“Together, we are His house, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, and the

Cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. “ Ephesians 2:20

Shining the Light of Christmas in the Darkness

Our Mission: To help individuals become fully devoted followers of Christ.

Pastor Scott

Schaefer

CORNERSTONE CHRONICLES BIMONTHLY NEWSLETTER

Cornerstone Bible Fellowship

3725 E. 9th Ave.

Winfield

Terrorists have struck again. This time in Paris, France. Tragically, such attacks are becoming more and more commonplace than ever before, raising people’s fears to unprecedented levels.

According to various polls, anywhere from 55%-65% of Americans now believe an Islamic terrorist attack will happen on U.S. soil by next year.

Between domestic terrorism, radical Islamic terrorism, political correctness, same-sex

marriage and blatant immorality, we are living in dark days that are only getting darker. How can Christians make a difference in such a chaotic culture? The difference is the hope found in the person of Jesus Christ, that we must share with others.

When Jesus left the throne of heaven to come and be born into this world He created, He came into a world darkened by sin. When Mary, pregnant with Jesus, came into Bethlehem with Joseph, there really was no room in the inn for them to stay. When King Herod found out about this new born king, he went on a terrorist frenzy, slaughtering every male child two years of age and under to try and eradicate the new born Messiah. This

world of darkness at that time was a place that most would not choose to enter. Yet, Jesus came into our dark world voluntarily to meet our need, piercing the darkness with the light of His eternal love, bringing hope, just as His star pierced the night sky, leading the wise men to Him. His coming as light in the darkness was prophesied in Isaiah 9:2, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has the light shined.” Then in John 1:4-5, in looking back on Christ’s coming, it says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Christ’s coming still impacts us today, because

His light indwells us who trust Him. In John 8:12, Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” So, two thousand years later, His light is still shining in the darkness. The darkness has not gone away. The darkness of sin and evil is growing ever darker. Yet, the light of Christ is enough to overcome the darkness around us, bringing hope in despair.

A Christmas carol says, “Silent night. Holy night. Son of God, love’s pure light. Radiant beams from Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace”-that is our hope! The light of God’s grace to redeem us, found in His Son, Jesus Christ.

The light of hope invaded our dark world long ago in Bethlehem. If we want that hope to invade our lives, we must do what the wise men did and humbly bow in faith and worship before the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t read in Matthew 2 that the wise men worshipped King Herod when they met him. But when they found the young child, Jesus, these great men fell on their faces in worship. To this little child they gave the honor due a King. What Herod craved, Jesus received from them.

Like the wise men, let us bow in worship and faith before the Lord Jesus. And then let us go out into the dark world and let the light of Christ in us shine brightly, bringing hope that never fails and never burns out. Political and military leaders fail to give us hope amid the terror of the night. But we find hope in Jesus Christ, because He has overcome the darkness of the world. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). May we take that light of hope and shine it around to others this Christmas! As the Christmas carol says of Christ: “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Thee tonight.” May Jesus fill you with hope and allay your fears this Christmas and New Year, knowing He’s in control and moving our world toward His return. May your Christmas celebrations be centered on the hope of Christ. Be sure to include coming to church to worship the King of kings who was born to be reborn in our lives. Let your Christmas light of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” shine! Merry Christmas! Pastor Scott

December 2015/January 2016

Inside:

New Pictorial Directory Coming

Christmas Events

Adult Sunday Fellowships

Children’s Ministry—Awana

PowerSource Student Ministry

Important Dates in December & January in our Church Family

Birthdays: Anniversaries:

D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 / J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6

If your special date for December or January is missing, please notify the church office at 221– 2722.

Praise & Prayer Needs

Pray for yourself and each of us to reach out and bring others to worship the Lord with us.

Pray for Patty Bowman, Gretchen Reed, MaryLou Hillman and Ron Dust, battling cancer.

Pray for more of us to participate in a small group or Sunday School class to grow in relationship as Christ’s

disciples.

Pray for our shut ins: Marie Butler, Lois Bogner, Neva Hoskins, Nancy Miller, Leona

Reynolds.

Pray for those recovering from surgery: Stan Abel, Elijah Hess, Patty Swan, Linda

Gann, and Nancy Miller.

Pray for the Larry Alley family as Larry’s father recently passed into glory.

December 3 Isabella Spengler 6 Jerry Graham 7 Emmalynn Jones 9 Marie Butler Aliyah Moore Gerald Reynolds 10 Jeff Camp Wade Turner 11 Brianna Bruce 12 Myranda Heckman 13 Faith Lenker 17 Larry Mossman 20 Haley Gedrose Izaya Standeyfer 22 Nathan Calvin Zander Vogele 23 Patty Dust 26 Kimmy Hotchkin Shelly Willis 27 Kathy Waite 29 Alexis Silvey Brayden Sutton 31 Mark Bogner

January

1 Rex Beeney Alan Marcotte 2 James Swanson 5 Nicole Wallace 7 Harrison Willmoth 8 Stephanie Adams Tatta Roth 9 Martha Kelley 12 Madilyn Gann 13 Lilli Crewse Mercedez Garwood 14 Colton Bruhn 15 Gwen Fox 16 Gary Bortz 20 Emily Graham 23 Harold Haskins Chad McGathy 24 Sarah Corle 26 Grayce Abel Debby Smith 28 Pat Potter Riley Smith 31 Addy Myers

December 4 Kurt & Kim Wasko 16 Jeff & Susan Camp 19 Regan & Leah Hess

January

1 Ron & Patty Dust Tim & Elizabeth Spencer 2 Gary & Pat King 14 Pat & Dorothy Potter 29 Larry & Martha Kelley

Christmas Buttons—Free in the Foyer There are Merry Christmas buttons on the table in the foyer, free for the taking.

