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Cornerstone Communications
USA
May 21, 2006

Dear Friends & Family,

Greetings from Dallas, Texas, USA! I'm HOME! It's only for 10 days, but what a blessing to drive down some streets that I actually know! For all my friends in Dallas, please forgive me, but I'm here on a very tight and busy schedule, so I have seen almost no one. To all my friends on internet, forgive me, because I've been working 12-16 hour days, and when I get home, I want to go to bed! My time here has been to direct "A View from the Edge", a beautiful three day production that is truly an affair to remember.

Production Update

Marc & Kelly Accetta are my dear friends and producers of a popular show here in Dallas now in it's sixth season. "A View from the Edge" opened last night to an elegant and enthusiastic audience! It's always a big hit, and I'm blessed to be the director once again. However, this is easily the hardest show of each year, because it has TWENTY TWO scenes, each with it's own individual set! Talk about a busy set crew! Please pray as we impact audiences each day this weekend, and share with them direction, inspiration and encouragement. After the show ends on Sunday night, I fly to Raleigh, North Carolina on Tuesday for two more shows that will open next week with Celebration Family Church.

Marc Accetta portrays a farmer in one of the 22 characters that makes up "A View from the Edge", a highly entertaining and inspiring annual production here in Dallas.

Mission: Love

Someone asked me a few months back, "If you could start your ministry over, what would you do differently?" My response surprised him, and me. I said, "I'd love more". It wasn't profound, and yet, it has made me take a second look at my ministry.

It seems to me that Christians all over the world are experiencing an increased longing for the presence of God in their lives. Everywhere I go, I meet Christians who are hungry to experience more of God. Around the world, the move of the Holy Spirit is PRAYER. Churches in every country are praying, praying, praying. And the world needs it.

As I've studied the Fruit of the Spirit, I've been realizing that more and more, love is the single most important key to becoming mature in God. I've seen that if we don't have love, we won't mature. Some think that love is so basic, it's something only for new believers to study. I think the opposite. The more mature you are, the more you have to emphasize love in your ministry.

Opening Night festivities included an elegant pre-show gala for VIP's and audience members alike.

As wonderful as the Gifts of the Spirit are, the Bible teaches in Galatians 5:22 that it's the Fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, gentleness, long-suffering, faith, goodness, meekness, and temperance" that will show if a person is walking in the Spirit or not. So, if you want to see whether you're a spiritual person or not, don't look to see what anointed things you're doing. Look to see if the Fruit of the Spirit are evident…. especially…. love. You simply can't walk in the Spirit or be spiritually mature without walking in Love.

How important is it? If you'll read I Corinthians 13: 1-3, you'll get a good idea. You see, my friend, to God, Love is the Litmus Test. Nothing counts without it. Without love, the gifts of the Spirit aren't worth anything. Newsflash: neither is your money. You can give all you want, but without love, God doesn't count it. You see, love is not just the fundamental characteristic in Christianity, but it's the ONLY law we have! Jesus taught us, "This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you." John 15:12

If you want to walk in love, then you'll have to make some decisions to yield to God's work in you to love others around you. You'll have to say no to your flesh, and choose to walk in the Spirit more. Of course, I'm not talking about some phony love game that some Christians play on Sunday morning. They'll smile all day at you, and act loving, but do something that they disagree with, and their sunny lemon-yellow smile turns to sour lemons. No, God's love isn't like that. It's ever-present and it comes without conditions. God's love continues to love people whether or not it receives a response. It's not self-seeking, or self-giving, or selfish. It's self-less.

It's always wonderful to come "home" to visit my church, Covenant Church, whenever I'm in Dallas.

God doesn't just love the lovely. He loves the unlovely, too. That's the way He wants us to love one another, too. Read I Corinthians 13:4-8. According to God's Word, that kind of love is the very thing that separates you from the rest of the world. You and I have a higher calling! Walking in love means that we lay down our own agendas, and follow God's agenda. What is that agenda? To love those around us. To give of our time, our emotions, our finances, our experience, our blessings, our possessions, ourselves.

How can I switch from being self-centered to Christ-centered? You do it by maintaining a living contact with God. Fruit is the result of life. Jesus Himself taught, "Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much fruit. However, apart from me, you can do nothing." John 15:4,5.

My best friend, Patrick Mitchella (with whom I stay whenever I'm in Dallas) and his fiancee, Christina Valenti, are "fit to be tied" in August when they'll marry at Covenant Church.

The more we fellowship with God, the more we are changed by His presence and are able to walk in His Love. The more we walk in Love, the more intimate our fellowship with Him becomes. It's a wonderful "circle of life"! Are you longing for more of God's power in your life? Then eagerly pursue and seek to walk in Love. Determine to live a life of love, and you will surely shine with the glory of God!

See Ya'll Later!

That's Texan for "Goodbye!" I hope that you're enjoying the newsletters, and getting something out of them. I've heard a lot of good comments from many of you, and I'm blessed to be able to impart into your life. Please pray for me, as I return back to Raleigh, North Carolina to open "The Judgment Seat" next week. God bless you!

For the Kingdom,
Richard Montez