Tag Archive - cornerstone

An Example of Living out the Mission of the Church

March 7, 2011 in Church with 0 Comments

Our Pastor of Connections, Josh Agerton, recently posted a great story on his blog called Living the Mission. I thought it really needs to be retold as much as possible. It’s about making Jesus real to people. So, here you go…

Living the Mission

So last night Leslie told me that Ms. Mary, the custodian where she works – Wrights Mill Road Elementary – came to her and said, “I need to talk to you about your church – Cornerstone.” Leslie’s first thought – “Oh no – what’s going on? What happened”. A little later in the day Ms. Mary came to Leslie and began to tell her story. Tears streamed from her eyes as she said, “Some people from your church came to my house last Saturday to help me.” She went on to explain how they stepped into her life simply to offer some help around her home on North Gay Street. They put on a new front porch, cleaned up the overgrown yard and told her they would be back in two weeks to keep their work going. She was completely blown away by this act of love and told Leslie how “I’ve never had anyone do anything like this for me before in my life.”

So after talking to a few more people I pieced together more of the story. Turns out it was a Small Group from Cornerstone that showed up at Ms. Mary’s house. They had been talking in their group about how they could go beyond themselves and serve the community in some way – specifically desiring to do something nobody else was doing. A few calls and connections were made that led them to meeting Ms. Mary – a hard working woman accustomed to helping others but doing little for herself. They asked her what her wish list was for her home and began to prioritize some projects starting with the front porch that was falling apart.

Amazing story here isn’t it. But what I love about this was the initiative that was taken on their own. It wasn’t directed by a church program or blessed by a staff person. It was just a normal expression of people following Jesus and giving their lives away for the sake of another. You could say that these people are living out the mission of Cornerstone – Leading People to Know and Serve Jesus.

I wonder what could happen in this community and our world if this kind of stuff became the new normal for small groups at Cornerstone? It’s definitely a picture of the church at its best and I pray that we see more of this among us in the future.

Leadership, Cornerstone, & Serious Prayer

February 11, 2011 in Church with 0 Comments

Our leadership retreat last Saturday was great as usual. We talked about vision, strategy, leadership and how to better lead people to know and serve Jesus. Our church is blessed to have such amazing lay people and staff serving on the Executive Team (I’m just honored to be around this group!).

Please pray for this team! They love Cornerstone and the stories of people whose lives have been changed for eternity. They feel the burden of guiding this ship we call the church. They know the seriousness of plotting a course toward our future.

Please pray for our ministries. Pray specifically for our strategy to reach more people. Our leaders are working to simplify and streamline our processes. Pray for wisdom regarding the possibility of building a new facility to handle our growth. This will not be an easy decision and we want to be squarely in God’s will on this issue. Pray for our Sunday mornings that people would give their whole life to Christ. Pray for our small groups that people in our church would find relational connections and grow spiritually. Pray that more people would find a place to serve and partner with us in our mission. Pray for marriages to be strong. Pray for college students to maintain purity and be a light on their campus. Pray, pray, pray!!

FYI, Here are the members of our 2011 Executive Team…

Robbie Taylor – ET chair
Michael Moore – Lay Leader
Ken Lott – Personnel Team chair
Jason Belcher – Trustees Chair
Nic Cofiled – Finance Chair
Bruce Shelton
John Atkinson
Rebecca Gaston
Elizabeth Yost
Paul Hansell
Jennifer Stephens
Christopher Slagley
Lynn Blount – Secretary
Jack Fisher
Brian Johnson
Josh Agerton
Lee Cadden
Allen Whittaker
April Olive
Jill Harris
Julia Farrow

To Blog About Blogging

February 4, 2011 in Me with 1 Comment

Blog, blog, blog…that’s just a funny word to say over and over.

If you read this blog you are fully aware that my blog has been terribly abandoned for months now. Sorry. I’m going to try to do better starting right now with this blog about my blog.

I now have a new format and 3 new purposes for writing.