Wear them to promote the true reason for the season. Each button says, “A Light

has dawned. Merry Christmas!” And it has a nativity scene of the stable. So, be

sure to get and wear your button this Christmas season.

Upcoming Events

Family Christmas Decorating the Church/Soup Supper Gathering Bring your family out on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 5:30pm for a Soup Supper and then help decorate the church for Christmas. Please bring a crockpot of soup and finger food to share.

Sunday, November 29 at 5:30pm: Family Christmas Decorating the Church/Soup Supper Gathering. Sunday, December 13 at 9:15am: Children’s Christmas program: “Star Trip: Our Faith Awakens” in the sanctuary. Sunday, December 13 at 10:30am: Christmas Special: “Joy! Glorious Joy!” and worship service in our sanctuary. Sunday, December 13 at 5:00pm: Christmas caroling to area nursing homes. Meet at church to go out, then return for chili cook-off student ministry fundraiser and Christmas cookies at 7:00pm. Thurs., December 24 at 6:00pm: Christmas Eve Candlelight Service with children’s chat and gifts for kids. Friday, December 25: Merry Christmas! Christ Is Born!

Christmas Caroling around the Community

and Student Ministry Chili Cook-off Fundraiser

You are encouraged to go with us to area nursing homes and residences to sing Christmas carols on Sunday, December 13. We will meet at the church at 5:00pm to leave together. We will then come back

to the Family Life Center by 7:00pm for the Chili Cook-off Student Ministry Fundraiser. If you can, please make some chili to share, to raise

funds for the Youth Ministry. Please let Chris Law know if you are planning to bring chili. Also, everyone is encouraged to bring Christmas cookies to share.

Officer Nominations If you have any names to suggest for officer positions in our church, please write them on your bulletin tear-off and place in the offering plate, or talk to any elder (Gregg Little or Pastor Scott), by Sunday, December 6.

Nursery Help Needed If you could help take care of our church family’s littlest ones in the nursery during the Worship Service on Dec. 20, Jan. 3, 17 or Feb. 21 or during the 9:15am Sunday School hour on Feb. 28th please contact Kathy Bogner at 221-1027. Thank you!

Join Our Christmas Choir We will have a Christmas Choir Cantata on Sunday, December 13 at

10:30am called “Joy! Glorious Joy!” Choir practices will be held on

Thursdays of December 3 and 10 from 7:30-900pm, and Saturday,

Dec. 12 from 9:00 to 10:30am. If you enjoy singing, you are encouraged

to join us!

Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

On Thursday, December 24 we will have our annual Christmas Eve Candlelight service at 6:00pm. There will be congregational singing of Christmas carols and songs, a children’s chat by Michael Chrisman with a gift for the children, a devotion by Pastor Scott and the traditional lighting of candles to symbolize the light of Christ come to be spread among us. Please plan to join us as we celebrate Jesus, our newborn King of kings and Lord of lords!

January Annual Church Business Meeting

On Sunday, January 31, we will have our Annual Church Business meeting in

the sanctuary at 12:45p.m. That will be preceded by an all-church fellowship

dinner at 11:45pm in our Family Life Center. Please bring a main dish and a

side dish or dessert to share.

At our annual church business meeting, we will be electing new officers and

voting on the 2016 budget. So, be sure to join us for this important gathering. Our meeting will

begin with sharing prayer requests and a prayer gathering.

Plan to Get Your Picture Taken for our Pictorial Directory

On Friday & Saturday of January 29-30, Lifetouch Photography will be at our church

to take our picture portraits. Each family photographed will receive a free 8x10

portrait. Also, they are giving us a 20% discount on all purchases on top of that. Of

course, there is no obligation to purchase anything and just get your free 8 x10.

Each photographed family will receive a free pictorial church directory. So, make sure

you reserve a half hour on one of those two days to get your picture taken. We

encourage you to reserve a portrait sitting time by signing up in the foyer, calling our

church office at 221-2722 or by scheduling online (information coming on this

option). This will be a great tool to help us get to know one another better!

Women’s Ministry

WOMEN IN GRACE

There are two men’s small group Bible studies. One meets at church on Thursday mornings at 6:30am in the Prayer Room. Another men’s group meets on Monday evenings at 7:00pm at various homes. If you are interested in this group, please contact Jeff Schaefer at 620-222-5653.

