About The Hope Connection
For twenty-six years the Cornerstone Television Network has been broadcasting peace, hope, and love over the airwaves. Starting in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Cornerstone Television has had at its core to be loving hands extended to the hurting, the hopeless, and the broken. Through the broadcast media, we have presented every form and tradition of the Christian faith, used various stylistic approaches to present the gospel, and as a result, have seen countless numbers come to faith, families restored, and broken lives mended.
All during this time we have quietly been loving hands extended in practical ways. From the foundation of the ministry, Cornerstone Television has set aside at least 10% of its income for outreach. In the beginning it was a way of helping other ministries with emergency needs. Recently, we began more focused support of ministries in Pittsburgh, across the country, and around the world. In 1999 CTVN began our Missionary-at-Large program. We chose missionaries working in strategic places, to concentrate our giving for a greater impact. These strategic partnerships have grown and further relationships have developed through them to help create Cornerstone Television's Hope Connection. The Hope Connection has been developed to help Cornerstone Television and our partners fulfill our portion of Matthew 25:31-40, Isaiah 58: 6-12, and James 1:27. These verses of scripture challenge us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the orphan, widow, and the poor.
The Hope Connection is a connection between people of faith and the world God loves. Many in America have been so blessed that they don't know what it is like to go hungry, to suffer from addiction, to live a life without hope. We have all the answers for this hurting world. Yet, we don't see it! We don't see that we have the answers, and many times because of our isolation, we don't see the need. Even if we do see the need, we don't know what we can do. The Hope Connection strives to present the people of faith with the poor, the hungry, the orphaned, widowed, and naked and then challenge them to do three things:
- Pray
- Participate
- Provide
We pray because prayer changes us first and then the world. When we see the need, we then can pray effectively; when we pray, things change. What we pray for becomes part of us.
We participate because we have a responsibility to make a difference. Each of has been invested with great gifts. We use them in our work, at church, and in our daily lives. When we leave the daily routine and find ourselves in a place where we must walk a little by faith; we grow, we change, and our character develops. The Hope Connection challenges people of faith to get involved with something beyond the daily life and to break the routine.
The word "provide" can sometimes be considered anathema. The greatness of the United States can be measured by its charity. We have given to the tired, the poor and the broken from the foundation of this nation. Men like Andrew Carnegie and other industrial giants saw the need to give back from their wealth. There is a law of reciprocity that is just as real as the law of gravity. To whom much is given much is required.
We inform the people of faith what is going on in the world and challenge them to pray. We then show them what they can do and provide opportunities for them to become involved. We challenge them with something larger than themselves, the cries of the children around the world. We ask them to sacrifice to answer the cries of His children.
We have six outreaches for answering the cries which you can read about on this website:
We desire to give a hand up, not just a hand out. We are seeing lives changed and the people advanced by fulfilling long-term vision. We will feed, clothe, visit, strengthen, and bring hope. The outcome is physical and spiritual reformation of lives through immediate rescue and long-term commitment.
Tim Burgan
Vice President
Cornerstone Television Network
Hope Connection