 Welcome to the April edition of Cornerstone Connect. We are giving you a sneak peek into our shows, specials and guests this month on Cornerstone Network. We are celebrating Easter with my Hope Today co-host Tom Hollis as he shares how we can have hope even in the darkest of times. And speaking of hope, producers, Crystal Tillman and Sidney Goldman reveal how God is working in and through you as we prepare for our Hope Arising special. All that and more coming up next. I'm Amanda Brocker, your host of Cornerstone Connect and I have a question for you. Have you received your April Hope Today newsletter in the mail? If not, please give us a call at 888-665-4483 or go to ctvn.org and make sure that yours comes into the mail. We love to bring this to life to you in this program, but I have to thank you. The many of you who've been writing into Cornerstone, we love to get mail. So I'm just gonna reflect on some of these. This is from Judith. She said, thank you so much for your wonderful programs. I so enjoy Rick Renner, The 700 Club, CBN News, Bible Discovery, Joyce Meyer and other teaching programs. God bless you. And she said how her family, they used to live during the 50s at the foot of the hill here and they would stand above Pitcairn and they would pray to God to move over this valley. So I just wanna thank Judith and her family for those prayers. And wow, in the 50s, that's before Cornerstone was ever even here. I'm sure you are a part of making the way through prayer for us to be up on this hill. And then here I have from Carol. She says, thank you for your Christian programs, especially Origins and Hard Questions. And we just thank you Carol so much for writing in and letting us know what you like. And I encourage you, if you watch or you have a favorite on Cornerstone, we wanna know what that is. We love to just hear from you. This is from Denise. She said, I watch Cornerstone and I love the programs. I learn so much from the teachings. Isn't that the truth of it? God has really blessed us with so many great programs and Tom does a great job making sure as that program director that we're putting things out there that are edifying and building up for the believers. Here's another one from Charlotte. She said, God bless Cornerstone Network. And then Ruth, she wrote in, she said, Dear Lord, I ask your abundant blessings on each prayer partner who has prayed with me and for me over the years. You know, Ruth, our prayer line has been here ever since our programming has been here. So not only when you partner with us and we just thank you so much for those who have supported, it has allowed us to have a prayer line 24 seven alongside our programming. And just like Ruth and many others who have wrote in, they thank us for that prayer line. You know, when you're in that desperate time of need, it's wonderful to know that you have godly brothers and sisters that you can reach out to and they're not gonna give you their opinions. They're gonna give you the word of God because we desire to see you overcome in every area. So just thank you so much for your support and for your support to our network, both for our programming and for that prayer line. Well, coming up next, we have Tom Hollis. He's gonna join me as we celebrate Easter. Did you know your favorite programs on Cornerstone Telstra Network like Hope Today, Sister to Sister, Hard Questions, Dashing Dish, At Home and Move Your Mountain are not only on your TV screen, but also on YouTube. YouTube is the second most popular media platform in the world with more than 2.5 billion viewers. And the way we're consuming media may be changing, but what remains the same and continues to stand true is God's word and the power of the gospel. Now take a look at this map behind me. These are the top cities that are watching Cornerstone Telstra Network and because of your partnership, they are getting life-changing television every day. So in the U.S., you see it's New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Seattle, Dallas, and then we go to Canada, Toronto and Regina and then over to Europe, Dublin, London, and then in Africa, we have Buacke, Nairobi, Pretoria, Cape Town in Johannesburg, and in Asia, Cochie, Jakarta, Bengaluru, Manila, Yangusi, Sydney and Melbourne. This is just the list of many of the cities we reach because of your faithful giving to Cornerstone Telstra Network. Thank you for helping us bring hope to people around the world and right here in Pittsburgh. Welcome to Cornerstone Connect. My Hope Today co-host and Cornerstone COO, Tom Hollis. Hello, Amanda. We're so glad to have you on this month and I absolutely love the article you wrote. It is finished. So I just need you to unpack this for us, bring it to life. You did a great job writing it. Well, when I was thinking about writing an article for Easter, obviously we're gonna write about the resurrection and that's what we usually write about and that's what we should write about. That's the exciting thing that Jesus rose from the dead but I got to thinking and as I was first asked to write it, the thought it is finished dropped into my head and even a picture of Jesus on the cross with the weight of sin on him. And you know, Amanda, it says in the scriptures that it pleased God to crush him or to bruise him because of that he took that weight upon him. And so I started writing about that, thinking what was Jesus thinking? And I'm not putting words in his mouth here. Just thinking about what are the natural emotions that any person would go through when every one of