Dear Friends,

It’s good to be back!

Thank you for all your support and encouragement to me and also to my family during my 3 month Sabbatical. It was a tremendous time of refreshment, learning and physical work with so many memories that I will treasure. I am also very grateful to the church officers, leaders and members and also to my wife Ali, for all the additional things that they have done during this time. I know that God has been at work in each one of us wherever we have been. After returning in July it was straight off for our Boys’ Brigade camp where we had a great time with the boys and then with a good number of friends from the church in week 2 - the weather was great as well!

And so the summer is nearly over and I hope that you have had some opportunity for a rest, or visits elsewhere. I know that the Tuesday ‘table top’, the ‘at home’ Wednesdays and the special Foyer activity days have all been a great success during the summer months. As you now read this magazine I hope you will see that there are some excellent events and activities and special guest Sunday preachers being arranged. I hope that all these activities will be well supported and that there are plenty of opportunities for you to offer help and service here at Cornerstone.

I also hope that we are able to engage with the culture around us and to the needs of the world and the local community. There is always a danger that we could become so immersed in what is happening in the local church that we neglect our other friendships and community involvement. At our September Church meeting we are going to hear about a number of initiatives and projects that are happening outside of Cornerstone. I hope that you will come along and be excited about what is happening.