Puzzle Pieces, Winds, and Water

I was listening to a Christian radio station this past Wednesday morning (WIHS FM at 104.9). The featured In Touch teaching by Dr. Charles Stanley immediately caught my attention. It was on the topic of what to do when God closes a door to something that you thought for sure He had opened.

The church that my husband and I attend has been looking for a new location for many months now. There have been a couple really strong leads, ones that the leadership thought for sure were from the Lord. In the end, those leads turned into dead-ends.

The summation of Dr. Stanley’s teaching is that God alone holds and is sovereign over all the pieces to the puzzle of life. We only see but a fragment of those pieces. He sees every single crevice and angle of every single puzzle piece. God sees what we do not see; He knows what we do not know.

So, if God closes a door — even a door that we were certain He had opened in the first place, we need to trust that He is redirecting us due to an abundance of His love and care. We need to trust that He knows that if we knew all that He knows, then we would not try to force our way through that door that He has now closed. We need to trust God to be redirecting our path toward a new door that He will open at precisely the time He wants it opened, because His plan and timing are always best.

Meanwhile, the previous morning, I was listening to the same radio station and caught a teaching by Dr. Tony Evans on his The Alternative program. In that teaching, Dr. Evans shared a testimony.

He had been part of a big gospel crusade being held at a stadium. A raging thunderstorm was heading their way and was projected to hit at the time the crusade was supposed to start, likely resulting in the crusade being canceled. A group of pastors got together to pray and “safely” asked God to intervene.

As the storm advanced, a woman nearby asked if she could pray with them. She proceeded to boldly declare to God that He controls even “the winds and the water.” She declared to God that He knew how much time, energy, and resources went into organizing the crusade. She declared to God that if He did not stop the storm from hitting the crusade overhead — thus leading to the crusade being canceled, then His name would be shamed because thousands who could have heard the gospel would not hear the gospel. She then called in faith for Jesus to address the storm so as not to shame His name but instead to glorify it.

Dr. Evans continued his testimony by saying that he and his wife witnessed with their own eyes the parting of the rain clouds over the stadium. They literally split in two, with storm clouds raining down on both ends and sides of the stadium but not overhead. Everyone attending the crusade remained dry.

These are my takeaways from these two “teachings” and how they can be applied to Cornerstone Educational Support, Inc.:

Though God opened the door for CES to be conceived and birthed, He has not yet opened doors leading us to public funding that will enable us to fulfill our mission. We need to not get discouraged but to instead continue moving forward, all while listening intently to any redirections from Him. We need to be careful not to force doors open that God has called to be closed, while trusting Him to open the doors He wants to be opened in His perfect timing.

We need to ask God to help us come alongside Him by putting aside any of our plans that are not from Him and that will not bring glory to His name. We need to trust that God is sovereign and is more than able to control "the winds and the water" that threaten to overcome CES. We need to boldly and confidently declare to God that since CES was initiated to help CCS victoriously run the race to which God has called the school since opening its doors in 1981, that since CES is His 501(c)(3) and not ours, and that since He paved the way for CES to exist, that we trust Him to bring the results that will most glorify Him.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever... He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed" (NIV, Psalm 107: 1 & 29).

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Big Dream Blog

What Motivates You to Help?

By Tammy Choleva • January 20, 2025

When it comes to motivation to do something that needs to be done, the best motivators are intrinsic. In other words, the ideal is doing (or helping to do) what needs to be done simply because one has the inner sense that helping to meet the need is the right thing to do. Extrinsic motivators, on the other hand, are the promise of external rewards for helping out (or the withholding of negative consequences for not helping out). When seeking help to meet a large group need, extrinsic motivators do not typically move the meter, because not everyone is motivated the same way. Some may find small prizes to be motivating; for others, only big prizes. Some may find simple praise to be motivating; for others, only public recognition. Some may find winning a trophy to be motivating; not so for others. Some may find not being punished to be motivating; others do not care about the threat of punishment. You get the point. Here is the conundrum with getting families on board with school fundraising. If families support the need for raising funds for the cause at hand, they will naturally want to do everything they can to bring success to the fundraiser. They will be intrinsically motivated to help to the best of their ability. On the other hand, if they do not support the need for raising funds and/or do not comprehend the potential outcome if funds are not raised, they will (at best) put in the bare minimum of effort or (at worst) not help at all or even speak negatively about the need for fundraising. Likewise, donors are intrinsically motivated to give or they are not. Extrinsic motivators do not typically raise goal thermometers. This is the bottom line. Since we cannot motivate others intrinsically (that's the work of the Holy Spirit), the leaders of nonprofits (including schools) must instead pray for intrinsically motivated helpers to step up. Even so, we can still provide extrinsic motivators, but not with the expectation that they will move helpers to help more or givers to give more. Instead, the purpose of extrinsic motivators is to help keep the need in the forefront and to try to add some "fun" to FUNdraising.