their, they've been falsely accused, every friend has departed them or mostly every friend has departed them. John was still there. But, and I got to thinking about the heartbreak in the Son of God for that. Because even though his friends left, it was also the people that were accusing him and say, crucify him. He loved them too. And those things would crush him. I love how you bring it to life. I feel like sometimes in our Christianese, we can almost get so familiar with the Easter story or the Christmas story. And I feel like you really tapped into something to bring Jesus to life for all of us in his humanity. Well, he was 100% God and he was 100% man. So he felt all the pain of rejection. He felt the weight of sin. He felt the pain of the nails. He felt all of that and the scourging. He felt all of that and he did it for us. And he didn't want to go through it. He had that garden to get so many experience but he got through it and he came out the other side. Praise God that he did or we wouldn't be sitting here, redeemed people. People whose lives have been changed through the power of the gospel. The only reason there's power there is that he died and he said, it is finished. Of course, he rose again. Again, the good news of the gospel is that we can be reconciled to God because of his sacrifice. So I just, I'm picturing like Tom Hollis, you know, writing this article out and I loved all the describing words that you used and it just made me appreciate my savior once again. But tell us, you know, in your heart of heart when you read those words from, I have it pulled up in John 19, 29 or 30. It says, so when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit. What does that mean? I get chills just here and you read it right now. But to think of that, at one point, at some point he realized the sacrifice has been made. The penalty of sin, my sin, your sin, every person who's ever lived sin has been paid. He took all of that on his shoulders and he paid the debt for all of us. All we need to do now is enter into that. But when he realized it was finished, finally he could release his spirit back to God. He could release his spirit and to be, you know, again, three days hidden to then be resurrected. So all those things are happening all at once there. And he's, but that fact that he recognized what I came into the world for this reason he came, you know, he testified to the truth, he taught us how to live, but then he was the sacrifice lamb that takes away the sin of the world. Amen. He was all about saving lives, Jesus. And that very personage is here at Cornerstone and we are all about saving lives. It's why it's so important for us to declare the gospel 24 hours a day, seven days a week, we couldn't do one minute of that apart from you. So we just want to say thank you for giving us what we need to continue to declare the gospel. So we are just so thankful, you know, here at Cornerstone for the many of you who have supported our network over the years to keep the gospel going out over the airwaves 24 hours a day, seven days a week because it's about saving lives. It's about seeing lives changed here at Cornerstone Television. And you know, speaking of saving lives, there's something that Cornerstone connects as a part of Cornerstone Cares and it has saved over 7,000 lives just in 2022. I know it's amazing. And just to say a moment about Cornerstone Cares, you know, Cornerstone Cares is our tie. It's our outreach into the community and around the world. We support ministries that are doing amazing work. They're feeding children, they're housing people, they're preaching the gospel, they're planning churches, all these things. But one of the ones that we love here in the Pittsburgh area is Women's Choice Network. And Amanda, there's the article on here says 7,180 babies saved just in the past year. Isn't that amazing? That we could be involved in that. And you know, they're under attack too because ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned nationally, the fight's been taken to this local level and you have these centers like Women's Choice Network that is able to do wonderful work, compassionate work and bless the mothers and save lives. And I just love that we're involved with them. Absolutely. And it was a woman named Haley that this article featured. And if you haven't got your newsletter, please make sure that we have your information. We would love to send this out to you. You can call us at our prayer line 888-665-4483 or go to ctbn.org. But in Haley's life, like literally she was headed down a road of destruction. Drugs were involved and what caused her to reach out to the Women's Choice Network was she found herself pregnant in the middle of this. But one of their workers didn't give up on Haley. She didn't look like someone who was going to turn around but this woman kept calling Haley and just saying, hey, we love you, you're valuable, we care about you. And that is what caused Haley's life to turn around. So her life was saved and the life that was within her. So this is really life saving television program. It really is. And whenever anybody's involved, all of our friends who pray for this ministry, who watch this ministry and who donate to this ministry, all of that goes towards helping organizations like Women's Choice Network as part of our outreach. I'm so glad to be involved with them and I'm so glad that we have a part in that saving of lives. Amen, Tom, as our COO, I would love for you to have the opportunity to just look into the camera and talk to those