Help a widow. Bring an orphan home.

Posted: January 29, 2012 in Uncategorized

The Coriell’s have been a party of the River Stone family for a couple of years, and we have been praying that entire time for the day they could bring their daughter home from China.  We’re finally close, and you can be a party of bringing Selah home.  As many of you know, fundraising for international adoption is a huge undertaking.  Nathan and Alisa have found a beautiful way to raise money…serving a widow.  Through an organization called “Both Hands,”  they are partnering to help out a widow by doing some repairs on her home.  They need team members to join them in this project who would also be willing to stand with them in prayer and fundraising.  The link above has more information about how you can help.  You can e-mail us and we will forward your information to the Coriell’s, and they will follow up with you.  We are so excited about how close they are getting, and it is a tremendous honor to serve both widows and orphans as James 1:27 instructs us.

Here is the Facebook group page as well for you to join: http://www.facebook.com/events/299943943391741/

TRAVIS OPPORTUNITIES: we need everybody in on this!

Posted: January 26, 2012 in Uncategorized

Hey Church, here are the details of the opportunities to serve our city at Travis Elementary school:

 

“Hello. My name is John McGlothlin, and my wife and I oversee River Stone’s for the city mission work.  The most important part of that work right now is happening at Travis Elementary. There are four ongoing opporunities:

(1) Tutoring: on every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:45 to 4:15 and Saturdays from 9:00 to 11:00, except the week of Spring Break and Easter (4 to 8 volunteers each Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday).  The 3rd through 5th grade kids need help with math and reading.  The work is one on one with the children under the direction of the instructors.  Travis has asked for any adult volunteers who are proficient at math and reading, well at least to a 5th grade level.  If you are interested, please give me a call because we need to have you fill out a volunteer form for the district to run a criminal background check on you since this is one on one work with the kids.  I also need to know in advance what days you are willing to tutor, because we are the most help at Travis when they have an accurate count on what help they will have on what days.  It doesn’t mean people cannot come on a whim, but it means that is much less helpful to the teachers.

(2) Good News Club: on Wednesdays from 3:00 to 4:15, starting Feb. 1 till May 16 except the week of Spring Break (6-8 volunteers each Wednesday). Good News Club is a 1 hour Bible teaching time, much like a VBS format — Bible story, snack, music, games for students between k-5th grade.  We need helpers with crowd control, and also to be team leaders in small groups.  No advanced preparation is necessary, unless you would like to help teach the lesson or memory verse. It is a great chance to love on students.  This is a bible study designed for kids to experience the gospel, feel some love and learn a bible lesson.  It is held in the Travis Music Room.  If you are interested in volunteering for Good News Club contact Ryan Damron. (scroll down for contact info)

(3) Saturday Lunches: every Saturday from 10:00 to 11:30 from now until April 22nd with the exception of Spring Break and Easter weekends (12-18 volunteers each week).  Travis has school on Saturdays throughout the Spring, and it is required attendance for some kids.  The school feeds the kids a modest breakfast from 8:00 to 8:30, teaches them from 8:30 to 11:30 and then used to send them home with empty stomachs.  You usually only get invited to Saturday School if you are behind in class but the principal said some of them ask to come just so they can eat.  Either way, these kids are from families to whom we are called.  We want to make Saturday School a party and celebrate that they came, while providing the kids some nutrition by sending them home with a sack lunch.  That means at least 140 sack lunches need to be packed and distributed each Saturday morning.  Travis is allowing us to use their cafeteria from 10:00 to 11:30 for the work.  After packing the lunches, you get to hand sacks to kids — as we do for them, we do for Him.  Unfortunately, the person who hands them lunch on Saturdays might be one of the more reliable people in their lives, and if so, you might be the picture they need of the gospel.  Or maybe we just feed hungry kids — that is a win in and of itself.

(4) Supplies and Clothes: ongoing need. The school keeps a room stocked with school supplies, coats and shoes for kids who cannot afford to buy them.  The principal and the parent liaison stand in the hall and spot kids with shoes which are no longer doing the trick and share what they have to share with the kids.  There is no funding for these things.  We are accepting donations of pencils, glue sticks, children’s coats and shoes.  We ask that everything that is donated be in good condition, but it doesn’t have to be new. Bring on Sunday and put them in the black bin.

