Greg Howse is the senior leader of Cornerstone Christian Center, a multi-ethnic, cross-cultural congregation in the south suburbs of Chicago.  He has been leading this local church since 1982.  Cornerstone’s constituency is African-American, Caucasian, and Hispanic/Latino.  He was commissioned to function as an apostle in July, 2001.

Greg comes from a family of preachers.   He graduated from U.C.L.A. in 1975 with a B.A. in Political Science.  His apostolic ministry assignment is the facilitation of leadership development among ministry gifts and local churches.  He has a sense of responsibility for encouraging the building and development of local church governmental ministry.

Greg is the founder and president of Sharpening Stone Ministries International.  SSMI is designed to equip leaders for advancement in spiritual strength and ability.  The Sharpening Stone Group is a network of leaders led by a team of seasoned leaders.  This team has seen the tremendous need in leaders from many different streams to be coached and instructed in the shaping of leaders and local churches with an apostolic and prophetic emphasis.

Greg and his wife, Karen, were married in 1978.  They have a daughter, Christine, with her husband, George; a son, Jonathan.  They have two granddaughters, Alexis Christine and Hannah Christine and one grandson, Caleb George.  Jonathan is Down Syndrome, which has added to Greg and Karen’s understanding of the handicaps many people face in life.

OUR STORY

In 2000 Greg Howse visited Lusaka, Zambia for the first time.  He was sitting in a morning conference session listening to another leader deliver a message on “Lessons from the Sharpening Stone.”  God grabbed Greg’s heart and said, “I have made you to be a sharpening stone.  You will sharpen the young emerging weapons of war.  No one may ever know your name, but they will know the weapons that have been sharpened at the sharpening stone.”  That was the birth of Sharpening Stone Ministries International.

The Sharpening Stone Group is a team of seasoned leaders, led by Greg Howse of Cornerstone Christian Center in Chicago, IL.  This team has seen the tremendous need in leaders from many different streams to be coached and instructed in the shaping of leaders and local churches with an apostolic and prophetic emphasis.

The Sharpening Stone Group was birthed by a direct visitation of the Holy Spirit during a leadership conference in November, 2003. During that particular meeting the Spirit of prophecy began to draw together emerging leaders with a heart for the apostolic and prophetic emphasis in kingdom ministry.  The common cry was, “Is there someone who has been where I am going?  Is there someone who will show me the way?”

It soon became obvious that there is a deep unmet need for a model of leadership development that is heavy on personal coaching combined with transparency in relating with seasoned apostolic and prophetic leaders.  These leaders will be willing to give relevant feedback to ministry and church-building questions.  They speak from many years of failures and successes, defeats and victories, in kingdom ministry.