viewers and let them know how valuable they are to us. Well, you are valuable to us. And I just wanna say thank you, thank you so much for all that you do. Please continue to pray for us. Please continue to watch and be part of our programs and please continue to give to the ministry here. We could not do it without you. Well, coming up next, Crystal Tillman and Sydney Goldman, they're gonna reveal hope arising in your and my life. It's always been the heart and vision of our founders, Russ and Norma Bixler, to reach the nations, people of every nation, every tribe, and every tongue through Cornerstone Television Network. For more than 40 years, the station has reached families through the TV screen, the way you're watching us right now. And with the internet and streaming platforms like YouTube, your generosity is helping us to expand our reach around the world. Cornerstone Television Network's YouTube page has more than 60,000 subscribers and nearly 100,000 views per month. Take a look at this world map that's behind me. Your continuous support is making an impact in these countries. Here are the top countries that are watching on YouTube. USA, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Brazil, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Ghana, Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand. Cornerstone is making an impact on every continent on the planet. When you partner with Cornerstone, you're not only changing lives here in Pittsburgh and America, but all around the world. Thank you for your support. Welcome Crystal Tillman and Sydney Goldman. You know, you both wear so many hats here at Cornerstone. Can you tell us a little bit what that looks like? We'll start with Crystal. So technically my title is Marketing Director of Marketing and Development, but that basically just means I'm over fundraising and promotions and communicating with our partners. I've been here for 11 years now and counting and can't wait to see what God is going to do next. You do a great job. I know I've seen you out at many women's conferences and you've been to other things all around the neighborhood. So thank you for getting us out there. And Sydney, what about you? Well, I have the joy of like I'm under Crystal. So with marketing and development. So I'm a development producer. So helping with the fundraiser also just in producing also things on Cornerstone. So different things with that initiative. And then also just being able to connect with the viewers and going out and about. So that's like truly a joy of just being able to connect with people that are out there on the streets and everywhere. So y'all make it sound so easy what they do. Y'all, I see what they do. And it's a lot more than the words that you all just described, but you're doing a fantastic job. You know, can you talk to us about the heart behind hope arising? Absolutely. Here at Cornerstone TV, we bring a message of hope every day. And there's three particular reasons why I think what we do is so critical. We bring a message of salvation. In spite of what's going on in the news and what's happening with the economy, wars and rumors of wars and all the things that you can expect in these end of days, we bring the truth that we can be victorious. We also bring connection and discipleship through our faith and family channel. And we bring people truth through hard questions and origins and hope today. So multiple ways of discipleship through our programming and connecting you to local bodies of Christ that you can actually visit and be a part of. And finally, if you watched our last fundraiser, which we call Visions of Hope, we talked about how here in the city of Pittsburgh, it's one of the loneliest cities in the nation. So we bring hope through our prayer line. And so I encourage people even now use 888-665-4483, which you've probably already shared on this program. But we, those three things is why we want to see hope arise. And so this special week is about bringing the body of Christ to come together as the kingdom to spread that message of hope. And so we're glad to have with us Jason Howard from Amplify coming with us, a new pastor, Pastor Jim out of Ohio, a ministry called Wealth with God. And then Matt Sorgher, we're building up the week with Apostle Connie Brooks and also our own pastor, Jay Gilbert. So gearing up for a great week coming up. Amen, this sounds awesome. Was there anything you wanted to tag on to that? I'll just say, like, you know, the whole thing with Hope arising, I think, you know, we see there's so many, you saw like part of even like the logo with our, like a special broadcast that's coming up is that there's personal mountains that we have and there's personal mountains in our culture, but we know through Christ and through Christ alone, that's how we get over at the mountain. And so it's just gonna be a wonderful time of just like having fresh prophetic voices come to speak to the hearts of viewers and also to help us continue to be a voice that goes out there in the airwaves and just even beyond, you know, the airways, the internet, there's so many different ways to connect and to watch the Cornerstone television network. So that's like our heart for Hope arising because we are trying, you know, we are a message of Hope a vehicle, Hope that God is using in this season. Can we talk a little bit about the God stories that folks will see when they tune in a little bit? Yeah. So also too, one thing we're like putting into the broadcasts is also just stories of people of how their journeys and