“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” –Jeremiah 29:11
I believe that this passage, Jeremiah 29:11, is one of the most misused verses in the Bible. Though beautiful, it is often taken out of context. We have a tendency to skip over verse ten and go straight for eleven. Verse ten states, “For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.” What is actually stated here is that the Israelites are going to have to go through immense suffering and trial before they reach that “future and hope.” It kind of reflects on the summary of the story of Joseph in Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Or the famous Romans 8:28 passage, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” In other words, to quote the band Switchfoot, the shadow proves the sunshine.
In my last newsletter, I told everyone what a difficult semester it had been. In fact, it was so stressful for me that I thought God may be leading me elsewhere. I took the summer to reenergize and reinvigorate myself, and then refocus on work. What is it that I wanted to see happen in Cornerstone? What did I want my job to look like? Are my passions that once were, still my passions? I took that summer to completely reevaluate myself, and came up with the conclusion that I had strayed away from what I am good at: evangelism. I knew I needed to get back there. I’m sure that I have mentioned this before, but I am a very relational person. In fact out of the three Cornerstone staff members, I am the most extraverted. Basically, I need relationships. With this in mind, I devised a plan: meet as many students on campus as possible. I just don’t want to meet students though, I want to know them. I want to form a relationship with them. I want to hear their story. I want to befriend them. And from there, Lord willing, I want to tell them about Christ.
So far, I would say that this recasting of an old vision has been successful. It was my goal to meet three new students a week, which would mean that I have met about 35ish students thus far…if I had just met three students a week. The Lord has done great things, and I believe that I am close to the hundred mark with how many students I have met. Wow! Even typing this, I am stunned at how God works. Not only has he blessed me with meeting students, but he has provided ways that I couldn’t have thought of to meet students. I just had to go through a little rough patch to get here. Please be in prayer for me as I continue to meet and form relationships with students.
Why We Do What We Do
Meet Laura Tileston, a freshmen nursing major here at Pitt. Laura has been involved in a variety of ways in Cornerstone, and has really found a home here. Read more about her:
1. What is your favorite movie, book, and band/music? My favorite movies are probably A Walk to Remember and Dirty Dancing. Besides the Bible (which of course is the best book of all time!) I can get lost in any novel by Jodi Picoult, such as Change of Heart, as well as the book Kisses from Katie, the story of a girl who left her comfortable life in Nashville to teach children in Uganda right after she graduated high school, and ended up adopting something like 13 girls and starting a ministry there; so inspiring! Music is especially hard because I love pretty much all styles of music, but I’ll say Mumford and Sons have me hooked right now. However, you can never go wrong with Relient K, Gungor, or Something Corporate!
2. What has been your involvement in Cornerstone? I’m a freshman so I haven’t done terribly much with Cornerstone as of yet, but I’ve joined a D-Group (Discipleship Group) with two awesome girls and sing with the Worship Team every few weeks on Wednesday nights. I also went on the Fall Retreat, which was an absolute blast and a great way to meet more people!
3. How has Cornerstone helped you during your year at Pitt? I’ve only been at Pitt for a little over 2 months, but Cornerstone has been a great place to make friends and build solid relationships with new people here in Pittsburgh, as well as introduce others to Jesus through such a college-friendly ministry. Most importantly, it’s a wonderful outlet during the middle of the week to come together to worship and learn about God!
Moore News
So, where to begin…A lot has happened since my last Newsletter. First, Benjamin has started kindergarten at Fulton Academy a few blocks away from us. Fulton is a magnet school with an emphasis on French. We have always known that Ben was very intelligent, but wondered how he would handle a classroom setting. After some initial struggles of boredom and not meeting people, Ben has really found his niche and is excelling. He has won both the “Wildcat Award” for the best behaved student and the “Student of the Month.” During the parent teach conference, the teacher was amazed at how smart and advanced Ben is. God has certainly gifted Ben with intelligence and a thirst for knowledge. We were a little worried when Ben told us in the first week that he hadn’t met anyone, but that soon changed. God has a gifted Benjamin with a personality that other kids seem to gravitate towards. He seems to really be excelling in school.
Joshua in the meantime has had to learn to adjust to life at home without a big brother during the day. Luckily, he still has Asher to play with. We’ll have to see how Asher adjusts when Joshua goes to school next year. Joshua still loves his sports, and can tell you anything about them, and Asher still loves Pixar’s Cars. Together, Joshua and Asher are fun to watch. Joshua is extremely protective of Asher, and Asher usually shoves away Josh’s protectiveness.
Emily continues to thrive with watching the boys and maintaining our home. She is my constant support for when times get rough and great accountability for when I am not thinking clearly. If it weren’t for God working through her, I would have been in a much bigger mess.
I hope that all is well with you, and that God is blessing you richly. As Paul says in the beginning of Phillipians, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”
In Christ,
Andy Moore
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