Prayer for Life Groups on June 29th

Did you know that Cornerstone has a prayer ministry headed up by Chuck McCallum?  One of the things this ministry does is invites leaders from each ministry to pray for them, and for their ministry.  On Tuesday June 29th from 7-830pm Upstairs in Room A2 at Cornerstone Livermore Campus they will be praying for you as a Life Group Leader and for all of our Life Groups at Cornerstone. 

If you would like to join us for prayer for yourself, and your group please come.  It is going to be a powerful time of seeking God for our Life Group Community.

Food Packing for Haiti

Every trimester our Life Groups serve together.  If your Life Group is looking for a great service opportunity this Summer you might want to consider spending an hour together packing food for children in Haiti.  Cornerstone Missions is partnering with one of our own Sherri Leal who works with  "Kids Against Hunger."  You and your group can arrange a time to go the food packing facility here in Pleasanton, CA.  We did this as a staff a few weeks ago and it was amazing.  It involves packaging individual nutricious meals in bags, afterwards you can sign the bags with encouraging messages for the kids who will be receiving them.  

The cost to participate in this is about $20 per person to cover the cost of donated food.  You can find more information on Kids Against Hunger here.  Email Susan Zarrinfar at susanz@cornerstoneweb.org if you are interested in packing food with your Life Group.

3 Keys to a Successful First Meeting

Next week our Summer Life Groups are kicking off again!

Here’s three keys to a successful first meeting:

1. It’s all about the people: Make your first meeting about the people who are there, and not so much the topic you’ll be covering.  Help them relax by getting to know one another.  Do you have something fun planned?  Something delicious?  Something meaningful?  Check out a sample itinerary for the first meeting here: Sample First Meeting Schedule

2. Reveal the plan: Have a schedule to give everyone of the readings/homework for the trimester.  People will appreciate it and you will, too. Check out a sample one here:  Sample Reading Plans

3.  Think about it through a new person’s eyes: Whether your group is brand new, or you are a repeat leader with a lot of returnees and some new people, it’s your job to lead the group in welcoming new people, and making them feel really included.  Think about what they might  feel entering a group of people, especially if you've been together before.  In this case you might email the  returning people in your group this week and let them know that new people will be joining the group and to be as welcoming as possible.  Here’s an example of what you might send…

Hey Everyone – I’m excited about our Life Group starting up again next week, and I’m really glad you are returning.   Great news – we have a couple of people who are new to the group.  Let’s do all we can to make them feel welcome.   That means in discussion time, listen well to them.  And during our informal times, be the first to ask them questions and get to know them.  It’s important they feel included.  We all know each other well…so let’s try to get to know them really well and make them feel included!

Just a few thoughts that I hope will be helpful to you.

We are praying for you and your group.