their connection to Cornerstone. So we're just really excited to incorporate that in Hope arising as well, because I think, you know, it's so powerful, you know, what the Bible says, we overcome by the word of our testimony in the blood of the lamb. And you know, Cornerstone has been a part of so many people's lives of how, you know, through watching this, you know, the through this TV network is that their lives have been transformed and changed. So we want to highlight and focus on that too. Amen. Nothing like a power of a life changed. Well, talk to us about, you know, what do you ladies see happening, the move of God in the city of Pittsburgh and surrounding area? Well, I think it's amazing just to see the unity and the body of Christ coming together, especially over this past year. I was just in a meeting last week with some of the folks that coordinated Pittsburgh praise and talking about how prayer walks are still going on. And so I'm just seeing us beginning to lay down our platforms for the presence of the Holy Spirit, which I know is one of our goals here at Cornerstone TV. And it doesn't matter if your ministry is large or small, there's nothing small in the body of Christ. So people are laying down their agendas and really making Christ more visible instead of being concerned about our visibility and what we can gain from our kingdom impact. So lots of good things happening here in the city of Pittsburgh. Kind of just a little tag, because I'm in marketing, I can't help myself, is to visit ctvn.org slash events to see some of the new things happening in the city of Pittsburgh, such as Pit Walks, which is coming up on April 30th. I know on April 8th, there's gonna be an outreach crusade at Market Square. So some of the good things happening, stay tuned to ctvn.org slash events and learn more about what's going on. Amen, that's awesome. And I just think like, you know, overall, like just to piggyback what Crystal was saying about the kingdom impact, I really feel like what you're seeing is just more of the body of Christ coming together and these denominationalism, the division. It's like, we're putting our walls out and I'm just seeing different ministries, different people collaborating coming together because I truly believe that in order for what God, you know, bringing forth the kingdom, let his kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we can't do it separated. We all are one because when we all go to heaven, he's on your part of this church or that church. No, we are the church, we are the Ecclesia. And so I think having that revelation in our minds of understanding what the Ecclesia means that our kingdom authority that we have, we are ambassadors of Christ and walking in that authority. I'm beginning to see that more and more in our city. And I also am seeing like a changing of a guard also as well. So I'm seeing a lot of ministries. It's like passing the baton, you know, to the next generation, whether it's like millennials are just having those opportunities. So you just see a changing of a guard that's happening in this season where I think it's exciting and the generations are running together. So it's a really beautiful time for our city. That's awesome. What about in your personal lives? You know, I know we have the title of hope arising, but how has hope been arising in your own lives? So I feel like for me, God is just teaching me to go deeper with him and to be still and to abide. And I've got to give credit to some of the intercessors here at Cornerstone TV for challenging me in that to spend more time in my word for where he's taking me next, that I have to be attuned into him and on his frequency. One of the scriptures that keeps coming back to mind for me, and I've probably said this on this program before, it's Proverbs three, five to six. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean that on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. So he's teaching me that and I'm seeing that hope when I put my trust in him instead of my agendas and my strategies. Amen, so powerful. What about you, Sid? So I would say the one thing I am literally saying, well, I just recently celebrated my 35th birthday and something that God spoke to me was victory, that this is a season of victory. And I'm just seeing like prophetic words that have been spoken on my like, they are coming to pass. And so I'm just really excited for what God is doing in my life. And I think a lot of times, you know, no matter what the age, if you're 15, 35, 45, 95, that we put these limitations on ourselves. And so God has just kind of told me like, take the limitations off and make your own milestones. Don't follow the ways of the world thing. You know, living your life, I think a lot of us tend to live our life linearly, but it's an important thing to see that God is like this, you know, if things are full circle. So that's what I'm just seeing God do in my life as he's like, it's a season of victory. It's a season of focusing my eyes on him and trusting the process and enjoying the journey. Such powerful words. Well, thinking about hope arising, you know, how do you see that happening in history right now? Oh gosh, when do we not see? I think it's amazing even to see like with the Ashbury revival if I'm pronouncing that right and things happening across college campuses. And we're just another part of what God has been doing throughout history. So he's been faithful from the beginning. He's been faithful now and he'll continue to be faithful to us in the future. I see it