As you can see, it is going to take all of us to do the work available at Travis.  We are interested in which of these four areas feels like a good fit for you, so we know where to plug you in.  Pray on it and give me a call or email at your convenience or give Ryan a call ro email directly for Good News Club.”

John’s #: 512-757-5592

John’s Email: forthecity@river-stone.org

Ryan’s #: 512-557-4710

Ryan’s Email: ryan@river-stone.org

Invitation from the City of San Marcos

Posted: January 24, 2012 in Uncategorized

Mayor Daniel Guerrero and the San Marcos City Council wanted us to share this announcement with you. There are 2 community open houses this week for you to comment and share questions/concerns about the level of services provided by the city. Please click the following link for information on where and when:  Church Invitation

Sunday Morning LiveStream – NEW LINK!

Posted: January 22, 2012 in Uncategorized

CLICK HERE TO WATCH LIVE

 
http://player.viewer.dacast.com/DacastPlayer.swf?chanid=6448

The Next Surgery

Posted: January 20, 2012 in Uncategorized

Here’s the latest on Garrett. He’s still recovering from his initial surgery. Yesterday (Thursday) he was moved from ICU to a regular room. In addition to the tumor removal, they repaired a deviated septum. So, he’s actually recovering from two different procedures. The tumor has been removed from his optic nerve and pituitary and has been punctured. There is still a large portion of the tumor that has to be removed through an intra cranial procedure. The 2nd surgery will happen sometime the 2nd week of February. So, he will continue to recover from these two procedures and will have the next one later. Please continue to pray. Monday also happens to be Garrett’s birthday. Hopefully he’ll be at home by then. We’re grateful for the work that’s been done, but we’re looking forward to getting the rest of this tumor cleaned out. When he is discharged from the hospital, he will head back to Round Rock with his family to heal up. We’ll update more when we have more information. Thanks!

Psalm 112:6-8 (Garrett’s Update)

Posted: January 17, 2012 in Uncategorized
For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever. He is not afraid of bad news;
his heart is firm, trusting in the LORD. His heart is steady; he will not be afraid, until he looks in triumph on his adversaries. (Psalm 112:6-8 ESV)

Dear Church Family,

Thank you so much for your prayers over Garrett and his family.  It was beautiful to watch Facebook and twitter light up with verses of encouragement that everyone was praying.

Garrett’s surgery revealed that his tumor is not what they thought.  It turns out not to be a pituitary tumor, but it is a brain tumor.  It is still benign, but it is agressive and nasty.  They were not able to remove it all through his nose.  His surgery today is ending, and a follow-up surgery will be required later in the week that will be intracranial.  They want to be sure they can get everything they need to get, and that will require them to remove part of his skull for direct access to his brain.  Once they’re in, they will be able to see everything clearly and hopefully remove it.  There is also a possibility that radiation will be required post surgery.

So, we’re not out of the woods yet.  Good news is they agree that it is benign.  More good news is it looks like his pituitary looks good.  When the Lord gives River Stoners a verse, he has a way of allowing us to come to a place of truly believing it.  We now have more opportunity to not be afraid of bad news but to cry out to the God who heals to finish the healing that He’s started.

Thanks again for your prayers.  Please pray specifically for Garrett’s immediate family.  Mother (Sharon), Father (Ralph), Older brother (Collin) and his wife (Melissa), and twin brother (Cameron).  Grandmother Nana is also there at the hospital.  This is hard news for a family who had already been at the hospital all day waiting to hear.

If anything changes or we learn more, we’ll keep you updated.

Much love,

jason

From Sunday

Posted: January 16, 2012 in Uncategorized

Sunday was a great day.  Thank you for allowing us to share with you where we feel like the Lord is leading us, and we’re excited about having Billy step into a pastoral role as we continue to expand the reach of our ministry.  We were also thrilled to have Garrett leading us out in worship as we cried out to the Lord.  Garrett’s surgery is going to be tomorrow (Tuesday) at noon.  Please be praying for the surgery and for Garrett and his family.  We will give you an update as soon as we hear something.  We talked a lot about fasting yesterday.  Fasting lunch tomorrow would be a great starting place as we join together to pray for Garrett’s healing.