Winning in Business (and Life)!

By Tammy Choleva • January 13, 2025

In the world of nonprofit fundraising, it can be easy to fall prey to a discouraged spirit. The same is true of starting up a new business and figuring out how to go from zero customers to sustainability. For that matter, it can be discouraging for even organizations that have been around for decades to constantly have to reimagine marketing, especially when reaching out to a very specific niche. The lattermost marketing challenge can be particularly difficult for a small Christian school that simply desires to accomplish well its mission. In the case of The Cornerstone Christian School , that mission is “To engage and educate young people to know and be transformed by Christ through the ways they think, act, learn, serve, and work together for God’s Kingdom.” It is not easy to navigate how to most effectively and affordably find and market to families who desire to partner with a school that will teach their children from a biblical worldview. As a 501(c)(3) that is designed to support Christian education by supporting this school, we at Cornerstone Educational Support, Inc. also experience a similar challenge. The difficulty is particularly true now that we live in a world of information overload. Since the advent of the World Wide Web and email and texting and app push notifications and social media and so on, the over-sharing of knowledge has become the norm. Many people simply muffle the cacophony by quickly skipping past the word noise. This does not bode well for organizations that must communicate their mission in order to survive (both nonprofit and for-profit entities alike). Here’s the thing. There is one God, and we are not Him. He alone is responsible for results. He simply calls us to be faithful to the steps He calls us to take (including pivoting when He calls us to change course), while trusting Him for the results. So, there are three interlocking keys to avoiding discouragement by what seems to be an insufficient result: (1) Seek God’s wisdom on steps to take (moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour, day-by-day); (2) Rely on the Holy Spirit for the empowerment to take those steps; and (3) Trust God for the results. Only then can we rise above discouragement and WIN at accomplishing what He has set forth for us to do, all for His glory. The same goes for both business and life!

Looking Ahead to Year-End Giving

By Tammy Choleva • November 25, 2024

As a public charity 501(c)(3), CES is responsible to pass the public support test. “In other words, [CES] must be supported by the general public. For that to be true, a significant amount of revenue (at least 33%) must come from relatively small donors (those who give less than 2% of the organization’s income), other public charities, or the government. That leaves 67% to potentially come from other, less diverse sources.” ( “Private Foundation vs. Public Charity: Spot the Difference,” by Greg McRay, EA, Founder and CEO of Foundation Group ) To help us reach this year's public support charity test, we are looking for friends of CES and CCS to help spread the word that we are challenging ourselves to receive 100 donations of $500 each (or 50 donations of $1,000) by December 31, 2024. Keep in mind that many companies generously match the charitable contributions of their employees, and some may also match gifts made by retirees and/or spouses. To find out if your company has a matching gift program, check with your company’s Human Resources office to ask if they offer gift matching. Your Human Resources department will provide a matching gift form to complete and mail to Cornerstone Educational Support, Inc., 903 Main Street, Manchester, CT 06040, or email to Tammy@CornerstoneEducationalSupportInc.org. Company matching programs give your donations twice the impact! In addition, taxpayers who have already reached the age of 70.5 years or older may plan on making their charitable contributions directly from their traditional IRAs via qualified charitable distributions (QCDs), thus possibly reducing their taxable income. With other age restrictions being considered, these donations might also count as required minimum distributions (RMDs). A QCD is a direct transfer of funds from the traditional IRA custodian, payable to a qualified charity, such as Cornerstone Educational Support, Inc. QCDs are counted for the tax year in which they are taken and (if meeting the additional age requirements) might also count toward satisfying that year’s RMD. Disclaimer: We are not accountants or lawyers, and this is not tax or legal advice. You will need to talk with your tax and/or legal advisor to see if you qualify and to learn how current federal and/or state tax laws affect you.