in the different mountains. I know we talk about there's like the different mountains. There's like, you know, the government, educational, arts and media. We are seeing just such a move in the mountains themselves. There's so many believers that are in all these different spheres that are making an impact. I mean, you just see, even here in the city of Pittsburgh there's so many people that are in key leadership positions that are taking a stand that are working behind the scenes. So I think we're going to continue. That's like hope that's arising like on the ground and it's just rising up. And so I think we're going to continue to see it. Even, you know, we see the wars and just different things that are happening but it's so important for us to fix our eyes on him. We know there's going to be shakings. We know there's going to be rumblings but he has truly called us as the body of Christ for such a time as this. Amen. Well, you've heard it folks right from Cornerstone Television. You ladies are doing a fantastic job and we thank you for your leadership, quality leadership. It's good leadership. And I look forward to coming here and just seeing what all God is doing. But you know, in parting I'm just like, these people who have given so much of themselves to Cornerstone and to keep us on air, I want to give you the opportunity, you know, to speak those words of kindness to them. Well, we just want to say thank you for all that we've done over the years and every God story is really your story. So without your help, without your support, none of this will be possible. So we know they hear us say that all the time but we truly mean that from the bottom of our hearts. Amen. It's just beautiful. Thank you again. And do not miss Hope Arising. It will be April 24th through the 28th at 8 p.m. every evening. It'll actually play 24-7 so that way if you miss it in the evening, you can catch it the next day. It's kind of like camp meeting revival. You don't want to miss it. Grab your pen and paper. Make sure you're ready to take some notes because you know, the gospel is all about sharing and we're all about giving you the gospel. Well, thank you so much and stay tuned. God spoke to our beloved late founders, Russinorma Bixler, this scripture from Isaiah, raise his signal high to the nations. Your giving and support of Cornerstone Telstra Network is helping us raise a different signal nowadays, a digital signal through the airways. Take a look at this map. Your donation helps us reach and impact people who watch our programming on our website at ctvn.org and the streaming platform Roku. Here's a list of the countries. USA, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Barbados, the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Czechia, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Israel, Kenya, South Africa, India, China, Russia, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia and Australia. And you know, this is just a list of the many countries that we reach and it's all because of your faithful partnership with Cornerstone. Your gift is helping us to bring hope to people around the world and we just want to say thank you for being part of our family. Well, I always enjoy our time together and hearing about how God is moving here at Cornerstone and across the Pittsburgh region and really around our world. It's so exciting to me and I just, I have to go back to some of our letters because we so appreciate your words. This comes from Vivian and she said she got the book Break Every Chain by John Eckerd and it has been the best book ever for her to read on that subject and she just thanks us so much for our recent article about Tom McGuff. We love Tom and Lucy and the Lord's continuing to do that wonderful work and yes, they are the most precious individuals. So Vivian, thank you for writing in and here's another from Shirley. She said, thank you for letting us get our leaned recipes from the website. Her family enjoys those as does mine and then we had another letter come in talking about how her first program she ever connected with was at home with Arlene and she is so thankful that we've put those programs back out there on our network. It is exciting and those recipes can't be beat but all right, here we have, well, I don't have any, Lilit Lynette, awesome. Thank you for all areas of people's lives that your ministry is ministering to, spiritual, emotional, physical. May God empower guide and direct you always. Lynette, we thank you for those words and truly we desired to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and nothing else but with the thoughts of Arlene, we have our new cook, Katie Farrell and she shared a wonderful recipe in this month's edition of the newsletter and it's air fryer, Greek chicken and vegetables. Now listen y'all, you can sit around the table just like Arlene teaches us and feed them something that they're gonna love and you and me, we love that air fryer. If you don't have one, you might wanna invest in one. It cooks it up just perfect. It's juicy but yet it's quick. So I encourage you to sit around that table with your family and really make your home like at home and make room for the presence of God just as Arlene has taught us over the years. And in closing, I just wanna remind you of those words of Jesus that he said in John 19, chapter 30, it is finished. Aren't we grateful for the work of Jesus Christ? You know, it's God who demonstrated his great love for you and for me in sending Jesus when we were yet sinners to die on that cross.