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September Newsletter 2007 PASTOR MAX WALKER SAYS... The Bible records that often Jesus was under attack because of his association with those who lived on the fringes of society. The religious leaders of the day had defined the boundaries of who was acceptable and who was not. Hiding behind a sanctimonious attitude they displayed a bigotry towards those outside their list of acceptable people and all the rest were considered “lost” or “ undesirables”. The bible records that Jesus looked upon these people with compassion and healed them not only spiritually, but emotionally and physically. The Good Samaritan knelt beside the injured man and ministered to his needs. Jesus laid hands on the lepers of his day and they were restored to wholeness. He had the audacity to speak and build relationships with the social outcasts of his day, the prostitute, the leper, the maimed, the demon possessed, the tax collector, the publican and the riff raff off the streets, This was the inspirational Jesus who created change by His willingness to defy the dictates of the religious leaders and associate with the battlers. In our society today many groups of so called righteous people, including many in the churches, have drawn boundaries in their lives and live in ghetto communities that effectively exclude those on the fringes of society. Some do not believe they exist and bury their heads in the sand in the confines of their own locality. Others believe they exist but keep away from areas where they may be forced to mingle with them and recognize their plight. Others see their plight, recognize their need, but because it may be inconvenient to stop and/or socially unacceptable to pause, they walk by on the other side. Others see their plight and try to do something about them . This is the Jesus of this century, knee deep in human problems, disadvantage, poverty out there among the addicts, the lonely, the homeless, the lost, the orphans and the strangers in town, the latest migrant group. This is the church‼ No huge buildings and budgets, no fancy programs or expensive technology, brochureless and without P. R departments or corporation style administration but just a group of people fulfilling Jesus’s commission and sharing His love to a hurting world. Young man, the secret of my success is that at an early age I discovered I was not God. [Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.] If your left hand doesn’t know what your right hand is doing, you should consider running for a job in Canberra. [Anonymous] Some minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed up and permanently set. MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY programs twice a month as advertised locally 1-4pm. Welfare referrals to other agencies and Afghan information services operates out of cornerstone.
Midday Cobras – Premiers 2007 MIDDWAY cobras had another very successful year under the leadership of Pastor Don Cameron. Throughout the year Cornerstone folk were involved as players, game officials and spectators. Well done ‼ Hillcrest Visitors A group of students from Hillcrest College attended a Wednesday morning program hearing of the history of Cornerstone, the current vision and spending the majority of the morning meeting Cornerstone clients and volunteers. This is the second group from Hillcrest in 2007. Eummerring College has also visited. Prime Ministers Acheivement Award Avocares Cooking for Cornerstone received recognition with the Prime Ministers Acheivement Award. The photo above is of Max Walker, Suzanne Van Rooy and Senator Mitch Fifield who presented the award at Cornerstone. Avocare Avocare launched its new training division, Avocare Learning Solutions on August 9, 2007. Approximately 50 people including Pastor Max & Alison attended the launch of the new Avocare Learning Solutions Registered Training Organisation. At the launch a presentation was made to Suzanne Van Rooy, supervisor of the Cornerstone Kitchen project for the great work she does at Cornerstone. Housing Stress Conference This conference will be run in the City of Casey by the Healthy Families taskforce on Tuesday October 16th. Pastor Max is on the organizing committee and will be part of a panel at the conference. Donation of TV A big thank you to Ian Kitchen for donating a large TV to Cornerstone. In due course it will be mounted in the rear of the Drop In. Partnership Tour As part of the Partnership arrangement for funding from Community Grants Dandenong a tour of participant welfare groups was held frequently. Cornerstone was visited and Pastor Don showed them over the building. Meeting with Antony Byrne and local welfare agencies in the district was held last week to update the Member for Holt on the multiple needs of people living in the growth corridor. Essendon scarf stolen Cornerstone has collected football scarves for each of the clubs and these have been hung at the rear of the hall near the pool table. Realizing that something was amiss as there was a gap in the display it was discovered that the Essendon scarf was gone. Can you assist us to replace this scarf? Need for a computer In this area we have two specific needs. Message from Pastor Don Cameron… Pastoral Care Worker. Over the last month I’ve been reminded of words by Ian Purse (Order of Australia for Youth Work) who works for Youth For Christ. In 2006 Ian pointed out that over many decades of working with young people he has noticed our current generation of young people are the most entertained generation Australia has ever produced. Youth today have shopping malls with extended hours, skate parks, drive in movies and cinemas, swimming centres, basketball, football, soccer, netball stadiums etc, video games, multi-channel pay-tv, laser games, go-carts, government sponsored youth agencies etc. and the list goes on and on. Our current generation of young people also seem to have more disposable income in their pockets to spend far beyond what previous generations had. With this in mind, it’s hard for some people to work out why one of the most common things young people say is “I’m bored. There’s nothing to do”. What our current generation of young people lack more than any generation before is significant relationships with older people/postive role models. Perhaps a large part of why some people choose to engage in risk-taking behaviour such as drug/alcohol abuse, criminal behaviour or short-term meaningless relationships is due to what a local Aboriginal leader called ‘lack of community’. Many of you know that I have been on the management committee of the MIDDWAY Cobras Football team for the past few years. Last week the MIDDWAY Cobras won the RecLink B Grade Premiership with many Cornerstone people receiving premiership medals presented by ex-Hawthorn Premiership Coach Allan Jeans. The players celebrated after the game and long into the evening just enjoying each other’s company over pizza back at the club rooms in Doveton. Nobody felt pressured to be anything other than themselves being accepted by their team mates in a welcoming and relaxed environment. This is very similar to the environment at Cornerstone during our programs. No pretence, no ‘attitude’ and no requirement to be anything other than who you are. Perhaps that’s why our programs are so popular. I remember the words of Jesus saying “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest!” As people I work with gain a sense of purpose and destiny in life through knowing Jesus, I see them change from being people who value posessions to people who value community. People who ‘rest’ from trying to achieve what they think might make them happy and instead make time for other people in their lives, particularly people who may often be overlooked. It was a wonderful victory by the MIDDWAY Cobras who were up by four points at half time but persevered to win by almost six goals. An even greater victory was seeing people who are often overlooked combine into a winning team who now have medals around their necks. MARANATHA! Pastor Don Cameron Work: Cornerstone Contact Centre PO BOX 358 Dandenong 3175 / 9794 5654 Email: DonInDandenong@netscape.net Mobile: 0415 888 528
For further details check out the website or contact us as indicated below. * All correspondence to CEO c/o PO Box 358 Dandenong. 3175.
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