Ministries | Canaan Band

You can keep up with ALL of Canaan’s current ministries when you read the
Canaan’s Journey blog.

MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE UNTO THE LORD!

With a blend of contemporary songs, old-time favorites, as well as original music, we lift up the name of Jesus with a lot of rhythm, soul, power and hope in our hearts.

And you are welcome to join us!
Christ the Cornerstone Church
5545 62nd Ave North, Pinellas Park, FL 33781
(Click the Address for a map)
727-547-6280
Reverend Joyce Stone, Senior Pastor
Reverend Wanda Miles, Pastor
Lisa Hobbs, Deacon

See photos from SpiritFest 2011.

Deacon Melanie Wilkinson Since Mel is now a Deacon at Christ the Cornerstone, she has delivered two sermons. You may want to hear them!

“You Don’t Know” by Deacon Melanie Wilkinson
“Christmas Presents” by Deacon Melanie Wilkinson

Click on the above links to download and hear the mp3 files.

Click here to visit the Sermons page at Christ the Cornerstone’s website.

Canaan Band Ministries Feeds the Homeless

Canaan Band recently had the opportunity to sponsor a Sunday afternoon as part of our home church’s Homeless Ministry.

Every Sunday our lay members volunteer to make soup, sandwiches and prepare other items to take down to the homeless people who hang out in a park in downtown St Pete. This ministry has been alive for the last 8 years by our church and, surprisingly enough, was breathed to life by the youth department.

As the story goes, it was eight years ago and a very cold evening in St Pete. I know hard to believe … COLD and FLORIDA don’t seem to ever be in the same sentence. Nevertheless, the temperature was unusually near freezing and many homeless people make St Pete their city of residence.

One Sunday night in the Youth Class at Christ the Cornerstone church, one of the teenagers attending the class, and who actually was the son of one of the church’s pastors said, “Why don’t we go up and down the streets and bring a pastry and hot coffee to all the homeless standing on the street corners?” After being a little shocked at his idea, but impressed with this type of notion, the youth leader thought it might be something spontaneous and exciting for the kids to do that night. So, they immediately packed up the coffee and pastries and headed out in a van and traveled up and down the streets passing out coffee.

The blessings were immense! The kids were thrilled! 8 years later … the ministry has grown to feeding 100+ people every Sunday afternoon at Demen’s Landing park.

So after church service one Sunday, we gathered all the friends, partners and families of Canaan Band and made sandwiches, soup, salad and other items, packed them up and headed down to the park.

I, for one, was so thrilled to see so many folks join us that day! It was an incredible feeling to work together for this ministry. It was kind of funny to note that our sandwich-making/packing and soup-stirring skills ventures aren’t quite honed yet! LOL But it was fun to laugh at each other and sing while we’re working, feeling the camaraderie of everyone.

Let’s just say that we probably need to stick to tweaking our musical talents and be content to be mere novices at cooking and packing skills!

Nevertheless, we caravan’d down to the park and met up with some incredible people.

There was this guy who called himself “Stormin-Norman” and claimed to be a pianist. He fell in love with our Canaan T-shirts. So as we were packing up to leave, we felt compelled to give him one of our shirts. He was so happy and said he was definitely part of the Canaan Fan Club. (Not that we HAVE a fan club, mind you … but it was a nice gesture anyways.)

We were reminded that homeless people aren’t always in their condition due to a fault of theirs. There’s circumstances that they’ve met that cannot be understood or controlled. So, we pray for them and love them just where they are.

HEY! Isn’t that what God does for all of us? Loves us … RIGHT WHERE WE ARE, AS WE ARE … NO JUDGMENTS. JUST LOVE.