 Welcome to the November edition of Cornerstone Connect. We have a very special program planned just for you. Pastor Gary Mitrick will stop by to share the benefits of a grateful heart. Crystal Tillman will give us a 21 day prayer update and I can't wait to share with you the letters from the mail bag telling what God is doing through your support of Cornerstone Network. All that and more coming up next. Cornerstone Connect, I'm your host Amanda Brocker and I just have one question for you. Have you received your hope today newsletter in the mail? If not, please give us a call at 888-665-4483 or go to www.ctvn.org and make sure you sign up. We'd love to stay connected with you. And I just wanna tell you, we appreciate those of you who send in your sentiments to us. We love reading them. This comes from Evelyn and she said she's enjoying a newsletter, our newsletter. Yay Evelyn and Katie Farrell and much more. Well Evelyn, thank you so much for your kind words. This is from Susan and her husband Chuck. She said, you are surely a blessing to so many. My husband and I are born again Christians and we give one we can praise God for your ministry. God bless you all. Well, thank you so much Susan and Chuck. And this is from Ken and Pastor Jay. He said, did a fantastic job on the preaching of Friday night. He explained everything so well. Please tell him and everyone there that they are doing a great job. Thank you so much Ken and Carol. We just love getting mail. This is from, oh, Gibsonia. Yay Carl and Margaret. They enclosed a gift for us and they just appreciated our network, the work of Cornerstone and that we gave a tithe to Israel and God blessed them and answered their prayers and they wanted to then turn around and give a gift to Cornerstone. So thank you so much Carl and Margaret. We are just, we're blessed by each one of you and thank you for writing in. This is from Tammy. It says, I pledged this past night. This was from the telethon. She loves the station and she is so thankful for the prayer line and the ones who answer the calls. You know that prayer line is so important. We've had that prayer line right alongside our programming from the beginning. That was of significance and it was something that the Lord really put on Russ enormous heart as necessary and it's amazing that many of the prayer partners are volunteers and they have been a part of this network from the beginning. So praise God for the prayer partners. I love them. I used to work in that department. So they're some of my favorite people. This is from Ruth and she sent in a contribution to Cornerstone. My heart was moved as we prayed for our fellow Jewish followers and the dreadful devastation in their land. I pray our Lord will multiply all the gifts to accomplish God's will. Keep up the good work. I am blessed by the spiritual light that goes out over the airwaves of CTVN. You know, and that is something so important and that we don't ever wanna take for granted is that God has given this wonderful opportunity to be light in a very dark place. And if it was not for your partnership with us, it would be impossible. So we just wanna say a big thank you to each and every one of you who has given. I wanna just bring up this one letter here. This is from Catherine Kathleen. And she has been watching Cornerstone since 1992. Now she had some health ailments and how she found them was through mineral rich. She tuned in and God actually used that to bring healing to her body, which is amazing. And then from there she started watching daily and spiritually she grew with her health journey as well as in other areas of life. But she said we had Dr. Becker on, we had Doug Kaufman. I remember watching them all too. And it just, it helped her. It taught her God's way for her body, which is amazing. And she also appreciates Dr. Charles Stanley and Hope Today and Bible Discovery, which yes, was started by Ron Hembury, one of our former presidents. And we are so grateful for you, Kathleen. She said, thank you for being there any time of day or night. You are my mainstay TV station. We are grateful to be your mainstay TV station. And you know what? I just have to say because of your faithfulness to this network, we've been able to be that constant voice of truth to many people who tune into our network. And we just want to say a great big thank you. Well, coming up next, we have Crystal Tillman. She joins us to give us a 21 day prayer update. Stay tuned. Are you facing a detour? Are things not as expected? Discouragement, frustration, anxiousness, sickness? God loves you more than you can ever know. Romans 839 assures, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God. Call our prayer line or connect with us online. We are so thankful to have Crystal Tillman today with us here for Cornerstone Connect. And you know, you're the director of marketing and development, but I know that you wear many hats and give us a little recap of what's been happening and what's going to happen. Absolutely. So first, we want to say a great big thank you to all of the partners who contributed to our Visions of Hope fundraiser. And if we can put that total up on the screen, raised over $278,000 with the challenge fund, with the pledges and with the white mail that came in afterwards. So we just are so thankful for our partners for that. That was actually a big, huge deal because as you know, Amanda, it came at a critical time when an Israel Christ was happening simultaneously. So I'm so thankful to our leadership. So thank you to Pastor Gary and for Deb and Steve and Tom for saying yes to donating to Israel as well. So that was a big connection for us. And thank you of course to all of our partners out there. Your generosity helps us to spread the gospel. It helps us through our Cornerstone Cares Ministry. Last