Garrett Leading

Laying Hands on Billy for his ordination

Posted: January 16, 2012 in Uncategorized

Laying Hands on Billy for his ordination

Update from Garrett

Posted: January 12, 2012 in Uncategorized

Read this post from monday about Garrett if you haven’t yet.

Hello church!

Thank you so much for your prayer and encouragement these past few days. It is incredible to know that I have such a great church family joining me in this experience. Firstly, my surgery is scheduled for Tuesday the 17th at Noon. It will be at St. David’s downtown Austin off of 32nd street and I35. Today my mom and I went to the ENT doctor, Dr. Leeman, to talk to him about his role in the surgery. He will be teaming up with the neurosurgeon navigating his way through my nose and into my skull through a thin bone and then from there, my neurosurgeon, Dr. Kim, will take over and handle removing the tumor. During my appointment with Dr. Leeman today, he walked my mom and I into a TV room to show us just exactly what he will do and where they are going into my head. In the room, we found out that the tumor is deeper into my head than we had originally thought which means that the surgery will take longer than what was originally told to us. Right now we’re looking at a 4 hour surgery that could turn into a 7 hour surgery. Dr. Leeman is an incredible doctor and was very supportive and put Mom at ease during the time we were there. Tuesday morning I will go in for a pre-surgery MRI to make sure that nothing has changed since the last scan. I will be in the ICU all day tuesday and then wednesday is when we do the victory MRI making sure that everything is gone. Please continue to pray for healing and peace within me as God prepares me for Tuesday. Pray for my mother as well. She is taking this the most rough out of all my family which is what mommies do and I love her for it all the more. Pray that her faith can grow through this and her testimony can point towards God’s glory. My main fear is my eyesight. With this surgery there is a risk I could lose more sight than I already have and that is extremely scary to me. Please pray that my faith can grow in this area as well. God’s power and strength is made perfect in our weakness and I pray that it is evident through surgery and recovery.

Love you all,

Garrett

Please continue to pray for Garrett, his family, and the team of doctors. We will keep you posted via facebook, twitter, and this blog.

Garrett

Posted: January 9, 2012 in Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,

Yesterday was an incredibly powerful day with the River Stone family.  As many know, our intern, Garrett, has discovered a pituitary tumor that is also touching his brain.  He will be having surgery this week to remove the tumor.  The plan for the surgery is to go through his nose, grab the tumor and be done.  There is a slight chance that the tumor will be of such a nature that they’ll have to do a more substantial surgery.  The best thing that could happen would be for the tumor to be solid.  Or, if you would like to join the kids of River Stone, you can choose to believe that the tumor would disintegrate into thin air – which would be even better!

Sunday morning Garrett, led us in a song called “Always” by Kristian Stanfill.  He (and we along with him) boldly declared these lyrics as he faces a tremendous trial this week…

My foes are many, they rise against me
But I will hold my ground
I will not fear the war, I will not fear the storm
My help is on the way, my help is on the way

Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always

Troubles surround me, chaos abounding
My soul will rest in You
I will not fear the war, I will not fear the storm
My help is on the way, my help is on the way

Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always

I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord
I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord
I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord
I lift my eyes up, my help comes from the Lord
From You Lord, from You Lord

Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always
I will not fear, His promise is true
My God will come through always, always

Oh, my God, He will not delay
My refuge and strength always, always

A lot of the idea of this song comes from Psalm 40 and we also find a beautiful Psalm of not fearing in Psalm 112 (especially verses 7-8).  We read both of those as we prayed for the Lord’s complete and total healing of Garrett.

We would like to ask you to join us in praying for Garrett this week.  The surgery could happen at any time, but it will likely be scheduled for later in the week.  We believe this is an opportunity for all of our faith to grow, and we are proud of Garrett as he stands strong in the face of adversity.  Let’s stand with him.  Let’s go hard after God for his healing. Thank you for your prayers and support of our brother.  Also, feel free to drop him a note of encouragement/prayer at his Facebook page.

We will be sending out more information about the surgery when we get it.  If you’re not currently receiving River Stone update e-mails, please fill out an online blue card here.  Also, you can follow us on twitter or find us (and like us) on Facebook.

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