First Purpose: to inform people who want to know more about what is happening at Cornerstone. I will be writing about issues, decisions, news (don’t forget to check out this week’s issue of the Cornerstone News) and general things going on around our church. This will be a good place to find out the “inside” stuff.

Second Purpose: to talk about anything in the leadership realm. This is something I do and am passionate about. I might post links to helpful articles, my own thoughts on the subject or experiences I’m having leading our church. So, if this matters to you it should be good.

Third purpose: to talk about things happening with me. This might include random thoughts, spiritual matters, updates on my hobbies, funny things about my family, etc. etc. If you care about this part then you really have waaayyyy too much time on your hands! But still, you might find it helpful…or not….no, I think you will.

So, I’m back on the wagon. We’ll see where it goes.

Recap of “TEN” and Cornerstone’s Anniversary

January 12, 2010 in Church with 0 Comments

Our tenth anniversary celebration this past Sunday was amazing! It was so good to take a minute as a church and just appreciate what God has done in the life of Cornerstone. I still connect with that passage from 1 Peter 2:4-6 as much today as I did ten years ago…

“As you come to him, the living Stone–rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him–5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
When you do church in a skate center, this verse is very important! It is a reminder that church is not about a building, it’s about people. The building is just a tool for evangelism. In light of this I remain forever grateful to every person who along the way has been a “living stone” placed here by God to do His work. It has been a crazy, exciting, scary, incredible, exhausting, unbelievable journey!

I am equally excited about what’s in store for us in the years ahead. Like the prophet proclaimed in Isaiah 42:9,

“See, the former things have taken place,
and new things I declare;
before they spring into being
I announce them to you.”
New things are on the way for Cornerstone. I am praying for us as a church and asking God to do greater things. I hope you will pray this with me!

Well, that’s it. See you under the ball!

It is Our 10th Anniversary at Cornerstone!

January 6, 2010 in Church, Faith, Me with 1 Comment

WOW, just WOW! I cannot believe our church’s 10th anniversary is this Sunday! As I think about my message for this special occasion I thought I would just give you a little preview of what you will hear.

Skate center, disco ball, smells, noises, uncertainty, faithfulness, commitment, free skate nights, packed trailers, “Cletus” videos, worship, loving people, difficulties, perseverance, salvation, baby pool baptisms, free bottled water, free movie nights, Ecuador missions, Vacation Sunday, Trunk R Treat, groundbreaking, 20 acres, $1.2 million, sacrifice, new building, sausage biscuits, vision, believing, creativity, KidzTown, Seaside, Youth, College, Pay it Forward, community, giving, grace, Cindy Wall, Buloba, Uganda, Hiram pulls a bus, the playground, the Well, the children, Patrick, Sarah, Eva, Isaac, Zariah, Jesus, love, hope, partners, Gospel, Leading people, knowing, serving, 10, church, Cornerstone, one, you, us.

Today as we celebrate 10 years of ministry here is East Alabama and around the world, I am reminded and humbled in the presence of the God who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last, who holds the keys to life itself, who is the keeper of gates and doors through which we have passed, are passing and will pass. He is the God who decided this church should exist. He gave us the power and focus to stay true to our mission and vision. He is the reason we can celebrate the last ten years, he is the reason we celebrate the right now, and the incredible future He has in store for the people and ministry of Cornerstone Church. Personally I am so grateful on this special day to be a part of this movement.

I could never have imagined the night before our first worship service, nervously sitting at my desk, so much would happen in ten years. I couldn’t get beyond the next morning. I couldn’t get out of the bathroom! I remember my prayer went something like this, “Oh God, if you don’t make this happen it will never work.”

God has certainly done more than I could have asked or imagined through Cornerstone. I am deeply thankful for every person who gave, served, sacrificed, loved, worked, prayed and were faithful to helping us move forward. It has been an amazing decade. But, we will only look back for a moment. We have always been a church that kept our vision forward. I am more excited about the Kingdom work that has yet to be done!

So, come join us this Sunday as we celebrate ministry past, present and future.