AUGUST 2018

FRONTLINES

CORNERSTONE EVANGELICAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

VOLUME 13, ISSUE 8

BY CARTER SANGER

10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;

the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.

11 May the LORD give strength to his people!

May the LORD bless his people with peace! (Ps 29:10-11)

A year after Harvey and we take great comfort in the fact that our God sits en-throned over the flood.

We can look back and see how the Lord has been at work. It looks different for different people. It has been harder for some than oth-ers, but in each case there is a story to tell, a story that is told through the tears that came (and still come) at

night, the despair of the moments when the future looked so uncertain, the joy of new friendships and un-expected comradery with previously unknown neigh-bors. Our lives tell the story of God’s strength poured out in so many different ways.

On Sunday, August 26, lets tell those stories in the con-gregation of God’s people, in worship, over lunch. Invite your neighbors and those you’ve met and touched this past year.

9 I have told the glad news of deliverance

in the great congregation; behold, I have not re-

strained my lips, as you know, O LORD.

10 I have not hidden your deliverance within my heart;

I have spoken of your faith-fulness and your salva-tion;

I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness

from the great congrega-tion. (Ps 40:9-10)

Schedule:

Saturday, August 25: Prepare BBQ on the pa-tio, setup the patio and fellowship hall.

Sunday, August 26 o 10:30 a.m. – Worship

the Lord in remem-brance of Harvey

(Continued on page 3)

SPECIAL POINTS OF

INTEREST:

Sunday School will resume on September 9.

We will host a Harris County Constable on Sunday, September 16, following worship, to get us prepared for an active shooter situation.

If you missed a Sunday, the sermons are posted on Cornerstone’s website under the “Sermons” tab. You can listen to or download them.

The Session and Dea-cons did not meet in July. Their next meet-ing will be Tuesday, August 21.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE :

FALL SUNDAY

SCHOOL

2

NEWS FROM THE

BOTROS FAMILY

2

BRIDGES

WELCOME PARTY

3

KIDS CAMP 4

CALENDAR 5

CHILDREN’S

MINISTRY NEWS

6

Renewing our families, our communities, and our world by bringing faith and life together in Christ.

PAGE 2 FRONTLINES

“I SCORED WELL

ENOUGH ON THE

LANGUAGE EXAM

FOR IT TO COUNT

AS CREDIT

TOWARDS MY

MASTERS DEGREE IN

ISLAMIC STUDIES

FROM GORDON

CONWELL

SEMINARY . ”

NEWS FROM THE BOTROS FAMILY

cal Understanding of Islam.” It was a highlight week for me, and I got some good practice in doing Quran and Biblical texts that I’ve already been able to apply to our work with Syrian refugees.

We also hosted a couple on a vision trip, got Julia’s and my visas renewed, applied for Joseph’s, and - probably most exciting of all for me - passed my Arabic language exam!! I scored well enough on the language exam for it to count as credit towards my Masters degree in Islamic studies from Gordon Conwell Seminary. Hooray!

The family Nour and I meet with just wrapped up a "commitment set" study

where we focus on Scriptural passages that talk about what it means to commit to Christ. We looked at who is Christ, repentance, counting the costs, persecution, and bap-tism. Pray that God's love would continue to cast out fear as they share more and more with their extended families.

While it’s already been a full summer, things aren’t slow-ing down in the months to come, so please check out our prayer request below for how you can continue to keep us in your prayer covering.

Grace and peace, Nour, Rebecca, Julia, and Joseph

BY REBECCA BOTROS

Hey, Friends! Like for most of you and your families, summer is flying by here in Beirut. Ramadan finally end-ed and the heat cranked up to HOT. Lebanon had pretty peaceful parliament elections and we celebrated the Fourth of July!

The various Bible study groups we have during the week are flying trough the different studies we share. For the rest of the summer we are going to be looking at key parables Jesus taught.

At the end of June, I attended a week-long consultation on “Jesus Christ and the Reli-gious Other: Towards a Bibli-

pray for her to feel at home in her new country, and for our team as we help settle her into her living space, the neighbor-hood, language, and team life.

3) Nour and I are both in intense seasons of semi-nary studies (among eve-

rything else!), specifically theology courses. Pray God gives us clear and sound minds for under-standing our readings and how God wants to shape our hearts through these studies, as well as remem-bering to set apart times to be together as a family and a couple.

1) Our teammate Nick is facing visa issues with a risk of having to leave the country. Please pray his visa appeal is granted and soon!

2) A new teammate is joining us next month! After she arrives it will be an intense time of transition so please

PRAYER REQUESTS

The Botros family welcomed baby Joseph this year. They have a busy life in Lebanon.

Nour’s football games have provided an opportunity to get to know other families.

With those pragmatic details out of the way, let me give a perspective on Adult SS. No, it is not part of our corporate worship and no, it is not strictly scriptural either. But, Adult SS is a good opportuni-ty to get a look at different aspects of the Bible. Of course, the central message remains the same, it is all

about Jesus. But by together reading, hearing, and discuss-ing the Bible we help each other progress to greater un-derstanding and maturity. And, as I’m reminded recent-ly in talking with a friend, going it alone is not a good plan and, moreover, is explic-itly outside of God’s plan.