Young Women’s Weekly Bible Study

Brenna Dailey is leading a weekly Bible Study that will resume on Monday

evenings at 6:00pm in the church’s conference room. The study is Timothy

Keller’s “Galatian Study for You: for Reading, for Feeding, for Leading (God’s

Word for You)”. This study will be geared toward younger women ranging from

college, newly weds, mothers with children still at home, and so on. For more

information contact Brenna Dailey. Cell number 620-218-3618.

ACTION: Adults Coming Together In One Name

Formerly called Young Adult/Young Couples Ministry

Upcoming Events!

No meeting in December due to the Holiday Season.

On Friday, January 15 at 6:00pm in the FLC there will be a Family Game Night.

Please bring the whole family and snacks to share!

On Saturday, February 27 we will have a Dessert Exchange at 6:30pm in the

FLC. The entire family in invited. Please bring a dessert with copies of the recipe to

share.

Ladies Night Out

Be watching the church bulletin for the date

of our next monthly Ladies Night Out gathering!

The Gathering: Sunday Evening Bible Study

On Sunday evenings at 6:00pm in the Family Life Center, you are encouraged to gather with us as we study the book of Ezekiel together. In these end times of uncertainty in which we live, the prophecy of Ezekiel will give us a firmer grip on what is to come and how God would have us live.

Current Adult Bible Fellowships-9:15am

Sanctuary Adult Bible Fellowship

During December, on the 6th and 27th, this class will continue in the study "Israel's Mission:

Becoming a Kingdom of Priests in a Prodigal World" the latest DVD series from Ray Vander Laan and

Focus on the Family Ministries. This 5 session study is the 13th in a series that has spanned nearly 20 years.

"What's your mission? God gave an assignment to His people thousands of years ago: Bring lost sheep back

into the love and safety of His kingdom. It's still our task today. In this study, you'll glimpse the urgency and

rewards of welcoming the strangers and prodigals the Lord longs to embrace. Discover the mission that can

give your life- and the lives of those around you-greater meaning than you ever imagined. Filmed on location

in the Holy Land, this series is facilitated by Gregg Little. How do you respond when someone asks you a tough question about your faith? Starting January 3rd, 2016, the Sanctuary Adult Bible Fellowship will begin a new DVD series; Unanswered by Jeremiah J. Johnston. We will address several challenging topics, including mental health and suicide, paranormal activity, the resurrection, how we got the Bible, suffering, and why God is sometimes silent. Keith Dailey will facilitate this study. Please join us!

‘Master God's Book’ Adult Bible Fellowship Ed Bogner is teaching on the books of Ezekiel and Daniel in the Conference Room. Generations trying to come to

terms with their role and stake in human tragedy have found instruction in Ezekiel. People of God struggling to make sense of

the loss of everything that gave meaning and structure to their times, and others groping for hope in their apparently dead-

end situations, have heard a life-giving word in this book interwoven with Ezekiel’s visions of future events. Daniel contains

well known accounts of personal faith in God for deliverance and of commitment to follow the Lord’s precepts and direction

regardless of personal cost. Daniel also contains end of times prophecy that is further developed in the New Testament book of

Revelation. Join us for ancient instruction on godly living in our culture and in better understanding the days ahead.

‘Last Sunday of the Month’ Separate Men’s and Women’s Fellowships We have separate men’s and women’s classes that meet on the last Sunday of each month (with occasional exceptions) during the school year. Men’s: It is time to call all men into action. Men find it difficult to identify acts of courage while slogging through the daily challenges of home, work, and community. Yet these are the battlefields where courage is demanded of them every single day. Join us on a 10 part adventure called "STEPPING UP: A Call to Courageous Manhood!" By Dennis Rainey, that defines courage throughout the five stages of manhood and commissions men to honestly evaluate where they stand in their duties of masculinity. This is a must see for every man, especially every young man, so we can be ready to live out this adventure God has prepared for us called life, in His Powerful Name. This class is facilitated by Terril Mettling and will meet in the Sanctuary. Women’s: This year's Women's Study is called "Nourished", a search for healthy relationships, spiritual wellness and a full night's sleep. Based on the book by mother, daughter writing team Becky Johnson and Rachel Radolph, this study brings together two different ends of life's experiences and adventures. If you are feeling drained, discouraged or just needing the close bonding of fellow Christian sisters, please join us the last Sunday of every month, starting in September, to embrace being "Nourished" by God's Word. This class is led by Yvonne Marcotte and will meet in the Family Life Center.

U.S. Postage

P A I D

Winfield, KS 67156

Permit No. 305

Our Mission: To help individuals become fully devoted followers of Christ!

Weekly Regular Schedule

Sundays

...Sunday School, for all ages 9:15am

...Worship Service 10:30am

...PowerSource Student Ministries 4:00pm

…The Gathering—for all ages 6:00pm

Wednesdays

...Awana (Sept. thru April) 6:15—8:00pm

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Cornerstone Bible Fellowship 3725 East 9th Avenue Phone: 620.221.2722 Winfield, KS 67156 Fax: 620.221.1196 www.winfieldcbf.org

Scott Schaefer, Senior Pastor – e-mail: pastorscott@winfieldcbf.org Michael Chrisman, Director of Children’s Ministries—e-mail: michael@winfieldcbf.org Administrative support staff – e-mail: secretary@winfieldcbf.org