Pastoral Notes for Sunday, November 9, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

On Thursday of this last week, I sent a message to the church regarding the ministry of Rev. Tony Giles. If you missed that important communication, please take a moment now to read the note below.

One of the great blessings of being the pastor of Cornerstone Presbyterian Church is the opportunity to partner with elders, deacons, and staff who deeply love the Lord and are committed to living lives of selfless sacrifice in service to His church.

 One servant who has modeled such love and sacrifice over many years is our dear brother, Rev. Tony Giles. For the last eleven years, Tony has served Cornerstone with sincerity, humility, and devotion. He’s a dependable servant, a right-hand man in the work of ministry, and I’ve been helped and challenged by his example of Christlike maturity, wisdom, and grace over the years.

I’m pleased to say Tony will, by God’s grace, continue to serve at Cornerstone in the days ahead, but his role with us will be greatly reduced as we close out 2025 and head into 2026.

Pending approval of the Nashville Presbytery on November 11, Rev. Tony Giles will serve as “stated supply” (Book of Church Order 22-5 and 22-6) for a sister congregation in our presbytery, City Church of East Nashville (PCA). Essentially, Tony will be serving as a “pastor on loan” from us to City Church while they are without a minister and passing through a difficult season of transition.

Tony’s call as a minister will remain with Cornerstone during his season of service at CCEN. In addition, he will continue to perform a few duties of ministry at Cornerstone on a very part-time basis. If this is approved by the presbytery on November 11, Tony will begin his new role at CCEN on December 1, 2025.

As Tony prepares to take up this new mantle, let’s covenant together to pray for him, Mary Lynn, and CCEN. As sad as we all will be not see our brother regularly on Sunday morning, let’s rejoice in the opportunity to send our brother to a sister church in need who will undoubtedly benefit from his faithful and steady ministry.

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, November 2, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

Thank you, thank you for prayerfully participating in our recent officer nomination season. I’m pleased to report that fourteen men have stepped forward and accepted their officer nomination. The fourteen are Jonathan Eby, Matt Johnston, Eric Smith, Will Tice, Jeff Kremer, Lester Farwell, Al Adams, Mike Kretsinger, Dan Apple, Craig Westerbeek, David Horn, Jason Crook, Nic Lane, and Chris Holder. Please begin praying for these men and their families as they enter officer training and seek to discern the Lord’s call.

Well, it’s the month of November, and you know what that means. Thanksgiving is right around the corner! I trust you’ve made plans (or are beginning to make plans) to celebrate the holiday with family and friends. The Shurden’s will make their annual pilgrimage to Mississippi to visit family. I can hardly wait to see everyone, and to taste the turkey and dressing, the sweet potato casserole, and, yes, the pecan pie.

But before we hit the road, we’re looking forward to kicking off Thanksgiving week by celebrating God’s goodness with you at our annual Thanksgiving and Anniversary Service on Sunday, November 23. I have chosen a special text for that day, and I am quite sure we’ll sing many thanksgiving favorites. We will also have the privilege to hear several personal testimonies from the Cornerstone faithful about how the Lord has shown up in their lives this year. It’s going to be special. Don’t miss it!

In addition to the testimonies that will be shared in worship on November 23, we have set aside the Sunday School hour for a special time of informal congregational sharing and giving thanks. I’m calling it A Sacrifice of Praise. We will gather in the chapel and open the floor for anyone who wants to share a story of God’s faithfulness.

In preparation for November 23, please take time to review your life. Identify and reflect on different ways you’ve witnessed the presence and power of God in your life this year. Then, prepare to step forward that morning and share a story. Whether 20 seconds or two minutes (we want to keep them brief so many can share), we want to encourage one another in the faith and rejoice in God’s goodness to us. 

So, I ask you, “How will you give praise to God on November 23?”

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, October 26, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

On June 15, 1520, Pope Leo X issued a papal bull of which the Augustinian monk, Martin Luther, was the subject. Citing Luther with 41 instances of doctrinal deviation, Luther was given sixty days to recant or further action would be taken. Luther wasted no time publishing his answer. He promptly lit a match and burned the papal bull.