(Continued on page 4)

BY KENT SAUGIER

Adult Sunday School (Adult SS) this fall will lead off with a recap of themes extracted from our study of Luke last year. Building on those themes we will then take up in Luke where we left off in the spring and complete our study by the Christmas break.

SUNDAY SCHOOL IS FOR ADULTS , TOO

Adult Sunday School will continue the study of Luke.

“WE ARE PRAY-

ING FOR GOD

TO SEND US

THOSE WHOM

HE HAS AL-

READY PRE-

PARED TO RE-

CEIVE THE

GOOD NEWS

OF CHRIST . ”

You can help welcome inter-national students to

Houston.

PRAYER REQUESTS FROM DAKA

REMEMBERING HARVEY: SHARING FOOD, STORIES

Google Hangouts in order to study the Word, en-courage and pray with each other, even distantly. Please pray for the Lord to sustain him, even if he is far away from his commu-nity of faith.

2) I'm travelling to Colum-bus, Ohio, at the end of this month for several days to encourage a group of Muslim background be-lievers there. They have had some struggles and other issues. Pray for me

to be an encouragement to them in the midst of the difficult times.

3) Finally, we are starting a new school year with the new international students arriving to Houston. Pray for our airport pickups, the Welcome Party (Saturday, August 18) and other welcoming events. We are praying for God to send us those whom He has already prepared to receive the Good News of Christ.

I'm still working on our min-istry report to the Middle East, meanwhile I wanted to ask you to pray for some ur-gent and important manners.

1) Hussein left the US and now back home in Iraq. He is in very religious part of the country and feeling oppressed by strong reli-gious Shia group. His par-ents are trying to convert him back to Islam, but his faith is strong. He doesn't have any Christian com-munity back where he is. We are going to do

BRIDGES CITY TOUR AND WELCOME PARTY

PLANNED FOR INCOMING STUDENTS

BY DAKA DYUSSEKOV

On Saturday, August 18, you can be part of welcoming hundreds of new internation-al students! This is our most exciting event of the year, introducing Bridges to stu-dents from around the world and an incredible opportunity for you to meet these bright, future world leaders.

Students will get a bus tour of Houston, followed by the

Welcome Party at the Forest Club, 9950 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77024.

We are asking volunteers to arrive at the Forest Club at 11:30 a.m., and we will be finished by 4:30 p.m. There are several ways you can serve - from helping with food service to intentionally befriending and following up with them. You can give a gift to a lucky new student,

even if you are unable to come to the event yourself.

Please sign up today! If you know you want to serve as a student host, please also let us know.

Cornerstone members Jim and Becky Yuvancic, Allen and Pat White, and Gene and Linda Cov-er have all enjoyed helping at this event in past years. Talk to any of them if you have ques-tions.

o Noon – Share our ex-periences over BBQ lunch.

What you can do:

Invite neighbors that you’ve touched or talked to about Harvey who don’t have a church

(Continued from page 1) home, and pray for them in the weeks leading up to the event.

Prepare a side dish: cole slaw, bbq beans, chips, bread, condiments (meat is provided)

Come out to help cook the BBQ on the patio. We’ll shoot the breeze and enjoy some time together.

Sign-up to help setup the patio on Saturday, or cleanup on Sunday after lunch.

Bring a dish to share and/or come and help cook.

PAGE 3 VOLUME 13, ISSUE 8

letter, winners must ask Mrs. Kutzer for their prize.

Sunday Morning Classes: Classes are scheduled to resume on September 9 (the Sunday following Labor Day).

If you have questions about curriculum or placement of your child, please contact me. I am always happy to answer questions.

I am recruiting teachers and assistant teachers at this time. Please pray with me for the Lord’s work in the hearts of

BY CAROL KUTZER

And the winner is…The winner of July’s Mis-cellaneous Candy Game is Henry. His guess of 90 was the exact number of candies in the jar. Con-gratulations, Henry! He will receive a Chick–fil–A coupon and all the candy in the jar.

Be sure to submit your guess for August’s Swe-dish Fish Game…and be sure to write clearly and include your FIRST & LAST names.

To encourage our kids to read the Frontlines news-

those He has called to this opportunity.

Get to know our Childcare Workers: Question of the month: If you could magically become fluent in any language, what would it be?

Ms. Ann Alcorn: None

Ms. Carol Rutar: Spanish or Sign Language

Ms. Kinsey Spain: Italian

Ms. Laura Garay: Mandarin

CHILDREN ’S MINISTRY HIGHLIGHTS

1351 S. Mason Rd. Katy, Texas 77450

(281) 579-1080

info@cornerstonekaty.org

On the Web @

www.cornerstonekaty.org

Seeking to renew our families,

our communities, and our world

by bringing faith and life

together in Christ.

We are to meet togeth-er to worship God. While Adult SS is an add-on to our corporate worship it can help our understanding, preserve orthodoxy and keep our focus on Jesus, God in the flesh, come to res-cue His people from certain judgement and condemnation.

Well, that sounds sober. Um, welcome to Adult SS this fall?

(Continued from page 2)

SUNDAY

SCHOOL

FOR FALL