year, we were able to give over $400,000 out to other ministries, both local, national, and international. And I've got to tell you a little bit about how that Israel connection happened. God really set us up before the fundraiser even started, where we had Larry Huck who had reached out and said, I want to be a part of one of your fundraisers early in the year, February, March of this year. Then we had set up for the Israel calendar to be our offer in October, not realizing what was going to be happening with the crisis at the moment. And then finally, there was just a burden on the hearts of one of our intercessors, Marianne Schieber, our design manager, saying, you know what? God will give the increase if we bless Israel and if we lead Jewish people to Messiah. So there were so many different connection points that were miraculous. A great big thanks to all the new partners out there who are pledging for the very first time. Thank you. And I have to say, one of my favorite things about the fundraiser is the opportunity to get more people on Easy Pledge. That is an easy way to make sure you're fulfilling your pledge month after month. So we just encourage those if you're out there and you pledged, please join Easy Pledge as I did myself this year, just to prioritize the things I've got, just like I do with my utilities and other things and with my church ties, I decided to do that very same thing for this ministry. Great, automatic is always better. We don't have to remember. So if you're able to do that, but you know, I just, I love that everything here at Cornerstone from its beginnings is really bathed in prayer before it ever happens. And like hearing, you know, the intersession and what God ideas were happening, you watched unfold really in October's telethon. Absolutely. And one way to continue with us in prayer, if we can put the website up there, ctvn.org slash crisis. We're gonna be sharing some updates for those who have been concerned, not only with what we're doing as a ministry, but what we're doing to help the people of Israel. And you'll get some prayer updates on how to continue to keep that area. And also to be praying for the attackers as well. We always, we want all to come to know Jesus Christ. So we're praying that hearts would be transformed and that God would put a stop to this battle in Israel. Amen. We're talking about prayer. We finished a 21 days of prayer that I know you wanted to recap on because again, it was something where it kind of brought us and our viewers together in a sense. But what- Absolutely. Yeah, tell us about that. So for those of you who don't remember, it's hard to believe, Amanda. It's been two years, excuse me, two months. Two months since we did that 21 days of prayer. And it was something that really came out of our hearts because of what was coming out of our ministry center. People dealing with anxiety and stress and depression. And so we decided to have this time to refocus our mind on 21 days on the things of God. And the testimonies coming out of that have been tremendous. One partner added a prayer stroll to their time. And if we can just flip through really quickly some of the pictures that came about from her prayer time. She was in West Park here in Pittsburgh. She was seeing beautiful ducks, seeing the pond, walking across bridges and really just celebrating getting closer to God through that experience of 21 days with us. I got a call from a partner named Mary who said at first the 21 days were tough for her. But she stuck out with it. She started playing the blessing. And then she went into the Pittsburgh blessing as we were praying for our families. And she said it was such a miracle. She walked into our church the next day and they were playing that very same song twice within the service. So a lot of people were blessed by that. And so we just encourage you whether you were participating in that 21 days or not to continue in your prayer walk. And Amanda, I know you have an offer that we have for this month, our gratitude journal. So if we could just hold that up for our partners. That's actually something that I use every day in my personal time with the Lord, the practice of journaling. So each day you can spend just a few minutes jotting down three things in the morning and three things in the evening that you're thankful for. And it really again helps you to come out of that anxiety with the wars and rumors of war, perhaps family crisis, healing needs you might have and just refocus on what you're thankful for. Amen. Well, if you want mine, just pray over our viewers. I know you all, you know, the intercessing team, you're praying a lot behind the scenes and everything that's done here, decisions made are always laid a foundation of prayer. But I feel like even for our viewers, I know that you all pray over them as well. But even to pray that they could hear you pray over them. I think that would just be a wonderful opportunity. Absolutely. And I'm gonna say one more thing about the book because I forgot an important detail. It's this month with your best gift. So you can call 888-665-4483, but let's pray together. So dear God, we just thank you for all of our partners, God. We give you praise and thanksgiving for helping us to do over and above as it relates to everything needed for this ministry, God. We thank you for giving us the ties to be able to send to Israel, to be able to bless ministry and Israel Relief Funds with many thousands of dollars, God. So we thank you for that. We pray for our partners right now that you would meet them where they're at, God. We pray for healing wherever healing is needed, God. We pray for restoration where the restoration of the reconciliation is needed in their families, God. And we pray most of all in this season that they would