Surprise, surprise Luther’s in-your-face rejection of the papal bull wasn’t received kindly. In January of 1521, Pope Leo responded to Luther with an edict of excommunication. And just like that, Luther was no longer a member of the Roman Catholic Church.

It’s difficult for modern Christians to grasp the gravity of this action. In the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church wasn’t just a church among churches. It was the church. There were no other branches of the church for Luther to join. To be cut off from the Roman Catholic Church was to be cut off from the church. Period. End of story.

Or was it?

Luther responded to the Pope’s excommunication with an excommunication of his own. Luther argued that Rome’s rejection of justification by faith alone—“the article by which the church stands or falls”—was proof enough that Rome could no longer be regarded as a true church. To support this claim, Luther returned to the Bible’s doctrine of the church. Luther argued that the true church does not consist in its history or in its institutional structures. Rather, the true church is found wherever the true gospel is preached. “The sure mark by which the Christian congregation can be recognized is that the pure gospel is preached there. For just as the banner of an army is the sure sign by which one can know what kind of lord and army has taken the field, so too the gospel is the sure sign by which one knows where Christ and his army are encamped” (Luther’s Works, 41:231-232).

Summarizing the Protestant Reformation’s teaching on the church, Michael Reeves and Tim Chester write, “It was not the Reformers who had departed from the true church. It was Rome that had departed from the true gospel…The church is the universal body of people on earth and in heaven who have been formed by the gospel. You are not saved by being a part of the church. You are a part of the church by being saved.” (Why the Reformation Still Matters, p. 164-165).

In worship today, we join with thousands of churches across the world remembering and giving thanks for the truth of the gospel recovered during the Protestant Reformation. At the same time, we recognize the work of reformation is not done, for even the purest churches today are “subject to mixture and error” (Westminster Confession of Faith, 25.5). Therefore, in humility, we labor in hope for the continued reformation—for the peace, purity, and progress—of the church. Until Christ returns and a yet more glorious day dawns (Philippians 1:6).

Your servant,

 

Pastoral Notes for Sunday, October 19, 2025

Dear Cornerstone Family, 

As the first quarter of our fiscal year has drawn to a close and we receive a report on the first quarter below, it’s appropriate for each of us to reflect on our commitment to support the worship and the work of the church to the best of our ability. Toward that end, I want to ask you to reflect on three key aspects of the Bible’s teaching on giving.

1. Giving is a spiritual discipline that requires forethought and planning. At the end of 1 Corinthians, Paul speaks of the collection for the saints, and he says, “On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come” (1 Cor. 16:2). Paul teaches the Corinthians to set aside a portion of their resources each Sunday for giving to the work of the Lord and meeting the needs of the poor. Paul knows that if we’re not intentionally setting aside resources and making preparations to give, we will fall into the trap of using that money for other things. Setting aside your giving on the front end helps ensure that the Lord has first place in your budget.

2. Giving is to be commensurate with your income. In the passage I quoted above, Paul says to set “something aside” in keeping with how “he may prosper” you. He teaches the same principle in 2 Corinthians 8:12 when he says, “For if the readiness [to give] is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.” Paul recognizes that resources rise and fall, and that our giving will rise and fall, too. He instructs us to give proportionally and to not be slavishly bound to a certain number, dollar figure, or percentage. Instead, let your giving track with the normal ups and downs of income.

 3. Give generously, cheerfully, and sacrificially. In Luke 21:1-4, the rich were placing large sums in the offering box, but a poor widow placed just two small copper coins in the coffer. Jesus says of her, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” On the surface, this principle appears to undermine principle #2 above, but that’s not the case. Instead, the Bible is placing us in good biblical tension. We’re being called to look at what we have and consider our basic needs, and then sacrificially invest in work of the church. We’re not sacrificing if it doesn’t cut into our lives. We know we’re beginning to practice biblical giving if we’re restraining our spending in order to support the work of ministry (see Acts 2:42-47). By placing these two principles beside each other, the Bible’s inviting us into the wisdom of a giving pattern that’s discerning, generous, and sacrificial (2 Cor. 9:6-15). Let’s continue to joyfully prove our earnest love for Jesus Christ by giving to the church in a manner that reflects, even faintly, the generosity of the gospel.

Your servant,