I hate that I missed our Kidz Kamp this year. I heard a lot of great things. Here is a video highlight from this past week. I am grateful for all of the volunteers who sacrificed their time to serve. Also want to give a BIG SHOUT OUT to FBC Dublin for all their help last week. We could NOT done it without you. GREAT JOB!
Capstone Kidz Kamp 2010 from Capstone on Vimeo.
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.
We moved into week three of our Journey series. This past Sunday we looked at the Trial that Jesus went through before the cross. This series has been intense. Of course, when traveling through the last days of Jesus I don’t think it could be any less.
We saw the disciples who last week were ready to fight, now scatter and hide. We see the crowd that earlier in the week cheered as Jesus entered the city now cry out for a crucifixion. Jesus is now alone. He is about to drink the cup that has been given to him.
Walt read Isaiah 53 and connected the prophesy to Jesus before the priests. As we continue on this Journey remember that Jesus is fulfilling the will of God. It was the will of the Father to crush him (Isa 53:10). Now as we approach the cross we see the Son of God bearing the sin and shame of humanity on his own.
A reminder for parents, that next week we will be discussing the gruesome details of the cross. As we have each week, we will also being showing a clip from the Passion of the Christ movie. Your children should be dropped off at Camp Rock or Pebble Beach. We just want to let you know so that you may take the necessary precautions with your children.
We Worshiped with these songs Sunday:
At Capstone we are encouraging our people now to start preparing for Easter. I am going to post some more ideas on my blog as we continue to approach our Easter celebration. Today I want to highlight some of the things that Walt brought up this past week.
After much debate and processing we have decided to still have our services tomorrow morning. We are encouraging everyone to use common sense in driving in the morning. The roads are in different conditions throughout our area, so please be aware of the conditions where you are.
We thought about moving our Dunk’d Service to next week, but we have several family members who have traveled a long distance for this very special day at Capstone. Unfortunately we know that our crowd will be low this Sunday. But we feel like we need to follow through with our service for those who have made a special trip. Even though the crowd will be small we will be lifting up the name of Christ in worship.
We understand if you can’t make it and encourage you to spend time in the Word or in family worship at home. And again we urge everyone to be cautious if you do choose to come on Sunday. We look forward to seeing everyone back next Sunday as we will be sharing about our Haiti trip and future plans with the Lashbrooks.
Email sent out to Capstone Family this am: 
It is with a heavy heart I send this email out with images from Haiti still on mind from the last news report. As many of you know this fall God put Haiti on our hearts as the place we felt we needed to plant churches, help the orphan, and bring light the only third world county in our Hemisphere. We annouced two weeks ago we were partning the Lashbrook Ministry ( http://www.lfmintl.com/) in Haiti. Keith and Cindy have been missionaries in Haiti now for 13 years. They have started a church, a school, a boys home, girls home, care for over 100 orphans and reaching out to the many lost in the name of Christ.
Last night was able to contact the Lashbrooks and they are OK. They aren’t in Port Au Prince, but in northern Haiti. The issue for the Lashbrooks is that everything come from PAP – gas, food, water. And with PAP in chaos there is no way to be certain when or how supplies will reach them. They are also expecting many refugees to come over the mountain to their area fleeing from the devastation of Port Au Prince. Here is a part of the specific email to our family at Capstone:
“Right now we know that there are still some supplies available on the store shelves in our town so our goal is to purchase what we can while it it available. We want to not only be able to feed our children and staff but also have enough to provide for the needs of some of the refugees that we know will be coming our way from Port au Prince. That is why we are pushing so hard to raise money right now. It is important to get the money to the mission just as quickly as possible so that plans can be made to meet the most needs. We know this is a perfect opportunity to speak Christ’s love into needy lives and we want to be ready to do just that. We thank you for being willing to help us in this work God has given us.”
Yesterday they cleaned out there bank account to purchase as much as possible. They only have supplies for 4 days. So with that said, Capstone has taken $5000 out of our saving and will be sending it this morning to allow them to buy as many supplies as they can. But we think this is only a small amount to what will be needed. Sunday we will be sending everything taken up on Sunday Morning to the Lashbrooks as well. We need to you spread the word. People will be talking about Haiti much this week. Talk with your neighbors, co workers, family, etc and tell them your church has partners there and you know someone by name who needs help. And people will want to help! They can help by giving to Capstone and designate it “Haiti”. We plan to be asking the city of Fountain Inn to help and will begin to take up supplies next week to send down there as soon as they are open to shipments.
I don’t think it is by coincidence that we as a community of faith were lead to Haiti right before the greatest disaster in this country’s history. Capstone WILL BE apart of rebuilding Haiti in the next week, month and years. Thank You to all the Capstone Family who have called and emailed asking how the Lashbrooks were and your heart was breaking for the people of Haiti- an extension of Capstone’s family!
So lets get on it. Pray hard that the Lord works in the chaos and devestation. And lets not just watch the world help, but roll up our sleeves and be the voice for our friends Haiti!
Walt Tanner
Lead Pastor
Capstone Church
www.capstonechurch.net
www.capstoneblog.net
Sunday we spent most of our time talking about new doors the Lord has opened up for us in continuing our mission:
Capstone is Authentic in who we are and Relevant in what we do so that Christ can Transform lives and Impact a city.
Biker Church USA
Capstone and Biker Church USA have partnered to provide a time for those who ride motorcycles to gather together to eat, worship, fellowship, disciple, and invite those who might be far from God. Chappy Smith contacted us several months and inquired about using the Capstone Building to help reach and disciple Bikers in the Upstate. We thought this is exactly what we want to be a part of, so a partnership was begun. If know someone who rides or you ride, stop by on Friday Evenings to take part in Biker Church USA. So on Friday Nights when you ride by Capstone and see the parking lot full of motorcycles know that God is working in that place.
Haiti & Lashbrook Ministry
In the fall we mentioned that God had placed Haiti on our hearts and place we would begin to seek out a partnership to help minister to the Haitian people in the name of Christ. Through a lot of God moments we have partnered with Keith and Cindy Lashbrook who have been Missionaries in Haiti for the past 13 years. They have started a church, a school, a boys home, a girls home, a feeding program, and adoption agency. We are excited to come along side of the Lashbrooks and help them impact Haiti. We are hoping to take a team down this summer to help out any way we can. Until then we will be supporting the Lashbrooks through prayer, resources, and raising awareness of the needs of Haiti and her people.
2010: Year of disciples
This next year we really want to be intentional that we are raising up disciples, not just people who go to church. So we have some different things planned to make sure that Capstone is providing the tools needed to make sure our family is becoming more and more like Jesus. We know that spiriutal things can be overwhelming and we often give up because we don’t know how to pray, or where to start reading in the bible. This year we are planning to till the ground and praying that as we do that, and the Lord waters it we will see great fruit in 2010.
Capstone’s first Christmas Eve was one to remember. We began by 40 volunteers going down to Salvation Army to serve over 125 men and women a hot breakfast.
After a great morning of celebrating Christ by being his hands and feet at the Salvation Army, we had our Christmas Eve Candle Light Service. The service was an acoustic time of reflection as a community of faith.
More Pictures from Christmas Eve can be found from both of these events on our Flick Page.
Reminder to everyone: We WILL NOT have our Gathering Service on 12.27.09. We will start back with service on 01.03.10. See you in 2010.
Fall Retreat 2009 from Capstone on Vimeo.