grow closer and closer to you and have that strong desire to seek your will for their lives. And we thank you for these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Well, thank you so much for sharing with us all. I know for me when I hear the good news of what God is doing here at Cornerstone Television, it just makes it real. And there's a lot that happens behind the scenes. We appreciate you and your team and just are grateful for all the things, all the hats that y'all wear, keeping our station up and running and on the forefront and the miracles are happening every day. We're seeing even the miracle of us having the telethon and with that Israel focus at that time, it's just the leading of the Holy Spirit. And we can't thank you enough for being a part of our network. So thank you, big time to all of those who have supported our network. And as Crystal said, if you haven't supported yet, please give us a call. We would love to have you as a part of our Cornerstone family. We'll stay tuned for more of Cornerstone Connect. Our 24-7 prayer line receives about 65,000 prayer calls a year. I'm Anna Fry, co-host of Hope Today. Our prayer partners have been praying with March for her son's salvation. And she called to tell us that after years of praying, her son received Jesus and is born again. Praise God for his faithfulness. We celebrate this precious life saved. Hope happens here. Hi, I'm Ray Hypal, host of Origins. We're here at the Grand Canyon. That's the Colorado River, 1400 feet below me. We're doing programs because of your partnership with us. You've made that possible through your prayers and your financial support. And I wanna thank you. We're here to glorify God. We're here to show that what the Bible says is true and the proof really is all around you. Thank you for your support. What's important about the prayer line as the heartbeat of Cornerstone television is that the ministry is very important. And this is maybe something that I've had to learn, but that prayer isn't something that is put in the back or that isn't that important. Prayer is so important and it's crying out to God and thanking God sometimes through our prayers and a real direct communication. Prayer is very important. And there is a scripture that I always, that God actually taught me while I was on the prayer line and that I often quoted to people when I was on the prayer line, but it was from Psalm 62 and it said, "'Trust in Him at all times, you people. "'Pour out your heart to Him for God is a refuge for us." And I learned so much from that, just pouring out your heart before the Lord. Whether it's good, it's bad, it's ugly, or it's something nice, tell Him. Whether it's a stumbling block in our life, beseeching God in prayer and really pouring our heart out to Him is so important and He really wants to hear everything. That's what He's shown me and taught me is He really wants to hear everything even when I would say things that were not so good or that I would tell Him how I felt and it wasn't a good feeling. He would heal me from that. The importance of the prayer ministry in Cornerstone, to say it's the heart of Cornerstone television is so true, I think that's how it all began. But God wants to see people healed. God wants to see people saved and being able to pray with people for others, for the salvation of other people, for our cities, our towns, our country, our state, Israel. That's so important to God that we pray and intercede on behalf of other people because He will answer and He will move and however that happens, it's His will. It's so good to be with you on Cornerstone Connect. I'm Anna Frye, one of the hosts of Hope Today. But today, I get to be here with Pastor Gary, our chairman of the board, always such a joy. And Pastor Gary, today we get to talk about thankfulness and gratitude as we're all preparing for the Thanksgiving holiday. But you had the opportunity to write the cover article and something that you said that I loved is that we don't fully realize all the benefits of gratitude. Well, it's great to be with you, Anna. And I always think Thanksgiving is too good to keep it to just one day. Every day for a Christian, a believer ought to be a day of Thanksgiving. Why? Because first of all, I heard somebody say this year's ago, I believe gratitude and thankfulness is one of the healthiest emotions that a person could ever demonstrate or express. Think about that. When you and I are thankful, it just, to me, it changes our attitude. It just changes the atmosphere, the conversation. I mean, let's face it, our flesh is probably naturally negative. And we have to be intentional if we are going to be thankful and grateful. I believe we really have to make an intentional decision to say, you know what? I'm not gonna complain. I'm not gonna be negative. I'm gonna stay positive and I'm gonna be grateful and I'm gonna, I think we take the Lord's blessings for granted. You know, the Bible says, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all of his benefits. And truly, like we are spirit, mind, and body. And so when we have that attitude of gratitude, it is healthy for our emotions. It's healthy for our mind and it brings health to our body and health to this world. And what a beautiful thing that is. And we're full of joy. That's right. And so when we could all use a little more of that, right? Isn't that the truth? And so then whenever the second benefits as you say is practicing thankfulness causes us to intentionally focus on the positive over the negative. Yeah, I agree with that. Again, I think make a choice. You know, like the difference between a wise man and a foolish man is the choices that he makes. There's a proverb that I really try to live with that says a man has joy by the answer of his mouth. I'm pretty noted for