offered to take up an offering in the church.

He shared with me that he didn’t know what message to bring to his people and asked if I would share from my heart. I read Philippians chapter 2 and really focused on the idea that we were “in place for a time such as this,” to put others needs before our own. When I got done sharing Pastor went up and took the offering. Pastor called me later. It was the biggest offering that we’ve ever had, $900 Haitian. Pastor said that we usually only have about $100-$200 a week.

As a missionary, how I rejoiced to see our people give today. Today people gave out of their reserve, they gave their food money for this week. They gave their all to help their people. And most of all, Pastor and I watched the church take it’s place. What an honor to be a part of that. At 5:00 p.m. this afternoon 7 buses were able to leave to go get refugees in Port au Prince and bring them here.

Please remember the Lashbrooks in your prayers as we support them in many ways here from SC.  We also are in the beginning stages of Phase 3 of “hope for Haiti”.  The next several weeks we will have more info on taking a team this summer to aid in the recovery of Haiti.  There is nothing in stone yet, we are just now begining this process, but if think this is something you are being led to help with you will need a passport.  If you don’t have a passport, apply now for one.  It takes many months to get your passport. You can go here to begin the process.

Two Sunday’s ago Capstone Church met in our parking lot due to continued projects inside.  When people drove up they had NO IDEA why we were in the parking lot, and wondered why.  We prayed it would not rain.  It did, but only enough to force us under the awning.  In church planting you never know what you are going to experience next. Our motto: expect the unexpecting. 

In our short history (5 weeks) this was a weekend that hopefully will set the pace for the future of Capstone Church.

Saturday we spent the day in the community on one of Fountain Inns most celebrated days, Aunt Het Day. We partnered with the Recreation Department to help sponsor their booth and give prizes [Ipod Nano and Disney Prize Pack] for the awesome NEOS.  The area was a hit with kids and adults alike.  We were able to throw out over 300 Capstone Frisbees, make balloon animals for the kids, pass out Capstone Cards, and have some great conversations about Capstone and just church in general.  

Our Capstone Crew also were wearing their sweet Capstone Shirts.  It was great to see spots of blue Capstone shirts on the crowded streets of Fountain Inn Saturday.  We also saw hundreds of children walking around with Capstone Frisbees.  This weekend was our first engagement with our community.  It was a great experience for both parties.

Sunday Morning we celebrated what God has done during our first month of gathering together for Capstone Discovery.  We are lucky in that we have several people who stepped up to lead us in music for the first time.  They did a GREAT job.  We had everyone (including children) take part in seeing what our timeline looks like as we shoot for our January 11 Public Launch.  We had 70 people taking part in this great celebration event.  We are floored at how people keep hearing about Capstone and a hunger for something new in Fountain Inn.

Next week we will be back at the Fountain Inn Recreation Center.  We get back into our Capstone Discovery groove and begin to study the Scripture that ignited the vision for Capstone – Luke 15.

Last week we discussed what our community and structure at Capstone will look like when we get up and going in January 09.  The way we decided was to look at how Jesus spent His time and modeled His ministry.

The Gatherings:
In Jesus Ministry we see Him gather people out of His local community for teaching and worship.  It might be on a hillside or in a synagoe.  We see Jesus teaching to a large group.

Our objective with the Gatherings on Sunday Morning will be to create a welcoming and relevant environment for our Capstone family and guests alike. We want the Gathering to be a place where all the barriers have been removed in order to point people to the Savior, Jesus Christ. This is a time to connect with others, worship together as one body, and be challenged in our relationship with Christ.

Community Groups:
Out of the crowds that gather together to hear and see Jesus, a smaller group was created.  Jesus’ smaller group was His disciples.  He did life together with this group.

We call these groups Community Groups. Community Groups will have three main purposes:

1. Continued Study of the Word: Each community group will have a time of continued study of God’s word.  This might be a continued study of Scripture from the Sunday morning Gathering or a topical study.  We believe that each group should be growing closer together and Christ through Scripture.

2.  Service in the Community: Capstone believes that people grow tremendously when being the hands and feet of Christ.  Each community group will take part in monthly service to our community.

3.  Relationship with Others: Community Groups will be an outlet for people to grow in relationships with the Capstone Family.  Relationships are a key component of Community Groups because the importance of people helping people.  People will surround each other through prayer, support, encouragement, and accountability.  

Life Coaches Purpose:
Life Coaches rather than Community Groups will be our main avenue of discipleship.  We see Jesus has a “community group” in his twelve disciples, but his key relationships were with James, Peter and John.  In this model, we believe that Christ shows us that real discipleship occurs through intentional relationships.  We also see this intentional discipleship with Barnabas and Paul, then Paul and Timothy.

Life Coaches will be both men and women who have shown all the elements of a Capstone Disciple.  They will each have 3 or 4 same sex disciples who will do intentional life together with the purpose of learning how to become a true disciple of Christ. We want to as Col 1:28 says: “We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ”.

Sunday we had Capstone Family Day.  We decided the week before we start Capstone Discovery would be a great time to take a Sunday and just have a picnic. 

We met at the Heritage Park Pavilion for a Family Day.  We had 6 families join us, with 25 adults and kids hanging out at the park.  There was plenty of fun and food.  It was great time to spend together in fellowship. 

As we grow together as a church, we must remember that we are a church family.  Too often we forget that the body of Christ is made up of millions of individuals all over the world who are a part of our family.  Skin color, langauge, region, and age are all brought together in the shadow of the Cross.

Capstone Church will be more than a group of people who gather together.  Capstone will be a family of believers who love, trust, and respect all our brothers and sisters.  We look forward to many more fun family gatherings.

One of Capstone’s values is the family. We believe that the family is key to a successful ministry. So we are going to have a family day this Sunday. We are planning on meeting at the Main Picnic Shelter of Heritage Park in Simpsonville at 11am. You bring a picnic basket lunch for your family and we will provide drinks /dessert and entertainment. This will be a great time to get to know those in the Capstone family you might not be familiar with. Come and be a part of Capstone’s Family Day

“I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation.  The stone the builders rejected has become the CAPSTONE…” Psalm 118:21-22 NIV

Friday night Capstone Church had its first official event with our Public Vision Casting.  We had 50 adults and over 40 children at the 08.08.08 event.  The night was filled with food, fellowship, inflatable slides, and vision.  There was much excitement in the air for the idea of a new church in Fountain Inn.

This was a big first step in the life of Capstone.  There have been many months of discussions and thoughts on Capstone in the city. This was the beginning of what we believe will change many lives and a city. 

In the next several weeks we will be visiting churches around SC to see how other models are reaching those in their community.  Stay tuned for information on where we will be heading.

We are less than a month away from our first vision casting meeting.  The Vision Casting will be on 08.08.08 and is for everyone interested or curious about Capstone Church.  Both I (Walt) and Chris will be speaking about the vision, mission, and plans for this new church for Fountain Inn. 

We will be having FREE FOOD for anyone who wants to listen to this crazy idea called Capstone.  The meeting will be at the Barrineau’s home on Main St. If you could please email Chris at Chris@Capstonechurch.net and mention your numbers (kids welcomed) that would help us make sure we have plenty of food.

After this meeting we will have a better idea of those who want to start this journey with us on Sept 7th as we begin meeting together as a Core Team for Capstone Discovery.  You will have to come on 08.08.08 find out more on Capstone.

 Hope to see you on 08.08.08