saying, when you ask me how I'm doing, I say I'm blessed. That's true. I'm blessed. Yes. But I think I try to put that scripture, that promise into practice. That, you know, how you doing? Well, under the circumstances. My dad used to say, what are you doing under there? You know, be positive, be, we are people of faith. Line your conversation up with the word of God. I think of the Virgin Mary, when she said, Lord, let it be to me according to your word. When my conversation can be in agreement. We always talk about the power of agreement if two of us agree. Hey, let's first get in agreement with God and in agreement with his word. And I think another key word that you say with a second benefit is that it's a practice because our human nature really will lean towards grumbling, towards complaining, towards looking at that negative. So it is an intentional practice, as you said. And you're right. And you know, I mean, let's face it. We've all been around people that are kind of chronic complainers. I don't wanna be one of those people. I don't think you do. I pray that you don't wanna be one of those people. And you know, here it is. We're in the month of Thanksgiving. What a great month to practice being thankful. I always like to say, hold out your 10 fingers. On one finger, find five different things you are grateful and thankful for. On the other hand, find five people in your life that you are grateful and thankful for. One of the things I always like to do right before Thanksgiving is try to find somebody in my life that I'm really appreciative and grateful for. And I write them a letter. I know everybody isn't a letter writer, but I like to sit down and take the time to just let them know how much I value and appreciate them. Yeah, it's such a beautiful example. And if somebody's not a letter writer, they can send a text or just reach out in a different way. And then lastly, this is a beautiful thing too. You say that Thanksgiving is the very gateway into God's presence. Well, most of us know the hundredth Psalm. I will enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. So guess what, beloved? You and I are not gonna come into the presence of the Lord unless we are first thankful. That's what opens the gates. That's what's the doorway into God's presence. So what a way to start the day. Start your day. Just wake up in the morning, lift your hand to the Lord, say, Lord, I love you. I'm so grateful and thankful for your presence in my life today. Truly, if we want to have more joy, more peace, if we want more of the presence of God, practicing that thankfulness is the first step and the great way to go. Yes, it is. So thank you so much, Pastor Gary, for your heart and for sharing that with us. Bless you. CTVN values Bible-based Christ-centered programs and is committed to producing programs that draw people to the Lord. I'm Anna, one of the hosts on Hope Today. Audrey shared, I'm thankful that you do your own programs. Each one has ministered to me in areas and times that I most needed it. Hard questions, sister to sister in origins are my favorites. Thank you, partners, who make our programs possible. Hope happens here. Well, I sure hope you enjoyed our time together. I know I love hearing what's happening here at Cornerstone and getting the updates of what has happened. It's so exciting, but I don't know about you. I have a gluten-free child in my house and Katie Farrell put out a grain-free pumpkin roll recipe. So you're definitely gonna wanna get that in the mail. Get this newsletter if you don't already have it. It's delicious. Every recipe we've tried has not disappointed. So get out there and try this journal, y'all. It is Thanksgiving time and I think we all need to reflect on being grateful to God. And sometimes because we don't write it down, we forget. You know, even the people in the Bible were like that. So I encourage you for your best gift to call in, get this journal and begin to write down. I'm telling you, you will be amazed and in awe of God and how he is always at work when we record it and write it down. All right, well, I have to get back to some mail here that we just love getting mail, but this came from Jennifer. She said, PS, the Hope Today TV program is a real comfort and blessing during these times. Bless all of you. And this is from Kimberly. She said, love the hard question and prophecy watchers and prophecy USA along with your Christian movies. Kimberly, thank you so much for watching. And this is from Nancy. So thankful for all the new programs. Signs and wonders is so awesome. You all are so special to me. Praise God for Cornerstone. Can't thank Russ and Norma enough for being obedient. Isn't that amazing? Like God speaks to Russ and Norma. They obey him and he opens amazing doors in through a television station. Can you imagine if we all will trust and obey the Lord? What he can't do it, he is always trying to reach people. This is from another one of our faithful donors. Thank you for keeping Arlene on. She was a delight. God bless you all. Thank you for writing in. We all love Arlene. I'm telling you, there was an anointing on that lady to just make you feel at home. All right, this is from Vivian. It's a praise report for her granddaughter, Hannah and husband, Brian and their toddler, Arlo. They completed a successful move to another state. And we do thank you so much for writing in your prairie quest. And if you have any prayer requests, please feel free to give us a call at our prayer line. We would love to pray with you. And I would just like to close this program with the scripture from Isaiah 61. It says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord in the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness is gone from me that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified.